‘Saving Hope’ S5 Eps 12 – 13 review: Follow your heart

In “Leap of Faith” and “Problem Child,” two of Hope Zion’s strong-willed and independent women learn to set fear aside and follow their hearts. Maggie is torn between the job of her dreams and the love of her life. Despite being a stellar cardiac surgeon, Dawn is still hesitant when it comes to matters of the heart. Shahir struggles with the thought of fatherhood and the impact it will have on his career. Charlie juggles a few unique ghost cases and has to deal with the hospital’s new suspicious shrink. Alex continues to be superwoman, acting as a supportive friend to Maggie, understanding partner to Charlie, and loving mother to Luke all while being pregnant and kicking ass at work. Have I said how much I love the girl the power on ‘Saving Hope’? Because I really do! On with the double-header review.

Wherever you go, I will go

Maggie is all set to go to London with Sydney. She’s leaving everything behind and following her heart. For the first time in a really long time, Maggie is truly happy. Until a couple of unforeseen hiccups cause her to question what she wants.

Charlie tells Alex that there is a job opening for Maggie at Hope Zion. Alex knows this is Maggie’s dream job, but she doesn’t want to jeopardize her friend’s happiness by making her question her decision at the last minute. Alex thinks it is best for Maggie not to know about the job.

Two great things about this moment: Alex knows Maggie so well that she makes a difficult decision and is willing to selflessly let her best friend leave. She’s trying to so what’s right for Maggie. Second, I love that Charlie runs the idea by Alex first. It’s the sensitive and right thing to do.

Alex goes to her sonogram and chats with Sydney and Maggie while they check on her baby. Sydney slips that ChAlex is having a baby girl, yeah we know it’s a bad habit of her’s, but still…squee! The love birds talk about how they’re leaving later that night and are tying up loose ends at the hospital before they take off. We also learn that Maggie will need to re-certify from scratch in London because her medical credentials can’t just carry-over. What?! That really sucks.

Maggie finally got ahead after years of hard work. Is she really cool with starting over like this? Apparently so. She remains optimistic and practical about the do-over. It’s not like she’s moving up at Hope Zion. Errr, awkward. Now Alex has to tell her the truth. She’s pleasantly surprised by the opportunity. Nonetheless, Maggie is still happy with her decision to be with Sydney. That went smoother than expected.

Sydney and Maggie work one more case together. Kim was a nurse at Hope Z until she married Dr. Arnie Storms (Ari Cohen) and they decided to start a family. Maggie wonders if Kim resents putting Arnie’s career before her own. Kim is content with her decision, but Maggie is clearly grappling with the thought of passing up on Charlie’s job offer.

Maggie is frustrated, so she snaps at Alex, who now feels terrible for telling her about the job. Being besties, they immediately clear things up. Alex is like a protective older sister and just wants the best for her. Maggie also prefers knowing all of her options before walking away from a possibly great opportunity. After clearing the air, Maggie asks Alex how’s she is doing because she can tell something is weighing on her. Alex confesses that she isn’t connecting with this pregnancy and keeps having weird dreams. Maggie isn’t concerned about and figures it’s just normal stress-related stuff. All will be well with Alex and her baby.

(But Maggie doesn’t know about the looming supernatural threats. Are Alex’s dreams actually a premonition? Should we be seriously worried? We’ll be freaking out over this until the series finale when we know for sure that all truly is well. For now, let’s remain focused on the task at hand.)

Kim developed a clot after giving birth and it needs to be removed before it reaches her brain. Arnie can’t be reached because is at Ikea (he didn’t want to jinx the pregnancy by buying baby stuff before the birth) and his phone is off. When he returns to the hospital and learns what happens, he scolds Maggie and says she’s unfit for the staff job. Oops! Way to let the cat is out of the bag.

Sydney confronts her about the job opportunity. Maggie has made her choice and she wants to be with Sydney. A lot can be said within a silent pause. Sydney loves her, but she doesn’t want Maggie to spend whole life regretting this decision. So she makes the difficult choice for her and tells Maggie not to go to London with her.

Later that day, Charlie gives Maggie the keys to her office. She saves the day in the OR working on Kim and Sydney says Hope Zion will be lucky to have her on their staff. She bids Maggie a bittersweet goodbye and heads to the airport.

