Tonight on the CW HART OF DIXIE returns a whole new season and a new episode called, “How Do You Like Me Now?” On tonight’s season 3 episode 5 Lavon (Cress Williams) is desperate to be part of the Gazebos of Alabama calendar, but when a crucial flower mistake jeopardizes his plan, Lavon begs Lemon (Jaime King) to help save the day. Did you watch last week’s episode ? If you want to catch up before tonight’s episode there is a full and detailed recap, right here.
On last week’s episode after Lemon’s fallout with the Belles, she is blacklisted from the Junior League Halloween Masquerade party, so she called her Grandma Bettie, for help and landed herself a date with another of Alabama’s most eligible bachelors. Lavon had a big surprise for his anniversary with AnnaBeth, but when she had a health scare, she turned to Zoe to help her out. Meanwhile, during the party, George had to do damage control with the town judges and Wade kept finding himself in trouble with ineligible ladies.
On tonight’s show Zoe is blissfully happy when she sees how well Joel (guest star Josh Cooke) is adjusting to BlueBell, until, she learns the townspeople might have a different opinion of him. Wanting to make things better, Zoe volunteers herself and Joel to chaperon the Go Girl Tween Adventure Camp, but when Joel refuses to go along, she is left to fix the the town’s perception on her own. After a rough start with Lynly, George is pleasantly surprised when he learns they work well together. Meanwhile, Lavon is desperate to be part of the Gazebos of Alabama calendar, but when a crucial flower mistake jeopardizes his plan, Lavon begs Lemon to help save the day. Wilson Bethel, Tim Matheson and Kaitlyn Black also star. David Paymer directed the episode written by Sarah Kucserka and Veronica West.
Tonight’s episode looks like it is going to be great and you won’t want to miss it, so be sure to tune in for our live coverage of CW’s Hart of Dixie at 8:00 PM EST! While you wait for our recap hit the comments and let us know how excited you about the new season, so far! Also check out a sneak peek of tonight’s episode below!
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page for Updates
Zoe finds George at the Rammer Jammer and brings him a treat as a gesture to putting their history behind them and being friends. He refuses the gift and says they are not friends. She reminds him that she fixed his hand on the sly when he didn’t want to turn to Brick and that makes them friends. George rebuffs her and says he only called her out of desperation. She tells him next time he gets an appendage stuck in someone’s zipper to call Brick. She stomps away.
In the RJ, Joel orders the usual breakfast from Wade as Zoe shows up. Joel is happy that he’s somewhere with a routine and that he has a “usual.” He says he writes, does lunch and then gets a cab to the closest Starbucks to get his afternoon coffee. She tells him he needs to learn to drive and he tells her he’s keeping the cab company in business.
Joel plugs up his desk lamp and laptop there in the RJ to get to work and Wade asks Zoe if he’s going to hog the outlet and says Frank won’t be happy. Zoe tells Wade that it’s good that Joel is settling and that he’s even made a friend in Wade. Wanda looks at her computer and giggles – she said it’s Dash’s latest blog poll. Seems that only 13% of Blue Bellians think Joel is the right guy for her. She says what’s not to like and looks over at him and he’s acting really weird – headphones and desk lamp in the RJ…
Lemon is at the Butter Stick when she finds Cricket gossiping about her. She tells her that she ditched Tanner because she met someone better but he’s gone to Scotland and Canada to work. Cricket’s sidekick says her boyfriend is a Canadian fiction. When Meatball hears that Lemon is making up boyfriends, he thinks she’s desperate enough to give him another chance.
Lavon tells Lemon the Blue Bell gazebo made the Alabama Gazebos calendar and they’ve got February. He’s not satisfied because it’s the shortest month of the year. Cricket says the Belles will do it up to get it a better month. She runs off and Lemon tells Lavon he’s crazy for giving that assignment to Cricket since she’s a hot mess. He asks for her help and she firmly says no.
