Everwood "You're A Good Man, Andy Brown"

Last week Everwood returned from its long winters nap with a two hour extravaganza of joy and sadness - and that was just my emotions while watching it! I am a die hard Everwoodian and am man enough to admit that almost on a weekly basis it makes me cry in some way. Sometimes little drops well up in my eyes, often large bucket fulls stair my shirt as we traverse the lives of the Browns, Abbots, and some others who are near and dear.

The episodes were incredibly good, the writing and the wit were top notch! Hell, Bright got a B+ on a History paper for Christ Sake, that's a Christmas miracle! I wept a couple times: Hannah and Amy fall out, Ephram loses again to the increasingly selfish Amy, Edna misses Erv so much she's having panic attacks, Julia cheated on Andy (wow), and forget it, the Nina/Jake saga was a gusher! All in all, we're talking serious Felicity type tears - that's how good Everwood is!

So last night's episode made me love and hate Everwood in the same moment! Not serious Hate like I have for Mariah, Britney, or Hilary Duff but frustration and anger that things don't go the way I want them to (who's selfish now) - hate.

Yes, there were amazing, AMAZING moments in this episode:

• Nina tries too hard to help Jake recover. She's such the go-getter and even takes on the burden for Jake. Not healthy but makes for great and uncomfortable television - no? The fact that both Jake and Nina feel comfy enough to go to Andy - who's essentially the third point in this love triangle - for support is both endearing and really frustrating!

• Andy finally broke down and told Jake that he can't be the one to help save his and Nina's relationship... well duh!

• Ephram opened up and realized that the reason he's been so hell bent on helping Kyle is to compensate for his own baby daddy issues. The scene between Andy and Ephram at the end was one of their best and a real testament to the subtlety of writing and acting. It was controlled, from the heart, and believable - not to mention gut wrenching without being melodramatic or too self aware. It was a moment that made me say I FUCKING LOVE THIS SHOW!

Now, with the good come frustrations but not critical show killing frustrations, possibly good frustrations - we have to wait and see:

• Amy Abbott boy you're turning into a real self righteous bitch these days aren't ya? If you crawled any further up that professors twunt do you think your daddy would help abort you back out? Good lord does she have some major MAJOR identity issues now that she's being all higher learned and all. Fuck she's driving me insane. Last week I was so frustrated because she just would do anything that this bleeding heart manipulative women's study professor would tell her. Last week she ruined her relationship with Hannah by forcing her all the sudden "beliefs" on our little meek nerd and this week she's chastising her father for being honest and soooo non-judgmental it wasn't even funny! So what, the man did some abortions in his day... who hasn't? He gave his reasoning and he fully supported Amy's decisions in forming her own belief system - and this bitch has the balls to play the martyr? Hells to the no! Someone needs to give her a swift kick - better yet, haze her ass! Something's gotta give.

• They've always been very "all over the map" with Amy. She's always had identity issues because she went from being Colin's long pained and grieving girlfriend to being Ephram's soulmate and tortured lover. We get it, she's never really found herself but I feel that her having this connection to Teri Bauer from 24 cannot be good. And honestly, if in the end this is the old college cliche of finding yourself, etc. I'm going to be really annoyed because I love Amy and her honesty and her good heart but their working my last nerve.

• Now lets discuss the gay rumors that have been floating around (along with the death rumors)... Greg Berlanti, the creator of the show is frigging queer so why its taken this long to get a gay character (besides Nina's ex) is beyond me - but because he is gay I was really worried that they were going to make Amy gay for a day like they did with Marissa last season on The OC. Originally, after watching last weeks episodes I thought for sure it was going to be our young impressionable Amy Abbott and that made me very sad. YES, I could see Amy going that direction especially given her tendency to just adapt to whatever is around her but I thought it would be the biggest copout ever! If you're going to take a character and make them gay, go the route of Joss Whedon and Willow! It worked! It really did! I'm happy to say that after this weeks episode ended I no longer believe its Amy (it seems that the predatory teacher is into Andy Brown not young bendy-minded freshman - though this could come back to haunt us).

• So who is gay? Um, for starters it seems that our young Steve McQueen is the gay one. But, is this big enough to have started rumors? Doubtful. So that again leaves it open for interpretation. I think making Kyle gay is a great move, it really speaks to his alienation and his depression and need to get out of Everwood. I think Kyle is in for some really really REALLY hard times with Ephram because lets face it - who wouldn't have a total straight-boy crush on our amazing Ephram Brown? The hug at the end of this episode obviously meant something to Kyle...

• Could Ephram be gay? I make the case that it is possible but I am sure it won't be. Here is my real frustration. Lets face it, Amy is the girl we (and by we I mean all us gays) would have fallen for in high school. She's smart. She's cute. She's tormented. She's witty beyond belief. She is the girl the gays date because she's safe. She's your soul-mate because she's meant to be the Grace to your Will! And wouldn't knocking up Madison scare you away from the va-jay-jay forever? Think about it before commenting hate mail on the bottom of this post. It is not entirely out of the question. He's never found who he really is meant to be and maybe its because he can't accept who he is. I don't know, I guess its just me projecting and hoping that a show would have the balls to upend its narrative and try to make people accept the leap. Sure legions of tween girls will leap from their rooftops in sadness but in the end you've created daring and NOT COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE narrative.

• In the end, I'm sure it will be Amy but a man can hope for some man on man action can't he?

Give me your thoughts!

To see my series on TV Characters that should have GAY friends click on the links below:
Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Series 4

Series 5

Series 6

Series 7