Hart of Dixie Season 4 (and Series?) Finale Review: Home Is Where the Heart Is

Hart of Dixie S04E10: "Bluebell"

It sounds strange, but Rachel Bilson's real-life pregnancy might be the best thing to happen to Hart of Dixie since Wilson Bethel's sad face and well-toned abdominal muscles. A shortened season of only 10 episodes is not what anyone had in mind when the heartwarming series was renewed for a fourth season last May, but the shorter episode count and the decision to incorporate the pregnancy into the series kept the writing tight and the mood light throughout. It also forced the series, which would have been right at home on The WB but has always felt a bit out of place on The CW, to revaluate its priorities after a disjointed third season introduced unnecessary obstacles to the Zoe and Wade relationship that had become a cornerstone of the series. But even though we didn't get to spend nearly as much time with the show and its characters in Season 4, I cannot imagine a more perfect sendoff for Zoe and the entire whimsical world of Bluebell than, well, "Bluebell."

Not only were we treated to a choreographed town-wide song and dance number that began in Zoe's hospital room, traveled to the town square, and eventually covered Lemon and Lavon's wedding, but the show's ongoing storylines were all wrapped up in satisfactory ways. In addition to Lemon and Lavon's wedding, AnnaBeth and George admitted they loved one another and were committed to their relationship despite the distance; Crickett and Jacine moved in together; and Zoe and Wade tied the knot and became parents to a little boy who will forever be known as TBD Hart-Kinsella because he arrived a few weeks early and they couldn't decide on a name.

The CW refused to refer to this as a series finale despite several tweets to the contrary from the show's cast and creator, but "Bluebell" and the nine episodes that preceded it felt like the natural conclusion to this chapter of Bluebell's story. All season long the writers were skillfully maneuvering our favorite characters around the sunny town square so they would be in the right place for this finale. Sometimes this worked—Lemon and Lavon's relationship benefitted from having four years of backstory, so even when they quickly got engaged, it still felt natural—and sometimes it didn't work as well—George's relationship with AnnaBeth felt more rushed than I would have liked—but with only 10 episodes there's only so much you can do for main characters who aren't the lead.

That being said, once the series committed to Zoe's future with Wade, all of the pieces of her story seemed to fall into place. When she first arrived in Bluebell, Zoe was a mirror image of the Autumn Reeser (The OC reunion, y'all!) character introduced here as the new lawyer from New York who took over George's practice. But over the past four seasons, Zoe has grown to the point where she's not only emotional and open, but she's also a real Bluebellian, even if she's not a native. Between the callbacks to the pilot in last week's "End of Days" and the show reminding us about Harley and Zoe and Wade's meet cute this week, it's fairly easy to see how Zoe has come full circle in her journey from self-centered New York surgeon to small-town family doctor.

More impressive than the fact Zoe found happiness and it wasn't only when she and Wade got together, is that she's done it all without losing sight of who she is as a person. I used to think that Zoe's pushiness, various neuroses, and stubborn attitude were her fatal flaws, but that wasn't exactly true. Yes, sometimes those bits of her personality were counterproductive and they compounded my frustrations when she constantly took two steps forward and one step back, but I've come to appreciate that she hasn't lost touch with the woman she always was.

I also kind of love that she still wears stilettos at nearly nine months pregnant despite the fact she's given away most of her "New York shoes" to the Columbia-bound Rose. But I love even more that Zoe has found a home in Bluebell and with Wade. It took some time—probably longer than I would have liked, to be honest—but she eventually opened up, found love, and by the end of "Bluebell" she was perfectly happy with her small-town existence. She'd grown so much that she could even find humor in the new lawyer-doctor-bartender love triangle that the series introduced as a way of showing that Zoe's story was completed, but Bluebell's was not.

But Zoe wasn't the only person who changed over the course of Hart of Dixie's four-year run. When he was introduced, Wade was a carefree ladies' man, with a car horn that played "Dixie" to prove it. The bartender of the Rammer Jammer, he didn't have much ambition beyond whatever his plans were that evening, but by the end of the series, Wade owned the bar and had settled down with Zoe, and he'd become a better person as a result.

