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Review: Saving Hope checks back in

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It’s a credit to Saving Hope’s writers that fans of the series get so invested in the show’s relationships, with things even occasionally getting a bit nasty between Teams Joel and Charlie. Which is why it’s such a shame that Season 3 has rarely allowed viewers to enjoy those couples once they finally happen.

In between watching Dawn do an about-face on a boyfriend twice in seven episodes, having Gavin go on a bender and take off after he and Maggie derailed, and Alex waking up without any sense of her feelings for Charlie, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that things with Joel hit a rocky patch almost as soon as they started. We’ve barely had any screen time with the couple—which has been teased for over two seasons now—before another flashback triggered what I expect is the return of Alex’s feelings for Charlie.

Though to be fair, Charlie’s gracious acceptance of defeat went a long way toward making up for how I felt about him racing off to pick a fight over the issue at the beginning of the season. Seeing that side of Charlie, instead of the angry, jealous one might also have helped remind Alex of the time they were everything to each other before a series of comas, ghosts and other dramatics threw their relationship through the processer. And it’s hard to deny the heat between Selena and Joel, which was back for another round.

But again, after wondering for so long when the other half of the love triangle would get its day (as they always do), it’s a bit disappointing to have all that build up thrown out almost immediately. The payoff, even for fans of the obvious end game of Charlie and Alex, is always so small compared to the build up that it’s going to make it hard to let myself get too invested in the characters’ personal lives should the trend keep up.

Thankfully, for a series that’s making a thing of the three-day work relationship, Wednesday’s “The Heartbreak Kid” did a much better job of picking up the continuity with some returning guests and cases. As a fan of Lexa Doig from her work on Arctic Air, seeing her back as the brash and charismatic Selena was a pleasure and her clinic is proving to be a rich resource for a completely different kind of patient and practice. I’d settle for seeing Joel commit more time to it since it fits well with his character history, but I won’t deny it would be interesting to see the rest of Hope Zion’s doctors start helping out and getting a break from their usual clientele—and I’m wondering if that opening scene was enough to possibly lure Zach to its doors and give Benjamin Ayres something more meaty to chew on.

And even without Lara’s ghost to milk the birth of Ezra Zarb for all its devastating emotional potential, having Joris Jarsky back to show us how David has been holding up since deciding to keep his wife on life support for their son was another welcome return. It’s not often we get to see how Charlie’s patients and their families fare after their otherworldly intervention and this particular case was deserving of a follow up if only to see how far David’s come since from angry, wall-punching person he was when we first met him.

Which also tied neatly into the evolving relationship between Maggie and Katz as they revisited their first case together and Maggie tried to prove she could be the kind of doctor Katz wanted her to be. I feel like just about everyone knows Maggie is ready to move onto the next step and having Katz hold her back suddenly was as frustrating to watch as I’m sure it was for the character. I’m hoping that ending—as unexpected and random as it was—means Katz realized it too and might change her brusque black-and-white emotionless approach (which saw her encouraging David to punch a wall in the first place). As for what else that kiss could mean, I’d read into it but I’m sure they’ll break up soon enough.

Hope-ful moments:

  • Joel: “I guess a guy could pull a knife on me again.”
    Zach: “Again?”
  • “LaRouched” is now a thing.
  • “Hang up, and it’s lady not gentleman.” I was really impressed with how Saving Hope handled the issue of pronouns with Teddy and would love to see more shows be this direct and comfortable with it.
  • “I look like an exploded burrito.” Tatum’s sass, especially with Charlie, was surprisingly fun.
  • That being said, the opening scene of her screaming as they examined her legs was almost too real. I can’t say enough about the effects and make up team on this series.

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

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Charlie’s befuddled season on Saving Hope

Saving Hope’s Michael Shanks is quick to laugh when asked about the rough go his character Charlie has been having on the show this season—having just been dumped by his ex-wife, recent rebound and potential baby momma after only just losing the love of his life when yet another marriage proposal went awry.

“I don’t think any season’s been particularly kind to Charlie, come to think of it,” he says. “Erica [Durance] and I make jokes all the time that it’s kind of a sport for our writers to put them through the blender and see what comes out the other side. I think if the characters were happy we wouldn’t have any drama left in the show, but this season has been another run through the grist mill for old Chuck, and he’s a little confused at the moment.”

In fact, the word Shanks keeps bringing up to describe his character’s current state is “befuddled,” especially after having things go suddenly and spectacularly south with Alex (Durance), and he expects that emotion will carry into finding out Alex has picked things up with her old flame, Joel (Daniel Gillies), again. As he says, “Given the fact he’s aware what happened between them before and aware of how Alex felt about it, to see her go down that road again is going to be a little perplexing to him.”

Added to that is his ex-wife’s series of baby bombshells, yet again teasing the possibility of Charlie becoming a dad. Shanks admits to having some misgivings when Season 1 brought up the possibility of Alex being pregnant while it wasn’t clear if Charlie would ever wake up (he jokingly suggests the thee kids he has to Charlie’s zero might be an influence), but says the writers are certain the character wants to be a dad. Just maybe not with Dawn.

