For me, the single most dramatic moment of Remedy‘s two episode second season finale wasn’t the shocking conclusion to the first hour, when Sandy had been hit head-on by a truck while driving around Toronto looking for Griffin, or the subsequent roller coaster surgery on her leg. It was that quiet scene between Griffin and Allen in the hospital chapel, a respite from the insanity of the world around them. And the perfect place for Allen to seek confession from his son.
“You don’t have to be a doctor. You don’t have to be anything. I’ll still love you, OK?” Allen said to Griffin during those spare minutes, tears in his eyes. Neither man knew then if Sandy’s leg would be saved by Dr. Jake (with help from Sam and Mel), but Allen took the first important steps to mending their fractured relationship. Congratulations to Dillon Casey, Enrico Colantoni, the episode’s writers, John Callaghan and Greg Spottiswood and director David Frazee for a scene that oozed emotion via body language, facial expressions and soft dialogue.
“Fight or Flight” began the night by serving as a set-up to the season finale, “Day One,” in several ways, the key being Cutler and Mel’s impending outbound flight to Dallas and Griffin’s drop further down the mineshaft of addiction. An attempted intervention for him held by Allen, Sandy, Zoe, Mel and Rebecca had the results I expected—Griff bolted after saying he’d go into rehab—and by nightfall he was literally teetering on the edge of an apartment building.
Which led to this:
And then this:
“I’m quitting. Today. I promise,” Griffin told Allen while Sandy was in surgery.
“And all it took was your sister being hit by a truck?” Allen responded.
Seeing the sister he could always rely on to support him like that shook Griffin to his core, especially when she told him post-surgery she already had one baby to take care of and couldn’t play mother to him anymore. That, paired with the time in the chapel with Allen, confirmed he needed to get better and for that he had to get away from his family. The final scene, where he, Frank, PJ and Bruno took a road trip to the Guelph rehab centre was a bro moment and established to Griffin that those three dudes would be there for him when he gets out.
Oh, and Mel is staying at Bethune. No surprise, though the news Cutler is sticking around too was.
Notes and quotes
- Nurse Patel busting Cutler’s balls for leaving was fantastic. I laughed out loud at her having him paged as Dr. Quitter and scaring him by pretending to be a dead patient.
- “We can just drive and eat and be miserable. You know, like a proper family.” — Rebecca
- “Righty-tighty, lefty-loosy.” I hope someone comes up with an excuse to keep Jake around.
- Did anyone else channel Forrest Gump when Allen took that bite of a chocolate?
- Those Remedy folks sure come up with interesting ailments to spotlight. I was surprised to discover (via Google of course) that Kleine-Levin Syndrome or “Sleeping Beauty” syndrome really exists.
- It was great to see Flashpoint‘s Michael Cram drop by for a guest gig on Remedy. Can we book Sergio Di Zio for Season 3?
What did you think of Season 2 of Remedy? Comment below or via @tv_eh.