Zoe finds Lavon to tell him about the disastrous poll results. She says she was so worried about getting Joel to like Blue Bell that she forgot to make Blue Bell like Joel. She wants Lavon to endorse Joel as a likable person. She tells him he’s her best friend and he says it’s exhausting. She says she’ll take care of him being better liked herself and walks out – Lavon looks after her sadly and says no, no, no.
Lynly comes to George’s office and he freaks out and tries to get her to go. She tells him she took a practice LSAT and didn’t do too bad even though she was flirting rather than studying when they were together. She gives him a thank you gift – a book – and tells him she won’t bother him again.
Zoe decides to force Joel to learn to drive. He says he has environmental and New Yorker objections. She puts the car keys in his hand and a cowboy hat on his head and he has to ask what’s up. She tells him they need to become more integral to the community. She cranks the car and forces him to put his foot on the gas. They plow into the Reverend! Dash is there and starts a news story on how Joel rear ended the Reverend!
At the doctor’s office, Zoe tells the Reverend it was all her fault because she was upset about the poll. The Rev says Joel is a nice guy and is just new and learning his way around town. He says Joel is a nice guy and he’s glad she met him. Zoe asks why doesn’t he do a love thy new neighbor sermon this Sunday. He tells her he doesn’t take requests and his life is too stressful for a sermon rewrite.
He tells her he can’t rewrite his sermon because he has a teen camping trip to lead that involves zip-lining. She offers for she and Joel to lead the trip for him and he finally agrees.
Meatball confronts Lemon about her “imaginary” boyfriend. Then Cricket and crew confront her and say there was no Peter on the guest list. She said that he was there on his boss’s invitation. Then she tells them the vine they just planted on the gazebo is kudzu and that will have taken over the whole place in a day or two. This sends them into a panic and out of her hair. The other Belles complain this never would have happened under Lemon’s reign and Cricket panics even more.
Wally is hosting team trivia and Tom and George are doing well but then Tom has to leave. Tom hauls Lynly over to take his place and she gets the next answer right and they take the lead. He tells her if she does that well she can stick around.
Lavon comes to Lemons to beg her to help handle the gazebo and says Cricket is cracking under the pressure and it’s critical for Blue Bell’s dignity. She agrees but says he has to help her prove that the guy she met – Peter – is actually real. She doesn’t know his last name but Lavon agrees to help.
Wally announces that George and Lynly win team trivia night and they are thrilled. She says this is why her parents sent her to Blue Bell – for good clean fun. He asks if she’d like to have some more good clean fun with him and invites her to tomorrow’s darts tournament at the Jammer.
Zoe comes in with camping equipment and springs the news on Joel about the camping trip. He isn’t thrilled and tells her he is tragically afraid of heights and that zip-lining is not going to happen. She tells him she promised the Reverend.
He tells her if she wants to make up for the accident, they should send a really expensive fruit basket. Zoe finally tells him about the poll and the 13% results and that they have to fix it. She says the Reverend Mayfair’s endorsement will help. Joel says he’s not going and Zoe says he is. He says if the people of BB don’t like him, that’s their problem. She says it’s their problem. She tells him she now has to tell Reverend Mayfair they’re not coming and stomps out.
Zoe explains to the Reverend who is juggling a teething twin how much he and his wife are looking forward to their weekend away. She says Joel has a catastrophic fear of heights. She even wrote him a doctor’s note. He tells her that he also has a medical condition and points to his neck brace. He further explains that he bought champagne, his wife bought lingerie and they are not giving up their special time. Z offers to find someone to take Joel’s place. He says if it someone reliable with no criminal record and outdoor experience, he’ll be okay with it.
Z hits up George to help and he says no and he doesn’t want to bond because he doesn’t like her. He tells her to go back to New York. Zoe next hits up Wanda but she has to work and hates teen adventure camp. She hits up everyone in the RJ and Wade volunteers. She turns him down and then takes up Sergeant Jeffries on his offer – he says if the teen girls get too annoying, he’ll just turn off his hearing aid.
