Myth and Symbols in Everwood # 2 [Archive]

Minerva

08-25-2005, 09:40 PM

THE HERO’S JOURNEY
9. Father Atonement

If you saw Life as a House (Kevin Kline and Hayden Christensen) and Star Wars, Episode 6: Return of the Jedi, you have seen modern myths that focus on our next critical mythic element, FATHER ATONEMENT. Joseph Campbell explains it simply: the word “atonement” means “at-one-ment”, and it signifies that father and son, perhaps long at odds with each other, come together “as one.” Actually, it is the logical extension of the BROTHER BATTLE that we have already explored. If THE HERO’S JOURNEY involves an extended battle between father and son, or similarly, father and son’s search for one another (as in Finding Nemo), then ultimately they find one another, cease to fight, and acknowledge that they really need each other. The symbolic meaning is that anyone who truly wants to live life to its fullest must allow both the head and the heart to guide them. Father and son, head and heart, must work together in order to achieve happiness – or find the Grail or the Philosopher’s Stone, as ultimate happiness is sometimes depicted in myth.

The principal story arc for Everwood, Season 3, was Father Atonement. Unlike Finding Nemo, where the reunited father and son “embrace” one another and Nemo acknowledges his love for Marlin – all done in a few seconds at the very end – Father Atonement in Everwood is gradual, and (as we all know too well) incomplete. Hanging over all of the signs that Ephram and Andy were bonding is our knowledge that a horrible secret stands to destroy it all. And by the end of the season, we are left wondering whether the great progress the two men have made in “finding” one another can ever be restored. But let’s leave that problem for the moment and concentrate on the evidence as it unfolds.

Actually, you can go back to episodes in Season 1 to find signs that Ephram would really like to patch things up with his dad. In Vegetative State, Andy explains to Nina that he and Ephram used to play pinball machines together when Ephram was five. Then, Andy got his high-powered position in the New York hospital, and that was the end of family time, let alone pinball. At the end of the episode, Andy and Ephram are out in “beautiful downtown Everwood,” when they come by a pinball machine. Appealing to his competitiveness, Andy challenges Ephram to a game “with the old man,” and, as the scene fades, we see the two of them, father and son, having fun. There were plenty more arguments to come, but at least we could see that the two belonged together.

There are at least four scenes in Season 3 that carry the two a long way toward Atonement (not counting the several in which Andy tries but does not succeed). The first is in There is a Reaction (Ephram has blown up at Andy for talking to Amy behind his back; Andy has learned of Ephram’s poor results at Julliard and has phoned and told off the Julliard professor). The reconciliation takes place in Ephram’s garage-studio, and Andy is direct: “I need to be able to talk to you Ephram. And I know you’re getting older and you’re working things out for yourself. And I respect that, at least I’m trying to. But recently, this just isn’t working for me . . . and it’s not because I want to control your life or parent you to death. It’s because I miss you. I need to be a part of your life, and I need you to be part of mine. It’s important.” Ephram sits quietly and seems genuinely to accept what he hears. “I know. I’ll try,” he replies.

The second scene is at the end of Sacrifice (Bright breaks off his friendship with Ephram; Andy meets Amanda’s husband, John, and starts thinking about using music therapy to cure John’s aphasia). The scene is beautiful in its simplicity: Ephram sits at the dining table working on a music project when Andy arrives with a pile of books and sits down. The two have a great talk, each explaining what’s on their minds. What is so wonderful is that Ephram’s problem (“Bright’s pissed at me”) is precisely the problem that drove Ephram from his father years before. Now Ephram has been so absorbed in his work (in this case, preparing for the Julliard audition), that he has had no time for those who matter to him, and he thinks perhaps he is sacrificing too much. Andy’s comments are philosophical and brilliant: “Ephram listen to me. The sacrifices we make define us…. Everything is going to find its natural place. And your friends – the good ones anyway – they always find a way to come back.” What is so great here is that this is reasoned discussion, and Ephram seems to appreciate it. “Do you want this place to yourself,” asks Andy, suddenly aware that perhaps Ephram wants to be alone. “No, it’s o.k. Stay if you want to.” And importantly, it appears that Ephram wants his dad to stay. So they sit absorbed in their work. Did you notice that they both are wearing brown? The Browns are connecting.

Third example is from Complex Guilt. Andy has ended up in a hospital bed with an ulcer. Ephram arrives as Amanda (the cause of the ulcer) leaves. “New rule. No judgements,” says Ephram. This time, it is Amy who is “pissed” with Ephram. “I seriously wish I were in a hospital bed right now,” he says, suggesting that that might remind Amy that she is really in love with him. But this is not about Amy, and Ephram quickly gets to his real point. “You see somebody you love – like this – you remember how much they mean to you. . . or you discover how much they mean to you.” The admission that he loves his father is indirect, as you might expect of Ephram, but Andy gets it and smiles. “When did you get so smart?” And Ephram – who, remember, does not like his dad getting sentimental – has a ready quip about being a senior now.

If Everwood were a two-hour movie, it would end in A Mountain Town (A Moment in Manhattan) with Andy and Ephram looking over Central Park from the roof of their hotel. Ephram does not know how his audition will go, but if he succeeds, he thinks his dad and Delia should move back to New York with him (“I’m not saying I will live with you”) and Andy is speechless. Ephram’s explanation is the perfect ATONEMENT. “It’s just that you dragged us to Everwood so we could become a family. I thought you were insane at the time. You were . . . insane at the time. I dunno. . . somehow it worked. Everything you took us there to find we got. I never thought I’d actually be saying this . . . but it was the right thing to do. And you’re right, we’ve missed too much already. Let’s keep it together.”

Because ATONEMENT is presented gradually, realistically, and haltingly in Everwood, this moment is not only powerful but precious. The embrace of father and son, in other circumstances, would be the perfect ending to their long search for each other. But the look of utter sadness on Andy’s face says it all, doesn’t it? We know what Ephram does not, that AT-ONE-MENT is not yet complete.

Even though ATONEMENT provided the main story line for Everwood in Season 3, it was not the only one. Overlapping it were others, including the Madison secret that hung like a dagger over Andy - and unbeknownst to him, over Ephram too - throughout the year. Look at how cleverly the producers showed us this symbolically. Go back to my first example; Ephram sits in his studio wearing a shirt with a labyrinth design on the front. In the second example, under his brown sweater, he wears his t-shirt with the wheel of life on it. The amazing sub-text of “the secret” added drama to everything we witnessed in Season 3, but it cannot obscure the clear development of the bond between Ephram and Andy. The heart found the head. Perhaps it was only temporary, but before we jump to that conclusion, we need to consider another mythic element that emerged at the end of Season 3. We’ll look at it next.

EverWoodGSgirl

08-25-2005, 10:29 PM

Minerva wonderful anyalisis as always ! very interesting , Cant wait for the next one !!

I watched Fate Accomplis tonight and i saw in one of the scenes when Harold was in talking the Kyles father in the hospital there was a sign behind Harold i didnt catch evering thing it said but Cancer stood out clearly and i just wanted to bring that up to you to see maybe that had something to do with Rose to give us early clues that at that time we didnt know of or think of ... just and observation

Dowl2000

09-03-2005, 11:18 PM

minerva, in the last thread you asked if other viewers considered amy selfish. i can only speak for myself, of course, but try as i might i can't make myself care for amy or ephramy as a couple. amy reminds me of scarlett o'hara, who is not a mythological character, but a literary and film character. (maybe it's just me, but emily vancamp could be a blonde vivien leigh and if "gone with the wind" were being made today, evc would be a serious contender for scarlett!) i don't dislike amy and i think that life has handed her a raw deal and i feel sorry for amy, but i have never been very fond of her. like scarlett, amy is the most popular girl in town, but really does not have that many friends. scarlett loves tara, her family plantation, and amy loves everwood. in civil war georgia, women were not allowed to vote, much less hold the office of mayor, but scarlett's mother ellen nurses the sick and is always on hand to help the sick and lend a hand if needed. like rose, ellen o'hara is very well liked and much admired. tragically, ellen o'hara succumbed to typhoid and rose is ill with cancer. scarlett's father gerald is one of those cranky old men with a heart of gold. harold is pompous and persnickety, but basically kind, but with a mean streak a mile wide. harold was elected high rutbuck at his lodge-an honor i'm pretty sure one generally does not receive unless one is somewhat personable, popular, and involved in some sort of philanthropic activities, yet harold takes an almost perverse pride in being the most hated man in everwood. scarlett has two sisters, careen, whom scarlett adores , and suellen, whom scarlett does not adore. is bright a male composite of careen and suellen? scarlett's first husband is charles hamilton, the brother of melanie hamilton, who marries ashley wilkes, the man with whom scarlett is infatuated. like colin hart, charlie dies relatively early in the story. charlie dies of pneumonia and measles scarlett is miffed that she now has to wear mourning and that charlie did not even have the decency to die in battle, so she could brag about him, so in this area, amy is unlike scarlett, because amy idealizes her deceased beau colin. (is it a coincidence that both charles hamilton and colin hart have the same initials?) scarlett's infatuation with ashley and her marriage to charlie provide scarlett with the best friend she ever has (even though scarlett does not realize it and takes her sister-in-law for granted) -her sister-in-law melanie wilkes hamilton. for most of season 2, amy was best buds with colin's sister laynie.melanie and laynie are similar-sounding names, and IMHO, nora zehetner, who played laynie bears something of a resemblance to olivia dehaviland, who played melanie. margaret mitchell, the author of GWTW, describes melanie as a rather plain young woman, and TPTB have tried to downplay the prettiness of hannah, amy's new best friend. early in the book and movie, scarlett goes to a barbecue at twelve oaks, the wilkes plantation, where she meets rhett butler. in "just like in the movies", amy and laynie go to a frat party where amy meets tommy callahan. like scarlett, who asks cathleen calvert, the second most popular belle in town, who rhett is, amy asks laynie about tommy. in both stories, cathleen and laynie are only too happy to supply the details. rhett, whose father has disowned him and cast him aside, is not really welcome in polite society, but is tolerated, because he is a blockade runner and supplies goods to the people of atlanta. likewise with tommy, who gets invited to frat parties and the party at the ski chalet, because he is a drug dealer. of course, one could argue that ephram is supposed to be amy's rhett butler. ephram is a "total piano dork", whose main value to amy and the other kids at peake county high school is that his father is a renowned neurosurgeon, who might be able to help colin out of his coma. in order to save tara, scarlett makes a dress out of her mother prized green curtains and goes to visit rhett in jail, where he is awaiting trial on for murder. scarlett is trying to finesse the money out of rhett, but pretends to still be doing well financially. amy flirts with ephram and pretends to like ephram better than she actually does to get ephram to ask andy to operate on the comatose colin. right after the burning of atlanta, rhett escorts scarlett, her maid prissy, her son wade, melanie, and melanie's newborn son wade back to tara. rhett leaves scarlett to join the confederate army at the eleventh hour. if scarlett had just said "no rhett, don't go!" rhett would have stayed. when ephram told amy to go back inside for colin's welcome home party, was he secretly or subconsciously hoping amy would say "no ephram, i want to be with you"? there is also madison. please, please, please, please do not think i am in any way, shape, or form implying madison is a prostitute, but from a GWTW perspective is madison supposed to be belle watling, atlanta's madame with a heart of gold? it really is not an insult. belle is one of the book and movie's most sympathetic characters and the book kind of implies that rhett and belle have a son together. belle tells melanie she has a son in new orleans, and rhett tells scarlett his "ward" lives in new orleans. when their own daughter bonnie blue butler is thrown from a horse and killed, in her grief scarlett is not very kind to rhett. when amy wangles a second audition at julliard for ephram, ephram basically says thanks, but no thanks and amy asks ephram if seeing "that baby" is really that important to ephram. amy did not mean to be cruel or unkind to ephram, but she may have just as well asked ephram if seeing his mom again would be all that important to ephram. one of scarlett's main characteristics is that she is a procrastinator and her main catchphrase is "i'll think about it tomorrow", while amy has a tremendous capacity for denial. in all fairness to amy, i think she inherited this trait from harold, who refers to the madiphram pregnancy as an "incident" and told andy there was nothing he could do about madison taking a powder with *andy's* grandchild and that andy perhaps really should not do anything about it, when andy could and should have done plenty about it. at the end of GWTW, rhett leaves scarlett, and when scarlett tearfully asks rhett what is to become of her, rhett replies with what is perhaps the most famous parting shot in all of literature and movies: "frankly, my dear, i don't give a damn!" after rhett's departure, scarlett almost literally picks herself up and dusts herself off and tells herself "tomorrow is another day!" and convinces herself that she can get rhett back. this is NOT prediction or spoiler, but i am hoping for such an ambivalent and ambiguous ending (or beginning?) for ephramy and everwood where the viewer is left to make up his or her own mind about whether ephram and amy will be together.

