How It All Goes Down
- Finally, we get some rain.
- We were beginning to wonder whether it was just a metaphor.
- Denny and Enzo go for a nice long walk in the rain, which is a refreshing change of pace from the past three weeks.
- Unknown to Enzo, Denny walks them toward Eve's funeral proceedings, where he's not allowed to be because of the lawsuit and the custody battle.
- Denny gets into a confrontation with Maxwell and his two sons, and like a bunch of posturing peacocks, the four of them have a good old-fashioned intimidation standoff right there at the funeral.
- We were kind of waiting for them to all start snapping and break into song à la West Side Story.
- Eve's brothers blink first, and thankfully go off, probably to sulk somewhere.
- Trish comes over to try to keep the peace, but it's clear that both she and Maxwell think Denny is guilty of the rape charge. Because clearly they don't know him at all.
- Zoë offers comfort, as only a six-year-old could. Seriously, thank dog she's around.
- In a moment of defeat, Denny retreats and watches the funeral from afar, Enzo by his side, and when it's over, they have a moment at Eve's grave before heading home.
- Like we said before, Hallmark should seriously get the rights to the movie adaptation.
- Enzo, now eight years old, is suffering from hip dysplasia.
- Really? Hip dysplasia?
- Okay, we knew that from the first chapter, but seriously.
- It's like someone broke a mirror in here.
- The day after Eve's funeral, Denny takes Enzo to the vet and receives the official diagnosis.
- Enzo relates his own distrust of doctors, which stems from an incident at the farm in Spangle when he was a puppy.
- Enzo had bad dewclaws since birth, and while he was still a puppy, the mean old farm alpha (remember him?) insisted that the vet cut off Enzo's dewclaws without even a little anesthetic. As if we needed more proof to hate him.
- Enzo speaks about the inevitability of a terminal illness diagnosis. His car is going to go where his eyes go, and his diagnosis will eventually kill him, like Eve's killed her.
- Sorry, were you expecting some good news here?
- Since the custody proceedings are sticky and terrible, the Twins put a restraining order on Denny. He isn't allowed to see Zoë for seven months.
- Cut to the Twins siting on their wraparound porch drinking mimosas and twirling their evil villain mustaches and laughing maniacally.
- Denny needs to explain his absence from Zoë's life, so he and Mike Fein come up with the story that Denny is racing in Europe. That way the scary legal stuff won't bog Zoë down.
- Denny also comes up with the story that Enzo is staying with Mike and Tony, so Zoë is allowed to visit him. During these visits, they play fetch, and they snuggle, and Zoë confides in Enzo about missing her father and hatching a plan to smuggle herself and Enzo to Europe to see him.
- Enzo tries to communicate all of this to Denny, but his tongue fails him again.
- Again, we feel the need to give Enzo credit for trying, because good dog, he's trying so hard.
- Finally, some good news.
- We know, we were shocked, too, but bear with us, because we're not pulling your leg here.
- Denny finds a summer job teaching racing in Spokane.
- In the meantime, Enzo goes to the Twins' house to stay with Zoë for the weekend.
- Remember that weird dancing zebra scene that we didn't understand the first time?
- Now there's a new zebra with a similar menacing glint in his beady little eyes hanging out in Zoë's bedroom, and it freaks Enzo out.
- The next day, Enzo overhears the Twins talking about how Pete, Annika's father, brought forward the information about Annika's time with Denny.
- The Twins admit that this information arrived conveniently after Maxwell complained that he and Trish wouldn't get custody of Zoë.
- Come to think of it, the timing was pretty coincidental, wasn't it?
- So…was it a setup?
- It's kind of looking that way.
- Where's Sherlock Holmes when you need him?
- On the heels of this new information, Enzo decides that the Twins are now the Evil Twins, these people who plot and connive and throw their money at expensive lawyers to wear Denny down.
- And like the loyal dog he is, Enzo hatches a plan to get back at them.
- Enzo follows the Twins into the kitchen, and when Maxwell takes out his jar of hot pepperoncini, Enzo asks for one. He knows it will be bad for him, but he's seeking doggy revenge.
- Trish thinks the peppers aren't good for dogs, but Maxwell gives him Enzo, anyway. Because he is stupid.
- Enzo watches with disgust as the Evil Twins serve Zoë a dinner she doesn't like and then don't monitor her eating habits to make sure she's getting enough to eat.
- The audacity.
- The aftereffects of the pepper get to Enzo, and he leaves the Evil Twins a homemade present in the middle of their living room floor.
- Enzo then happily slips into Zoë's room, growls at the demonic zebra, and sleeps soundly all night.
- You go, boy.
- Denny goes to a trial wearing the only suit he owns—and comes back with Zoë in tow.
- Success, thy name is Denny.
- Or not.
- As it turns out, Denny's trial was just to squash the custody battle, and he has won visitation rights for Wednesdays and every other weekend. But the felony charge hasn't been figured out, and the Evil Twins still have custody of Zoë.
- So…not as good news as we thought, but we'll take whatever good news we can get.
- This respite gives Enzo hope that Denny can win this thing; he's a professional competitor, after all.