Everwood - Season Two (starts 15.09.03) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

http://www.thewb.com has released their season premiere trailer for Everwood: click here

"On Monday Sept. 15th, a powerful season premiere on Everwood. [Colin Hart v/o]'If I don't wake up the way I'm supposed to, don't bring me back' In this room... in these hands... [Dr. Brown v/o]'Prepare to close' One decision will change more than a life... [Amy Abbott v/o]'Why don't you just tell me, what did you do?' ...it will change a town. [Ephram v/o]'You should have told me! I'm your son!' [undecipherable Amy v/o][Ephram v/o]'So what happens now? With us?'The unforgettable season premiere of Everwood. September 15th, on the WB Monday."

Episode 2.01: The Last of Summer
From the WB's official episode description: "In last season's emotional cliffhanger, Dr. Brown (Treat Williams) performed radical brain surgery on Colin Hart (Mike Erwin) in an effort to save his life. In the series' dramatic second season premiere, Colin's fate will be revealed.

Gregory Smith, Emily VanCamp, Debra Mooney, John Beasley, Vivien Cardone, Chris Pratt, Stephanie Niznik and Tom Amandes also star. Creator/Executive Producer Greg Berlanti and Co-Executive Producer Rina Mimoun wrote the episode directed by Michael Schultz"

 

[Chad R]

And the key to it is probably Colin's wish to not be a vegetable. I mean, they have to keep Andy and Ephram alienated from the town a little longer. Looking foward to it!

 

[John Madia]

Last season this show went from a guilty pleasure type show to an enjoyable show with characters you actually care about. I'll be tuning in to see where the show goes this season. Hopefully last season ended the father/son feud. I don't want everything to be perfect between the two this season but I'd hate see episodes bounce back and forth between Ephram hates his father to Ephram understands his father.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I caught just the ads for the show, and both Amy and Ephram (well, the actors) grew up physically over the summer. They look 2 years older.

Anyhow, looking forward to tonight's season premiere.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

And the key to it is probably Colin's wish to not be a vegetable.

You got it!

I'm really glad that they had the balls to kill Colin off. I knew going into it that the surgery wasn't going to be a success, but I figured they'd put him back in a coma and keep him hanging around until the next time they're low on ideas. Fortuneately, they ended that arc for something newer. Seeing Dr. Brown go through the majority of the episode so dejectedly was just heartbreaking. And the way they juggled the timeline to peel back the layers of what happened was solid Everwood fare. After Delia's friend uninvited her and they came home and Ephram set in on Dr. Brown, I thought we were in for another half a season of angry miscommunication and angst. To see them work through an arguement and if not come to an agreement atleast come to an acceptence was a pleasant surprise. They did a great makeup job on Colin's mom, too. It really showed how much the ordeal had aged her. I'm also glad that they've found a way to integrate Delia better into the storylines. She was lost for the better second half of the first season. And while they still write the character younger than how a real ten-year-old would act, they've made her a bit more subtle and three-dimensional. The look she gave Dr. Brown in particular when they came home from the pool was great; it accomplished more than any big arguement could have.

The only problem I had with the episode is that they crammed to much in in too little a time. It seemed like they were rushing to get everything in, and the little character moments that I love about the show were kept to a minimum. Still well on par or greater with just about any episode in Season 1 except "Episode 20" and "Home"

Some shows plummet after their first season as they writers scramble to come up with a new arc to set into motion. The Everwood team seems at no loss for ideas. I look forward to a great season from my favorite drama on television.

 

[Chad R]

My only disapoointment was that they burned through the storyline in one episode. Amy's revelation that Dr. Brown "let" Colin die could have been a three episode arc. I agree with you Adam that it seemed rushed.

And on a silly note, my wife and I started doing our bad violin impression of the opening music only to be horrified that it's been fully orchestrated with silly footage of Characters turning and smiling. the pictures from last season were fine and didn't need to be updated. But, hey, it's only the credits--I'll live.

 

[Patrick Sun]

There was a summer of pain for all involved. It was best to get it all out and move on to other stories.

And not everything is hunky-dory either.

Also, is it possible that Emily Vancamp got even cuter over the summer?

 

[John Madia]

I thought that it was a good episode that was brought down by editing and time compression. Just because there's no new episodes during the summer, it doesn't mean you have to cram everything that happened in the summer into one episode. This could have benefited from being a two parter with the first episode about Colin's death and the aftermath during the summer and the second episode about what happened from summer's end until the start of school. Also, I don't think the jumpback editing really worked that well.

It was still a good episode and I feel that the writers know where the characters are going but the pacing/editing of this particular episode was off. There was some interesting stuff such as Ephram working a crappy job at the pool (despite his father's wealth) just to be around Amy. It seems that they're going to eventually get them together (perhaps it's their future son doing the narration) but they could really go either way since he often protects her like she was his sister. Either way, I'll be watching. Just wish they'd show it in widescreen though.

