Can’t Help Falling – As this episode of Sullivan’s Crossing begins, Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) and Cal Jones (Chad Michael Murray) sit at home alone. After the intro, Maggie visits the café to speak to Sydney and tells her about kissing Cal. She claims she doesn’t have feelings for Cal. Maggie goes on to say she has no interest in following in her mother’s footsteps. When asked about her date with Rafe, Sydney says she doesn’t have the best track record with relationships so she doesn’t want to go through that again. She doesn’t want to ruin her friendship with Rafe if things go south.

As Sydney gets back to work, Rob (Reid Price) enters to ask about Finn’s baseball glove. Sydney agrees to look for it, but Rob will be responsible for the bills. Rob tells Maggie that Sully hasn’t taken care of the outstanding payment yet. Lola Gunderson (Amalia Williamson) finds Sully (Scott Patterson) desperately searching for the cash register tape. She recommends calling Edna to ask where it is, but he doesn’t want to admit he can’t find it. Lola returns her check although Sully doesn’t want to take it. They go back and forth about the check before Lola offers to help out around the campground. Sully agrees since it’d give them the chance to spend more time together.

Jackson Canaday (T Thomason) and Kaleb (Calem MacDonald) prepare for their climb. Jackson is confident that Kaleb has this because no one falls on his climbs. They quickly take a selfie so Kaleb’s friends will know he is finally doing this. Jackson informs him that there is no service out there so he won’t be able to post it until they get back to the Outpost. Cal makes it to the store where he finds Lola helping out. Lola thanks him again for recommending that lawyer. Connie and Rafe oversee that local training program. Tom calls Connie to ask if she told Jackson not to stay at his place. Connie reminds him that Jackson isn’t a child and recommends talking to him. When Maggie finds Lola at the shop, she admits she owes her an apology.

For many years, Maggie thought Sully was dating Lola’s mother. She didn’t realize Sully was just helping them during a difficult time. Lola realizes that Maggie must’ve thought they had replaced her. She understands why Maggie has been so angry. They agree to try to put all of this behind them. Rafe and Connie have to leave when they receive a 911 call. When Kaleb and Jackson reach the peak, Kaleb takes his gear off and says he wants to get a selfie. Once they take the picture, Jackson tells Kaleb that he wanted to talk to him about something. They almost kiss, but Jackson falls from the cliff and gets seriously injured. Kaleb rushes for help. Bob calls the shop to speak to Maggie, but she doesn’t want to hear what he has to say.

Kaleb rushes up and tells them what happened. Maggie calls to get a SAR team and an ambulance out there as quickly as possible. She is told it’ll be sixty minutes. As they drive to the scene, Maggie calls Tom to tell him about Jackson’s accident. Tom calls Connie only to get her voicemail message. Finn enters the restaurant and hugs Sydney before asking her to take him to the park to play catch later. Rob tells her that Finn refused to listen when he tried to teach him how to throw a knuckleball. He only threw a fit. Rob feels like Finn is just shutting him out lately. Sydney thinks he needs to be a little more relaxed. She recommends spending less time at the diner and more time with Finn.

Kaleb leads Sully and Maggie to Jackson. Maggie immediately climbs down and begins helping Jackson. She tells Sully to take Kaleb up the path and have him look out for others. She also wants a cordless drill. Moments later, Kaleb tells Cal where the others are. Kaleb blames himself since he asked Jackson to take the picture. Once Cal arrives with the drill, Maggie says she is doing a sternum rub to make sure Jackson is unconscious. She explains that Jackson has an epidural hematoma. She needs to relieve the pressure on his brain or he’ll die. Maggie needs Cal to hold his head still while she drills three burr holes into his skull. Tom tries to get more information from Sully who urges him to let Maggie do her thing.

Sully comforts Tom as he begins breaking down while Maggie and Cal get ready for the makeshift operation. Maggie has doubts because of what Mrs. Markiff said. Cal gives her encouragement before she begins. Once she gets it done, they hear an ambulance’s siren in the distance. Tom and Kaleb tell Connie what happened. She goes ahead and meets with Maggie who tells her what she did to help him. Maggie says they need to take him to a hospital for a CT scan. They begin working to transport Jackson to a hospital. Sully asks Cal to drive Maggie to the hospital so he can tell Kaleb’s father what happened. Once they reach the hospital, Maggie says she’d like to speak to the surgeon and assist.

When she isn’t allowed to help, Maggie asks for an update as soon as they have one. Sydney gets back to the diner where she learns that Rob is hiring an assistant manager. Sydney says she is capable of handling it, but Rob argues this will be a good thing for both of them. Cal tries to keep Maggie calm while they wait for news about Jackson. He tells her to trust the people in there to do their jobs, but Maggie says people have let her down her entire life. She admits she feels helpless. The doctor tells them that Jackson isn’t out of the woods yet because there might be another clot. They’re going to go ahead with the craniotomy and they’ll be updated once it is complete. While they wait, Tom admits he was so angry that he lost sight of what was really important to him.

Connie knows she should’ve told him how she felt sooner. Jackson is out of surgery and has been transferred to ICU. He is stable and resting comfortably. At home, Sydney reads to Finn before bedtime. Cal and Maggie talk about what happened as she admits this is the first time she had to operate on someone she knows. She finally understands what Mrs. Markiff has been going through because she lost the most important in the world to her. Cal believes what she did for Jackson was nothing short of a miracle. When she tries to talk about what happened at the lake, Cal stops her and says he gets it. Once Cal leaves, Sully tells Maggie that he got a chance to see a side of her that he has never seen before.

He wants her to know how proud he is of her before they hug. Maggie finally understands that he was right about not blaming Mrs. Markiff. He needs to get some aspirin because he has a headache so Maggie says she’ll see him at home. Sully calls Phoebe and leaves a message about seeing Maggie save a life today. He realizes what Phoebe and Walter did for her and the opportunities they gave her. Sully wants Walter to do whatever it takes for Maggie to keep her license because she belongs in Boston helping people. Cal marks another day off his calendar as it looks like he is getting closer to leaving. Maggie gets a call from Scott who says the court date has been moved up.

The judge they’ve assigned has a reputation for ruling against doctors. Scott believes they’re going to be in for a fight. Sully signs for an envelope. When he opens it, he learns that there is going to be a foreclosure sale for Sullivan’s Crossing with a payment deadline of 37 days.

 

Sullivan’s Crossing Review

The 9th episode of Sullivan’s Crossing did a good job of setting up the finale which should be an emotional roller coaster. The show is not for the faint of heart because the stories can be very bleak at times and something bad always seems to be right around the corner. As a result, it is clear that the series isn’t going to be suitable for everyone since some viewers aren’t going to love the serious, bleak storylines.

Certain aspects of the series could be better, but it is often easy to overlook these issues. Sometimes the acting isn’t perfect and everything happening so quickly definitely makes the story a little unbelievable. Nevertheless, there is a seriousness about Sullivan’s Crossing and everything it does that just isn’t around much anymore.

The series has also effectively managed multiple interesting storylines without becoming convoluted. It is a bit soppy, but it is enjoyable regardless. The ninth episode scores a 7 out of 10. Recaps of Sullivan’s Crossing are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery at this link.