Minerva

09-07-2005, 01:05 PM

THE NAME GAME

Thank you, WisteriaJ7, for responding to my little challenge issued at the beginning of our new thread. At the mythic level, Harold is certainly like a king. But there is more to the names of characters in Everwood, and perhaps people would like to get geared up for the new season by considering how names work. It is one of the most easily recognized features of myths.

In medieval myths, it was standard practice for the storyteller to give characters names that carried double meanings or that, in other ways, tipped off the listener to their true nature. Take Perceval, for example, the knight we have already mentioned in connection with Brother Battle. The message of this myth was that the middle way is always best. In the battle between head and heart, choose a carefully balanced middle. The name Perceval means “through the valley.” It is from French: per ce val, suggesting that you should avoid the mountains on either side of you, and choose the middle route, through the valley. If you saw the very first Star Wars movie, you could have figured out that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father long before they told you so. “Vader” is the Dutch word for “father.” “Darth’ is a brilliant combination of “dark” and “death,” which seems apt. J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, is ingenious in her ability to name her characters in ways that convey hidden meanings.

One of the most commonly used devices in myth is to embed two or more letters in the names of two or more characters to show you that they are connected in some way. This idea has been extensively used by the Everwood writers. We have already dealt with AMy and EphrAM, in which the AM is obvious. It’s neat, also, that AM is the root of the latin word for love “amor.” Of course, at the beginning, Amy was in love with Colin. So the writers gave Amy a middle name, Nicole, which shares three letters COL with Colin. If you look at Harold and Rose, you see the same device used. The common letters are RO, as in ROse and HaROld. It’s neat, also, that Rose’s maiden name was ROberts.

My question was about Harold. Is there another character who resembles Harold? His name is a big hint. Do you remember Grandma Roberts (as played by Betty White)? She was opinionated, outspoken, intolerant, and very slow to accept change. Doesn’t that sound quite a bit like Harold? Grandma Roberts’s first name was Carol. Remove the “C” and add “H” at the beginning and “d” at the end. Do you see what I mean? There’s a lot of “Carol” in “Harold.”

If you have followed this thread from the beginning, you know that Andy’s name appears all over the place, so we don’t need to repeat the several names that have his name embedded in them.

Another technique used my myth-makers is to use the same name more than once to suggest certain similarities. In Everwood, we have had Jake Hoffman (Ephram’s grandfather from New York) and Jake Hartman. Both are doctors. Grandfather Jake tried to take Ephram back to New York with him, hoping to push Andy aside so that he could become the father, so to speak. Jake Hartman has pushed Andy aside when it comes to Nina, and he has also intruded on the medical practices of both Andy and Harold. Jake, or Jacob, means “one who supplants another.” The name is perfect for both. The last names, however, show us the difference: Hoffman means “a man of the court.” In other words, he is part of the establishment, which in myth is always an expression of the “head.” He is a man of the head, to put it otherwise. Hartman, on the other hand, carries the same double meaning it did for Colin Hart. And as we have seen Jake’s character develop, we realize that he is definitely a “man of the heart.” He is not practical and is very impulsive.

As we prepare for the new season, we perhaps together can be on the lookout for names that give us little symbolic clues to the characters. For example, the WB has announced that there will be a new character named “Reid.” I see enormous potential in this name. But before I get into that, I would really like to hear from the readers of this thread. What do you see in this name? Does it tell us what he will be like, or what purpose he might serve? Don’t be afraid to take a stab at it. We can have fun with this and other names as they appear during the year.

dcolle1

09-07-2005, 03:20 PM

I wonder if the spelling of Reid is significant?? That name is usually spelled "Reed". I've never seen it spelled like R-E-I-D.

Dowl2000

09-16-2005, 03:05 AM

i wonder if the name "reid" is supposed to be a play on words. will reid (read) be an "open book" or a mystery to the people in everwood? when bright told ephram that amy was "spoken for" and ephram shot back that the fifties had called and they wanted their lingo back. ephram has also referred to everwood as a place that time forgot. i find this rather ironic, because the story lines of andy sending a pregnant madison away and professional virgin hannah taming bad boy bright are plots right out of fifties movies. this is really stretching, but is reid's name an allusion to donna reed? donna reed played jimmy stewart's wife in "it's a wonderful life", alma the prostitute in "from here to eternity", and donna stone, a homemaker, doctor's wife, and mother of two on "the donna reed show." at the time, "the donna reed show" was considered quite revolutionary. it was one of the first shows to have an interracial couple who faced the polite bigotry of their friends. there were some other things the show did, but donna stone was the first television wife to argue intelligently with her husband, unlike the scheming lucy ricardo, who was always trying to pull a fast one on ricky. could reid mean that something quietly revolutionary (or not so quietly) is about to happen in everwood.

the scenes where andy told ephram about how much he (andy) has missed him (ephram) and needs ephram actually had a very unsettling effect on me. ditto for andy's speech to ephram in "sacrifice." perhaps this has to do with the symbolism of mirrors and mirror images or reversed images, but when andy told ephram how much he needed and missed ephram i couldn't help but think that somewhere in everwood, madison was very likely NOT having a similar warm, touching, and tender conversation with her mother. i personally feel very strongly the adoption story line was handled extremely poorly. even before we knew the fate of the baby, but especially now, andy's speech about the sacrifices a person makes gives me chills. it is as if ephram's baby had to be sacrificed so ephram can see to the needs of and take care of amy, delia, and his emotionally infantile father. i keep going back to irv's description of andy as a "king doomed to remember all he had lost" at the end of "a thanksgiving tale." in retrospect, i think irv was not speaking of andy's past, but foretelling andy's future.

Minerva

09-17-2005, 01:07 PM

First, let’s deal with Reid and then with some broader issues. Thanks to both dcolle and Dana for considering that Reid’s name may have significance. My take on the name is no better than anyone else’s, and, of course, we will all find out what the writers have in mind as we meet the new guy. But if you apply some standard cryptic analysis, the name may tell us a lot.

If you have followed The Hero’s Journey as I have tried to explain it, you know that myth is about an inward journey. The hero explores his own identity. Much of myth is about identity: who am I, what should I do in life, whom should I love and marry? These are questions of identity. For some, also, questions about their sexuality are likewise essential questions about self that must be answered if the person is not to live a miserable life. Take Carl Feeney as an example. Here was an Everwood character who never made the inward journey, never knew himself or his true identity, and as a consequence made a horrible blunder by trying to live as the person he wasn’t. The point about myth is that it is about finding the truth. The journey is not just a story about a fictional hero; it is a necessary aspect of growing up. Everyone has to live his or her own myth to discover their true identity.

Reid is ABOUT IDENTITY. His name says this. Think about it. We often call our identity our I.D. “Re” is latin for about. Reid’s name says that he is ABOUT IDENTITY. As a character, we may discover that aspects of his identity are confusing to us, not visible on the surface. We need to get to know him to discover the “real person.” As a secondary character in Everwood, his purpose may be to get us to consider the larger question of identity, which is already a central theme in the show in the case of the main characters: Ephram, Andy, Amy, and probably Bright. Each of them has been on a journey of self-discovery, and none of them has arrived at full self-realization yet.

This brings me to the second point that needs raising here. I respect other’s views about Everwood, but in my opinion, it is a modern myth. It fascinates me that week after week, the writers have come up with new and interesting ways to apply mythic material in at least a quasi-realistic way. I don’t see Everwood as a soap opera, and I don’t see the point of making moralistic judgments about the characters. There are plenty of threads where this is done, some of which condemn moralizing, but then selectively moralize. Let’s not do that here.

The other thing I keep hoping for is that our thread will attract people who like reading modern myths. There is an entire genre of literature represented by J.K. Rowling, J.R.R.Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis, to name some of the best writers, who have rescued ancient symbols and mythic ideas and placed them in stories that appeal to modern audiences. Their works provide marvelous parallels to what we see in Everwood, and we may understand Everwood better if we use a comparative approach, recognizing that all of these writers use similar materials if in different ways. Whether this happens or not, I am still thrilled that Everood Online allows us a thread devoted to myths and symbols. I really hope that you agree that it is worthwhile.

EverWoodGSgirl

09-17-2005, 03:33 PM

Minerv wonderful anyalisis as always , and i do agree that the thread is worthwhile , i really enjoy reading everything on it and being able to understand everwood in a different way, the deeper meaings of it and not just what is shown on the surface.

sedurang

09-18-2005, 12:10 AM

Well, I agree THIS is really worthwhile! EverWoodGSgirl is right, it is a whole new point of view of what we watch where little details take place...It´s interesting the way we try to find out some clues about the show every episode through the info all you guys post here...

Minerva

09-23-2005, 07:27 PM

THE HERO’S JOURNEY
10. Apotheosis

At the very depth of his journey within, the hero often faces a crisis. While he has already met his beloved, and has made his way through obstacles to discover his mission or purpose in life, something forces him to stop and reconsider. Maybe he has chosen the wrong path; maybe he does not understand himself as well as he thought. He needs time to figure it all out and most heroes need to do this alone. They need time for reflection and soul-searching, uninfluenced by helpers, friends, or relatives. If successful, they achieve a higher level of self-realization. This is the mythic stage called APOTHEOSIS. To most of us, that sounds like Greek, but you may have come across it without knowing what it was called. And, if you are a faithful Everwood fan, you know that Ephram is at the APOTHEOSIS stage right now as we prepare to watch Season 4.

It always helps if we can find other examples in recent popular culture. The best one I can think of comes from Spiderman 2. At a critical point in the story, Peter decides that he really doesn’t want to be Spiderman. The sacrifices he must make in his life are just too great: being a hero seems to leave no time for normal activities and perhaps most importantly, it denies him the chance to win the girl of his dreams, Mary Jane. When he tries to drop the Spiderman role, his skills degenerate, and he becomes his old dull self until he realizes that society needs him to confront the dangerous Dr. Octagon. He pulls himself together, and becomes Spiderman again, just in time to rescue Mary Jane from certain death. What is so great here is that Peter discovers he can be Spiderman and also win Mary Jane, who insists that accepting the dangers involved in loving him is her decision to make. In a word, the hero succeeds by sticking to his life’s path; he can be both hero and lover, when he discovers the proper balance.

