‘Saving Hope’ returns with a morality-centric episode that addresses the doctors’ adherence to their Hippocratic Oath. In “The Way We Were,” Reycraft’s honor as a physician is tested when his mentor asks him to break medicine’s cardinal rule. Alex also addresses the potential danger she faces with her shaky hand syndrome when Shahir calls upon her to assist with a revolutionary new brain surgery that will help his patient who has early onset Alzheimer’s. The episode also reveals the challenges Charlie and Dawn face when they plan to have a baby together.
Forget Me Not
Alex and Shahir blow off some steam with a fun little fencing match. Who knew? During their playful duel, Alex’s hand acts up again. She realizes that this issue is going on for too long. She needs to address it before she hurts one of her patients. The sparring also reveals Shahir’s big secret. He’s in love with a married man who happens to be his Alzheimer patient’s doting and committed husband. Awkward! Poor Shahir.
We meet Marie and Malcolm and we can clearly see how much they love each other. Despite her Alzheimer’s, Maria is painfully aware of the toll her illness is taking on her husband, who remains faithfully supportive. Calm, level-headed Shahir is a hot mess around Malcolm. Well, it’s Shahir’s version of a more reserved hot mess. This guy is clearly dying on the inside. Of all the people, in all the world, Shahir falls for the most unattainable man. What’s even more adorable is that Maria is totally aware of Shahir’s crush on Malcolm. Heartbreak aside, Shahir can help Maria with a radical brain surgery. They can implant skin from the abdomen into the brain to generate cell growth, this will hopefully help her brain regrow cells killed off by Alzheimer’s. (Yeah, this was another gross looking operation.) He wants Alex to assist him with this super important surgery.
This operation motivates Alex to get much needed help with her hand. She talks to Dana (happy to see Wendy Crewson back) about it and learns that her overkill on the suture practice sessions only exacerbated her focal dystonia. Dana says Botox is great quick fix for Alex’s weird hand issues. Since Shahir even voices his concern for Alex’s hand, she decides to take Dana’s advice. They shoot her up and she’s ready to go.
Side-note: Maggie is not showing her best side in this episode. Alex opened her home to Maggie and now she’s trying to weasel in on Alex’s big gig. Rude! Again, Gavin’s absence is greatly missed. He was the best part of Maggie’s storylines. Now she’s just obnoxious and bratty. What’s the deal with her barging in on Dr. Dey? He’s not Gavin and doesn’t want to listen to her weirdo griping, least of all her sexual frustration. This whole part was annoying. Moving on…
Shahir breaks into severe sweats during the operation and starts having a heart attack. Holy crap! How did he not see this coming? He asks Alex to take his pulse, which confirms his suspicions. He continues with the operation and drills Maria’s skull in the middle of his heart attack. Ok, Shahir is officially badass. Wow. Alex has them call Dawn to the OR while nurses clamor to give Shahir nitrogen, oxygen and set-up an EKG. This is crazy! He reattaches the skull bone and once Dawn arrives, he allows Alex to finish up with the surgery. Shair casually says, “Stent me.”
Shahir is doing well and resting in bed. Everyone is surprised that he didn’t notice the symptoms. Dawn, Alex and Charlie are happy to see him making a quick recovery. Shahir did an awesome job on that surgery, but he doesn’t take all the credit. Shahir tells Charlie, “Your lady wasn’t so bad herself.” Yikes! This is a super awkward moment for Dawn. Matters of the heart are rough.
After Shahir regains his strength, he rolls over to visit Maria, who has woken up and heard all the news. She is grateful for Shahir’s efforts. He nearly died saving her, so he doesn’t need to be modest about it. Malcolm is even more appreciative. Sigh. Shahir returns to Alex who’s been waiting for him in his hospital bed. Shahir has mastered every aspect of the brain, but the heart is still mysterious to him.
Aww. It’s nice to see Shahir’s softer side. He deserves to be in a happy relationship. Moments like this really accentuate Victor’s absence. They may had broken up, but they were still friends and understood each other well.
Huse Madhavji was wonderful in this episode. Playing Shahir must be a challenging task and Madhavji excels with each episode. It is great to learn more about Shahir. He is such a unique and interesting character. There’s a lot left to discover about him and these past two seasons have been nicely developing his complex personality.
Bad Teacher
Dr. Reycraft is excited to treat his mentor, Dr. Campbell. He is the one who convinced Reycraft to pursue a career in surgery. Now Reycraft will perform his appendectomy with help from newbie Larouche. During the operation, Larouche accidently cuts Reycraft’s hand and this opens up Pandora’s Box.
The test results reveal that Dr. Campbell has Hepatitis C. Legally, Reycraft must report this to the medical board. It is too dangerous for Dr. Campbell to continuing practicing with a contagious disease and a revelation like this would end his career. Campbell begs his mentee to keep this a secret. Reycraft convinces Larouche to cover up the blood work and blame it on a rookie mistake. Larouche disagrees and even questions whether or not he’s cut out to be a doctor, but he ultimately obeys his superior.
When Reycraft tells Dr. Campbell about the switch, he realizes that his mentor has been keeping this secret for years. This blatant deceit and disregard for his duty as a doctor disgusts Reycraft. He rectifies the wrongs he made and takes the blame for making a mistake with the blood work so that Larouche’s reputation doesn’t take a hit. After it all has been taken care of, Reycraft confronts Campbell.
