Review: A mother’s touch on Saving Hope

Mother’s Day seems to have come early for the Saving Hope crew.

Wednesday’s all-new episode, “Fearless,” put matriarchs front and centre in the action (as moms rightfully deserve to be), as some end-of-pregnancy thoughts made Alex ponder the type of mother she’ll be and the poor relationship with her own mother, one she hadn’t even shared the pregnancy news with.

Of course, whenever Alex has something going on in her life, there always seems to be a medical storyline that coincides with it. Cue the world’s most rude mother. Theresa (if I caught her name right) was a real piece-of-work, bitter about the way her life and two daughters (who seemed perfectly normal on all fronts) turned out. It only took Theresa’s comment about throwing Alex down a flight of stairs to terminate her pregnancy for me to quickly realize no one would be able to reason with her all night, which was quickly proven the case. Yet, somehow, her two daughters were able to put their mother’s baggage aside and stay by her side throughout her hospital stay, which included trying to command nurses to take her to the operating room and nearly dying after surgery.

If Theresa’s daughters were able to put aside the angst with their own mother, Alex could try with hers, right? Wrong, although I wish we could’ve actually heard the conversation the two had rather than just see Alex crying over it. Despite being shut out from the actual conversation, at least we were given some context to the rocky relationship the duo share through Alex’s conversations with Joel and Dana, which only reiterated the support system Alex has with her hospital friends.

Speaking of Joel, let’s be thankful he didn’t go through with his seriously dumb plan to pop the question to Alex. However, it seems everyone in the hospital now knows his intentions (not the smartest idea carrying the ring in your scrubs, buddy), which means sooner rather than later that news will probably travel to Charlie. Other than nearly making the biggest mistake of his life, Joel helped save the life of a young hockey player named Hayden involved in a car accident. Joel did a great thing for the boy, but I really didn’t agree with his decision to listen to Hayden’s girlfriend and lie to his face that his best friend, Shawn, had also died in the accident.

Naturally the sprit of the best friend was what Charlie was dealing with predominantly, although Shawn seemed like a really cool dude–minus the texting and driving offense. And Shawn was able to appeal to Charlie’s good nature and help convince Joel and Shahir they could repair Hayden’s back so he wouldn’t be paralyzed. (Has Charlie ever really said no to a ghost’s request before? Can Charlie say no to anyone?)

The most intriguing storyline of the night, however, came when Sydney’s fiancé, Herschel, checked himself in to the hospital, believing he was dying. First of all, I forgot Sydney even had a fiancé, what with her fling with Maggie. The two had zero chemistry together, which was another obvious sign that Sydney shouldn’t have been marrying him. Luckily, Sydney came to her senses and came clean to Herschel that she was gay, and although I don’t blame him for being upset with her, there was no better thing for her to do for herself. And hey, maybe Hershel was just upset that he just had a tapeworm pulled out of his nose.

Will Sydney and Maggie become a thing? Will Alex make a final choice between Joel and Charlie? Will the gang pass their medical boards? The season finale is almost upon us, so expect these questions and more to be addressed as Alex gets set to head into labour.

Notes:

  • That tapeworm might have been the worst thing I’ve ever seen on this show.
  • Alex: “These are the most beautiful flower cupcakes.” Maggie: “Actually these are vaginas.”
  • If Herschel didn’t realize his fiancée had the hots for another lady from the amount of personal information Sydney shared with him about Maggie, he needs to open his eyes a little bit.
  • Congrats to star Erica Durance for giving birth on Tuesday!

Saving Hope airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.

Thoughts? Hit is up below or via @tv_eh.

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Link: The Great Human Odyssey: TV To Shout About

From James Bawden:

The latest Nature Of Things miniseries The Great Human Odyssey is about as good as TV gets. It’s the kind of broad spectrum show that TV networks once used as prestige items before ratings erosion began eating away at the very existence.

So watch this one as an example of how demanding as well as entertaining TV can be when all caution is thrown to the winds. Because this three-episode “mini” was photographed all over the place from the Kalahari desert to Papua, New Guinea to the frozen Siberian wilds. Continue reading.

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Review: Book of Negroes takes a bow

It’s a shame for CBC that one of their biggest ratings successes lately is six episodes and done, but it’s a sign of hope that an expansive co-production based on Canadian literature could make such a splash.

