Summary
Renovations at the spa are extended in “Give Drink to the Thirsty”, but Maddie and Cal are moving faster than ever.
This recap of Sweet Magnolias season 1, episode 3, “Give Drink to the Thirsty” contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
Check out our spoiler-free season review.
It’s a bit of a pity party for poor old Noreen in this episode, but there’s plenty more to fret over. Let’s talk about it.
Maddie
Maddie’s so busy interviewing prospective trainers for the spa gym in “Give Drink to the Thirsty” that she leaves Ty at baseball practice, which is probably just as well since it gives Cal an excuse to take him home and exchange flirty banter with Maddie. Less flirty, though, is that Bill approached him and organized another sitdown about Ty, this one including him. Not exactly the height of romance, I admit, but Cal at least lets her know that he lives nearby.
At that meeting, Cal tells Maddie and Bill outright that they’re affecting his game. He recommends they don’t attend together, but Bill refuses to alternate. Classic Bill. Ty doesn’t take this news particularly well, and he certainly doesn’t fare well during the game when Noreen — wearing a “Team TY” t-shirt — won’t stop noisily cheering for him.
Noreen suffers pretty badly in Sweet Magnolias episode 3; neither Bill nor Ty want her at the games, she has a tense though not exactly hostile encounter with Maddie, and her only ally is Kyle. It’s a shame since Noreen seems pretty earnest and pleasant; she just fell into a situation that has led to her being scapegoated by the entire close-knit community.
Noreen is also saddled with a man who doesn’t seem to care much about her whereas Maddie gets to enjoy Cal stripping down in her driveway after getting saturated while fixing her sink. It might have been awkward for Ty, but it was great fun for the neighbors.
Dana Sue
Things aren’t going well for Dana Sue in Sweet Magnolias episode 3 — in the opening scene she gets served by Brad for unfair dismissal, and he promises, in front of a packed restaurant no less, that he’s going to ruin her. Luckily, Erik is on-hand to take him outside and give him a short, sharp left for his trouble.
Dana Sue, though, is increasingly stressed — it takes a pep talk from Maddie just for her to get back to an even keel. Things aren’t going well with Annie, either, who thinks Dana Sue overreacts and cuts people out for one mistake; Brad, her dad, etc. This scene didn’t really take for me since we saw that Brad made a pretty severe mistake, and can assume from what we know about Dana Sue that Annie’s dad did similarly.
Helen
The pipes in the spa are corroded upstairs, which is a better proposition than snakes. Either way, though, the building’s a mess, and no matter how much overtime gets paid, the chances of opening for business in a month are increasingly slim. Once again, Helen seems to get short shrift in Sweet Magnolias season 1, episode 3, but when she sits down for a chat with Pastor June we at least find out what the episode was named after — “Give Drink to the Thirsty” was an early business venture. But if you’re always the one doing the giving, who’s going to provide when you need a drink yourself?