 

[Patrick Sun]

You mean it's not Irv doing the narration?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

And on a silly note, my wife and I started doing our bad violin impression of the opening music only to be horrified that it's been fully orchestrated with silly footage of Characters turning and smiling. the pictures from last season were fine and didn't need to be updated. But, hey, it's only the credits--I'll live.

I didn't like the change in the credits either (the opening theme was one of the few WB things nominated), but I noticed that they added a cast member or two, primarily the Browns' neighbor, Nina. Since the opening theme was composed around the completed credit sequence for last year, when things get changed it only makes sense that it would be off. When they add Dr. Brown's sister in episode 2, you can probably expect the credit sequence to change yet again. We'll see if it's for better or worse.

(As far as credit sequence debutcheries go, Everwood is far from the worst.)

 

[Patrick Sun]

I figured Nina would be added to the opening cast credits after they spent the time to write the husband out of the picture last season.

Can't wait for Abbott's sister to show up, she's gonna shake things up!

 

[Ivan Lindenfeld]

Watched this on and off last season. It was always something good to watch that wasn't too heavy, but was well acted and written.

I liked the season premier, and I too give credit for killing off the kid. The one thing that was really messed up was the way the teenagers talk.

On this show, do the teenagers always teach their parent's life lessons the adults should have learned long ago? And there is no difference in the dialogue spoken by one of the teen leads and the adults. Actually, most of the adults on this show act like children. I think it is bad dialogue writing. The plotting is great. Do you understand what I mean? These teens are so self-actualized it's scary.

And if my daughter started yelling at an adult in a restaurant, irregardless of familiarity, I would have dragged her ass out by the armpit. She's 16 for Pete's sake. Teach her some manners.

The acting is so good, I may come back and also to see if it was just a fluke that the characters dialogue was executed this way.

(I know someone will say that this is the way teens talk on TV, it's a show for teens so they have to look more impressive than their parents so the audience will identify with them, etc. All I can say is see Smallville. They talk their age. Can you imagine Clark getting away with bitching out Lana's dad in public like that? Jonathan Kent would say "Clark, that's enough" at least 4 times before ordering him away.)

 

[Patrick Sun]

To be fair to Amy, she's been holding this pain, this loss, in for over 3 months, and it just came to a boil in the restaurant after reading Colin's "DNR" and seeing Doc Brown at the restaurant.

 

[Chad R]

But why was the town upset with him before the public revelation that he followed Colin's wishes? I mean, it's brain surgery. It's not like they were removing an appendix. There were insurmountable risks involved and the town always seemd intelligent enough to me to know that. Sure, Dr. Brown was walking around depressed, but that doesn't mean he did something wrong. It was just forced. Amy would be upset, she's a reactionary person, but not the whole town.

It was played out awkwardly. It should have started with only Dr. Brown and Amy being off kilter a bit. Then she finds the letter, then she 'outs' Andy and then the town gets suspicious about him. As it has played out, all it's done is created an artificial (she is a doctor's daughter, she should be more acquainted with medical reality and patient's rights and wishes) barrier between Ephram and Amy since she can't forget who his father is.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Andy went from miracle man to the guy who couldn't bring Colin back once more. Colin was immensely popular in this small town, while Andy is still a relative new entity. The animosity and resentment of the situation is bit overplayed, but it feels a lot like when it's played in each character's head, and the situation has a more profound impact internally, than externally.

It's pretty standard fare, to build up our heroes, and then when they stumble, to tear them down. In this little town, it was done through societal pressure to alienate the Brown family in subtle, covert ways. Is it right, hardly, but it happens. Plus Andy basically shut down emotionally for the summer. He went through 2-3 months of self-doubt in respecting Colin's wishes, while pushing his own "medical god" persona to the background.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

she is a doctor's daughter, she should be more acquainted with medical reality and patient's rights and wishes

She IS acquainted with all of that, however she so emotionally torn and broken that she can't accept the truth right now. What's convient for the town is a neccessity for her, because she can't let herself believe that the boy she fell in love with would sign away his life like that. And being a passionate person, she can focus her pain through a hatred towards Dr. Brown.

If the writers are as smart as they were last season, this will be a slow process of healing for Amy throughout the season. As a counter point, Bright may not be as intellectually smart as his sister but he is a hell of a lot more emotionally developed. He was able to come to terms with his grief (if not his guilt) and reconized that it wasn't Dr. Brown's fault nor his own.

The only character whom I don't think is well written is, as I mentioned before, Delia. I guess the writers don't know many ten-year-olds but I know that I would have understood what the risks of surgery were about at that age without a comparison to a dead gerbil. I'm not saying the character should be an archtypal all-knowing whiz kid like too many shows, but just give ten-year-olds a little more credit than that.

 

[DeborahK]

I actually don't think very many teenagers would have confronted an adult (especially one who is not a family member) in the way that Amy confronted Dr. Brown. She would have avoided him at all costs -- maybe left the restaurant when he came in, snubbed him on whenever she saw him, etc. -- but no way would she have blown up that way especially in a public space. Normal kids just don't act this way and Amy is pretty normal. But hey -- this is television and I certainly enjoyed the season opener as well.

Deborah