George schedules a haircut with Susie and Wade asks if he’s primping for Lynly. George says it’s no big deal and Wade says if he hurts his cousin, Lavon will pull off his toes and shove them up his nose.
Lemon takes over the gazebo and Lavon shows up and checks it out – he’s impressed. Lynly is there but doesn’t want to help because her nails might get messed up. She says she may have a date but then George texts to cancel so she decides to help.
Turns out Lavon hired Frank the pharmacist/private investigator to find the elusive Peter. He says he narrowed it down to one guy – Peter Galecki – TV producer.
The camp bus is loading up and the Reverend is there – he tells Z she can’t call him Rev and that Sgt Jeffries is not a fit co-counselor. He says he’ll have to go along. His wife makes googly eyes and he jogs off to find a substitute. Joel shows up and says the neck injured Reverend is surprisingly agile. She says that the community is the main reason she loves BB and it’s important to her.
George is watching his golf/wild animal show when the Reverend comes running in and tells him he’s got to do the Lord (and him) a favor. George hops on the bus and tells Jeffries he’s got to help out with bingo and that he’ll take over. Jeffries tells him to watch out for one girl he points out and says she’s a Wicca. George tells Z this doesn’t mean they are friends.
Joel watches the bus leaves as the Reverend tells him what a stand-up guy George is but that he must be nice too if Zoe volunteered to deal with the gossipy teens to get him accepted. Joel looks thoughtful.
At camp, the girls all play on their smart phones while Zoe struggles to set up her tent. She asks George to help her when she fails and he asks why she volunteered for the trip. She says it’s a long story and he says she’ll probably tell it anyway. She tells him about the poll and says maybe it’s the lamp – she says writers are a unique breed.
One of the teen girls tells her that’s not why they voted against him. She says that none of the girls voted for Joel because they all think she belongs with George. All the kids crowd around and tell them when he left Lemon at the altar for Zoe it was the most romantic thing ever and it even made the news. George tells the girls nothing ever happened between him and Z and the girls ask what about the song Then Zoe asks what song and the girls play it – much to George’s chagrin…
Joel comes into the RJ and orders a double whiskey and then another. He grouses to Wade about the poll and asks if it’s because he’s a Yankee. He tells Wade that the tween girls were cheering for George like he was a rock star. Wade tells him he can’t worry about trying to measure up to George because no one can. Lynly from down the bar agrees and says the only thing he’s bad at is relationships and she wonders why he’s so messed up in that arena.
Dash pops up and says – you mean you don’t know! He tells Joel and Lynly the George and Zoe love story.
Lavon finds Lemon and tells her the gazebo looks great and asks if she’s okay. She says that Peter might be imaginary. She means that what if it was only supposed to be one magical night. Meatball hides in the shrubs looking at Lemon when a scheming Belle finds him. She says she can help him get Lemon’s attention.
Zoe asks about the song and George says that the song was about how much he hated her and he doesn’t know why anyone thought it was romantic. He tells her he was broken hearted and bearded holed up in the hotel over Tansy not her and he calls her an ego maniac. He says Tansy broke up with him over the song.
He says he can’t even get a date in BB because of her and says he doesn’t want his heart broken and he wishes he had never met her. Zoe says she agrees and says if he hadn’t met her he would be happily married to Lemon right now. George says that’s a low blow. She tells him that everything that has gone wrong in his life isn’t her fault. She says he was her first friend in BB and she misses him.
Dash wraps up the story for Joel and Lynly. Lynly tells Joel that the reason the town wouldn’t vote for him and the reason George won’t go out with her is because they’re all waiting on Zoe and George to reunite. Joel says as a writer he should have realized it – he says she met George in act one and they just think he’s an act two complication.
Joel says he’s going to change the story. He tells Wade and Lynly he’s going to embrace his inner Hemingway and go to the woods. Drunk, he falls off the bar stool and asks Wade where the woods are. Wade (ever the trouble maker) volunteers to drive him there himself. They head out!
