Andy: Don’t be so sure of that!
Ephram: I am sure! Alright, I knew her. You didn’t know her. You were never around. We all just tolerated you.
Andy: Hey, that’s pretty good. What else you got?
Ephram: I wish you died instead of her!
Andy: Well, I wish I did, too, you little bastard!
Ephram: I hate you!
Andy: I hate you right back! Now get in that house!
Treat Williams (left) and Gregory Smith as Andy and Ephram Brown.
This is quite possibly my favorite scene in scripted dramatic television. Let me set it up for you.
Andy Brown is a big-shot NYC neurosurgeon – a complete workaholic with an ego the size of the Statue of Liberty. So wrapped up in his practice and the gravitas of saving lives, he completely neglects his family. Ephram is his son, a musical prodigy who resents his father’s absenteeism. On the night of Ephram’s piano recital, Andy ignores his wife’s phone calls and his secretary’s reminders, continuing to work late into the night through the recital. As he is leaving the hospital, he is greeted by police officers delivering the bad news. Julia was in a car accident rushing to get to the recital, and had died.
As a result, Andy realizes the error of his ways and sets out to make things right by moving his family to Everwood, Colorado. An already disaffected and jaded Ephram is angered by this. He has trouble adjusting in school, and gets into a fight defending his father. While Andy tries to be a parent, Ephram shows him the type of respect he feel he deserves – none. This is the resulting exchange. We learn later than Julia had passed through the town as a child. She was so taken by it's beauty that she told Andy (during a conversation about mortality) that Everwood is where she would be if anything were to ever happen to her.
Every word is shouted, razor sharp, and lightening quick. The emotions are raw and real. Ephram’s anger and resentment; Andy’s grief and regret. In a few short lines of dialogue, the monumental pain within each of these characters explodes on screen. The whole construct of family is exposed here as Andy tries to rebuild their lives without Julia. The unrealistic expectations, disappointment, and misplaced trust work together over time to slowly destroy the bonds of family, as evidenced by Andy and Ephram's declarations of hatred. However, an undercurrent of love provides hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. You see Ephram's love for his father by his apparent desire for more involved father, and you see Andy's love for his son by the chilling admission that he would have preferred to have died instead of the woman whose love held the family together.
I don’t think I’ve ever been brought to tears so quickly in my life. I got chills watching it again, in order to transcribe it for you here.
For your viewing pleasure:
1 comment:
I just realized my comment wasn't here that I thought I posted!
Even with out ever watching (or hearing about) this show, the clip was so intense - completely raw emotion.
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