Erica Durance as Alex Reid
It is the second part of Saving Hope’s back-to-back episode and you know who else is back: Joel.
We will get to Joel’s return soon but let’s start with…
Maggie
Dr. Katz catches Maggie sleeping during a surgery, which she is reprimanded for. Maggie is stressed out and can’t sleep because she is juggling studying for her boards and still working her regular surgical shifts. After a study sessions, Lana wants Maggie to give her some advice about her weakness in cardiac. Maggie suggests that Lana sit in on a heart surgery (this becomes important in the Alex and Dawn section).
Benjamin Ayers as Zach Miller
Maggie is called to the ER by Zach to take a look at Helen Kruger (Catherine Fitch) with an apparent broken wrist. But Helen has a phobia of doctors and refuses to be seen by Maggie and Zach. So Maggie goes to Dr. Dey for a consult but she interrupts a meditation session. Maggie wonders if it will help her relax and Dey says it should. So Maggie asks Dey to first help her with the consult so he can then show her how to meditate.
Even with Dey present, Helen is still very skittish. So Dey comes up with the idea that Maggie should examine Helen in civilian clothing. Dey theorizes that Helen probably had a traumatic experience with a doctor so seeing one not in its usual garb can help. As Maggie changes, we do see Dey try his best not to take a peek even after Maggie asks if he is still on his vow of celibacy.
Dey then gets Helen and Maggie to play a little roll reversal. Maggie opens up a little bit about being stressed and this gets Helen to slowly open up too. Eventually, Helen shows Maggie her wrist. Helen tells Maggie at first the bump on her wrist was nothing so didn’t get it checked out but then it grew three times over the last month. Helen is afraid it is a tumor and she is going to die. Maggie tells her it isn’t a tumor but a ganglion cyst (which I actually have one on the back of my right hand, but it is really tiny). Maggie tells her she won’t die and there are two options: surgery or something that requires her to look up in her text book. When Maggie asks for the text book, I pretty much know what she will do with it. Maggie pretends to read the treatment for it and ends up using the text book to smash the cyst. I was told from my doctor that he could smash my cyst but it probably will come back so I shouldn’t bother unless it grew (it hasn’t).
Later, at Dey’s office, the two start to medidate and there is sexual tension in the air but no sex as the two just meditate and after it is over, Dey sends Maggie to write Dawn’s practice board exam. These two are so going to sleep together, sooner rather than later but I really do miss Gavin.
Joel
Apparently Joel knows that Alex is pregnant and while waiting to get coffee, he coos to a 6-month old boy in front of him, whose mother asks him to hold him while she pays for her food. Charlie comes upon him and Joel tells him the baby isn’t his. Charlie jokes that he probably has said that many of times. In all seriousness, Joel believes that he is the father of Alex’s baby and won’t run away. Also, according to Zach, there is a baby daddy pool at Hope-Zion (Zach thinks it is Joel’s) and if it is, what will Joel do: marry Alex or leave Hope-Zion.
In the ER, Joel treats Donny (Adamo Ruggiero), who has come in with a broken clavicle. Unfortunately, Donny’s treatment is a bit hindered by two medal rods sticking out from both legs. Donny tells Joel that he broke his legs while paragliding in Aruba. When Joel notices the name of the clinic on the rods, a quick Google search reveals the clinic was actually for limb lengthening.
Joel sees that the monorails are really causing more harm than good for Donny, who wanted it to gain two more inches so he can join the air force, which is a family tradition. When Donny goes to lengthen his legs again, it further damages his legs that Joel has no choice to remove them.
Michael Shanks as Charlie Harris
During the surgery, Charlie scrubs in and talk flips between how to tell Donny that he will probably go back to his original height and back to the baby daddy drama that is between the two.
After the surgery, Joel gives Donny the bad news but has a pilot friend of his talk to Donny that while he can’t join the air force, he would make a fine pilot, which he has a pilot license.
Alex and Dawn
Alex is studying for her boards with Rian, Lana and Maggie when she realizes she has an appointment with Dr. Katz about her baby.
Katz asks her what her birth plan is but it is clear that Alex hasn’t thought things through. Katz wants to know how involved the father is but Alex confesses she doesn’t know as apparently there was an overlap between Charlie and Joel. Alex wants to perform a paternity test. Katz says that the best way to do that is an amniocentesis but thinks it is a bit invasive when it is not necessary. Katz suggests that if the baby daddys can wait then so can she.