Behind the scenes, Shanks is also stepping up. Season 3’s fourth episode, “Stand By Me,” marked his first time directing for the series—he previously directed an episode of Stargate SG-1 and some of Saving Hope’s webisodes last season.

“You have new people to prove yourself to, and prove your interest and prove your expertise, so I worked my way up to the point where they were going to trust me to direct one and I think it worked out well. I enjoy the artistic stance in terms of [having] a larger part of the control of the storytelling process. It’s something I want to continue to do, but we’ll take it step by step.”

Though he’s less certain whether he’d want to take up writing for the show the way he did on Stargate.

“There’s very much a structured hierarchy when it comes to writing—more than the other departments in the television world,” he explains. “There’s a protocol that goes up the food chain when you’re starting off writing, and a lot of things that come out the other end are not always yours even though they have your name attached to it. So it can be a little bit frustrating to be writing for television. I can empathize with a lot of the writers, especially the ones that are further down the trough.”

Still, he goes on, “That being said, if I do get the time over the hiatus, I wouldn’t mind taking a crack at writing a story.”

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

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Review: Saving Hope shakes it out

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There seems to come a time (or many times) in a person’s life when they experience complete self-doubt in the workplace. Or, if you’re me in my first year of journalism school, several varying instances of self-doubt, leaving you questioning your performance capabilities in a way that prevents you from living up to your potential.

In Alex’s case during Wednesday’s return of Saving Hope, her shaky nerves seemed to completely and consequently shake her foundation and confidence as a doctor, most inconveniently on the day she was to step in and help Dr. Shahir with a risky procedure. High-risk situations are tough enough to tackle, but once that seed of doubt is planted into your brain, performance levels have nowhere to go but down, which is the direction it looked like it was going to be headed with Alex.

As someone who’s also had family with Alzheimer’s disease, some of the scenes surrounding Shahir and Alex’s case of the week hit particularly close to home, such as Maria’s frustration at not knowing her husband’s name. But what I liked about the case was it also put a bit of a spotlight on Shahir–he was the one leading the surgery rather than Alex, Charlie or Joel–with Alex as more of a secondary component. It’s always a refreshing change whenever another character gets to take charge (and just amusing to see him get over his crush on his patient’s husband) and instead the storyline helped highlight the relationship between Shahir and Alex, which was really sweet.

Not that Alex–and specifically Alex’s nerves–didn’t play an extremely significant part of the storyline. Let’s just say that even if I had the slightest ounce of thought my doctor had focal dystonia, as patient Malcolm had with Alex, I would be out of that hospital room faster than you can even say hand cramp. It did make me chuckle at how defensive she got after hearing Malcolm’s story about the violin player that had to quit after a case of focal dystonia (denial’s been the name of Alex’s game for quite a few episodes now). I’m not quite sure if the Botox shots are going to be a long-term or temporary solution to come up again soon. In the end, Alex’s hand ended up taking a back seat to Shahir and his heart attack in the middle of surgery, still determined to finish the procedure so he wouldn’t let Malcolm down. It was nice to see both Shahir and Alex able to finish the surgery and that Shahir isn’t completely crippled.

In other storylines, I was still severely uncomfortable that Dawn wanted Charlie to have a baby with her AND that she was making sperm donation appointments for him. The only thing that really turned that storyline around for me was the hilarious arrival of the spirit right before Charlie was gearing up to, well, donate sperm (the line, “Am I in hell?” made me choke a little). My amusement only continued as Zach forced Charlie to trade him a fantasy baseball player in order to let Charlie fulfill the spirit’s wishes. Poor Charlie–always helping others. The storyline turned out to be really heartwarming, as he ultimately helped bring the spirit’s children some closure with their father, AND give them a wad of cash he’d left them. As for Dawn and Charlie? I may not want the two to have a baby, but to see Dawn crying in the elevator over her inability to reproduce was a tough pill for any viewer to swallow.

Notes:

  • Alex: “Shahir, nothing’s hopeless.”
    Shahir: “He’s married. And he’s straight.”
  • I’ve never even thought about the idea of a doctor cutting another one during surgery. So weird!
  • I’m glad Tom ended up doing the right thing with his mentor and reported the Hepatitis C diagnosis. Being let down by someone you respect is one of the worst feelings ever. But I wonder how long his vacation is going to be?

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

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Saving Hope

CTV orders Season 4 of Saving Hope

Daniel-Gillies-Erica-Durance-Michael-Shanks-Saving-Hope-Trauma

From a media release:

– Network orders 18 new episodes from ICF Films and Entertainment One, bringing the series to 67 hours over four seasons –

– Production on Season 4 set to begin Summer 2015 in Toronto –

CTV announced today a Season 4 order for its hit original drama series SAVING HOPE (@SavingHopeTV) from Ilana Frank’s ICF Films and Entertainment One (eOne). Eighteen new episodes of Canada’s most-watched original drama brings the series total to 67 episodes, with production set to begin Summer 2015 in Toronto.

