From Ashley Jude Collie of the Toronto Star:
Link: Daniel Gillies speaks out on crisis in South Sudan
“I have two young children and I want them to know that their father gave a s–t, because this will be their world and we should be fighting for it. And I feel with great conviction, that if we allow this situation to continue with the same state of ignorance, my children will be asking, ‘Daddy, what did you do when this terrible thing took place?’” Continue reading.
When I figured Alex would have to make her final choice between Charlie and Joel, I never imagined it would come the way it did during the Saving Hope season finale.
Spoiler warning: turn back now if you haven’t seen Wednesday’s game-changing episode.
Sure, it was a given that Alex would end up going into labour at the same time she was writing her surgical boards, as the two most important events in one person’s life usually happen at the exact same time on television. And sure, it was clear something terrible was going to happen given the ominous white horse Charlie kept seeing all around the hospital. But Joel essentially self-sacrificing himself for Zach and getting blown up by the bomb post-surgery? Certainly didn’t see that one happening.
It was predictable, but I’ll admit that it was funny seeing Alex tell herself she’d be able to get through the surgical boards before delivering her baby. There’s absolutely no way I could write any test, let alone an oral surgical board exam, knowing I was inches away from popping a baby out. Erica Durance certainly sold the labour scenes extremely well, but no more so when she screamed at Maggie not to break her baby during the actual delivery. Also deserving serious props was Maggie for ditching the test with one to go to deliver her BFF’s baby.
After missing out on what sounded like a really cool surgical experience to Joel, Charlie wasn’t really up to anything too exciting at the hospital. Instead, what was so intriguing was how he kept seeing the white horse running around the halls, something I wasn’t sure had significance for an earlier episode or not. He had said he hadn’t been sleeping well and that he had a bad feeling, so I wasn’t sure if the horse vision had shown up before another bad incident or if Charlie was just a big equestrian fan. But when Charlie did declare his bad feeling I was on high alert for each of the characters.
Obviously, the birth of Alex’s baby could’ve easily been one where Charlie’s bad feeling came from. And for a few minutes it did look like there was a life-threatening complication. But when the birth of Luke went smoothly, I knew it was going to be either Zach or Joel’s life in danger. For some reason I pegged Zach as the one who’d end up hurt somehow, even going so far as to suspect he’d be in a car accident when Joel tricked him into leaving the dangerous surgical procedure to remove the bomb from the middle of the resident base bomb expert (how ironic, as they said). And the surgery generally seemed to be going ridiculously well, given how difficult it was to get the thing out from the bones of the soldier. Right up until Joel had the bomb in his hands I figured everything would be OK, although I did wonder why no one was on hand to either defuse or get rid of the bomb immediately after it was pulled from the soldier’s abdomen.
But then the horse appeared, and suddenly it all made sense. I jumped a mile when the bomb went off and needed a minute to comprehend that the show had actually just killed off such a serious main character—one of which was about to propose to Alex, nonetheless.
As much as I’ve absolutely loved the presence of Daniel Gillies throughout the show’s run, this past season has certainly made me feel like Joel and Alex were meant to be best friends more than lovers. Meanwhile, it was clear Alex’s heart still belonged to Charlie, particularly so at the very end of the season. So in the end if someone had to die, I think it was the right choice to have it be the sweet and beautiful Joel, whose death will certainly shake up everyone’s emotions at the hospital—none more than Zach.
How will Zach cope with survivor’s guilt? And will baby Luke end up being Joel’s after all? Those are two questions we’ll be taking with us until Saving Hope returns for another season.
Notes:
Thoughts? Let us know through the comments below or via @tv_eh.
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:
Saving Hope airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.
Thoughts? Hit is up below or via @tv_eh.
Sometimes when I’m watching Charlie interact with the spirits on Saving Hope, my eyes can’t help but wander to the background. Not because I’m bored by what’s going on, but to see if anyone else is noticing Charlie talking to, well, thin air, while we watch him help guide the spirits to a peaceful place.
That idea was at the forefront of Wednesday’s episode, “Remains of the Day,” as an unexplainable move in surgery made thanks to a spirit’s guidance was brought to the attention of staff at Hope Zion, with Dawn hoping Charlie could explain his miraculous move to his colleagues. Only problem? Charlie couldn’t do that without being hauled off to the psych ward.
Really the whole issue was due to a slightly neurotic, OCD spirit named Elaine, whose panic attack mid-surgery forced Charlie to address her spirit in the close proximity of surgeons like Maggie and Rian. It may have been just shrugged off as typical strange Charlie behaviour if Elaine didn’t begin to stroke out, forcing Charlie to use the spot her spirit was clutching as guidance as to where to perform emergency surgery. It certainly was a reckless move to everyone else–can’t say I wouldn’t be freaking right out knowing my colleague was about to carelessly drill into a patient’s head–that spiraled into a medical learning opportunity thanks to Dawn’s insistance (although I’m pretty sure she just wanted to get to the bottom of Charlie’s craziness once and for all). If it weren’t for Maggie and Rian’s elaborate detective skills (or was it simply their oh so desperate need for Charlie to help them study?), Charlie would be in a much different situation when he ended the episode.
