Fragile Things
Episode 7 of Sweet Magnolias Season 2 starts with Mary confronting Maddie about her coup to oust her husband. She brushes off Mary’s threats and sees through her sudden change of tactic to be nice. It’s too late Mary, that ship has sailed and as Maddie quotes the Declaration of Independence, she slithers out the front door. At the hospital, Bill returns and welcomes Rebecca Lynne Fitzgibbons into the world. Everyone shows up to see the new baby, with Bill finally meeting Noreen’s parents. He quickly brings up how he’s covering hospital charges and other financial matters as best he can. Even Maddie shows up with some baby gifts too, including a blanket that her kids came home in. After praying for a bit, Maddie has decided that they should move forward together and strive toward forgiveness. It’s a nice way of building bridges and a good way of showing some development for her character. Meanwhile, Erik opens up about what’s been bothering him. He used to be an EMT in Atlanta. He fell in love and got married but unfortunately after getting pregnant, his wife lost the baby… and he lost his wife. This explains his crying several episodes back and how Helen losing her baby was so painful to him. Erik explains that she’s reawakened a part of his soul and helped him heal from the wounds that were so raw and painful for such a long time. Peggy’s woes with Isaac bring her to her mother where she admits she’s met her son Isaac. She wants to introduce her to her grandson but Peggy’s mum is livid. With venomous wrath, she spits “You send him away.” Peggy does no such thing though and eventually sits with Isaac over a coffee. She’s been processing what’s happened and suggests they work together to see how they fit into one another’s lives. Peggy even hands over a bracelet with his middle name on. It turns out she was 16 when she gave birth but her overbearing mother (unsurprisingly, given what we saw earlier) wasn’t happy about that. Meanwhile, Kyle continues his community work and gets talking to Pastor June about Shakespeare. As he starts reciting lines about a dagger, it seems he’s turned a corner now. The magnolias soon show up with a gift basket for Noreen, with Trotter bursting in after with a big pink bear and a whole box of nappies. In fact that last gift may actually be the most useful of all. As any parent will tell you, you can never have too many nappies! Anyway, this also allows Noreen’s parents to meet Maddie and they call it a blessing, in a rather unexpected turn of events. That night, Cal surprises Maddie with a beautiful evening but encourages her to join him up in Charleston. At the same time, Noreen decides she’s going to stay in Serenity for the time being. While Cal preps for his first day on the clock, greeting guests and showing theme to their tables (and as fate would have it, Maddie is the first one who comes through the doors. Of course she is!) Dana heads home. Ronnie is busy fixing up the table but he breaks the news about Annie and Jackson kissing outside the VCB. Dana is not happy he hasn’t told her and agrees he should have been straight with her. Dana is taken aback that they’re not arguing so they kiss… and so much more. When Annie heads home, she finds them on the sofa together.
The Episode Review
Sweet Magnolias centers on Noreen’s new baby as a way of keeping everyone busy, with plenty of water under the bridge in the meantime. Isaac and his mum reconcile their differences, as do Maddie and Noreen too. There’s also a great deal of syrupy sweet scenes with the new baby while Dana continues to explore her romance with Ronnie. Poor Jeremy though, he’s been left high and dry. The Erik/Helen romance is the one I’m personally most invested in and understanding more about Eric’s past and what happened in Atlanta is a really nice way of giving his character more depth. It also brings into context his crying earlier in the season too, and just why the miscarriage affected him so much. Beyond that though, there’s really not a whole lot else to write home about here, as the usual romance and drama continues to tick along. With three more episodes to go, is there another twist in the tale to come?
