I feel that this was part of the problem I had
when catching up with the new Really show “Hart of Dixie”, which made its UK
premiere last week. After noting the involvement of “The O.C.’s” Josh Schwartz
and Rachel Bilson (the former created the show and the second starred in it, then
and now) plus its mellow, summer evening, Hollister-esque advertisement
material, I was anticipating the next big thing in teen comedy-drama. Tersely,
the series follows Bilson’s Zoe Hart, an esteemed yet fellowship-less young
doctor, travel west to Bluebell, Alabama where she has always been guaranteed a
job. Once there, she last week discovered she had been bequeathed half a
medical practice by a guy she had never known as her dad, smack-bang an
incestuous community where everyone knows everyone else’s business: a marked
change from her treasured life in the Big Apple. After 50 minutes of shoddily
delivered jaw drops, sluggish one liners and Bilson doing her utmost to muster
up chemistry with the mainly-male cast, the pilot’s crescendo was Zoe
delivering the baby of a chubby store-worker she had befriended earlier. The
head-scratcher for me was where the teen-drama ended and the medical drama
began; the labour scene itself wasn’t too substandard (it was no “E.R”, but it
was passable), though being tacked on the end of a mediocre girly-girl show fatally
compromised it. There’s a Chinese proverb that “Even the best
needles are not sharp at both ends.” If Schwarz and co. had gotten to grips
with this I may have last night been introduced to a one-ended but piercingly
compelling medical drama. As it was, the two genres clashed on a black
suit-brown brogue level and it was taxing to appreciate either.
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| Model Doctor: It's hard to get to grips with Bilson's medical role |
The show’s other pitfall was the
introduction of its lead (not exactly a stellar start, is it?). By the three-minute
mark it was patent that Dr Zoe Hart was sour, shallow and self-absorbed.
Following the bar set by “House” the show’s creators sensibly sought to create
a volatile protagonist that watchers have a love-hate tie to, but with Bilson’s
they delivered an indifference-to-mild-resentment inducing lead. The snag was
her seemingly superficial persona being displayed so vigorously so early on;
there were no redeeming features to dilute our prickly dislike of her, and it
was frustrating to be exclusively tied to her from the off. Zoe would have been
substantially less aggravating, and abundantly more comic, had she not occupied
the lead role. Think Cordelia of “Buffy”; there would have been the off chance
of her redemption but had her ankle-deep personality been permanent it could
have been scoffed at and forgiven. Admittedly, my dislike for Zoe lessened as
the show rolled on, but it stubbornly refused to dissipate entirely. Portraying
her as merely out of her comfort zone in Bluebell would have been commendable,
but her systematic and brutal alienation of its residents (“Could you get me a venti soy latte so I don’t fatigue?") left
viewers wishing they had been left behind with her old life in New York. And
maybe I favour the underdog a trifle too much, but having a character I had
already developed a settled dislike for being left half a medical practice by a
stranger, exactly at the point she needed a vacancy, did little in the way of
endearing her to me. Then there’s Bilson’s suitability, or lack of, to portray
an assumingly clued-up medical junior. Maybe it’s because my own doctor looks
like Shrek, but it was tough to get past Bilson’s glamour and see her as a
credible G.P.
Most exasperating about Zoe’s irrevocable
estrangement of viewers is that show’s producers could offer some depth to her character, and tried to, but did so
far too late. When we saw her twice call her (apparent) father and tell him she
loved him to no avail it was genuinely quite winning, as was the even more
engaging dynamic she shared with her brash and impersonal New Yorker mother (a comic
goldmine for the show from its opening scene; here’s praying they utilize her).
Show producers make hints, using these strained parental bonds, why Zoe is so
ostensibly cold-blooded. Had these been more nimble in coming forward, or more
express when compared to Zoe’s grueling and unrelenting first few scenes, they
might well have salvaged her character. As it transpired, when Zoe took on a
more softly-softly role at the episode’s close I couldn’t forgive her earlier
ruggedness on account of her mucked up parental relationships, but instead
questioned her character’s coherence. As such, the shift from Hitler-ette to
Florence Nightingale struck as hasty, illogical and implausible.
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| Tense: Zoe struggles with parental relationships |
The show’s most arresting character,
particularly when set alongside Zoe, was George Tucker by a clear mile. When he
first offered Zoe a ride into Bluebell and clarified “I’m an attorney. Not an
axe murderer” I prepared to hate him for some of the same reasons fueling my
Zoe-aversion; the clean-cut, Adonis-like, cocksure type doesn’t seem to deserve
or need viewer support as much as a modelling contract. That said, show
producers rapidly performed with George what they had omitted to do early on
with Zoe. When he spoke of his discomfort at being in New York and love of more
intimate, cozy communities it was hard not to soften to his character. He was
saved from becoming the naïve butt of the episode, too, when he defended his
eyebrow-raising engagement to the series’ she-devil Lemon (what an overlooked
celeb-baby name) Breeland by detailing how affectionate and innocent she once
was. Here, show’s producers ticked off loyalty, openness and sincerity with aplomb,
plus set the seeds for a potentially more conflicted character by making such
unmistakable hints about George’s fondness for Zoe.
As far as burgeoning subplots went, the
episode offered up a mixed bag. There was definite tension between Lavon Hayes,
Bluebell’s mayor, and Miss Breeland, which could hold interest providing it
doesn’t devolve into anything too foreseeable; Lemon breaking George’s heart,
George finding solace in Zoe, etc. It was an adequately unpredictable, though
not astonishing, twist for Tucker to be revealed as Dr Brick Breeland’s lawyer,
and thus potentially tasked with getting Zoe’s half share of his practice
vetoed, but this regretfully became speedily entangled with and swamped by the
overshadowing George-Lemon engagement. Zoe’s discovery that the man who had
creepily sent her postcards from Bluebell for years was in fact her father was
the moment that the scandal-loving Schwarz’s presence was most strongly felt,
and it provided more than anything else the compelling reason to tune in again.
The outlook that Zoe will have to rebuild her testy personality in line with
the bombshell gives the small glimmer of hope that, by the close of the season,
she will be a more cohesive and supportable lead. Naturally, there’s also the
option of it being thrown in for sensationalism and of the series reverting to
its confused and disaffecting worst. Schwarz, take heed.
One Line Wonder
Zoe’s Mother (having admitted to Zoe she
had her illegitimately after an affair and then lied about it for 30-odd
years): “Can we just go home and discuss this in therapy like normal people?”
The Fortune Telly-er
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| The Face-Off: Will things sour with Lemon? |
As much as I hope Lemon and Lavon’s
dalliance doesn’t become too straightforward and inevitably exposed, I can’t
help but imagine it will given the way show producers ruthlessly seemed to
sacrifice the fruitful “George V Zoe in court” plot to George and Lemon’s
engagement one.
If Zoe persists as the series’ least favorable
character it could still have longevity (Ted of “How I Met Your Mother” blazed
the trail on this one) as long as the lesser dwelled upon cast come into their
own. It would be satisfying if Mabel, the shop worker and new single mum, got
some more time in the spotlight a few episodes down the line as she could
compensate for such a lack of protagonist progression. Failing this, George
Tucker has already set himself up a drama-laden storyline.
It goes without saying that for the series
to do well it needs to make up its mind about what it is. Genres are there for a reason; lose the suit or kick
off the brogues.
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