Reycraft says people trust them as doctors and that should mean something. Cleary it means squat to Campbell. He coldly tells Reycraft, “I always knew you would disappoint me.” Ew. At least Reycraft did the right thing.
Reycraft encourages Larouche to stay the course because he’s a good doctor and surgeon. He then takes the necessary precautions. Reycraft starts taking interferon and will step away from work until he knows he has a clean bill of health.
Well done, Reycraft. He rose up to the occasion and upheld his vow to do no harm. It was also nice to see K.C. Collins step into the limelight during this episode and nail it. This was a really big moment for Reycraft and it will be interesting to see how it impacts his future on “Saving Hope.”
Baby Blues
Dawn wants to have a baby with Charlie, but assures him that he doesn’t need to co-parent. He likes the thought of being a daddy, so she doesn’t have to take it that far. But he gets it. She’s already made an appointment with Dr. Katz for Charlie to test his seed, so to speak. Yeah, Dawn really doesn’t waste any time getting what she wants. In this case, you really can’t blame her. Her biological clock is ticking faster and faster, so she needs to act now.
Charlie settles in to provide a sample for Dr. Katz when Oliver’s ghost suddenly appears. Worst time ever. Oliver just died in the ER after being hit by a street car. He wants Charlie to do him a favor and he won’t leave the doc alone until he gets what he wants.
Oliver always seemed like a flake and disappointment to his children, so he wants to leave them some money. Oliver was on his way to another wild investment when he got into the accident. He wants Charlie to retrieve the $20,000 he has hidden in a safety deposit box and he wants Charlie to go through with the investment, which would make his kids even more money. Charlie reaches a compromise with Oliver.
When Oliver’s daughter and son were little he’d take them out on Easter egg hunts, Charlie has the kids retrieve the hidden box following instructions left by their dad. The kids fear it will be another empty promise. The thing about those Easter eggs hunts was that Oliver never planted any eggs, the fun was in the search. The kids’ final search results in a pretty surprising gift. They are shocked to see their father left them so much money. Of course Oliver’s ghost thinks it could been more than double if Charlie listened to him, but the sight of his children’s happiness is good enough for him to find peace and feel a little redeemed in their eyes.
So this wasn’t one of “Saving Hope’s” stronger supernatural cases, but is still had some heart. Hopefully they will have some more supernatural-heavy episodes soon. This was more of a little background tale since so many major thing were going on in the doctors’ lives. Speaking of which, during Charlie’s ghost whispering session, Dawn receives some life-changing news.
Dawn’s fertility tests come in and the numbers indicate that she can’t have a baby. Dr. Katz suggests egg donation as an explorable option. Dawn is devastated. Her dreams of having a baby are crushed and it gets even worse when she sees Charlie’s reaction to Shahir’s high praise of Alex.
Instead of telling Charlie about her test results, Dawn scraps the whole baby-making plan. She says it would be too complicated, especially given the way he loving looked at Alex. And if he’s over Alex, Dawn insists that he still deserves better. Charlie is worthy of the real thing: having a baby and starting a family with the woman he is truly in love with. Dawn fights back tears as she gives Charlie one last kiss and says, “See you around.”
Wow. Michelle Nolden has done an impeccable job of winning fans over with her portrayal of Dawn. We practically despised the bitchy Dawn Bell in Season One and now she’s breaking our hearts. Nolden delivers a phenomenal performance in “The Way We Were.” We could see her heart breaking before our eyes. And that last moment when she tried concealing the depth of her pain from Charlie. Oh my, that made hearts hurt. Dawn could really use a friend right now. This is too much to bear all alone.
What did you think of “The Way They Were”? Were you heartbroken by Dawn’s experience? Do you think this opens the door for Charlie to try to win over Alex’s heart? Should he even bother since she’s falling for Joel now? Are you glad Alex finally addressed her hand issues? Were you shocked to see Shahir have a heart and perform surgery all at once? Does seeing Shahir hopelessly in love make you miss Victor even more?
On the next “Saving Hope” (airing Dec. 3 at 10 p.m. on CTV):
Here is CTV’s description for “The Heartbreak Kid”:
Dr. Joel Goran (Daniel Gillies) and Dr. Alex Reid (Erica Durance) try to make dinner plans – but not before Joel gets wrangled into working a day at the street clinic. It proves to be more than he bargained for when a chatty, recovering addict, Teddy (Damien Atkins, “Take This Waltz”), graces him with her presence – and an ever changing medical story. Joel has to use his street smarts to try and rescue Teddy before time runs out. Alex and Dr. Charlie Harris (Michael Shanks) try to find a new groove as coworkers when an injured 13-year-old girl arrives after falling off a roof, and things would move a lot faster if her love-addled spirit kept quiet and let Charlie focus on his job. Dr. Sydney Katz’s (Stacey Farber) practice exam on Dr. Maggie Lin (Julia Taylor Ross) has Maggie facing hospital wide embarrassment – which she must put aside when David Zarb (Joris Jarsky, “The Incredible Hulk”) returns to Hope Zion Hospital for one special hello and an emotional goodbye. The episode also guest stars Michael Shanks’ wife and actress Lexa Doig (“CONTINUUM”) as Selena Quintos.
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“Saving Hope” airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on CTV.
This article was originally published on Examiner.com on December 3, 2014.
UPDATE (Summer 2016): ‘Saving Hope’ now airs on ION Television in the U.S. and still airs on CTV in Canada. Visit ‘Saving Hope’s’ ION TV homepage (HERE) or CTV Homepage (HERE) for details.
