Sweet Magnolias – Season 2 Episode 5 “Great Expectations” Recap & Review

Great Expectations

Episode 5 of Sweet Magnolias Season 2 starts with Dana’s break-up with Jeremy the talk of the town. It’s also been turned into a meme too. While Dana rolls her eyes and comments that Serenity needs a new hobby, she has difficulty avoiding it. In fact, it’s the talk of the kitchen to, with many of the chefs commenting on her relationship. Dana isn’t happy.

Ty continues to hang with Cece, Kyle is now on the mend and able to walk (at least with a limp anyway) while all the kids join Pastor June as they help her out with the church events.

Maddie and Helen work together to figure out who owns the parking lot. They soon discover that it’s Mary Vaughn, the same woman’s who voted for Cal to stay on as coach. When Maddie finds out, she storms over to see her and calls out the Wilkinson place she owns. Maddie threatens to go to the Mayor but Mary claims she’s not doing anything wrong.

So naturally, Maddie drums up support among the local businesses and they decide to team up together to try and thwart Mary and her scheming.

Helen takes Isaac to The Serenity Sentinel, where the Bible verse about the truth happens to be up on the wall. Isaac may have found his mum. It’s Peggy Martin.

When Peggy sees Isaac, it’s all too much for her and she hurries out her office, running away. Isaac is upset and ends up gardening. The magnolias do show up to offer him some support though but missed a massive trick not to plant magnolias.

Bill sits down with the kids and confirms he’s leaving and heading out of town to Castlewood. He hands over keys to all the kids, encouraging them to come and visit if they want. Kyle is not happy that Bill didn’t show up to his sentencing, despite Bill admitting he didn’t want to overstep his boundaries with Maddie and the others.

Despite Ty’s struggles to get through to Bill, he does find common ground with Cal who suggests they trade notes and discuss the book 1776 once he’s read it. This is precisely what he wanted with Bill but obviously that hasn’t manifested.

With a strong proposal for town council and potentially keeping themselves in business, all the gang join together and high-five and applaud their efforts. They all call out the Mayor’s inability of living up to campaign promises too, and prepare to hit back. It’s a big success and after, Eric praises Helen for her hand in this, he gushes over her. “You are a remarkable woman.” He says. As they sit together, Eric holds her hand.

Meanwhile, Cal takes Maddie to the rooftop where the pair exchange a touching “I love you” as well.

When Dana heads home, she finds Annie is out with her friends and Ronnie has fixed up all the broken trinkets around the house. He’s desperate for her forgiveness – and for her love. And it’s enough for them to strip off and, presumably, make love

The Episode Review

So the halfway point of Sweet Magnolias sees more drama swing our way, this time in the form of Mary Vaughn being the one responsible for the parking lot issue. Beyond that though, there really isn’t a whole lot else to write home about.

Sure we get more romance from Dana and Ronnie along with a touching “I love you” from Cal and Maddie but everything else just seems to brush past without much aplomb.

Even the Isaac situation, which was billed to be one of the big stories this year, is just resolved wirthout any fanfare. It was Peggy. The woman in charge of the local paper.

There’s little build-up to this and the distinct lack of genuine drama this season is definitely a deterrent and it’s something that hindered season 1 somewhat too.