Clement Virgo’s adaptation of Lawrence Hill’s novel comes to a close with an episode that sees Aminata reclaim her story once again.

It begins the Nova Scotia contingent still not so free in Freetown, the town they built from scratch, guarded by British soldiers who want them to stay in their little piece of Sierra Leone.

Their past flashes before their eyes as new captives stream past their town on the way to a life of slavery. Moses is killed trying to free a child, a grim reminder of the danger still around them.

Aminata remains determined to return to her village — the village Chekura helped steal her from, and he’s not terribly enthusiastic. “Why do you always make me chase you? We can love each other right here.”

He relents, as do the British slave traders who can help them with passage to the interior, and who sip tea from silver pots as their slaves scrabble for food among their sick and dying.

“Why do you trade in men?” she asks. “Everybody’s doing it” is the less than impressive answer, both for its moral emptiness and its slightly clunky dialogue. “Was it really that bad for you?”

Captain Clarkson is one who knows how bad it is, and who encourages her to return with him to London to convince the government to abolish the slave trade. “We need your story and we need your voice.”

Though Aminata is determined to return to her birthplace, she learns it no longer exists just before she and Chekura are confronted with a group of captives they have the power to free, just as they had hoped someone would help free them as children. Chekura sacrifices his life for their freedom, and a prostrate Aminata is rescued by nearby villagers. “I seem to have trouble dying” she tells them in something of an understatement.

She and Clarkson bond over classic English literature like Gulliver’s Travels and Robinson Crusoe, and Aminata’s story is at least as epic a stranger in a strange land story as either of those, even when she returns to her birthplace.

With no ties to Sierra Leone anymore, she goes to England to meet William Wilberforce and his abolitionists, eager to hear the gory details of her life — and shape the narrative to best suit their purposes. Instead she pens her own story — The Book of Negroes — and helps them abolish the slave trade (though not slavery itself). In another last act of atonement, Solomon Lindo reappears with her long-lost daughter May, reunited with her now-elderly mother, as Aunjanue Ellis has played her convincingly over an expansive age span.

A weakness of the mini-series has been the compression of an eventful lifetime into 4.5-ish hours. But it’s been a captivating journey despite its flaws.

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Link: Schitt’s Creek: Why You Need to Watch Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara’s New Comedy

From Gillian Telling of People magazine:

Do you enjoy things that are gut-wrenchingly funny? Laughing out loud? Spit-takes? Then tune in to new comedy Schitt’s Creek, premiering Wednesday on cable’s Pop network (formerly TVGN) at 10 p.m.

This new single-cam comedy from Canada stars longtime comedic duo and friends Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, as well as Levy’s son Daniel (co-creator of the show), hilarious newcomer Annie Murphy, and Chris Elliott. It’s a comedy-gold cast – and the first time O’Hara and Levy have ever starred on the small screen together. (Though of course, you’ve seen them act together in Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show.) Continue reading.

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Tonight: Saving Hope, Dragons’ Den, The Book of Negroes

Saving Hope, CTV – “Fearless”
Dr. Alex Reid (Erica Durance) and Dr. Dana Kinney (Wendy Crewson) work to save the life of a single mother – whose used to calling the shots in her daughters’ lives. Dr. Joel Goran (Daniel Gillies) works to save the mobility of a promising young hockey player – only to realize time and resources might not be on his side. Dr. Charlie Harris (Michael Shanks) is given advice on how to win back Alex’s love, and a visit from someone close to Dr. Sydney Katz (Stacey Farber) has her coming clean. Directed by actor Gregory Smith (ROOKIE BLUE), the episode guest stars Wesley Morgan (LESS THAN KIND), Linda Kash (WORKING THE ENGELS), Jordan Johnson-Hinds (THE L.A. COMPLEX), and Supinder Wraich (GUIDESTONES).

Dragons’ Den, CBC
A family hopes their twist on tradition will give the Dragons a taste for success; a pair of cousins ride into the Den with bells on; and an East Coast business hopes to make waves with their topical solution. Plus, one family’s story inspires the Dragons to see their wealth at heart.

The Book of Negroes, CBC – Part 6 of 6
Upon their arrival in Africa, Aminata leaves the Loyalists behind to find her way back to her home village of Bayo.

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