Maggie sits in her new office and finds a letter from Sydney, but it is written in Hebrew. Alex checks in and gives her the nudge she needs. Alex knows Maggie was at her happiest with Sydney. Jobs come and go, but this could be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. There’s still time to get to the airport, if Alex drives fast enough.

They borrow Zach’s car and Maggie kisses him goodbye. He teases that she’s going to London, not Mars. They’ll keep in touch and see each other again. Same goes for Alex. She’ll miss her best friend and promises to bring the little ones with her when she visits.

As expected by this totally rom-com gesture, Maggie catches Sydney at the airport to profess her unyielding love. Sydney is mad and disappointed at herself for pushing Maggie away. Similarly, Maggie describes the emptiness she felt when she sat in her new office. Everything she worked for, the promotion, office, respect from her peers, all of that pales in comparison to the love she feels for Sydney. Both women are willing to give it all up to be together. Awww.

Sydney then translates her note quoting the Book of Ruth, which expresses the same sentiment they just revealed to one another. “Urge me not to leave you…Wherever you go, I will go…” And with that, Maggie Lin is the first of ‘Saving Hope’s’ core characters to fulfill the “happily ever after” kind of ending we want everyone to have.

With Maggie gone, Alex is down a gal-pal and adorably turns to her unborn baby girl to fill the position. She asks Charlie to watch Luke while she has a girls night. And so the baby bonding begins…

Timid in Love 

After a failed marriage with Charlie, Dawn doesn’t want to make the same mistake with Zach. They both understand the difficulty of divorce, but Dawn is more cautious with her heart. She has a great thing going with Zach, yet fears it is too good to be true. She’s used to her relationships failing, so why should this one be any different? I’ll tell you why: Because Zach is different.

When Dawn wants to see Steve Martin together, Zach makes up a lame excuse and says he can’t go because his bowling league meets on Thursdays. Soon enough, Dawn starts to think he’s having an affair and tries testing his bowling knowledge to see if her hunch is right. After all the awkwardness between them throughout the day, he finally comes clean.

Zach spends Thursdays with his boys. He kept it a secret because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. He explains that she’s amazing with them, but they just want to spend time with their dad. Then he rather harshly blurts out, “You’re not their mom” and the boys need a little bit of time to come around. You can’t blame Dawn for tearing-up at that point. Zach could’ve been more delicate about it. At least he realizes he made a mistake and tries fixing it sooner than later.

He pulls Dawn aside at the hospital and apologizes for his behavior. He went about this all wrong and should’ve done a better job of introducing her into the boys’ life. It’s his fault, not Dawn’s. Awww, see? That’s what sets Zach apart from the rest. He wants Dawn to be part of the boys’ life and he’s certain everything will work out just fine.

Suddenly, Zach pulls a little black velvet  jewelry box out of his pocket. A ring-sized box! As he starts opening the box a look of terror rushes over Dawn’s face. Our hearts are even racing at this point. Zach wouldn’t propose in the middle of the hall like this…right?!

Dawn sighs in relief when she sees a pair of diamond earrings. They are a token of his apology. That’s sweet. Unfortunately, now Zach is the one who feel offended. Is the thought of marrying him really that awful? They both have a track record of failed marriages, so Dawn feels her hesitation is legitimate. Zach quips the divorce wasn’t his fault. Which implies that Dawn’s divorce from Charlie was her fault. And we’re back to square one with Dawn walking away heartbroken and upset.

Ugh! This is a frustrating new pattern that needs to be broken. Zach and Dawn are perfect together. It is the final season and this couple does not an annoying obstacle to up the drama factor. Luckily, they get back on the same page by episode’s end.

While working together on a cool artificial heart transplant case, Cassie tells Dawn how excited Zach was to give her the earrings. He felt really bad and deeply cares for her. Cassie provides the kind of nudge Dawn needs to make things right with Zach.

Dawn tells Zach that he makes her happy. She recalls how much fun she used to have with Charlie, but all of that changed once they got married. She’s just afraid of history repeating itself. But her relationship with Zach is different. Dawn wants to be with him and gives him a donut “ring” as a token of her affection, that is, if he’ll still be her boyfriend. Of course he will!

I love Zach and Dawn together. I really like the way their relationship has developed organically over the years. Zach was there for Dawn in a very important and meaningful way. You can’t help but wonder: Did Zach always have feelings for her deep down or was he just being a good friend? Were they both taken by surprise when their friendship turned into romance? Whatever the case may be, I’m happy they’re still together.

