Despite maintaining a solid fan base and critical praise for its surprising depth, Everwood was a sad casualty of the merger between UPN and the WB into the CW Television Network and was not renewed following the conclusion of its fourth season. With the DVD set of the first season having been released prior to cancellation in 2004 fans have had to wait five long years for this second season to arrive.
A smalltown family drama showcasing smalltown family values, Everwood is the kind of show that’s simply so wholesome it should only exist in a pastry dish cooling on some old lady’s open windowsill. Gentle, simple, and oh-so life-affirming, Everwood stands apart from other shows of its era as one of the few to carry on as if 9/11 had never happened. With so many of its peers eager to go dark and explore the moral complexity of this dangerous new era, Everwood maintained a focus on family and friendship, where to step beyond town limits was to step off the edge of the world.
Everwood centers on the trials and tribulations of renowned, big city neurosurgeon, Andy Brown, and his children, who move to Everwood in the Colorado Mountains following his wife’s death; it follows their struggles to adjust and cope. The show through its run explored some broad issues like depression, drug addiction, grief, HIV, and divorce. But its anchor to a distinctly bygone era circa 1950’s makes it more curious than compelling.
Everwood’s first season concluded on a cliffhanger, with local boy Colin Abbott again undergoing surgery after experiencing complications from his initial procedure to bring him out of a coma following an automobile accident. This second season opens with a sucker punch that Colin died during the procedure leaving his brother Bright guilt-ridden (he was driving), and his girlfriend Amy devastated. Much of this season deals with the aftermath of a revelation that acting on instructions from Colin, Andy let him expire rather than live with brain damage.
Andy (Treat Williams) suddenly finds himself at odds with the townspeople who blame him for Colin's death and stop coming to his practice. His son Ephram feels betrayed that he kept this from him (as with so many dramas of this ilk, trust is a major theme) and is caught between loyalty to his father and his feelings for Amy who in her grief focuses her anger on Andy. Her downward spiral eventually leads her into the arms of tear-away drug-dealer Tommy, leading to a dangerous brush with hallucinogens.
Meanwhile the emergence of Dr. Linda Abbott, the sister of Andy’s caustic local rival Dr. Hal Abbott (Colin's father) gives Andy a new love interest to pursue. Also new on the scene is Madison, a college student Ephram finds himself drawn to after she is hired to baby-sit his sister Delia.
The plotlines might be pure, unapologetic soap opera, but there is a warmth and sincerity to the writing that combines with uniformly earnest performances to create an overall tone that’s deceptively disarming. Shot in relentless soft focus the spring warmth radiates off the screen and the reassuring warble of the Wonder Years-style narration is as fuzzy as a blanket. Everwood is the kind of show that makes you reflexively want to call your mother. It’s a show that knows itself, knows its target audience and presents honest, God fearing folk struggling with simple morality tales and showing us that we can all be better than we are in the process. It’s about community, it’s about family, and it’s about America. An America that post-9/11 underwent a shift in values. For many this serves as a reminder to a simpler time.
DVD Bonus Features
Sparse extras, comprising only a handful of deleted scenes.
"Everwood: The Complete Second Season" is on sale June 16, 2009 and is rated NR. Television. Written and directed by Various. Starring Chris Pratt, Emily VanCamp, Gregory Smith, Marcia Cross, Tom Amandes, Treat Williams.
