Previously on saving hope
So we started this season with Alex being operated on for a stabbing, Dawn accidentally had sewn her artery shut and they had to pull out a vein in her leg to fix the problem, everyone has pulled together in helping save Alex, be it in the operating theatre or in supporting those around her who need it. Joel is having to treat the man who stabbed her and getting a little emotional as he passed away, Alex is now in a coma and her invisible self is talking with Charlie, Charlie has had a brawl with Joel and they both know they love Alex (who are you rooting for?) and Charlie seems to be falling apart with the thought that he could lose her. Maggie used her very bad timing and judgement to dump Gavin as she felt that he wouldn’t have a fight for her (I’m sorry Maggie but he is better than you can hope for). We finished with Charlie and Alex talking over the coma Alex showing a small role reversal from how most of season 1 played out.
Season 3 episode 2 Kiss Me Goodbye
Alex is reading her own stats as Charlie sits at her bedside, he has a set of cards in his hands and Alex is trying to figure out why she is not awake yet (Charlie was in a coma way longer than you my dear). Charlie is trying to reassure her she is ok and that she had the best cardiac surgeon known working on her, to which Alex replies ‘Your Ex-wife who tried to kill you!’ (Fair point). Charlie and Alex are playing strip Poker (oh dear) and Alex just won the hand, so Charlie has to take his top off and we are presented with a lovely sight, just then Shahir walks in and Charlie asks if Alex has any brain injuries, to which Shahir replies with ‘There is absolutely nothing wrong with Alex’s brain or your Biceps for that matter!’ (I agree with Shahir and I’m loving his wide grin too). Charlie and Alex have a small conversation in the lift she wants to be off the ventilator, so she can get the push she needs to wake up, Charlie is reluctant and says she is as strong as he was. Zach is in the ER and pulls back a curtain and says ‘red rover, red rover, I smell a hangover!’ and we now see a hung over and tired looking Joel (still looks hot to me) he has a consult to do but he tells Zach he shift hasn’t started yet, it seems our Joel is hitting a rough patch, his shift doesn’t start for 8 minutes and he won’t start until then, he shuts the curtain and says ‘I’m hydrating’ (I know I am not the only one who is digging the hung over Joel look).
Alex and Charlie are walking down the corridor and talking about where they are going, they bump into Maggie who is late for rounds with her new boss, as she walks off, Alex mentions she looks tired, Charlie says that they are all worried about her and also adds in the fact Maggie broke up with Gavin. They stop outside Dawns office as Charlie wants her to snoop and see what dawn is doing at 8am to not have any appointments at that time, he bribes Alex and says he will get the paperwork rolling on taking her off the ventilator. We are now in Dawns office and she is talking to her hamster, she then sings it a song as she puts him in his cage and covers it up (this proves she has a heart, its sweet and rare moment for her). Zach is asking Joel to see someone about his behaviour, he seems different and isn’t the same since Alex was attacked (I think he may blame himself, but he isn’t the only one in the hospital, he may have dropped off to sleep when watching the man but someone else should’ve noticed). A patient is wheeled in, he is an addict and is slightly high, they look at his leg and see a metal bar which is infected, Joel immediately sobers up and starts straight away knowing they need to act fast to help save the leg. Maggie walks in, she is still late to see her new Boss Dr Katz, who is messing around with some equipment, Maggie hasn’t really gotten off to the best start and thinks Dr Katz looks too young to be her boss, she is a red-head and about Maggie’s height, she does look young but her knowledge and expertise really show she is boss (I like her straight away as she has a great attitude to the job). She starts off asking questions about the last boss Maggie had, who used drugs and this shows us that she means business.
Joel is preparing for surgery for Roy his addict and he meets up with a new resident, he is not too impressed and we found out a little about this new guy. We then see Joel scrub up before operating on the bar in the leg, Charlie stands next to him and asks if he is going to save the leg, Joel is fairly quiet and eventually answers with he doesn’t know, Charlie mentions that he hasn’t had much luck lately with surgeries and then tells him they are taking the respirator off Alex, (Charlie is kind of throwing this in Joel’s face) to which Joel gets concerned, he then asks if he can see her since Charlie seems to be in charge of her Care and Charlie says Joel needs to ask himself for permission, Joel then goes in for his surgery. They find out that the infection is serious and that they need to remove the plate, then clean it out as much as possible, they may be in there for a while. Maggie and Dr Katz are with a woman who is pregnant and fell when putting up a mobile, they reassure her she is ok and the baby feels ok, she says she has a headache and that nothing else feel’s bad, they tell her to let them know if it gets worse, her husband David walks in as they are trying to find a heartbeat which Maggie can’t find, Dr Katz steps in sees it’s a little off and send her down to get an ultra sound and Dr Katz adds in the cool remark ‘that’s if Dr Lin can find it!’ (I like Dr Katz). Back in Joel’s surgery they take the plate off and discover that his stats drop big time, they only have one option to keep him alive and that is to amputate the leg, just as he is about to start he rethinks his decision and decides to try to save the leg.