Daddy Issues

Shahir still struggles with the idea of fatherhood. He and Jonathon are giving it a test run with a baby app. I guess it’s like a new and more realistic Tamagotchi . Shahir tends to his phone baby throughout the day. Whenever it cries, he feeds or burbs the baby to get a sense of what it will be like because an app is oh so similar to a real baby. Once again, we see how a patient’s parental experience causes Shahir to second guess his life-changing decision.

One of his musical heroes, concert pianist and composer Nelly Marcos, has been secretly suffering from Parkinson’s for six months. She’s been accidentally poisoning herself with herbal supplements that she’s taken to suppress her symptoms. She just wanted to buy enough time to finish her final opus.

Her daughter, Polly, is heartbroken when she learns the truth. How could she jeopardize her well being like this? Did she even think of the impact this would have on Polly? Nelly’s response is very harsh. She basically values being a pianist and composer over motherhood. She tells Polly, “You know I love you, but this is who I am.” Ouch! Then she explains to Shair that you can’t have it all. She believes we’re only meant to be truly great at one thing. Wow. Poor Polly!

Shahir advises Nelly to have DBS, which is like a pacemaker in the brain. It will buy her a few more years, during which she can conclude her opus or spend time with her daughter. She agrees to the DBS, even if it means she’ll have cognition deficit for few months. Nelly reveals that the music comes from her heart and the most beautiful pieces she wrote were for daughter. In the end, she realizes that spending time with Polly is more important, especially since her daughter was the driving force behind her best work.

Jonathon excitedly pays Shahir a visit at work with a new baby name idea: Shonathon. Adorable! Unfortunately, Shahir rains on his parade. He tells Jonathon he’s not sure if he can be a dad. Jonathon leaves disappointed, upset and frustrated. Shahir’s phone baby cries as he watches Nelly and Polly play the piano together. Much like Nelly, it seems that the time has come for Shahir to make a choice. I don’t think it is a matter of if he can be a father, it’s more a question of if he wants to put a child before his career. That is a question only Shahir can answer for himself.

We also see how the thought of having a child may influence Shahir’s perception of life in general. Again, ‘Saving Hope’ opens a topical dialogue. This time it is about racial profiling, prejudice and unlawful misconduct.

Dev’s childhood friend, Justin, is brought in after being brutally beaten by police officers. Office Bauer (Jonathan Koensgen) brings him and you can tell he feels guilty about what happened, but he’s still acting like Justin is a suspect. Dev finally gets the truth from Justin and confronts Bauer about it. After Justin tragically dies, Dev is livid about the whole unjust situation. Shahir tries calming him down and argues that it’s just the way life is, but that doesn’t make it right. Dev wants justice. He wonders: How would Shahir feel if the same thing happened to his child?

That is a very good question. It is one thing to take crap when it is directed toward you personally, but if a loved-one, especially a child is targeted, that reaches a whole other level of pain, frustration and anger.

Ultimately, Bauer does the right thing by calling his superior and revealing the truth. Unfortunately, it is too late for Justin, but hopefully this will stop history from repeating itself. This tragedy also served as a wake-up call for Dev, who has been neglecting his mother recently. He is reminded how precious family truly is and spends the night having dinner with his mom. 

I’m surprised Shahir is grappling with this decision given how sure he was about it when he first revealed his desire to have a child. Spending time with Luke inspired him to want a child of his own, but ever since he aimed to make that dream a reality, he’s only seen the difficulties that come with having a child. Shahir has always been very cautious with every step he’s taken in life. He’s made huge progress over the years and he’s reached a point where he seems to be comfortable with where he is in life. Similar to Maggie and Dawn, he is letting fear dissuade him from following his heart and going after what he truly wants. What do you think he will ultimately decide?

A Rip in the Veil

Charlie was warned that the supernatural realm was going to get stranger than usual, but it is beginning to freak us out sooner and much more than we anticipated. A few things occur in these two episodes that have us on edge, but they pale in comparison to that jaw-dropping cliffhanger.

First, Charlie treats a magician named Abbadon (Joe Cobden) who is famous for a trick called “Leap of Faith.” While he is in limbo, his speech begins slurring and Charlie runs to the OR and warns Dawn that Abbadon is about to have a stroke. He’ll explain how he knows later. 