Dawn’s day starts with her breaking a date with someone later that night and continues with Giselle grabbing her when Elliott Stout is in cardiac distress. The Hope-Zion team manages to save him. Elliott realizes that this incident bumps him up to priority 1 in the heart transplant list provided his C.Difficle infection is at bay.
Dr. Rocca and Dawn summon Alex to let her know that she will be Elliott’s doctor from now on. When Alex is examining Elliott, he is being his usual charming self and wants Alex’s name so he knows who exactly is caring for him so that he perhaps can use for a future lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Giselle is doing Leila’s hair and Leila shares with Alex how Giselle letting her do her hair is when she knew that the young girl would finally open up to her. Their bond is quite clear that you can probably see the heart break coming. As Giselle climbs into Leila’s bed to get some sleep, Dawn calls Alex out to tell her some good news.
A heart has become available and the top two candidates are Elliott and Leila. Dawn rules out Elliott because of his C. Difficile infection so Alex tells Leila and Giselle the good news that she is going to get a heart.
Giselle is so happy her mom is going to get a heart that she shares the good news with Elliott (who actually thanked Giselle for getting help when he was in cardiac arrest). Giselle hopes that Elliott gets a heart soon. When Giselle leaves, Elliott makes a quick phone call.
Just as Dawn is about to cut Leila opens, Rocca comes in and stops Dawn. Despite his how he feels about Elliott, Rocca is taking the heart for him as he actually had priority and his infection is cleared. Dawn didn’t check for that and is the reason why she lost Leila’s heart. You can see that Dawn is clearly pissed at this news.
Glenda Braganza as Melanda Tolliver and Erica Durance as Alex Reid
As Leila is being wheeled back to ICU, Giselle notices this and Dawn has to tell her a mistake has been made and Giselle sees Elliott being wheeled in and she realizes that he stole her mom’s heart and wishes he would die. During this, Alex gets accidentally knocked over and then goes to Katz to get her baby checked out. Alex wonders to Katz how can she juggle being a doctor, studying for boards and having a baby and doing so all alone. Alex tells Katz that she needs to know who the father of her baby is and doesn’t want to wait. Katz respects her choice.
During Elliott’s surgery, Dawn reminds all the doctors that they will do their best to treat him. Lana comes in to observe. When Dawn removes Elliott’s bad heart, Lana quips that she is surprised there was a heart in there. This gets Dawn to stop and after a brief pause gets a nurse to put a towel over Lana’s face and slaps it hard. Dawn tells Lana to stay quiet and Alex explains to Rian that the towel kept Dawn sterile.
The surgery is successful and Dawn tells Lana that she was thinking the same thing. Mal then comes in to say something is happening with Leila. We know it is bad news as Charlie sees Leila’s spirit wandering the halls of Hope-Zion looking for Giselle.
Mal, Alex and Dawn are doing their darndest to save Leila but to no avail. Dawn breaks the news to Giselle, who of course is very upset. Leila tells Charlie that she can’t leave until she knows that Giselle will be okay (we know she will go back to foster care) but when we see Dawn and Giselle grieve together, Leila’s spirit disappears and I get teary-eyed. I am not quite sure what this means? We know that Dawn wants to be a mom so will she adopt Giselle? Might just be because you don’t spend two episodes with these characters and not have it lead somewhere.
Dawn returns to her office when Joel storms him wanting to know his fate at Hope-Zion. Dawn doesn’t want to deal with him right now but Joel insists so she suspends him as she can’t have someone with a manslaughter charge working at the hospital. Joel sees that Dawn has lost a patient and it not thinking straight. Joel makes an impassioned speech about saving people’s lives that Dawn reverses her decision.
Dawn then goes to supervise the mock board exam where she lets Rian, Lana, Maggie and Alex know what happened to Leila and how well Elliott is doing. When Dawn goes to apologize to Lana, she says it isn’t necessary and quits the surgical program as she has been really struggling.
After Lana leaves, Dawn tells the rest that the mock test isn’t important and sends them all home. The episode ends with a still grief-stricken Dawn with tears falling.
What I am looking about this season is we are really seeing growth from several characters, especially Dawn, who was first introduced as some cold woman and really was her. But certain situations have warmed Dawn’s heart from adopting that hamster to what has happened to Leila and Giselle.
And I am glad that the show no longer has to hide Erica Durance’s pregnancy!