What is nice about this comparison is that both Spiderman 2 and Everwood focus on two of the most important decisions any young person has to make in coming of age. They must choose their life’s work and, sooner or later, pick a mate. From the very beginning, Everwood has placed these two important decisions of life in tension. Using Andy Brown as its example, Everwood shows us what can happen when a man who seemed to have everything (career and a wife and family he loved) allowed the one to destroy the other. His fabulous success as a neurosurgeon came at the expense of his marriage and family. His let his head dominate him while he neglected his heart. Only his wife’s death altered his course. Andy’s example sets up everything that follows. As Ephram comes of age, he finds love and chooses a career path, but always with the worry that he will become like his dad once was, absorbed with his career and neglectful of those he loves. The burden is made greater by the fact that he has innate musical talent, “genius” as some have called it, which seems to push him towards being a concert pianist. This tension involving the two biggest decisions a young person has to make is something Ephram felt as soon he returned from the Julliard summer program. It bothered him for the entire first half of Season 3. The APOTHEOSIS phase of Ephram’s journey began well before the Madison bombshell blew apart what confidence he had in his decisions about career and love.

How does a person make these momentous decisions about one’s life? The answer of all myths is that you do it by discovering your inner self. The kind of person you are on the inside is the critical factor. That does not mean that everyone is programmed in advance to love a particular person or to pursue a certain occupation. If that were so, there would no longer be a choice. But the point of myth is that you can make a choice that fits with your personality and identity only if you have a good understanding of yourself. THE HERO’S JOURNEY is always about discovering yourself, which you do by squarely getting past the distractions of fear and desire to find where your deepest hopes lie. Remember Julia’s letter to Ephram on the occasion of his graduation? You should remember, too, Rose’s little lecture to Amy about destiny or fate versus choice: your life’s course is not beyond your control, she said; you have choices (in Fate Accomplis).

The coming-of-age tale that is Everwood places life’s two big decisions squarely in front of the main characters. Not only Ephram, but Amy and Bright also have to wrestle with these life-shaping questions. Their parents’ role is also examined, just as it was in a great many medieval myths. The message of these myths was that parents, teachers, friends, whomever, can give advice but they cannot decide for you what occupation you should pursue or whom you should love. In medieval Europe (as in parts of Asia today), parents made such decisions for their children, even arranging their marriages, often for reasons of family prestige or money. Anything but love. Medieval myth-makers attacked these practices by creating heroes who defied society’s rules and chose for themselves. In the HERO’S JOURNEY they described, the hero struck out on his on path, choosing his own lover, whatever the obstacles. This emphasis on the importance of the individual, and the notion that true happiness requires the individual’s choice, is now something that has become embedded in our Western culture. “The pursuit of happiness” is an “inalienable right,” according to the Declaration of Independence (Harold, dressed in 1776 costume, read it publicly in We Hold These Truths, early in Season 1).

What is so brilliant about Everwood is that its creator and its writers recognize the many interfering pressures that still face young people in America today when it comes to choosing careers and partners. Harold Abbott – lovable and quirky as he appears – represents the worst of these pressures. He had his children’s lives all planned out for them: Princeton for Amy, football scholarship for Bright, and the Everwood athletic hero (Colin) very much his choice for Amy’s life-mate. To their credit, both Amy and Bright showed the medieval heroes’ pluck by standing up to their father. Whatever you may think of Andy Brown (we will deal with the baby secret in due course), he has been a glowing contrast to Harold in these matters. He has given Ephram advice, but in the end, Ephram’s career goals and his love interests have been Ephram’s choice. Think of Ephram agonizing over whether to go New York for the summer or stay home to please Amy (in The Day is Done). He pleaded with his father to make the decision for him (“Go ahead, micromanage!”) Andy refused: “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

If you follow the argument here, Ephram’s refusal to take his Julliard tryout, his subsequent breakup with Amy, and his flight to Europe were much more than his reaction to learning about the baby and his father’s role in keeping it from him. Without question, these were earth-shattering discoveries; they triggered the crisis Ephram felt himself to be in, a crisis in which he felt controlled by outside events and other people, leaving no choices for himself. But the crisis blended into Ephram’s APOTHEOSIS, playing off his fears that he could not be both a loving partner to Amy and the great classical pianist he had dreamt about for years. His solution? Walk away from Julliard, from Amy, and from Everwood, at least until he could think it through. If this is a true APOTHEOSIS, he will eventually realize that he still has choices and that the big ones he had previously made were good ones.

Minerva

10-06-2005, 02:10 PM

4 x 1 - A Kiss to Build a Dream On

The season premiere gave us a few things to talk about on the Myths and Symbols thread. I was delighted that Irv’s narrative has returned; let’s hope that it will be permanent. If you have followed this thread, you have seen my suggestion that the opening and closing narratives fit the pattern of medieval myth; a troubadour or storyteller always began with a song or lines of verse, usually celebrating love. Troubadours accompanied themselves on a lute or harp. In Everwood, our troubadour is Irv Harper, or (as I call him) Irv, the Harper.

In this episode, Irv begins with lines from a poem. I searched for quite a while to find it, but here it is. Appropriately, it was written by a Black American poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906). The University of Dayton has a website devoted to him, where I found the poem. Irv quoted the beginning of the third stanza, which perfectly fits his and Edna’s love, which came while she was still mourning the death of her first husband.

Invitation to Love

COME when the nights are bright with stars
Or when the moon is mellow;
Come when the sun his golden bars
Drops on the hay-field yellow.
Come in the twilight soft and gray,
Come in the night or come in the day,
Come, O love, whene'er you may,
And you are welcome, welcome.

You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,
You are soft as the nesting dove.
Come to my heart and bring it rest
As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.

Come when my heart is full of grief
Or when my heart is merry;
Come with the falling of the leaf
Or with the redd'ning cherry.
Come when the year's first blossom blows,
Come when the summer gleams and glows,
Come with the winter's drifting snows,
And you are welcome, welcome.

Irv and Edna’s vows at their wedding carried on this same theme. Did you notice that a harp played in the background? Essential for a Harper wedding, the harp was just one more example of the kind of detail the producers of this show give us.

The reception-dance scene reminded me of the similar scene in Blind Faith (Season 2). Here it is Andy dancing with Nina (as opposed to Amy and Ephram), perhaps with some similar meaning. For the time being at least, each is sacrificing the chance to be with the other. If it is not fresh in your mind, go back and read the “Sacred Marriage” installment of The Hero’s Journey.

As an aesthetic piece, the reception scene was brilliantly produced. Did you notice that everyone was in black or white except Hannah (bright melon dress) and Ephram (bright blue shirt, not his typical attire). The bright colors focus our attention on both of them, even though neither has a line to deliver.

Finally, which is the “kiss to build a dream on”? Andy-Nina, Hannah-Bright, Irv-Edna? Maybe all of them.

Apart from the wedding-reception, the introduction of Reid proved intriguing. I’m convinced that his name points us in the right direction: he is About Identity (Re: I.D.) There are more new characters to come. Let’s see if their names carry special meanings.

For the next and all future episodes, please join in. What do you see that might have symbolic or mythical meaning?

Jskendrick7

10-06-2005, 10:13 PM

You know I have to get my mind back into the symbolism mode because I noticed the song and infact i went around the house singing it quietly (lol) to myself and worst of all it was that only verse that i knew "give me a kiss to build a dream on..." that is the only part i know (lol) so how i didn't catch on to it i have no idea but i am kicking myself for it...(lol) and i didn't notice the colors when it came to Hannah and Ephram but I think I am ready now to notice more symbolism because I noticed a lot in tonight's episode (10/06/2005) so i am going to go back and watch it and come back over the weekend and tell what i found...anyway...lol...that is my two cents worth for this week...it doesn't involve myths or symbolism but i appreciate being able to vent about my lack of thinking when it comes to this past week's episode.
LOL...
----Justin----

Jskendrick7

10-06-2005, 10:14 PM

oh ya i was so busy venting about myself i forgot to say to minerva keep up the great work i constantly look forward to your posts...especially now that the new season has started.

EverWoodGSgirl

10-07-2005, 04:05 PM

I think we are now movieing the circle threroys over to Hannah and Bright did any one else notice the ferris wheel in the backgroud of the fair ......

ServantOfGod7

10-07-2005, 07:38 PM

I did notice this....

dcolle1

10-08-2005, 01:00 AM

I forgot, what does the ferris wheel in the background mean??

Minerva

10-10-2005, 07:15 PM

4 x 2 The Next Step

The second episode of the season is loaded with symbols and elements of The Hero’s Journey. Since several of you noticed the ferris wheel in the Hannah-Bright scene, let’s start with it.

Wheels and circles are universal symbols, important in religions and myths from all over the world. If you check Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth, you will find several pages of examples, entitled “The Whole World is a Circle.” Campbell suggests that circles generally depict the inner world, or the psyche (your unconscious being). The symbolism can have various meanings, depending on the context, but generally the circle depicts infinity (remember the little necklace with a gold circle that Ephram gave Amy). The meaning of the ferris wheel is slightly more elaborate. I equate it with what is called The Wheel of Life. Symbolically, the wheel represents the idea of the life cycle: it starts with birth, then growth and maturation, old age, and death. But death brings life (think of the seasons: plants die in fall, sleep in winter, and are reborn in spring.) In other words, the life cycle is indeed a circle: the end is also a beginning.

Now let’s apply this to Everwood. The ferris wheel has been used as a symbol three times. The first was in the second episode of Season 1, “The Great Doctor Brown.” Amy and Ephram have gone to the Fall Thaw Fest with their families, and they finally get a moment alone, sitting at the top of the ferris wheel which has stopped moving. This is a big moment for both of them, and for the story of Everwood. Ephram hopes that he is getting somewhere with Amy, with whom he is already completely smitten. Amy, on the other hand, has hoped for an occasion such as this to tell Ephram about Colin and when she first developed her crush on him. All of this is simply background to her main point: she wants Ephram to ask his father to look at Colin, hoping that the Great Doctor can do something for him.

Now at this point you have to ask yourself: was this an end or a beginning? Ephram thought that this was likely the end of his quest for Amy’s affection; she was still stuck on her old boyfriend. From what comes later, we know that this was actually a beginning of what was, at first, a friendship, and then something much more than friendship. Both an end and a beginning, maybe both. Put your finger on the circumference of a circle. Have you pointed to the beginning of the circle or the end? Actually, it’s both, isn’t it? Every point on a circle is both a beginning and an end.

The second ferris wheel scene was in “Your Future Awaits,” Season 2. Ephram and Amy travel to Boulder for Ephram’s Julliard audition; that evening, with the ferris wheel in the background, she tells him she likes him. Then all hell breaks loose as she discovers that he knew all along, and she feels humiliated. Looks like the end, but, of course, it turns out to be the beginning of their open romance. See how very similar this is to the Bright-Hannah scene in “The Next Step.” Hannah figures that this is her last date with Bright because it’s the third. After a miserable evening, Bright makes it clear that this is different from any experience he’s ever had, and he is looking forward to at least 80 dates. Looked like the end, but turns out to be a beginning.

The way the Everwood writers have used the ferris wheel tells us a lot about how we should interpret this symbol. It is The Wheel of Life, and its presence tells us that what is going on is of life-changing importance to the characters. What they say to each other changes them forever and there is now no going back. It didn’t surprise me in the least that the writers would want to convey such an idea when it came to Amy and Ephram, but the Hannah-Bright connection takes me a little by surprise. What the writers are saying is that these two belong together, suggesting that their romance will be long-term, maybe even “infinite.” We’ll have to see on that one.

On another subject, if you accept my theory that the writers are following a Hero’s Journey story arc, you can see that the grand scheme was well-served by this episode. There are two developments of critical importance. One is Ephram’s gift of a bottle of wine (grappa) to his father. Despite the tiff that followed, they patch it up. It looks clearly as if FATHER ATONEMENT will be completed this year. I know that some fans seem to want a return to the Ephram-Andy fights of Season 1, but these are people who do not understand myth. Head and heart must work together before the hero can achieve his quest. Ephram and his father, the symbols of heart and head, must work together BEFORE Ephram will succeed in winning back Amy and resolving his career choice. So if you want Ephram and Amy together, you should be eager to see father and son unite, as one. Remember it’s AT-ONE-MENT.

