Like many other women I know, “Men In Trees” grew on me (ha!) quite a bit in its first season last year and I’m happy to see it not only survived to see a second, but made it through the writer’s strike as well. With only about 5 or 6 episodes left to the second season, I thought I’d check in to share some of the more interesting themes the show has been playing with lately–other than the usual packing in as many hot men as possible to the little town of “Elmo” in Alaska where it takes place. (Hence, the largely female audience–just have a look at “Jack” and “Cash” to see why women tune in.)
Interesting theme #1: Church. One of this season’s major plotline is driven by Eric, a Christian minister who lost his flock early this season (he got ousted from his church by parishioners who found his unmarried relationship with former town prostitute Sara a problem), only to decide to start a new church from scratch. In addition to a lot of soul-searching as well as doubt that Eric experiences with building a church from the ground up, it’s interesting where his base of operations has ended up (at least so far): Sara’s house. Which brings me to….

Interesting theme #2: Chastity. When Eric loses his position as pastor to the local Elmo Christian congregation, he’s not only out of a job but a salary, too. Sara, now his serious girlfriend, wants to help in and she offers him food and shelter (very Christian of her), no (sexual) strings attached. For real. Throughout the season and their relationship they struggle to remain chaste so Eric can stay true to his vows not to have sex until he gets married.
Interesting theme #3: The show’s resident hottie Cash turns out to be more vulnerable than his astonishing body makes him appear to be–he has serious kidney disease and will die without a transplant. He goes on the donor list but doesn’t have much hope for survival. Turns out, the people of Elmo have his back–two times over (see last week’s episode:
“A Tale of Two Kidneys“). Not only does self-appointed guardian and official Cash-caretaker Marin (Anne Heche’s character) get tested to see if she’s a donor match, but Elmo’s favorite hairstylist Terri decides he needs to atone for what he regards as some past sinful behavior by giving Cash a kidney. How’s that for selfless?
Tune in this week, Wednesday night at 10pm on ABC to see what happens with Cash…and how Eric’s Church-building and Chastity-keeping is coming along.