While Dawn was trying to expose Charlie’s mysterious ways, she was also attempting to juggle the return of Giselle to the hospital and the bond the two forged during their short time together. I’ve loved seeing Giselle go head-to-head with Dawn, since she’s one of the few characters who seems game for keeping up with Dawn’s bitter attitude all the time. It did feel like we were being hit over the head with the notion that Dawn would at least contemplate adopting Giselle herself, and although I was initially a little miffed she chose her work over the girl, it was probably for the best that Giselle is just staying with Dawn for a week-long trial period rather than anything permenant.
The other main storyline was certainly emotional, as Joel and Alex tried to figure out what exactly was wrong with a caring high school teacher. After years of terrible teachers, I think the storyline touched me so much knowing how much an engaged and invested teacher can shape a young person’s life and how much the dedicated English teacher was trying to give his students. When we finally heard the teacher had an uncurable disease my heart went out to the guy, and I found that doing the play in the hospital was a really sweet way to wrap up his sad story.
Something about what the English teacher said jogged Alex’s memory of her father, causing her hand to cramp up again. It was good of Alex to look into her father once and for all (although it felt like the whole thing was really breezed right over) but the most groundbreaking part of the scene was seeing Alex’s vision of her baby and Charlie playing together. Could Team Charlie be closer to edging out Team Joel in the baby game?
Notes:
Saving Hope airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.
Thoughts? Drop us a line below or @tv_eh.
After that tense midseason finale, it certainly was a bit of a slower paced beginning that ultimately built up momentum during Wednesday’s two-hour premiere of Saving Hope. Minus the spreading news of Alex’s pregnancy and Molly’s drug overdose, the first hour was more of a primer for the emotional fallout of the battle for a heart transplant and the reaction to Alex getting knocked up. But more on that plot point later.
There was, however, an overabundance of terrible personalities plaguing the halls of Hope Zion during the first hour, “The Parent Trap.†First there was Tammy, the MMA fighter so aggressive and defensive it was nearly impossible for Charlie to do his job. Naturally, Charlie was able to thaw her frosty exterior (with a little help from his ghostly capabilities) to find out that Tammy’s medical problems were rooted to her secret lupus diagnosis. But despite my dislike of her character, I really appreciated that Tammy’s spirit wasn’t a huge part of the episode and it simply helped Charlie solve her medical mystery before bringing her back to the land of the living. The spirits are a huge part of Saving Hope but it’s nice when they aren’t constantly in Charlie’s way, as was the case for both “The Parent Trap†and the second hour’s episode, “Hearts of Glass.â€
Also bringing down the good vibes of the hospital was Elliot Stout, a litigation-friendly Bay Street bulldog (so not in the Kyle Lowry way) who believed he was entitled to a donor heart over sweet foster mother, Leila, pulling an ethical and legal card the hospital couldn’t ignore to get it. No surprise why we never saw anyone visiting the guy during his lengthy stay. It was an especially brutal storyline since we’d already become well acquainted with Leila and her relationship with foster-daughter Giselle throughout the two episodes, so to see him steal Leila’s heart and watch the soon-to-be-mother die hours later was just terrible.
Taking the situation hardest of course was Dawn, who forged an interesting relationship with Giselle while the girl watched over her future mother. Dawn’s brash attitude sometimes doesn’t sit well with me, but seeing her offer the girl small comforts was a solid reflection of the good within her character I sometimes can’t see. And seeing Leila cross over to the other side when Dawn gave Giselle a hug of comfort was another touching moment for her character.
Then there was the return of Molly, Dana’s seriously troubled daughter (who reminds me way too much of Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland for some reason). Not only does Molly not know what the Find My Phone app is (perhaps she was thinking of Find My Friends, which is a little more upfront with its creepiness), she basically forced Alex into a weird position as the middleman in her fight with her mother. Luckily it worked out for the best to have Alex there, what with Dana’s inability to function as a doctor when Molly overdosed, and the mother-daughter pair were finally able to somewhat have an honest conversation about her dangerous habit.
Undoubtedly the biggest splash of the night was Alex’s casual admission to Dawn that she was indeed pregnant, something that made me do a double take to ensure I’d heard right. Of course with everything going on between Alex, Charlie and Joel (out on bail and still miraculously allowed to work at the hospital) the pregnancy wrench and who’s the daddy mystery just makes things 10 times more awkward between the three. But hey, Dana’s going to be a great godmother!
Although the two were at each other’s throats a bit about the paternity mystery, they were able to band together in order to work on a patient (played by Degrassi grad Adam Ruggiero). The two always have a remarkable capability to put their work before their intertwined personal lives, but until Alex gives the go-ahead for that paternity test, things are only going to get more tense between the three from here.
So who do you think is the real father? Place your bets with Zach now, or let us know in the comments.
Notes:
Saving Hope airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.