Second point. Andy similarly has to find the way to bring together his career and his family. This episode showed us clearly that he understands this. Here is what I wrote back in the Water Symbolism discussion of THE HERO”S JOURNEY. “Somehow, both he [Ephram] and Amy must discover how to have their careers and each other; they need BALANCE, not one thing or the other exclusively. That’s the great lesson that Andy will learn also; it’s the only way for the great theme of Everwood to be resolved.” You can thus imagine how thrilled I was when Andy explained to Harold in “The Next Step” that he needed to return to surgery and also continue his life in Everwood. “I have to find the BALANCE somehow” is what he said to Harold. That, in a simple sentence, is what the mythic Everwood is about: finding balance between head and heart, between career and family, between one’s “gift” and one’s love. These Everwood writers have been marvelously consistent in sticking to this theme. I wish more viewers would get it and congratulate them for it.

Among the other nice touches of this episode was the scene of Ephram pulling away in his car after hearing Amy say “we can’t go back.” Did you notice the ice pellets on the road before they moved in for a close-up of Ephram in the car? Remember the ice and snow symbol: things are frozen again in this relationship, at least for the moment.

While they had nothing to do with symbolism, the two in-jokes cracked me up. Andy telling Ephram that, to avoid European critics of the US, he should have said he was Canadian, was hilarious. So too was Andy’s answer to Harold’s question: “you must have a secret family in Boulder?” Andy jokingly agreed and then added he had another family in Utah (which, of course, Treat Williams has).

It’s your turn now. Please make more use of this thread. Everyone’s opinion is important.

EverWoodGSgirl

10-12-2005, 10:53 PM

Minerva very interesting post deffinalty gave me alot of to think about . I do indeed give the writers alot of credit what they are writeing and the story they are portraying is apsolulty wonderful and i deffianletly agree i wish more people would get into everwood and realise that it is more then just a surface story that it really holds alot of dept and interesting aspects that one must look into and figure out.

dcolle1

10-13-2005, 09:15 AM

I agree that the ferris wheel symbolizes AMy and Ephram, but I can't see why it was used for Hannah and Bright. Amy and Ephram were linked from the first moment they met. There is no such feeling with Hannah and Bright. Hannah and Bright are being forced at us and there is no feeling they are together even when they are. Amy and Ephram, even when they aren't together the feeling is that they are together. Hope that makes sense.

vonfirmath

10-13-2005, 12:39 PM

dcolle: Symbols are the writers' way of telling us, the reader/viewer about what things are supposed to mean in the context of the story they are telling.

Even if it isn't the way we want the story to go.

Minerva

10-15-2005, 05:21 PM

4 x 3 Put On a Happy Face

Congratulations if you caught the big symbol in the Hannah-Bright story. Take a close look at Bright’s T-shirt at the party. That’s a labyrinth, this time shaped like a double P, the two letters clearly intertwined. You remember that the ancient myth about the labyrinth involves the hero getting to the center to kill the minotaur. Is Bright going to kill the animal inside him? Or is the animal going to continue to control him? For those who do not want Hannah to change Bright, keep this in mind: If this is Bright’s coming-of-age story, he has to change. As hard as it is, that is what growing up is about. I can see a lot of room for discussion on this one. Why not give us your opinion.

The Harold-Rose story is unfolding in a very interesting way, giving us a variation on the Percival myth. (We dealt with the Percival myth in part 5 of THE HERO’S JOURNEY). If the Everwood writers are following this myth as a model, then Percival/Andy is supposed to save Harold/the King’s life. In the myth, the King has been painfully wounded in battle rendering him impotent and unable to sit down. By asking “what ails you,” Percival magically cures the king. In Everwood, the modern myth-makers have altered the material to make sense in the present. Harold may be the moral leader of his community, but Rose is the mayor. Together, they share the characteristics of the Fisher King. In this case, it was Rose who became ill, experiencing great discomfort sitting down. It looks like Andy may have saved her (realistically, they are playing out the cancer treatment, and it will take quite awhile before we know her prognosis). Meanwhile, again realistically, Harold experiences a low libido (he’s not interested in sex) which is natural given the stress and worry he is under. So for the time being, he’s impotent. Everything from the Percival myth is there, but the writers have shaken it up a bit. Very clever, in my opinion.

I liked the Ethan story as the backgrounder that parallels so much else of the Everwood story. For starters, the discussion about erectile dysfunction parallels Harold’s problem, permitting a separate clinical discussion of the disorder while leaving Harold’s story largely sweet and romantic. The Ethan story in other ways echoes the earlier Everwood: Ethan’s brother was killed in a car accident (remember Colin), and Ethan reacted by falling into depression (remember Amy), requiring antidepressants (remember the whole discussion about this in Amy’s case, Season 2). Ethan comes to Andy to seek medical help because he wants to have sex with his girlfriend. (Echoes of both Amy in Season 2, and a reminder of what it is that Ephram did not do). The echoes are never quite exactly like the original story, but still close. It’s a great writing technique. If we draw on the name game, we see that Ethan ends in AN, the first two letters of Andy, something the writers often do when Andy helps someone. Also, it can’t be coincidence that the name Ethan sounds a lot like Ephram, and here we have a final scene with Andy visiting Ethan in hospital and giving him fatherly advice (rather good advice at that), in a way that we might wish he could speak to Ephram.

In this episode, two of the big mythic elements were on hold, it seems: there was no Andy-Ephram interaction, and we have still not discovered what it is that Ephram learned about life while in Europe (part of his Apotheosis). On the other hand, we had Ephram and Amy talking in a friendly way (surely a sign of things to come) and Amy acknowledging to Reid that she still feels comfortable around Ephram. As for Reid, his identity has become clearer to Amy, but we have to ask, is that the end of it? My guess is that there is more to come. What do you think?

This week’s in-joke was fun (are they going to do one every week?) Harold suggested that he and Amy watch The Sound of Music. In an interview a couple of years ago, Tom Amandes made the point that he had seen The Sound of Music so many times he had it all memorized!

namezero111111

10-17-2005, 04:25 PM

Minerva, I have a question, because I have noticed a very interesting thing back in 04x02.
When Amy and Ephram talk in Nina's restaurant about their break up and Ephram wants to get back together and Amy says that she "can't have something hanging over them constanly", isn't it majorly evident that something in fact still _is_ hanging over them? Some unfinished business, mutual love? Their reciprocated sacrifice, sacred marriage?
This scene convinced me that Ephramy is defnitely _not_ over!

What do you and others think?

Minerva

10-17-2005, 08:12 PM

Good thinking, namezero. I agree with you completely. What about Amy's hair in this scene? Yes, you could explain it as simply a requirement of her job. But, at the same time, it is the symbol of the married woman. If others think that this is stretching it, I hope they add their comments.

dcolle1

10-17-2005, 10:47 PM

I think we are going to see that there is going to always something hanging over Amy and Ephram until they get back together. I hope that is the plan.

I think Amy and Ephram belong together. Even when she is chasing and agonizing over Reid, that something is always going to be hanging over them.

Minerva-I agree about Amy's hair. I'm going to try to pay attention to how Amy wears her hair etc when she has a scene with Ephram.

Dowl2000

10-18-2005, 02:00 AM

i'm trying to be diplomatic, and i hope i do not offend anyone here, but accoring to the title and episodee guide, ephram wears a t-shirt that reads "obey propaganda". i wonder if this is a not-so-subtle message to viewers to get over the baby and move on.

is there any signifigance that in a show about parallels amy and ephram go to a mignight showing of "batman", a movie about secret identities?

Minerva

10-21-2005, 10:39 PM

4 x 4 Pieces of Me

Aha! The lightbulbs certainly came on for me in this episode. It made so much sense of what they are doing with Everwood this season. The prevailing theme is ABOUT IDENTITY (RE: I.D.) The whole point of Reid was to get us thinking about how easily we misjudge another person by looking at what is purely superficial. The real person lies within. Bright (of all people) put it into words beautifully when he was talking to his mother about her election loss. Most people couldn’t get past her cancer, but she is still the same person she always was.

If you think about it, this entire season has presented most of the main characters denying their true identity. Bright at first tried to stifle his party-loving self in order to impress Hannah. Hannah encouraged him to party and then pretended that she thought it was great. Ephram, in apparent complete denial of his inner self, had (until this episode) avoided piano (remember that his mother said it was part of him). The “new improved” Ephram tried partying with Bright and even threatened to drink beer, before giving up (last episode). Amy, who we know is bright and had frequent opportunities last year to demonstrate her maturity, has been consistently silly, immature, overwhelmed by her classes, and lost. Both Rose and Harold (until the great news in this episode) have lived in fear and denial of the seriousness of her illness, keeping it all bottled up until the ultimate release. Nina is suppressing her real love of Andy, while Jake is hiding an inner “problem” not yet fully revealed. To put it simply, everyone has been living above the line (re-read the earlier discussions about THRESHOLDS). You cannot live an authentic life unless you respond to what is deep inside you. The one very hopeful acknowledgement of this in this episode was Amy’s advice to Ephram about piano: do what your INSTINCT tells you. If you are truly into the mythic aspects of Everwood, you would have caught the significance of that.

The introduction of the piano prodigy, Kyle, carries on this IDENTITY theme. First there is his name: The storyteller’s technique of repeating a name already used is to remind us of some trait that appears in both the old character and the new. In “Fate Accomplis”, Season 3, we met a Kyle who had been accidentally shot by his father. The story formed a rough parallel to Andy’s decision to keep the news of Madison’s pregnancy from Ephram. Neither father meant to “wound” his son. Andy believed he was protecting Ephram, giving him a chance to complete his growing-up; Kyle’s father slipped and accidently shot his son, but was willing to risk his own life by giving him part of his liver to save him. The parallel was far from perfect, but we got the idea: with good intentions, fathers end up hurting the very one they love and mean to protect. So in this case, Kyle was a sort of surrogate for Ephram.

Now we get another Kyle, again like Ephram in that he is a piano genius who believes himself destined for Julliard and bigger things beyond. He talks back, rejecting advice, even when someone older and a bit more experienced, has something useful to say. Ephram, in this case, has slipped into Andy’s role and he is suddenly seeing what it was like for Andy to deal with a headstrong son. The parallel is not perfect – the parallels in Everwood are not meant to be – but we get the idea. And the similarities are not lost on Ephram. As the title suggests, Ephram can see pieces of himself in Kyle. Both Kyles are meant to remind us of Ephram. If in different ways, they are LIKE Ephram. Is it coincidental that KYLE can be scrambled to read LYKE? Remember that in the name game, phonetic spellings are common.

Carrying on the identity theme, Andy has a Jewish patient who needs brain surgery. The risk is that he may lose all or part of his memory. It turns out that he is a holocaust survivor for whom memory is crucial: despite the fact that he has lived through the most horrible ordeal of the twentieth century, he is determined to remember it. As he explains to Andy, even the most horrible things that have happened to you are part of your identity. If you lose memory, you lose an essential part of yourself. What is so wonderful here is that Andy immediately agrees. This is the same Andy whose life is filled with painful memories: of his wife’s adultery, her death, his son’s alienation, failure in the operating room with Colin, three failed attempted romances, and what he now believes was a mistake in his handling of Madison and the news of her pregnancy. By agreeing with the Holocaust survivor, he is agreeing that memories, even if painful, form a part of one’s identity that cannot be denied. You face your inner self to become a true hero. More than this, Andy is the one who is actively trying to balance career and family. Like it or not, Andy is the hero here. He is the one person in Everwood who is squarely facing up to the harsh realities of his own past. And, again whatever your views about him, you have to admit that he is dealing with others (Harold, the Jewish couple, even Ephram) with compassion and thoughtfulness. This is not the brash Andy Brown, neurosurgeon, of old.

