Guilt Trip – The season begins with Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) racing to the hospital after learning of the news of her Harry ‘Sully’ Sullivan (Scott Patterson). At the receptionist’s desk, she meets Dr. Roth (Bill Carr) who escorts her to Sully’s room. Much to her surprise, Sully’s scans didn’t reveal any clots.

When Cal Jones (Chad Michael Murray) later shows up at the hospital with flowers, it appears that some time has passed. Sully not only appears to be on the mend but it’s suggested that he’s discharge date is quickly approaching. Maggie uses that as an excuse to avoid Cal. The arrival of Dr. Rabney (Sharleen Kalayil) and her request to order more tests for Sully provide a further distraction. Much later, Maggie learns that Dr. Rabney suspects Sully might have Parkinson’s Disease.

Edna (Andrea Menard) and Frank Cranebear (Tom Jackson) work hard to prepare the shop for Sully’s return when she lets him know that she’s still upset about him running their vacation. Frank continues to insist he was the mistreated party. This inspires her to use his own advice against him, nothing changes if nothing changes.

Sully appears to be growing more agitated as his discharge date approaches. Lola Gunderson (Amalia Williamson) is quick to call him out on it before turning her attention to Cal. When Sully dismisses Lola, Cal attempts to discuss Maggie’s curt reaction to him earlier. Much to Cal’s surprise, it isn’t solely Maggie who has problems with Cal’s leaving. Not only that, but Sully claims Maggie never dedicated fully to her move. This eventually leads to Cal asking about the letter he left, which appears to missing.

Elsewhere, Sydney Shandon (Lindura) and Rafe Vadas (Dakota Taylor) continue to tiptoe around each other when she receives a call from Rob Shandon (Reid Price), requesting they work through their problems. Despite his immediate apologies for hiring Clover (Jansyn Blake) without consulting her, Sydney doesn’t appear to be in a forgive-and-forget mood.

Maggie consults with Andrew Matthews (Allan Hawco) about Dr. Rabney’s insistence on ordering more tests for her father. Kaleb not only offers her moral support but he tells her exactly what she needs to hear to trust and follow her instincts.

Sully’s agitation continues to the point where he becomes so concerned about it himself that he speaks with Frank about it during his visit. Initially Frank attempts to make light of the situation, but he then cleverly points out that one sometimes must first clear soul before clearing the mine. Frank leaves him to think that over as he returns to Edna.

While Maggie goes for a run, Lola returns home and reads Cal’s letter. Connie Boyle’s (Lauren Hammersly) confrontation with Rafe at the firehouse over his being late leads to a discussion about her venturing back into the dating world. Rafe suggests online dating and even offers to help with a profile but Connie doesn’t appear at all interested.

Sully appears happy to meet his new roommate, Mr. Anderson, while Maggie visits Frank in search of answers about her past. Frank doesn’t provide the answers she’s looking for but his admitting to also leaving Sully to visit Alberta seems to provide some relief.

It doesn’t take long before Rob realizes that he might have made a mistake by hiring Clover. Even a nearby Cal, who is repairing an electrical outlet, picks up on the lack of motivation. The two soon share a short conversation about the ironies of their situations with Syndery and Maggie.

Sydney realizes she’s taken on much more than she anticipated when she gets into Sully’s books. When Maggie joins, she wastes little time inquiring about Sydney’s new living arrangements with Rafe. Maggie appears surprised to learn that Sydney insists they keep their relationship entirely platonic. She doesn’t get long to marvel at her surprise thanks to the abruptly unexpected arrival of John (Sebastien Labelle) and Ellis (Bri Neal). The very pregnant couple is not only old friends with Sully but Edna as well. Despite that and their questions about Sully, no one bothers sharing his whereabouts. Before Edna whisks the couple off to one of the new honeymooner’s cabins, a baby pang leads to Ellis inviting Maggie to feel the baby kick.

Sydney immediately picks up on Maggie’s reaction and her refusal to drop the subject leads to Maggie tearfully sharing the news of her pregnancy. The short discussion that ensues reveals that Andrew is the father and Maggie is considering getting back with him just so her baby doesn’t have to grow up without a father. Maggie also denies having feelings for Cal, but Sydney sees right through that.

Connie learns all about semesters overseas and internship programs from an excited Jackson Canaday (T Thomason) as he tours the campuses. Tom Canaday (Hugh Thompson) soon takes over the conversation after Connie reminds Jackson that he’s still healing and needs to take it easy. Tom attempts to lighten the news of the divorce being made official by joking about them both being single again.

Sully’s frustration returns, but it appears to be directed at the staff’s inattention to Mr. Anderson. Sully only becomes more frustrated when he learns that Mr. Anderson doesn’t have any family looking out for him.

When Cal finally confronts Maggie, the ensuing conversation doesn’t go the way either of them would have thought. Maggie learns that Cal’s leaving was all about Lynne Baster Jones (Laura Vandervoort) and spreading her ashes. She had sworn him to secrecy at the time. Even after learning of this, she tells him that she is not only taking the new job offer in Boston but she and Andrew are trying to work things out

Later that day Maggie seeks comfort or maybe even advice from Phoebe Lancaster (Lynda Boyd). Although Phoebe does ask about Sully and wishes him a fast recovery, it doesn’t take long before Maggie realizes the conversation will be all business. That only becomes more apparent when Walter (Peter Outerbridge) takes over the call and encourages her to apply for a new research study headed by Dr. Lewis Callaghan (Rhys Bevan-John).

Cal seeks comfort by hitting the weights with Rafe at Firehouse’s gym. Their encounter is extremely short but Rafe does bring up the interesting prospect of Cal joining the search and rescue team. Edna’s anxiety only appears to be growing as Sully’s release date approaches, whereas Frank is merely happy to learn that Sully will be getting back to nature. They soon find their attention drawn to two new arrivals who later introduce themselves as Glenn Perry (Dean Armstrong) and George (Lewis Hodgson).

Sully’s agitation grows as he fails miserably with a memory test that Maggie has him attempting. Their situation soon becomes heated when Lola voices her concerns that Maggie is pushing him too hard. Mr. Anderson attempts to lighten the mood by telling Sully he’s lucky to have two beautiful daughters looking after him. Maggie wastes little time, not so nicely; pointing out that Lola isn’t his daughter. Sully later tells Lola that he thinks of her as a daughter.

When Maggie visits Dr. Rabney at Sully’s request to find out more about Mr. Anderson’s surgery, she learns Sully has Alzheimer’s disease. The episode ends with him collapsing in the hospital hallway when he goes in search of answers about Mr. Anderson’s surgery himself.

 

Sullivan’s Crossing Review

I have to say that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed watching this show. Now, it’s not that I consider it the best thing since sliced bread, but it is not bad. If you can look past all the cheesiness, there are some pretty complex characters here with real issues. Depending on the symptoms and the severity of them, Alzheimer’s can be an extremely cruel disease.

In this episode in particular, I was especially drawn to the irony of Sully and Mr. Anderson’s situations. I was surely expecting Anderson to die before the episode was up. The arrival of George and Glenn also opens the potential for a different storyline. All in all, I’d give the episode a 5.4 out of 10.

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