Maggie her patient Laura and David are going in the lift, they talk about how they cover up their emotions and have a laugh, Laura’s headache has gotten worse and after a few moments she passes out and Maggie can’t find a pulse (take advice don’t get in a lift with Maggie, not a safe place) she presses a button and an alarm goes off and then she is able to get a weak pulse, getting the nurse to get Dr Katz up to them, Alex is watching and then turns to see Laura standing next to her, but Alex is not seen by her, Laura can’t hear or see Alex so she is alone and she is worried for her baby. Shahir talks to the husband and says she is in a coma, she has had a brain aneurism and it was so small at the time that it was unnoticeable, Shahir asks if she has family and David says no but he will call his mum in from Florida. Joel walks in to check on Roy, he is hiding under some blankets and is on the phone to his dealer, who hangs up when Joel takes the phone, Joel explain that they need a central line to flood him with antibiotics and that if he injects himself with drugs he will overdose and die, he makes him promise not to use drugs as Joel has made a deal with himself, a deal to not lose this patient and so the most important thing in Joel’s life is this man’s life, he takes the phone away with him and tells the nurse if anyone visits he needs to know straight away, the nurse agrees to let him know. Maggie and Dr Katz are taking readings for the baby to make sure it is ok whilst Laura is in her coma, all the stats for the baby are ok and they say it’s rare for a case like this, Maggie says its bad luck and Dr Katz says she doesn’t believe in luck and that she believes in god, she asks Maggie to say why she chose obstetrics and then says everything she learned from her previous boss is wrong. They go to tell David that the baby is doing ok and they see no problems, he seems angry and doesn’t care for the baby just his wife Laura at the moment, Dr Katz tells him to express his feeling and get the anger out to which he thumps a door and causes himself damage, Dr Katz just says ‘that’s why I didn’t go into psychiatry:, Maggie doesn’t seem impressed.
Alex is trying to convince Charlie to talk to Laura since she can’t, he is reluctant but agrees to just as he gets a text to go and fix David’s hand. Maggie walks into the doctors lounge and chats with Joel, he says he is having a bad week, he gets a call and we see that the dealer has arrived, Joel rushes to where his patient is and confronts the dealer, who runs off and then Joel has to run after him, after a bit of a chase Joel’s route is blocked by a patient being rolled in the corridor. Charlie is patching up Laura’s husband hand, they talk about it and he blames the hospital and then his baby for all of this, their talk is interrupted when they hear of trouble in Laura’s room, they get up there and her monitors are beeping, Shahir is trying to see what wrong and the husband is getting the way, Charlie tries to make him leave but he pushes Charlie away, Charlie sees Laura just as they announce that she is brain-dead (this does not bode well). Shahir and Dr Katz tell him that officially she is dead, but they can keep her on the monitors and mechanically alive until the baby is born, (technically they say foetus, which personally I don’t think helps, baby would help more a human term for him to digest) or they can pull the plug on them both, he doesn’t know what to do and they give him some time. Joel walks into see Roy is watching a cookery programme, he asks if Joel is going to stand there and Joel says it’s easier to chase a drug dealer down if he is in the room, Joel says he will stand and not sit and is holding a can of Red Bull (obviously still feeling guilty about Alex) they start to chat and Joel notices that his patient is scratching under his arm, Joel sees that there is an infection and they need to clean it out or it will eat the surrounding flesh so they have to operate on him again and soon.
