Cinerant

Colorado Mountain Paradise

Cynicism is the most easily digestible commodity of the current ideological climate.   It pervades our political thought, our humor (Arrested Development), our drama (Nip/Tuck), and our movies (Jarhead).  We talk in quick, amped up slang because we think it’s more unique and original than earnestness.  In all truth, we avoid earnestness because it’s hard to make it seem sincere, honest, and emotional without coming off as cloying and mawkish. (See Commander in Chief  before Steven Bochco gets ahold of it if you have any doubt.)

Thank heavens for Everwood.  There is NO program on television that knows how to manipulate heartstrings as earnestly and sincerely as this fascinating WB series that just continues to get better with age.  Tonight’s episode is no exception.  The episode, entitled, “Pro Choice” had the show’s normal biting wit (“Is that why you can’t afford a shirt?), but it also brought a new depth to the characters of Bright and Hannah, while throwing a wrench into the Amy, Ephram, Reid triangle that continues to propel the story forward.  While the fledgling relationship between Hannah and Bright continues to grow, Hannah’s mother appears with devastating news for Hannah.  This in turn causes her to inform the Abbotts about information that moved Bright—even more than the news that his own mother had cancer.  It was moving to see Chris Pratt show new shades to the loveable lunkhead you can’t help but love.  

But perhaps the most moving element of the episode was seeing Ephram and Andy move closer together.  Theirs is a relationship that has been complicated and everchanging, yet as often as it moves, it crumbles upon itself, never completely working.  (This is the way Sydney and Jack’s relationship should’ve played out over five seasons on Alias.)  The final shot of Andy opening up to Ephram about his failed courtship of Nina was brief, to the point, and profound.  I just wish there were more TV like that.

posted by cinegod @ 11:10 PM