Zoe and Wade's relationship eventually became the bedrock of the series, and it changed each of them for the better, as evidenced by their wedding vows, but no one changed more over the show's run than Lemon. Formerly a one-dimensional caricature of a Southern Belle who micromanaged not only her life, but the lives of everyone around her, too, Lemon emerged from "Bluebell" as one of the series' best characters.

Once the writers freed her from her suffocating relationship with George in Season 1, Lemon blossomed into a multi-layered character with goals and feelings. And nothing brought out the best in Lemon quite like her relationship with Wade. The season they went into business together was a showcase for both characters, because he was laid back and she was the definition of uptight, but in the end they ultimately balanced each other out. Since then, Lemon has continued to grow in a way that feels very human—it's been a gradual change, and despite the fact she was far more mellow this week having finally found happiness, she still maintains the very basics of her personality. Still, Lemon asking Zoe to be a bridesmaid and Zoe desperately trying not to steal Lemon's thunder on the day of her engagement party show just how far these two former enemies have come, and that's a big accomplishment.

The fact that the CW refused to refer to "Bluebell" as a series finale feels even more ridiculous in hindsight. The writers were very obviously prepared for Hart of Dixie to end and I appreciate that they didn't try to write toward a Season 5 and cheat the show's long-time fans out of a happy ending, because at its core, Hart of Dixie is about happiness. The series brought a weekly dose of warmth and Alabama sunshine to every one of its loyal fans, and it's a shame it never really found a place within The CW's lineup—especially because I think it would have paired well with Jane the Virgin, which shares the same comedic tone and features similar larger-than-life elements.

The finale often felt like it was constructed out of cotton candy and rainbows, with happy endings around every corner, but it fell well within the cheerful, whimsical nature of the rest of the series. Bluebell has never felt like a real town, but rather an exaggerated, wacky dreamscape that might possibly be the result of a gas leak. But that's all part of its charm. I've never seen a more hopeful and cheerful finale, which is what makes it the perfect ending for the type of show Hart of Dixie was for four amazing, heartwarming seasons.

The finale's song and dance number to Needtobreathe's "The Heart" might have seemed odd or contrived on any other show, but in Bluebell, a town that celebrates Planksgiving, hosts a Miss Cinnamon Cider Pageant, and holds an annual Man of the Year award ceremony, it fit right in. Not since Gilmore Girls' Stars Hollow has there been a stranger, more endearing and welcoming small town than Bluebell, Alabama. In the finale's closing moments Zoe asked Wade, "Do you think all small towns are like this one?" to which he replied, "I'd like to think so, but something tells me probably not. I know I love ours." I'm fairly certain there's not a town like Bluebell in existence, and yet there's nowhere else I'd rather be.

NOTES

– God bless you, Hart of Dixie, for granting us one final look at Wilson Bethel's shirtless chest.

– I wish I'd had the chance to review Hart of Dixie every week, as it really was a special little series that I hope will live on and continue to be found by new viewers on Netflix, etc. It'll always have a special place in my heart and I'm going to miss it dearly.

– I assume we're supposed to take that scene during the music number as AnnaBeth moving to Nashville to be with George? It was kind of unclear. However, I do like that she said she didn't want to rearrange her life for a man (especially since the writers had to rearrange quite a bit to make that relationship possible in the first place). For a character who started out as largely secondary, I love the way they developed AnnaBeth.

– It was great to see the many, many familiar faces that populate Bluebell return for the finale. There were the regulars, like Rose, and Tom and Wanda, but the show even found a way to incorporate people like Tansy, Dash, Lemon and Magnolia's younger half-sister, and a few of the Belles who's names I have completely forgotten, among others. If only there'd been a way to bring back Don Todd one more time.

– Tom cried himself to sleep in his parents basement because he wasn't invited to Lemon's first engagement party. I think Tom is my favorite wacky townsperson. Or maybe it's Dash?

– Um, is Wade secretly a Battlestar Galactica fan? He definitely called Lemon a Cylon.

– Has anyone checked on Burt Reynolds lately?

– On a scale of from 1 to Pacey Witter, where does Wade Kinsella fall?

– "If semantic means donkey crap, yeah, it's semantic."

– "Oh my God. Did you pee on her shoe?"