Gavin has gone to chat to Laura’s husband, we find out that he has been in therapy for anxiety and for crappy father issues, after a short talk we find out that she made all the decisions and he just made the meals, so he feels that without her he can not cope. Alex and Laura are looking over new-born babies and Charlie turns up to chat with Laura about how she is feeling and she cracks a joke about being pregnant and dead, she asks Charlie if he wants kids, he smiles and glances across to Alex and says he does, Laura says she believes David will make the right call and raise their son as he is a family man. Gavin, Maggie, Shahir and Dr Katz are by Laura’s bedside as David walks in with his head held low, it has been a hard decision for him but he seems to know what he wants to do, he wants her taken off life support, Dr Katz and Gavin seem a little shocked and try to convince him to take his time, even Maggie chips in but he just says he has made his decision and he wants it over (it seems to be killing him seeing his wife the way she is). Dawn and Melinda are preparing Alex to come of the ventilator, they are checking her stats and then turn off the machine, they wait a few moments to make sure she doesn’t plummet and then take the tube out, she seems to be coping well without the equipment, Alex looks to Charlie and asks why she isn’t waking up (it’s not been that long love, remember how long Charlie was in a coma?) and Charlie just says that she needs to keep Breathing.
Dr Katz is not happy that Laura’s life support will be switched of and the baby will die, she is very passionate and will not accept that it is out of her hands, Gavin is left to talk to Maggie alone, Gavin mentions that Dr Katz seems so passionate, Maggie’s jealous head rears itself when she says that Dr Katz is so young (can she not see that someone who is good at their job can progress?) as they talk they mention that they are living in the same apartment and are talking about who should move out. Laura finds Charlie By Alex’s bedside and asks him for help, he is reluctant to leave her bedside but Alex tells him she isn’t going anywhere and to help Laura, Charlie and Laura walk of and she tells him about her husband’s fears so they can try to change his mind. Joel and Roy are heading to the OR he makes Roy call his mum before the operation using his own phone, Roy hasn’t spoken to his mum in years and Joel thinks that this conversation will help him to relax a little and maybe get on the straight and narrow when the operation is over, Roy hesitates and makes Joel speak first, Roy’s mum then wants to speak to Roy and he says that he is helping at the hospital, he is helping drug addicts and has cleaned up his life, it really makes him feel better and then they head in for the operation. Charlie finds Laura’s husband and starts to speak to him, trying to change his mind, with the help of Laura who knows how her husband’s mind works, she is giving hints about his reactions to situations, he uses this information to try to talk to him, getting information out of him that will make him think of the good about knowing he was going to have a son, finding out he wrote a poem with how happy he was, he says he can’t remember and Laura recites the poem just before he gets up and walks away being sure he has made the right decision. He is now ready to pull the plug, Laura says its ok and recites the poem again, as they are about to turn off the equipment, he says wait and changes his mind and that he wants to keep her on life support as it is what she would have wanted and that he now wants his son, Charlie sees a bright light and Laura vanishes.
Slow music starts as we approach our episode close and we see that Joel is in the OR looking at Roy who did not make it, he walks out and we can see he is upset (it’s just a run of bad luck Joel, it will not last, I really want to hug him). Maggie is making up the sofa to sleep on since she insisted she move out and not Gavin, she looks fed up (but she brought this on herself). Laura’s husband is at her bedside and his mum arrives and hugs him, a hug he needs as the road ahead without his wife for him is really scary.
Joel walks into the room Alex is in and sits on her the edge of her bed, Alex herself is having a conversation about waking up with Charlie and she says that when she wakes up they should have a baby and then they kiss, in that same exact moment Joel has confessed his love for Alex, he says he made the pact about saving his patient as he believed if that worked she would start to get better and that he refuses to lose her, that she belongs here, he then leans in and kisses her on the lips (the emotion in his face is so strong, you can see the tears in his eyes, he really does love her), the kiss then does something that wasn’t expected, Charlie looks to see Alex is gone and runs to Alex’s room and we find that Alex has woken to Joel’s Kiss (His Kiss woke her, His Kiss woke her, Coma patient’s across the world would be lining up if they could to be woken by his kiss, I would and I’m not in a coma!).
So we have hit the end of episode 2, Alex has woken up and Joel’s Kiss did it, Alex lays there and looks at them both, I am so full of questions, what will the next episode hold? Will Alex remember her time with Charlie? Does she still have feeling for Joel? or will she have a baby with Charlie? How will Joel react to this? So stay tuned for my next blog or watch Episode 3 to find out, I am so in love with this season so far and I will be back soon with the next recap, love you all.