The Season 4 order comes on the heels of the return of new episodes of SAVING HOPE’s third season in its new Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT timeslot, starting Nov. 26 on CTV and CTV GO. The four all-new episodes culminate in a must-watch cliff-hanger on Dec. 17, before additional new Season 3 episodes continue in January 2015. Continue reading.

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Review: Saving Hope kisses today goodbye

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Although it’s easy to bring religion into a hospital show, given the constant talk of life and death, not many series are able to handle the topic we’re supposedly not supposed to talk about with respect and grace for all parties (that’s religious AND agnostic). Perhaps it’s because such bigger picture discussions are embedded in the moral fabric of Saving Hope, but this show seems to handle the issue in a way that’s more creative than cloying.

Such was certainly the case with “Joel 2:31,” the fall finale (or at least last episode for quite some time) of Saving Hope’s third season. Although religion was touched upon via the title, as well as two major characters, directly, it wasn’t made to be the ultimate issue of the episode, but more a gateway to discussions and revelations of sorts.

First and foremost, we saw Elisa, a young woman hoping to be a minister, go through the motions of trying to reconcile her beliefs about life and her, well, beliefs, alongside the current reality. While she felt she shouldn’t be pregnant–morally and physically–considering that she was still a virgin despite being a newlywed, she had doctors telling her she most definitely was. Then, she had to deal with believing that what was inside her wasn’t actually a baby, but a “monster” of some sort (nice twist that the religious “good girl” wasn’t lying about her sexuality, right?).

Elisa (a very engaged Kendra Leigh Timmons of Wingin’ It fame) was not actually pregnant, but in fact, had bizarre tumour called a teratoma (don’t look it up, man), which made her act irrationally. Thus, the belief there was a monstrosity of sorts inside of her (how Rosemary’s Baby of her) and later, the lack of remembering she just got married. The most horrifying moment, though, was when Alex, Joel and Co. cracked open her insides and found this entity, which looked like the strangely organized remains of a overly-grown fetus. A part of me thought about Andrea Martin in My Big Fat Greek Wedding talking about the twin that lived in her neck lump during that scene and wanted to laugh. But most of me was just totally grossed out and worried that the food baby I amassed earlier had nothing to do with all the fajitas I had.

But I digress! Saving Hope is really starting to get the Strange Case of the Week formula down pat, finding interesting ways to wrap intriguing disorders or diseases around bigger issues like, as mentioned before, religion. This tumour living in this girl, for example, served as a perfect statement on the fears we carry around with us–about ourselves, about others, about our beliefs, about others’ beliefs in us–until they eat away at our insides. In a way, Alex is suffering a similar fate to Elisa, holding her insecurities about her feelings for Joel in her belly even as there are signs–literal signs saying “Joel 2:31”!–telling her to act on them. And that other patient featured this week, the girl with the “internal decapitation” (that’s a thing and it’s terrifying), was carrying around her grief and guilt left over from the death of her twin, and as a result, nearly forcing herself to cross over to the so-called other side prematurely.

The good news is, all of our ladies made the moves they needed to make to keep, well, moving.  Say what you want to say about Joel and Alex as endgame, but man, that final moment, with them clearly wrapped up in the heat of pre-passion smoochies, was super hot thanks to Durance and Gilles’ game faces and exactly what–I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s true–the doctor ordered. After one too many fake-outs, it’s time for some make-outs, even if they aren’t between the two on your chosen “team” (sorry, Charlie and Alex fans!) Everyone deserves a little somethin’ somethin’ at the end of a heavy day–hey, there was talk of the apocalypse!–like this one. But this group is especially deserving, since it looks like everyone’s future is looking grim come the second half of the season.

Judging by the preview shown at the end of the episode, we’re going to see more trouble ahead for Alex and her hand, but also we’re going to see poor Shahir suffer a possible heart attack during surgery. Say what?

Just when we were starting to regain our hope for Hope after Gavin’s departure, another key part of Hope Zion’s mass of excellent side characters is at risk of being forcibly removed. Here’s hoping that guy that looked like Jesus is working some magic right now, even if it just means maintaining his beard so he can bring us some needed comic relief in the near future.

More Hope-ful thoughts:

  • “Eat cheese and rob a bank” are your two Last Days activities, Alex? Atta girl.
  • Where does one get that sexy top–bra? tank?–that Erica Durance was wearing in that last scene? Asking for a friend…
  • Zach too was carrying around some baggage, but not about his love life or religion, but his connection with his son. Kudos to Benjamin Ayres for pulling off both cynical (with aforementioned Jesus man) and sentimental (with Zach’s son) in such a short period of time.
  • More Maggie and Joel comedic interaction, please!

 

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