The identity theme comes full circle in Delia’s story. At first, the importance of her wish for a bat mitzvah escapes Andy. But after dealing with the Jewish couple (and finding a solution to the question, how will Delia get the instruction necessary for this important ritual of passage), Andy acknowledges that Delia’s Judaism is an important part of who she is (her identity). He will do what is necessary for her to gain instruction and celebrate the ritual. So the major theme for Season 4 has been this one ABOUT IDENTITY (RE:I.D.). Dana made a really great observation about last week’s episode: the Batman movie that Amy and Ephram went to deals with someone with a “secret identity.” See how nicely that fits in with the overall theme of Season 4 so far. The other point I might add is that the movie deals with a fictional superhero. Ephram, even while ignoring his inner self, is interested in heroism. In all mythology, when you live above the line, you become merely an onlooker – a voyeur – of life. You are no longer living the life you were meant to live.

A last note about the Percival myth we have previously discussed. “Pieces of Me” carries us one step further along in that story. The way Harold entered into the mayoral election process, you could see that this was his election as much as Rose’s. His self-image has been wrapped up in her role as mayor. The good news that her cancer has disappeared will take the sting out of her (their) defeat. In the Percival myth, Percival saves the King’s life, and then immediately becomes the new King. Can’t you imagine how the townsfolk of Everwood will react when they learn that Rose is “cured.” Andy will be the hero, the new King. Can you remember back in Season 1 when Harold and Andy both tried out for the part of the King in the town’s production of “The King and I”? Harold got the part because, clearly, at that time, Andy was not ready (metaphorically) to be the town’s most revered citizen. That may have just changed. It would be neat if the writers revisited “The King and I” sometime soon.

clover_babe12

10-28-2005, 01:39 AM

Just an update for anyone who missed the latest!:
This episode of Everwood blew my mind. In the small town of Everwood Colorado, hormones flew with both Amy and Bright. While Bright was getting rejected the one thing he always wants, sex, Amy was trying to pursue her new feelings for Reid. After Amy starts having new feelings for Reid once she realizes he ISNT gay, he asks her on a date to the Halloween festival, which I thought was an adorable couple. But when Reid ditches her for some blonde named Alice, I was furious that Amy would be put through that again. So being the smart girl that she is, Amy leaves without saying a word to Reid. You go girl. Once Reid realizes how stupid he was and that Alice has a boyfriend, he comes to Amy’s house and pulls the romantic move by kissing her on her balcony. It was cute, but I think he has a definite potential to be a sleaze in the future. As for the other sibling, Bright goes through a major change after he’s denied sex by his girlfriend. I think this was definitely good for him because he goes through a major change and learns that he doesn’t need sex to have a powerful and worthwhile relationship. Overall the characters learned about the significances of relationships in life. This episode was a major turning point in the series for the characters relationships. Bright gets closer with Hannah without having sex, Ephraim and Dr. Brown begin to mend their broken father-son relationship, and Ephraim realizes his continuing love for Amy, while she’s out with Reid without him even realizing it. At the rate these episodes are going, this season will be better than ever!

Minerva

10-28-2005, 05:49 PM

Welcome, clover babe12. Please come back often with your ideas. The new episode, Connect Four, has a lot of the symbolic and mythic elements we have talked about in the past. I plan to hold my analysis - which is no better than anyone else's - until sometime next week. Meanwhile, I really hope that several of the great posters who have participated in the past will weigh in with their observations. And if you have not participated, please give it a try. We are friendly here, so don't worry about giving it a try.

Dowl2000

10-29-2005, 01:57 AM

the cassandras of everwood are laynie and delia. in greek myth, cassandra had the gift of prophecy, but no one believed her. laynie realized colin's health was deteriorating, when her family was in so much denial. delia is the baby of the brown family and so cute that i think it is easy to underestimate her and not take her seriously. out of all the browns, delia also has the least idealized view of julia, informing andy that julia had yelled at ephram all the time about the piano and reminding andy that julia could be pretty tough. in last night's episode, delia said her family needed help, but it was said as a throw-away line.

Minerva

11-01-2005, 09:17 PM

4 x 5 Connect Four

The latest episode has a lot of mythic and symbolic elements, including things we have discussed previously on this thread. Here are some of my observations:

1. Bright’s storyline, right now, is carrying him on an inward journey as he tries to get past his old rather superficial self into his inner being. He is obviously in love for the first time in his life. His conversations with Ephram about Hannah help him realize that if he cannot accept her wishes (no sex before marriage), he must let her go to find someone who is better suited to her. As much as he loves her, he decides he must break it off, sacrificing his own desires for her happiness. Then at the end, however, he realizes that he cannot let her go. Even this decision represents sacrifice on his part; he obviously is willing to suppress his physical desire for her, in order to hang on to her. Do you recognize the elements of Sacred Marriage here? Sacred Marriage is the spiritual union of two lovers, and it is based on a willingness to sacrifice one’s own happiness in order for the other to be happy. So far, we have just seen Bright’s half of the sacrifice. It will only be a Sacred Marriage if Hannah likewise sacrifices her happiness in order for Bright to be happy. If the writers give us this and follow through as they should, we should see Hannah putting her hair up in the manner of a married woman. A neat approach to this would be to have Amy show Hannah how this is done. On the subject of sacrifice, you may have noticed that this was a theme running through the episode. Amy talked to Hannah about sacrifice; she suggested that with any couple, one or the other has to make sacrifices or compromises in order to hold the pair together. She also suggested that friends sacrifice for each other. All of this reminded me of a Season 3 episode in which Andy told Ephram that the sacrifices we make define us. The Everwood writers obviously like to keep circling back to the important themes of the show.

2. Lots of symbols reinforced the main story line. In the symbolism of numbers, the number 3 represents spiritual things (just as 4 represents earthly things). It was appropriate in an episode in which Bright was sacrificing his own desires to please Hannah that one of his t-shirts had a big 33 on it. Goes nicely with the concept of Sacred Marriage (two people, two 3’s, representing a spiritual bond). Another really nice symbol was the use of a high place (a cliff overlooking a deep valley) for Ephram and Bright’s serious conversation about what he should do about Hannah. As in A Mountain Town (aka A Moment in Manhattan) where Andy and Ephram talked seriously on the rooftop overlooking Central Park, what is said in high places deals with truth. Like the true friend he is, in Connect Four, Ephram helped Bright see clearly how he must solve his dilemma. The third great symbol, again on the camping trip, involved Harold and Bright in a canoe on a still, deep lake. Remember the water symbol that we discussed in The Hero’s Journey? It indicates unconscious thought, as in a dream. In this case, Bright is daydreaming about Hannah (at least this is what we should assume). I thought it great that Harold asks: “Are you asleep up there?”

3. The other important theme in this episode involves the growing closeness of Andy and Ephram. Here is Father Atonement again, this time depicted in a conversation around a campfire (symbolizing warmth and love). The writers have really handled this element well. As before, father and son are coming together slowly, gradually, haltingly, perhaps even imperfectly, leaving more to come in future. But what is important in myth is that father and son, head and heart, find one another so that they can cooperate in the ultimate search for happiness (the grail). Neither Andy or Ephram can find what he wants without the help of the other. In mythic language, that is simply another way of saying that no one can find happiness without first finding his inner self. The son’s search for the father, and the father’s search for the son is really one person trying to find himself.

4. The writers/producers of Everwood have generously given us more symbols to reinforce the Father Atonement theme here. On the camping trip, Ephram wears brown, first a shirt underneath his hoody, and then a jacket that must have been specially made by the costume department, mainly brown but with stripes on the collar and upper front: red, white and green, the colors of the Italian flag. Along with the grappa, and several other Italian words tossed about, they seem to show us that Ephram’s Italian sojourn has played a role in softening his attitude toward his dad. Yes, he came back because he is still in love with Amy, but he also admitted that he is glad to be home. Andy, too, wears some brown in this episode. The Brown boys are bonding, to use that overworked word.

5. Paralleling the Andy-Ephram scenario is the one involving Harold and Bright. The very idea of the Abbott “boys” going off to the wilderness immediately reminded me of the Seasons 1 episode Turf Wars. In this one, Harold and Bright were fishing partners in a local father-son event. Poor Ephram ended up fishing with his Grandfather Hoffman rather than with Andy (who had to go tend a patient). Look at the enormous difference between that episode and this one: in Turf Wars, it was the Abbotts who seemed to be the perfect father-son team, while Ephram and his dad were still at war. In Connect Four, it is the Browns who are connecting while Bright and Harold seem miles apart.

6. I have previously described parts of the Percival myth with the suggestion that I think it serves as a model for the main storyline of Everwood. It is worth remembering that in Percival, the King (who we imagine is Harold in Everwood) is known as the Fisher King. When Percival (Andy) and Feirfiz (Ephram) first encounter the King, he is fishing with his son. Do you see how the Everwood writers have worked this motif into the storyline? As in Turf Wars, we have had the idea of the Fisher King reinforced in Connect Four. And as in Percival, the King has a daughter with whom Feirfiz has fallen deeply in love. She is known as the Grail Maiden, and for Feirfiz, winning her is his ultimate prize – this is how he will see the grail (i.e. achieve true happiness). But to win her, he needs Percival’s help. Do you see how these pieces fit together? Ephram needs Andy’s help before he can win Amy. Head and Heart must cooperate in order to find the grail.

Minerva

11-07-2005, 04:53 PM

Dana, I really liked your thoughts about the Cassandra myth. As I recall, Irv Harper’s daughter is named Cassandra. Have you thought of what that might mean? Since we learned this way back in Season 1 and the writers never did anything with it, it seemed to me to be one of those seeds that they planted with future intentions, but never quite got around to it. I used to wonder whether perhaps they intended to introduce a love angle for Andy. Like Linda and Amanda’s names, Cassandra Harper has the name Andy embedded in it.

And to dcolle1, who raised the issue about Amy’s hair awhile back, I meant to point out that there are several great examples of the pinned up hair in Season 3. Like you, I have my eyes open for more of this in Season 4.

Now for my scattered thoughts on the latest episode (4 x 6), Free Fall.

There were wonderful moments in this episode, but what impresses me most is the cohesion. Everything since the first episode of the season has stuck closely to the main themes: all the main characters are probing their identity and the meaning of their lives. For example, the Rose-Harold dialogue in this one was superb, indicating that the search for one’s self does not end in young adulthood. It is an ongoing part of life.

For me, the episode revolved around two closely related events: the Andy-Jake therapy and the Ephram-Kyle trip to the mountain top. They are this episode’s parallel stories, and one nicely dovetails with the other. Ephram took Kyle on the ski-lift to the mountain top to break through his let’s-pretend outer shell. Here we are again in a high place; by now, everyone who reads this thread should be seeing how this symbol works. High places are places of truth, but even more than this, it is truth that comes from one’s inner, spiritual being. The symbol of the mountain is found in the Bible, as some may know. Moses and the story of the Ten Commandments (spiritual truth, you see) is a great example. I loved it when, on the way up on the ski lift, Ephram, raving about the breathtaking scenery, said: Can you believe it? I’m becoming my Father.

What I found so compelling about the mountaintop dialogue is that it worked both ways: Ephram found out about Kyle’s childhood and his family difficulties AND Ephram spilled out a lot of what has been on his mind about his own background with piano. Naturally, he left out the details about why he did not take his Julliard audition. At the end of it, Ephram felt great: first, I think, because he had done something really nice for someone. Ephram is not only showing maturity, but he is letting that generous altruism that has always been part of him come out. No wonder he was smiling so broadly afterward. He is a good person, and helping someone else has helped him overcome his preoccupation with his own problems. But secondly, Ephram is also figuring himself out. All the talk about money and Ephram’s privileged childhood compared with Kyle’s has given him a new perspective. More than this, he is looking at Julliard as a goal, again. Does he mean simply to help Kyle find out whether Julliard is for him, or is he refocusing his own career plans and wondering whether he should give Julliard another try? Time will tell.

