Saving Hope – “Blindness” – Blog Review

By: Lynn

Not to sound like a repeat of my last recap intro, but the third episode of Saving Hope was even better than the first two – I fall more in love with this show as each week goes by! It has an amazing balance of exciting drama, touching emotion, and humor that brings some literally laugh-out-loud moments. Gotta give a shout-out to the music used in both the show itself, and the promos as well. If you haven’t watched the Super Promo for Ep 3, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVqvgZTVl_E&feature=related The awesome song used in that promo is called “Model Home” by @InFlight_Safety, and the song can be heard in full here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCW0iyO7Y7Q

As Episode 3 opens, Alex has decided to take Dawn (the ex-wife’s) advice from last week, and is attempting “coma arousal therapy” with Charlie. She uses her perfume to stimulate his sense of smell, and then climbs atop his body, removing her shirt and bringing his hand to her waist… just as Nurse Jackson enters and gets quite an eyeful!  (Side note here: if you’re ever in a hospital ICU, and want to try coma arousal therapy… word of advice: lock the door, or block it, and close the curtains!)

Joel and Maggie (who hooked up in Ep 2!) are still together the next morning and head to the local coffee shop for a cappuccino. They run into Gavin there, and a bit of an awkward exchange follows, as the two are trying to keep their new relationship on the down-low for now. However, Joel does tell Maggie that he had a great time.

Back at the hospital, Alex, who is considering taking some time off to concentrate on Charlie’s recovery, asks Tom Reycraft if he would cover her shifts. He agrees, but Joel, overhearing the conversation, thinks that Tom is after Alex’s job as Chief Surgical Resident, and cautions her to be careful. Alex, who has known Joel for a long time, is immediately able to tell from Joel’s words and attitude, that he has been with someone. (I would love to see some flashbacks of these two, back when they were dating!) Joel also warns Alex not to get overly optimistic because Charlie moved his hand, but Alex doesn’t want to hear it.

Alex is called to consult with Maggie on a new patient, Mr. Monk, who is having unexplained abdominal pain. Alex does a quick exam, orders some tests, and turns him over to Maggie. They’re unable to find anything wrong with him other than being anemic, and are about to discharge him when he collapses. They then think he may have colon cancer, and run a scope, but everything comes back clear. Alex starts to get a bit suspicious when some of the tests start to look odd, and Mr. Monk’s so-called fiancé‘s name is the same as the cafeteria staff employee of the month at the hospital. Turns out, he needs a psychiatrist more than a medical doctor! Monk was faking some of his symptoms, and actually doing things to himself to create problems, in order to be admitted to the hospital.

Alex completely loses her patience with Monk, and it causes her to lose her professional demeanor as well for a bit, as she tells him he is a liar, and she wants him out of the hospital as soon as possible. Gavin is called in to do a psych evaluation. Monk then swaps tactics and says he swallowed an open safety pin, so they will have to run more tests. Turns out, he did in fact swallow the pin, and they have to perform surgery to remove it and repair the damage. So Monk gets what he wants – a stay in the hospital – after all. It was all a cry for attention. Dana Kinney (interim Chief of Surgery) is not happy with Alex for having not recognized the signs of what Monk was doing, and tells Alex that despite what happened to Charlie, she needs to get her “head in the game.”
Meanwhile, a pair of brothers has been brought in due to a roofing accident, where they both took a bad fall. One of the brothers dies on the operating table, despite Joel and Alex’s best efforts to save him. His ghost, along with Charlie, observes the doctors as they try to resuscitate him unsuccessfully.  When he is pronounced dead, however, Charlie is surprised that the ghost (Isaac) hangs around, because most pass on to somewhere else. He hasn’t really figured that part out yet, he tells Isaac, but he thinks that Isaac must have some sort of unfinished business that is stopping him from moving on. Charlie shows Isaac another patient, an elderly man, who has flatlined, and explains that they will be seeing the man’s ghost soon. He wants Isaac to see what usually happens when someone dies. Isaac asks if there is anything he can do to help the man’s ghost when he does appear, and he tries to talk to him, but the man totally freaks out upon seeing his own dead body, and runs off screaming down the hall before disappearing into the light.

Joel consults with the other injured brother, Johnny Wolf. One of his legs has been horribly injured in the fall. The options are to either amputate it and replace it from the knee down with a prosthetic, or perform a radical, experimental surgery. This surgery would essentially use Johnny’s own ankle joint as his new knee. If the surgery goes as planned, he would be able to run, jump, and continue working just as before. However, Dana Kinney is worried about a possible lawsuit if things go wrong. Joel assures her that he can do it. Dana calls Joel out on wanting to do the surgery to increase his own stature as an orthopedic surgeon, but Joel tells her it would make both her and the hospital look good as well. She gives him the green light to do the surgery.

The hospital elite all turn out to observe as Joel operates on Johnny. He’s feeling the pressure, but still confident that he can do the job, and it’s a success.

Together, Charlie and Isaac figure out that Isaac’s “unfinished business” is because of his brother, Johnny. Turns out, Isaac and Johnny’s wife were having an affair, and this is what the two brothers were fighting about when both fell from the roof. Isaac needs closure with this situation. Johnny and his wife have a heart-to-heart talk, as Charlie and Isaac listen in. We hear that Johnny knew about the affair all along, but deliberately chose to ignore it. He now feels as if the fight on the roof was partially his fault, and Isaac would still be alive if it weren’t for him. He forgives his wife, and then later, takes one of the baseball caps Isaac had made for their roofing company and hugs it close to his heart, indicating his forgiveness of his brother as well. Isaac sees this, and this puts his soul at peace. He is ready to move on, and does so.

Alex is still convinced that the movement of Charlie’s hand was a positive sign, and begs/browbeats Shahir into running some more tests on him to see if there is any improvement. Shahir reluctantly agrees to it, but after re-doing all the tests, there is still no improvement shown on Charlie’s part, and he tells Alex that the movement of his hand was involuntary – just random nerves.

Alex is devastated, and finds a spare room to have a good cry in. She lies on the bed as Charlie’s spirit lies next to her, unable to give her comfort, and her mind drifts back to another time, when they were in bed together and happy, and Charlie is talking about getting married.

Joel enters the room, and asks Alex if she’s ok. At first, she says yes, but then she breaks down with Joel in a way that she
can’t with anyone else, and admits that she’s not ok. That she’s upset with herself for getting too emotional. She’s a doctor, and she is supposed to remain objective and form conclusions based on facts, not on what she hopes will happen. Joel, with a few words, gives her back her hope, and at the same time vindicates the way she is feeling…

Charlie’s closing narration:

“To be seen. It’s all we want. From the moment we take our first steps. Look at me, Mom.  Look at me, Dad.  Tell me I’m gonna be ok.  Tell me that someone cares about me.  Tell me that we’re in this together, and that you’re gonna get me through it.”

The characters’ journey in this episode is from Blindness… to Awareness.

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