A couple things to note in this moment:

1. We know Dawn is in on Charlie’s secret gift, but she hasn’t directly addressed it in ages. She just keeps mum and focused whenever co-workers make uncomfortable and inquisitive observations about Charlie’s peculiar methods. I’m very eager to see this conversation take place. We’re still waiting for it. I know Charlie and Dawn have been preoccupied with their individual problems, but you know she’ll follow up on this sooner than later. At least I hope she does!
2. Did the OR nurse hear Abbadon’s spirit too??? It felt like she looked right at him and could hear him as clearly as Charlie does. It wouldn’t be the first time Charlie meets someone working at the hospital with a similar gift. Was it just me or did you get that feeling too?

Afterwards, Abbadon is impressed by Charlie’s magical save. He wants to learn Charlie’s trick. Oh buddy, it doesn’t work that way. However, you can’t blame him for asking, especially after hearing his story. He was married for 3 years when his husband suddenly died of a brain aneurysm. Abbadon hopes that if he works hard enough on magic, he might be able to see his husband again. He would do anything to see him once more. Charlie feels bad that he can’t help. He doesn’t even know how he got this gift, so it is really out of his control.

The interesting thing is that, unlike other patients in limbo, Abbadon returns and has a strange feeling that he’s met Charlie before. Does this mean he may be open to experiencing the supernatural? Could he be a sensitive soul? If he works at it hard enough, will he actually be able to see his husband again? I don’t know, but if the supernatural world is changing, maybe he does have a better chance than before. What do you think?

Charlie’s other case is easily taken care of. A ghost named Damon has been bugging Charlie for answers, but as we know, his cases must be prioritized. Since Damon is already dead, he had to wait a while before Charlie had time to calmly usher him into the great unknown. Poor Charlie must be tired of getting asked the same question. He doesn’t know what’s on the other side. All he can do is tell these ghosts to think of someone they love and hope for the best. Damon does as Charlie says and disappears.

In the next episode, Alex and Charlie work together on a “Problem Child.” Hunter’s personality has changed over night and now he has a bad temper, resulting in violent outbursts. It turns out that he has a tumor on his pancreas, which caused chaotic levels in his blood glucose, resulting in his uncharacteristic and erratic behavior. This ghost whispering case was pretty straight forward, it’s what happens around it and afterwards that has us on edge.

Dr. Amos Carver (Don McKellar) creepily watches over Charlie as he naps on the couch in his office. He awakes to an unsettling introduction as Carver announces that he is Hope Zion’s new shrink and has taken over all of Dr. Gavin Murphy’s (Kristopher Turner) old case files, including Charlie’s. I still really miss Gavin and I do not like the newbie, just like I wasn’t very fond of Dr. Dey. 

 

The way Carver shadows Charlie is super creepy, but there is one scene that has me wondering if Carver is who and what he seems. Carver checks-in to help Charlie with Hunter, but he does so from afar. He stands behind the door and has Charlie ask Hunter some fundamental psych-eval questions. Why the distance? Is it because Carver can’t ask Hunter the questions himself?

I’m getting serious ghost vibes from Carver. We only see him interact with Charlie and there have been times when his ghost radar is a bit off. After Blake, we’ve discovered that ghosts can be tactile, so Carver could easily make Charlie think he is a living person. Now, I know we did not see the blue lights that usually indicate the presence of a spirit, but that could be just to throw us off. I also think it is strange and out of line for Carver to press Charlie for therapy. It has not been mandated, so he should just back off.

What do you think? Does Carver seem like a ghost? Even if he isn’t, does he creep you out? Should Charlie be suspicious of him? If he is a spirit and Charlie can’t tell, then is his gift wavering? Or am I totally off base…Can Carver actually be of some help to Charlie? Is it possible that he may even believe in the supernatural?

Now for the major moment: As the episode ends, Charlie enters his office to find tuxedo-clad spirit Charlie standing before him. What?!? What does this mean? Is Charlie trying to send himself a message before it is too late? Does this relate to the beach vision he kept having? Is it a sign that he’ll be re-entering limbo again soon? Has he cheated death one too many times, so now his time will be up for good?

All I know is that this makes me very nervous. I’m freaking out for Charlie. Is he going to tell Alex about this? She’s already worried from the baby-napping nightmares. Imagine what this revelation will do to her. What do you think about this twist, Hopefuls? Are you scared? Do you have any theories? Is there any way this could be a good sign?

Share your thoughts below!