The Jake-Andy therapy had the potential to be extremely corny. Yet I thought that, for the most part, it worked as drama. What we saw is that Jake had an entirely hidden jealousy or envy of Andy, and perhaps Andy is the main reason he came to Everwood in the first place. He knows everything about Andy Brown, the famous neurosurgeon, including his giving it all up to move to Everwood. In Jake’s warped hero-worship/envy, he has tried to put himself in Andy’s shoes. I absolutely loved how Andy handled this. Here is what he said:

DOCTOR BROWN: Jake, listen. You’re doing everything right. You’re balancing your work and your life in a way that I never did. So you won’t be stuck ten years from now figuring out why you’re all alone, kissing women you shouldn’t be kissing. (then) Trust me. You’re all good.

Now before I go on, let me say that I don’t think that Andy is right: Jake is NOT doing everything right, and he certainly has not arrived at the point where he is “balancing your work and your life in a way that I never did.” (Just remember Edna’s concerns from the last episode). But what is so perfect here is that this is one more example of Andy’s discovery that BALANCE is the key to resolving the difficult tensions in his own life. We have seen this before (in The Next Step, when Andy, who has resumed surgery in Denver, said to Harold “I have to find the BALANCE somehow”). The balance he seeks is the balance between head and heart, work and family, one’s “gift” and one’s love.

To put it in a phrase, in this episode, Jake was to Andy what Kyle was to Ephram. They are like sounding boards, deflecting back on the heroes what they really need to understand about themselves. For Ephram, this is a continuation of his Apotheosis. His rethinking of who he is and what he wants from life started in Season 3 under the pressure of preparing for his Julliard audition. It intensified after the revelation of Madison’s pregnancy. Presumably, he made a lot of progress (we don’t know all of this yet) during his travels in Europe, especially in Italy. Of what he discovered about himself, so far he has revealed: that he is still in love with Amy, and that he forgives his father and wants him in his life. What he is working on now, as we see in Free Fall, is his future career. Piano teacher? Concert pianist? It seems that piano will figure in it, but we haven’t seen the end of this one.

I think that we need an extended discussion about Ephram and his music. My belief is that he will go to Julliard, maybe next year, and that he will sort out in time whether this will take him to the concert stage or elsewhere in the world of music. There are many possibilities, and classical pianist is only one of them.

I also think that on this thread we should have a good exchange about Bright. In the language of mythology, Bright is archetypal. He is not a unique character, but rather one shaped from a long mythical tradition. I have been doing some research on this one, which I would like to share, but I would also like to know what others think. Bright is supposed to be a slow learner, maybe a dummy. But in one respect, you can absolutely trust what he says when his instincts are in play. Bright told Amy that Reid is gay. That’s good enough for me.

klanunes

11-07-2005, 07:16 PM

Have you seen the next eppi´s teaser?

I like subliminar messages, and the part "to get her back" [ the whole sentence said by the narrator is "The love of Ephram´s Life is slipping away. Now, he has one last change to get her back" ] if well separated shows "Together back",you know? Anyhow, wanted to post in this thread that I really read =]

the teaser can be downloaded here: http://pdl.warnerbros.com/thewb/us/content/cfnng7_EW407a-trl_300.wmv

bwtw

11-07-2005, 07:43 PM

I really appreciate and enjoy reading your opinions, Minerva. However, I really hope that Ephram does not go to Julliard. I think it would be much more valuable for him to return to the piano but in a different way. Maybe it's being a teacher, or maybe - as choirmom speculated on the spoiler thread recently - maybe he'll become a jazz musician. To me either of these would be a better choice for Ephram's personality - and hopefully truer to the mythology* (what do you think?) than going to Julliard. It just seems like for him to end up going to Julliard would be going backwards and wouldn't represent the growth he's gone through by going to Europe, and other experiences in his life. Furthermore, I would resent the idea of Julliard - which to me represents a more western, main-stream definition of success - as the only path to greatness for him. Just like the high-profile, demanding surgery path of his father before they moved to Everwood. Why not reflect that altruistic spirit that we agree Ephram has developed recently in a decision to become a full-time teacher giving back to his students, or by settling into jazz music, which is rooted in a spirit of community? I'm not trying to bad-mouth Julliard. I just think sometimes it's lifted up as the only mark of greatness for musicians, an idea which other Everwood fans who have even more music experience than me have dispelled.

B.W.

*I still haven't settled on whether I like all the values embedded in the mythology that Joseph Campbell writes about, but it's interesting in any case, especially b/c Everwood seems to be based on it.

servantofgod07

11-07-2005, 11:49 PM

just something i noticed...did you ever notice before we found out the results to rose's cancer every scene she that she was in where the topic was about her cancer she was wearing pink...even in the scene where we find out the results...I can't remeber what kind of cancer she had but dosen't pink represent breast cancer????

and also back in like the first or second episode of this season...amy was in her room talking to someone...i think bright...and did you notice the photographs that were on her wall right above her head board??? (I wonder if Emily Vancamp took those pics. becuase she like photography) the pictures where close ups of bike wheels which are circles???? hmm...I will have to find out that episode...and who she was talking to...but anyway I will get back to you guys when I find out.

Minerva

11-09-2005, 02:59 PM

Welcome to the new posters with their great observations. Servant, if you go back over the years, you will see that Rose has always worn dresses, sweaters, blouses, and now pajamas, that explore the full range of the color “rose”, just like her name. Also on many occasions, she wears clothes with large roses printed or embroidered on them. I am really delighted that you commented on the recent emphasis on pink; I don’t think we have dealt with this before.

B.W., your post really made my day. Thank you for your kind words, and also for your insight. I would really like to see you develop your thoughts for us about how a career in jazz for Ephram might be “truer to the mythology.” At one point a couple of years ago, I wondered whether the writers were taking us in this direction, and I, like you, have read other threads in which knowledgeable people have made the case, both about the possibility of a career in jazz and the other issue, the suitability of Julliard as a school for Ephram. Yet, having considered all this, I think that he is meant to go to Julliard. My opinion is no better than any other, but here is how I think it fits the mythology and also the story arc of Everwood.

First, a general proposition: in his inward journey, the hero discovers aspects of himself that he has never consciously thought of but which are also strangely familiar. That is because, deep in the unconscious, we store experiences from our infancy and early childhood that are essential parts of our being. When the hero makes his inward journey, he discovers these aspects of himself, and they are familiar because they are actually part of his life. Many of them have to do with parents, especially Mother, who was the principal nurturer. Part of the self-realization that the hero accomplishes in his journey is how much like his own Mother and Father he is. They are there, inside him. If you are reading the Harry Potter novels, you know that this is what all of Harry’s helpers have told him. Sirius Black says: “You’re so much like your Father, and you have your Mother’s eyes.” Think of Ephram in Free Fall saying, “My God. I’m turning into my Father.”

Now to the music. Ephram clearly gets his music from his Mother. When he was still a toddler, he discovered the piano at his grandparents’ house. Grandpa Hoffman played the piano. From the first, Ephram could not tear himself away from it. And, as we just learned in Free Fall, it was his Mother who bought him his first piano, a baby grand, when he was four (remember that until five, Ephram and Andy were still close). So it was Julia who discovered and encouraged Ephram’s obvious talent. And it was his Mother who encouraged him to believe that, if he worked hard enough, he could eventually go to Julliard where he could develop his potential and become the great pianist she believed he could be. What is significant here is that Ephram got his innate musical ability and his early experience with music from his Mother.

Now here you want to scream that Julliard is not the be-all and end-all for aspiring musicians. And you are right; there are lots of great schools all over the United States. (I, for example, was disappointed that Ephram gave such short-shrift to the Curtis Institute (Philadelphia) when he was applying. It has produced some awesome classical musicians). But we miss the point if we try to deal with this question as if it is a matter of logic or common sense. Julliard has been invested with symbolic meaning by the Everwood writers. It is in New York, which likewise has symbolic meaning - it is the “real world” as opposed to the magical world of Everwood (in the same way that London represents the real world as opposed to Hogwarts, the magical world in Harry Potter). In all hero journeys, the hero leaves the real world and goes to a distant magical place where he finds what he is looking for, but then he returns to the real world where he tries to apply what he has learned. That means that Ephram will return to New York. Why Julliard? Because it’s part of the Julia within him. Do you see Julia’s name embedded in Julliard? (Does Greg Berlanti know what he’s doing, or not?)

Now the jazz. First, Ephram can go to Julliard and still do jazz. Why else would Kyle want to go there? The point is, Julliard, or any other school, is a just a stepping stone to one’s career. The school is not the goal, it is a means to an end. Once he graduates, Ephram can go in any of a hundred directions, and performing artist is only one of them. He could well end up teaching. But jazz? I’m sorry to sound critical on this one, but if the Everwood writers ever intended this, they have given us NO evidence of it. Jazz is a unique genre of music, developed out of the Black American experience, a “community” thing, just as B.W. has suggested. But real jazz does not come canned or frozen, ready to heat up. It is spontaneous, it comes from within. I have yet to see Ephram demonstrate that he has any natural spontaneity at the piano. When he had Matt as his teacher, he looked forward to learning some jazz, but we saw absolutely no evidence that Ephram regularly sat at his piano, with NO MUSICAL SCORE in front of him, and experimented with jazz forms. Even with Will, Ephram learned jazz from printed arrangements, starting with an Art Tatum arrangement. He learned to play it brilliantly, but none of this came out his own creative genius. And it is the same with Kyle. This kid is learning jazz from the printed page. It is rote memory, not a natural jazz ability, that he displays. Worse, Ephram corrects him, as if the printed page contains the formula for playing correctly.

If you know of any of the great jazz pianists – Oscar Peterson is my favorite – you know that they do not work from someone else’s score. They improvise. They take a standard pop piece and they infuse it with their own ideas. They shape and reshape it, often with brilliant technique that buries the original piece somewhere in a lower level, until suddenly it resurfaces and become recognizable again. When a jazz musician works in a jazz combo, he works from a score but you would have to see one to understand how very little is actually written down on the page. The score keeps the combo playing together, but there are huge gaps where individual musicians strike out in the own riffs, always improvising, usually in ways they had never thought of before. Jazz is a happening. In many cases, the musicians can’t play the piece again the same way, because it lives only for the moment.

My point is that, if the Everwood writers wanted to make a distinction between classical and jazz music (which they could have, allowing the one to be music from the head and the other from the heart), they seriously misfired. But I would very much prefer to think that they did not intend that. The scheme is mythical in a different sense, and Ephram is meant to discover what has been buried within him since early childhood. Julia will come out in him when he goes to Julliard.

Please keep in mind that this is only one person’s interpretation of Everwood. I could be dead wrong. Let’s get lots of opinions on this.

bwtw

11-09-2005, 06:48 PM

Wow Minerva - you make a compelling argument why Ephram will end up at Julliard, according to how Everwood (the show, not the town) has set it up. I still don't think he necessarily SHOULD end up there. But now I am closer to agreeing with you that that is where the writers will put him. Unless of course there is some other school or city or whatever that Ephram could go that has "Julia" embedded in the name, maybe halfway between Everwood (also a place connected to his mother) & New York! Somehow, even though at one point Julia wanted Ephram to go to Julliard, I am a little surprised anyone would think she - watching from the great beyond? - would realistically still want Ephram to pursue that school, given all the pain and pressure that he now associates with his Julliard audition.

Again I ask, why couldn't the writers have designed it for him to end up at a new location, a new path, that represents what Ephram would get from his mother AND his father. I don't understand why he goes through all this w/ his father only to return to New York and the mother "within him". What about Andy? And, I thought Everwood was now "home"? To me, having a new goal and destination would be more representative of Ephram's head/heart journey. But alas, it seems that this is not where the show has chosen to go... maybe it will make sense to me after I see how the writers resolve it.