At camp, Zoe is equipping the girls for zip lining when George takes a turn and says he’s going again because he loved it. The girls tell Zoe she should sneak into his tent that night and that they won’t tell anyone. She says that she has met the love of her life and that they have the same values and he’s someone they should look up to. Just then, Joel shows up drunk!
He says he’s going to show the world that he’s a fitter guy. She reminds Joel that whiskey makes him stupid and the time he karate chopped a street lamp. Joel asks where George is and he goes zip lining by. Joel says – it comes to this, the hero has to face his greatest fear. He yells to all of them that he’s the hero of the Zoe story. He almost falls off the zip line ladder and then resumes climbing. She tells him to stop but he doesn’t.
Lemon and Lavon are chatting up the calendar photographer when Crickett tells her to abort. Lemon sends Lavon off with the photographer on a tour of the town and they turn to see Meatball has chained himself to the gazebo!
Back at camp, Joel is drunk and at the top of the zip line tower and refusing to wear a harness. He’s drunkenly ranting, the girls are videoing the whole scene and Wade watches in absolute glee. George comes up and asks what he’s doing and George says he’s going to hurt himself. George says he’ll get him and Joel says no way that he’s letting the golden boy save him. Joel takes off on the zip line screaming.
Wade comes up behind Zoe and tells her that everyone has it all wrong – that she’s not still hung up on George. He says they both know she’s still in love with him. He yells up to Joel that he’s looking good. Joel comes to a stop on the zip line before the end and calls for help…
The firemen had to come pull Joel off the wire and she tells him he’s crazy and she can’t believe he did it. He tells her he’s going to take a nap and she agrees he needs to sleep off the whiskey. George says he’s glad Joel survived. He tells her that he doesn’t completely regret meeting her and the disaster that is his life is not entirely her fault. He says only 90% of it is. He says he can’t blame her for quite everything and he needs to stop dwelling. She asks if they’re friends again and he says acquaintances to start. The tweens circle the sleeping Joel snapping pics and saying how cool he is and that they all want to read his book. He sleeps through all of this.
Back in BB, Meatball has written a song of his own – it’s a zombie song about how much he loves her. The Belles all applaud. Lemon tells him it was unique and that he’s sweet. She tells him that he was there for her when she needed someone but that it was just a moment in time – a memory to share. He says he doesn’t want anyone else. She says he does – he wants someone who loves him, his wardrobe and Doctor Who. He’s horrified that she doesn’t really like Doctor Who.
Meatball agrees to unchain himself if he can have a good-bye kiss with tongue. She agrees but says no tongue but he swoops her up in a romantic tongue kiss anyway. The photographer snaps a pic and they’ve got their calendar photo!
George comes to Lynly’s door to apologize for breaking their date. She tells him Dash told her all about his Zoe story. He tells her that he’s damaged goods but that she’s great and the timing just isn’t right. She tells him she accepts it but then tells him she doesn’t really and that she’s got her eyes on him and is going to wear him down. He’s open mouthed in shock.
Lavon finds Lemon and tells her it was a great sermon in church and that the Rev was in a great mood. Lemon tells him she decided not to try to find Peter because it was just a perfect moment. Lavon says if he does see him again, she can tell him about how she got them on the cover of the Alabama Gazebo calendar. Lavon shows her the pic of her and Meatball smooching on the cover!
Zoe thanks the Rev for the sermon and Joel says he’d never heard a sermon before and it was very well composed. The Rev and his wife start smooching and they leave, uncomfortable with watching the show. Wanda tells them they’re up in Dash’s poll and Joel checks out the results. He says they’re up to 35% and says it’s progress. Dash invites him to come to the book club reading and Wally invites him to poker night. Tom wants to know all about zip lining and Joel goes to talk to the locals – he’s fitting in.
Wade comes up and Zoe tells him about the poll numbers. Wade says there is a huge margin of error and walks away. Zoe is pleased that Joel is in the midst of the BBers and is happily chatting them up.