Re: classical vs. jazz music , I really appreciated your analysis, and seeing how it could be characterized as "head vs. heart" (too bad the writers didn't see it that way). I know first hand, as a pianist who was classically trained and then started taking jazz lessons (w/ an improvisational basis), how hard it is to go from one to the other, or to put these two together. It's almost like night and day. The tendency is, as you say, to try to use the methods one learns through classical music - like memorizing sheet music - which only makes it harder to learn how to improvise. I guess I didn't realize that this is what Ephram had been doing when he was learning jazz (maybe b/c I only have season 1 on videotape, so I have only seen the episodes w/ Ephram & Will Cleveland once!). Wouldn't it have been neat to see the head vs. heart struggle that is evident in his relationship w/ his father paralleled in his efforts to learn jazz? Otherswise, what was the point of him learning jazz w/ classical methods? Was it just for practical purposes, so he knew some jazz tunes for his audition? That seems too superficial to me.

Thanks for musing on this with me Minerva. Would love to hear if you have further thoughts. :)

But maybe others want to weigh in on this too?

B.W.

gaiasage

11-11-2005, 11:22 PM

I have been searching for insightful, intelligent postings for Everwood and to my delight these postings on this thread have fulfilled this quest. I had suspected Everwood had deeper meaning that delve into the realm of the mythical but I, myself, could not fully decipher to what extent. I thank you so much Minerva and all the rest of you for explaining why Everwood has touched me so deeply. My experience with Everwood has only been of recent terms since I bought the season 1 dvd several months ago. The sole reason I bought it was because of the title. The word "Everwood" resonated a sense/sound of mythical imagery for me.

I have read season 2 and 3 transcripts and have been watching season 4, so fortunately I have been able to follow the symbolic and mythical references made from those seasons I have missed. However, season 1 is still very much a focus of mine and I am still digesting it. Now, with the insight I have learned on this thread, I am watching it again in a whole different light.

This brings me to two comments I want to make: One regarding Andy's journey from season one and another on my observations on the recent episode, "Pro Choice".

As mentioned, Andy's journey primarily was to discover his "heart" or feminine side through the joining of his son, Ephram so the true inner self would be balanced and whole and thus a true hero would be born. I am just curious about the steps Andy's character followed on his path to be becoming a hero.
Much was described about Ephram's heroic phases. I do understand that Andy and Ephram (Head and Heart) are essentially one entity trying to find its balance, but my question is this: Do each follow separate paths until both achieve Atonement with one another? If so, then what are Andy's character phases of heroism? I know some examples were given and maybe I missed others so please bear with me. His call to adventure was to come to Everwood. What do you think was his Gate of Threshold? Was it when he first operated on Colin? He had fears about performing surgery but in the end he overcame these fears and was seemingly successful. I think the key word here though is seemingly. Even though he operated on Colin with more "heart" than ever before, his "head" was still liking the notoriety he gained amongst the town. If anything is this considered to be a "test" or "trial" in mythological terms? If so, then was it when he operated on the Colin the second time the true Gate of Threshold? Andy's second operation on Colin was truly out of love and compassion but led to seemingly dire consequences where it seemed to have thrown this character into the throes of self reflection (Apoetheos sp?). The event seemed to have stripped Andy of his former identity of being a neurosurgeon (head) and left him a clean slate to allow for transformation. This is as far as I have speculated on Andy's character in trying to relate it in the ways you (Minerva) have described the Hero's Journey.

Now some of my thoughts on the episode: "Pro Choice"

One scene in the episode that hit me on that level where you kinda gasp and say incredible was the scene where Andy and Ephram talk with Stacy about forgiving her father. I believe this was a prime example of Andy/Ephram displaying the Atonement phase. In Unison, acting as one, "At-One-Ment", extended a helping hand to a daughter who having difficulty forgiving her father. The precursor to this act of atonement and which allowed it to happen was Ephram revealing to his father his own forgiveness.

Another scene that I think can relate to stories of myth is Ephram's confrontation with Reid about Amy (grail maiden). It had the feel of a duel between the two as knight's would duel only with words and not weapons. Reid even mentioned he respects the "guy code" which could be translated to mean the "code of chivalry"? Even though this event occurred before Andy/Ephram act of what I think was Atonement, it seems Ephram is now actively pursuing his grail maiden, Amy since this other phase of is hero's journey (atonement) is being realized. Does this mean now he has deserved the chance to pursue his true love? I think the title of the episode is suggesting he can now pursue choices in his life that are of the heart or inner self.

gaiasage

11-12-2005, 02:12 AM

I was thinking about the significance of the name Reid.

Reid is "about identity" and it was pointed out in the episode "Put on a Happy Face" just about every character was suppressing their true identity or self. I can see the name Reid as also having a different meaning but still similar to the above. The plants, reeds, grow in water thus having their roots in the deepest depths of water, yet the plant itself grows to extend itself out of water. Water is the symbol of the unconscious mind where self reflection takes place and the transformation of renewal sprouts forth. Perhaps Reid/Reed is a symbolic catalyst for all the characters of Everwood to undergo self reflection and arrive to some sense of self awareness of their true identities? In particular, this could be symbolic of Ephram's heroic journey? When I think about a reed, I think about the circle that has been discussed in reference to the Hero's Journey. When the hero journeys the course of the circle and arrives at the 6 o'clock point (lowest point or deepest depth of the circle), he/she arrives at the self reflection stage (Belly of the Whale). I see this as the root of the inner self or listening to the inner voice. Gradually an ascent or growth occurs within the hero as he/she continues through the heroic phases (apothoesis and atonement) to the point of 3 o'clock where a breakthrough occurs (or enlightenment?) and they are able to take what they have learned into the physical world again. I see that with the reed as well. It has grown enough in the water that it is time for it to break forth out of the water and absorb the life giving energy of the sun (son/heart). I think in some way Reid will enable Ephram to realize his true calling even if it is just to make him jealous enough to give him the courage to pursue Amy.

I just had another thought which is rather disjointed and dont know if it means anything. A reed is also something that helps certain instruments make music.

Minerva

11-14-2005, 08:41 PM

Welcome, gaiasage. Your observations and questions are wonderful and we look forward to more from you in future. I suspect that each of us will interpret Everwood in different ways, even when we get to know the mythic and symbolic elements. In my view, that just makes the experience more interesting. I agree with much of what you have written about the latest episode, as my analysis (to follow) will show. I also find your ideas about Reid very interesting, although perhaps a bit more complicated than I would choose. My rule of thumb is this: the simple explanation is always best. But, without question, there is a deeper layer to Everwood, and it doesn’t hurt to probe.

Your question about Andy’s threshold and path really got me thinking. If you have seen the Star Wars series (six episodes) you know that George Lucas first explored Luke Skywalker’s path (in episodes 4-6) and then went back to show us his father’s (episodes 1-3). Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader, and the son’s search for the father, and the ultimate Father Atonement, comes at the very end of the series, in episode six, The Return of the Jedi. So this tells us that each of father and son follow separate paths, and come together only at the end. In Everwood, I think that both Andy and Ephram are heroes involved in the Hero’s Journey. They follow separate paths until Atonement, which, as you correctly point out, now seems to be complete. As I suggested in number 9 of the Hero’s Journey, the Everwood writers have been developing the Father Atonement theme for some time. I really like that they took their time with it; the halting, gradual approach seemed very realistic to me. Luckily for us, Father Atonement is not the end of Everwood, but rather a step along the way.

There is no single threshold for either of the heroes in Everwood. As in Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia (we will soon see new movies about both) the heroes find a way to cross and re-cross thresholds and have more than one adventure. But I think that key threshold experiences for both Ephram and Andy were the Belly of the Whale experiences. Since you have not seen Season 2, you will not have seen Three Miners from Everwood, which is a key episode in Andy’s development. As for Andy’s medical treatment of Colin, I think of it less as either threshold experience or test than as a metaphor of his struggle to find the way to link head and heart (the word play is so important here, since Colin’s name is Hart and his injury is in his head). The story parallels Andy’s search for his son, at a time when he is very poorly equipped to do so. He needs help, which he gets from Nina and Edna chiefly, and he needs also a good deal of trial and error. Colin’s death indicates that Andy still has a long way to go to get head and heart (father and son) together.

Andy’s path has, like Ephram’s, been a quest for happiness or the grail. In both cases, they have sought love. Ephram was lucky and found his beloved early. His subsequent path has not been straight and uncomplicated, but at least we, the viewers, know his direction. Andy’s search for love has, like so much else of his journey, been by trial and error. His romances with Linda (which really began with Three Miners from Everwood) and with Amanda, can both be viewed as tests. In both cases, Andy has been hampered by his failure to get head and heart working together. From The Pilot, we the viewers, could see that Nina was potentially the one he should pursue. Andy only realized this himself when, in fact, he had learned how head and heart must work together. It is not surprising that, ever since Andy’s profession of love to Nina, he has been talking of the need for balance in life, the perfect parallel to Andy and Ephram coming together as one, head and heart working together.

These are my thoughts, as always just one person’s interpretation. I am delighted that in a single week we have welcomed some great new posters. I look forward to trading ideas with everyone interested in the mythic and symbolic layers of one of the few truly brilliant shows on television.

gaiasage

11-16-2005, 12:37 AM

Thank you Minerva for providing clarification to the questions I previously posted. I think to truly appreciate the brilliance of this show is to have someone like yourself offer interpretations that parallel its brilliance.

What I find most brilliant about this show is how the overall theme of the entire series was established in the "Pilot" episode with the use of just two words: "Distraught heart". The emotional exchange between Andy and Delia regarding his distraught heart sure did pull the heartstrings of viewers but it also laid the foundation for what is to come. The true brilliance lies in next scene which is the final scene of the "Pilot". Off in the distance, Andy hears music. It is a beckoning call for him to follow. A beckoning call that leads him to his son (heart). Andy and Ephram's exchange is somewhat tentative and strained but nonetheless, a glimmer of hope does shine through when Ephram saids, "Mom used to say I had your hands". And finally the ending narration summed it up with: "And there they sat, Father and Son, like they were sitting together for the first time..." Let the journey begin! Have I said that I think this show is brilliant. :)

Minerva

11-16-2005, 01:37 PM

4 x 7 Pro Choice

This episode, despite its flaws, will rank (with The Unveiling, The Day is Done, and a handful of others) as one of the milestones in the telling of the Everwood story. Ever since The Pilot, Andy and Ephram have been searching for one another, fighting and distrusting at times, tentatively making peace at others, in the same way that any young person, coming of age, struggles to discover whether he should follow his heart or his head in confronting life’s big decisions. The story of father and son in conflict is a grand metaphor for any individual’s real experience of growing up. As of this latest episode, Ephram has grown up, showing it symbolically by telling his father that he forgave him long ago for his failure to tell him of Madison’s pregnancy. This is the mythic Father Atonement, a huge step in the hero’s journey, or more precisely, the heroes’ journey, since both Ephram and Andy are the heroes of the Everwood story. As gaiasage has suggested, father and son are now united; they are AT-ONE, to use Joseph Campbell’s way of putting it (or as we might say in ordinary language, they are as one). We can now expect that they will cooperate in their respective searches for happiness, love and fulfillment. That means, symbolically, that they both will balance head and heart in facing life’s challenges. Balance is the key word.

Besides Father Atonement, this episode gave us a quite deep philosophical portrayal of what it means to forgive another, or more precisely, for a child to forgive a parent. There are three parallel stories here: Hannah and her mother, the would-be kidney donor and her father, and (the main one) Ephram and Andy. All three raise one of the enduring themes of Everwood: are our lives shaped by fate or by conscious choices? In each case, the parent made a decision that he or she thought was in the best interest of the son or daughter. When a parent makes a decision for an offspring, does he or she deny the child a choice in the matter, or is the parent simply exercising the choice for the child, doing what the child would have done? It’s a big, philosophical question. Whether you agree with the question or not, the Everwood writers ask us to consider this: if the child had, in each case, been able to make the decision, would it have been any different?

The title gives us a big clue: this is not Pro Choice in the sense we usually use that term to refer to a woman’s right to choose whether to carry a fetus or not. In that case, “Pro” means “in favor of.” But there is another meaning to “Pro.” It can mean “ in place of” or “instead of” as in the word “pronoun,” meaning a word that we use “in place of a noun.” Here, each parent seeks to protect their child from something that would not only upset them but probably alter their lives for the worse. In each case, the child eventually finds out, and is angry. To forgive the parent, each has to consider not only whether any purpose can be served by harboring resentment or hatred, but also (and this is what is toughest to do) whether the parent’s decision is identical to the decision the child would have made, given the opportunity to do so.

The easiest example to follow is Hannah’s. She thought her mother sent her away to avoid seeing her father die. Her mother convinces her that, in fact, she (Hannah) had made it clear that she could not handle the horror of her father’s decline. In other words, leaving home for Everwood was really Hannah’s decision. Hannah understands this quickly and asks her mother’s forgiveness for leaving her to face the horrible ordeal alone, while she forgives her mother for keeping her in the dark. Mutual responsibility, mutual forgiveness.

The story of the kidney patient and his daughter presents the problem another way. I found this story rather hard to believe, but that shouldn’t really matter. The point is this: the daughter was very willing to donate a kidney to save someone she loved. It is no stretch to believe she would have done the same for a twin in the first hours of infancy, except of course that no one so young could make such a decision. The father’s decision was very much the decision the daughter would have made. But there is more: the twin’s death was too much for the mother, and she deserted, something the father thought best to keep from his living daughter to save her the guilt and helplessness she would have felt. Here again, this daughter needed to see that her life’s course required such a decision; she would not be where she is today without it. Maybe Ephram’s talk with her will help her see this.

Which brings us to Ephram and Andy. We really don’t know much about Ephram’s experience in Europe although he hinted that he figured out a lot in his sojourn in a Tuscan villa. It obviously was part of his Apotheosis, his self-realization process. We do know that he came to realize how deeply he loves Amy, and presumably will forever. That in itself had to change much of his feelings about Andy’s secrecy. If Ephram had to choose Madison or Amy, even if Madison was pregnant with Ephram’s child, the choice would be Amy. That means that Ephram would not have married Madison (Everwood has presented numerous examples of bad marriages based on people’s failure to understand themselves), and at best Ephram could have helped Madison decide to have the baby and give it up for adoption to good people who would make good parents. On her own, Madison did this. In other words, Andy’s decision allowed things to turn out much as they would have had Ephram made the decision himself. We cannot know what thought processes Ephram went through to forgive his father, but this would have had to be part of it. And, of course, Ephram would have had to acknowledge to himself his own very considerable role in the course of events. He had unprotected sex with someone he did not really know all that well, and with whom he had never even discussed the issue of birth control; and the unprotected sex was no accident since it happened more than once. The Everwood writers have chosen not moralize about this, but unprotected sex has consequences. It would be hard for Ephram to lay all the blame on Andy if he squarely faced his own quite naïve one-sided romance with Madison.

Joseph Campbell discusses this issue of free will versus accident or fate in The Power of Myth. He acknowledges that life often confronts us with accidents or chance situations. “The problem,” he writes, “is not to blame or explain but to handle the life that arises.” And he concludes: “The best advice is to take it all as if it had been of your intention – with that, you evoke the participation of your will.” Now, that may be hard to get your head around, but in the three examples presented to us in Pro Choice, three characters had to consider accepting a parent’s choice “as if” it were their own. To forgive the parent, the child had to accept the choice as an essential part of their life’s journey.

O.K. The philosophy will not appeal to everyone, but there it is. On a simpler plane, did you see the use of the mirror symbol in this episode? Jake calls Nina to say he can’t be home early (mirror shot shows Nina answering the phone), and then Jake rushes over to say he needs a couple of more weeks before he can spend time with her (mirror shot as Jake rushes out of the restaurant). You know what that means! Jake is lying. I’m sure we will see more of this saga.

Minerva

11-22-2005, 04:23 PM

4 x 8 So Long, Farewell

It’s hard to imagine how one Everwood episode, so simple and straightforward on the surface, could be so complex and challenging below the surface. If you are interested only in the surface, this one may have disappointed you. On the other hand, if you have got used to digging deeply, this episode is loaded. Strictly speaking, it is not about the hero’s journey, and yet everything that happens seems vaguely familiar. That is because it makes extensive use of one of the Everwood writers’ favorite techniques, parallel stories: in this case, three little ones that tie together the elements of the single episode, and two huge ones, that relate to the overall epic story arc of Everwood.

Let’s start with the big ones because Everwood is chiefly about Andy and Ephram, and the major parallels relate to them. Andy’s story is about a big-city doctor who comes to Everwood to find himself. The last episode (Pro Choice) shows that he has done so (finding his son symbolizes the integration of Andy’s personality, head and heart now function as one). But what if Andy had not succeeded? Jake’s story shows us how it all might have been. Big city doctor comes to Everwood, falls in love with the town and with Nina (sound familiar?), but cannot find the formula for balancing work and home life, “me first” versus “others first.” His failure leads to immature choices and self-destructive behavior. Freud would say, here is an example of a nonintegrated personality. The childish id is not controlled by the socialized ego. In the mythic language we are used to, that’s the same as saying that head and heart do not work together. Just like the Colin story with which Everwood began, Jake is an example of someone who refused the Call. He can’t become a hero (how ironic here that Edna says that he is one).

The other big parallel is Hannah-Ephram. Ask yourself this question: what if Ephram had been a girl? She/he arrives in Everwood looking like a geek (purple tam, purple hair), with no social graces and no friends, and little parental support (dead, dying, or absent). In no time, she/he has fallen madly in love with one of the most popular kids in high school, and that kid has little time for the geek. Somehow, the new kid overcomes the barrier and eventually becomes best friends with one of the popular kids and girlfriend/boyfriend of the other. Are you still with me? Hannah has been an Ephram surrogate from the beginning. Her story parallels Ephram’s experience in Everwood to the point where now, as she prepares to leave, her leaving evokes all the same feelings of hurt and abandonment felt by Amy and Bright when Ephram left them for Europe in search of himself. Isn’t it interesting that Ephram here urges Hannah to stay for Amy’s sake: “You can’t run away from your problems, believe me.”

Do you remember back at the beginning of Season 2, Bright urged Amy to pursue Ephram, giving her all the reasons why she should, and then joked that maybe he should go after Ephram himself? And then, once Bright had got to know Hannah and was complimenting her on what he liked about her, he said: “You’ve got that whole Ephram thing going on.” Some fans thought the writers were going to make Bright into a gay character. Instead, they have given Bright a romance with a girl who reminds him (and us) of Ephram. As with all parallels, this is not supposed to be exact, but rather to make the viewer think: this is vaguely familiar. And so it is with Amy and Hannah. They are best friends, just as Bright and Ephram are. But in actual fact, the qualities Amy sees in Hannah – loyalty, sensitivity, and the ability to understand her – are the very qualities that first brought her to Ephram, as a best friend and then as a lover. So, when Amy and Ephram sit in his apartment and discuss Hannah, and Ephram says” “I get it, this is not about me,” you should be saying: “Wrong, Ephram, this is all about you.” Hannah has been a surrogate Ephram for Amy. He is her best friend. No wonder she feels so comfortable talking to him as she does here, and no wonder she absent-mindedly rests her head on his shoulder. This is what has always been so wonderful about the Amy-Ephram relationship: much more than amor or romantic love, much more than sex; quite beyond these, a genuine friendship based on complete mutual understanding and trust, all at the unconscious level. Don’t you want to scream: wake up and see what you have?

The smaller parallel stories here involve Hannah and Bright, Jake and Cliff, and Harold and Andy. Each deals with similar material and they inform one another. The common theme is (sorry, Freud again), personality integration. The old pre-Hannah Bright was, to put it bluntly, an animal. Yes, animals are fun, but this one needed taming. His ego (society’s rules and expectations) needed to get control of his id (raw, animal instincts). This is what Hannah gave him: personality integration. Bright not only acknowledges this fact (as he talks to his mother in this episode), he fears what he may “convert” (revert) to, without Hannah. (Do you remember Hannah once telling Bright that he needed to develop his “censor”? That’s Freudian language for ego controlling id.)

The Jake and Cliff story illustrates the problem of a nonintegrated personality in its most extreme form. In the scene where Jake and Cliff reach the top of the mountain, they are deep in conversation about Jake’s life in Everwood. This is one of those mountain-top conversations; we should see truth here. What we see is almost a split personality in Jake: he is still a kid, seeking fun and danger; ambitious to make a million by opening Dr. Jake botox clinics all across the country; and at the same time, aware that he is spending all of his time working, neglecting Nina, and risking his health and his future. “You’re right,” he says to Cliff. “I’m glad I’m talking to you.” This is an old mythic technique, commonly used in fairy tales: Jake is really talking to himself, id is having a conversation with ego, and the truth is that id (Cliff) is the more powerful force within him. Nonintegrated personality. (Isn’t Cliff a great name for this accident waiting to happen?)

Andy and Harold complete the parallels: two mature men who presumably have it all together. Yet, to illustrate that all men have a little boy inside them, they fantasize about reverting to the risky pastimes of youth by planning to sky-dive. Would they really have done it? I don’t think so: in both cases ego is much stronger than id. But it added to the ongoing drama to have Nina plead with Andy to come to his senses. And it completed the comparison that we are supposed to make between Andy and Jake, the one who finally has his act together and the other who seems headed for complete self-destruction. Joseph Campbell says that such people with nonintegrated personalities face a catastrophic crack-up. Jake’s painful examination of the Percocet bottle suggests that he has been down this road before, and can’t help himself. He is wearing a brown jacket, as if to remind us this could have been Andy.

“So Long, Farewell” carries on the major theme of Season 4. It deals with identity. Like so many ancient myths that explored human psychology before the science of psychology was even invented, Everwood examines the human psyche and how it works. At its simplest, it deals with head and heart. But obviously bringing together these two essential aspects of personality is a complex matter.

Please let me know if you followed this, and what you think. It’s just one person’s interpretation.

gaiasage

11-22-2005, 08:03 PM

Thank you Minerva for this incredible post on "So Long, Farewell". Quite frankly, I did not know what to make of this episode. When the mountain-top scene occurred between Jake and Cliff, I was looking for truth symbology in Jake's words. I recognized the inner struggle Jake was having between head (ambition) and heart (family), but I did not recognize it in terms of Freudian nonpersonality integration (the ego conversing with the id whereby the id is the controlling force) This perspective gives much deeper meaning of the scene. Could the significance of the name Cliff also refer to Jake's predicament? At this point, Jake is symbolically standing on the edge of a cliff in terms of life decisions. He could be self-destructive (which seems to be the likely choice) or he could ask for help. Your impressive analysis of equating Jake to what Andy could have been was highly insightful. This is something I would have never known if you did not point it out.

The scene between Andy and Nina where she pleaded for him to reconsider his priorities (family and her) made me cheer for Andy, because at that moment I could truly see how much his character had grown. This was evidenced by how he quickly accepted her request to not jeopardize his life and letting the "id" die a quiet death.

Let me preface this paragraph by saying I have never really cared for Bright/Hannah storyline, but after reading what you wrote I have a greater appreciation for Hannah and the role her character is playing in the overall Everwood story arc. There are many more dimensions to this character than I realized. It was mentioned that the name Hannah is similar to the name Bright in that they both signify "reflection". This gave them each the purpose of helping o