Saving Hope 1×04 ‘The Fight’ review: Fighting their way into hoping

Usually when a show makes you doze off a few minutes in, it means the episode’s pretty bad. However that wasn’t the case in last night’s episode of Saving Hope; there were some amazing moments that make me believe ‘The Fight’ is probably the show’s best so far even with all its flaws.

The episode truly embraced the title of the show: Saving Hope. When the episode first starts out, Alex learns that Charlie has pneumonia, and in a coma patient, this means he’s getting closer and closer to the edge. Midway through the episode, Alex was thisclose to giving up on him believing her fiancé is in a PVS – Permanent Vegetative State.  By the end of the episode, Charlie’s fever breaks, and something incredible happens (for just a moment): she sees him. No, not as a coma patient – as an actual ghost. In 40 minutes, she transformed from the woman who’s throwing herself into work because she’s basically grieving the loss of her one love to the woman who thinks he’s right there next to her filling her with all the hope she needs.

Another story-line I enjoyed in this episode was that of Todd, the Hockey player. Besides the fact that the actor is pretty charming and that I LOVED him, I was invested with his case even more because to Alex, it hits pretty close to home. That guy came to the hospital suffering a few broken ribs; he was awake and just enjoying his time with his girlfriend. And then Alex tells him they need to CT his head to see if there’s any concussion but being a Hokey player; he refuses. He’ll lose his career and he has a huge family to support – everyone depends on him. But Alex goes out of her way to prove that he does in fact have a concussion; she takes his blood and lies to him about the reason. The results? Yes, he has a concussion. They take  him into surgery after he seizes to find out he has three aneurysm in his brain.

The even worse news is that they couldn’t get all out which means any further head injury could kill him. Shahir makes sure Todd understands that. But, of course, he doesn’t budge. He’s not quitting Hokey, and that’s that. Alex’s lecture him about love will surely change his mind. Her speech is SO heartbreaking because you know she’s talking about herself and Charlie.

“What I think about it is that you’re an idiot. You’re alive. You have a life for as long as it lasts and a woman who loves you. Anyone who is breathing and conscious with a woman like that sitting next to him and turns his back on that – on her – is an idiot!”

 For a second there, I was afraid Alex would start talking about Charlie and how they love each other but he’s in a coma and that stuff because I didn’t want it to be the routine (and the running-joke) of the show: patient is stubborn, convince him his life is precious and that he needs to fight for his life by talking about your almost-dead-fiancé. But what Alex told Todd was vague and effective enough to make me love it.

Talking about Charlie, he gets another visitor in the limbo he’s living in: Eddie – a fighter, literally. That guy is rushed into the ER after he gets in a fight with a guy that stabs him. For just a few seconds, he dies on the table and sees Charlie. But then by the grace of God, he’s alive again but in a coma meaning he’s still with Charlie. That guy attacks his unconscious self by shouting at it to wake up. And he does, he really really does. (I hated this dude, by the way. I found him a tad annoying.) That inspires Charlie to do the same because as Eddie told him, he’s not holding on for dear life, he’s giving up. So Charlie walks over to his PVS-self and tells it to fight. And hence his fever breaks. It’s corny, I know. But I’m a sucker for corny.

OH! Wanna hear all about my new favorite character Dr. Shahir Hamza? That guy was so underused in the last three episodes, that it’s just sad. We got to dig deeper into his social awkwardness this episode when his boyfriend (This was a reveal, right? I mean, we didn’t know he was gay until last tonight’s episode. Or did I miss something in the first three episodes?) takes him to drag show on his birthday. This guy is a like a toned-down Abed/Sheldon and I kinda dig that. He has the same weird charm they have but with less quirkiness. I want more of him in the next few episodes, please!

Also, there was a hospital shooting incident that was just so unnecessary and so weak that I’m just not gonna discuss it here; it was just so bad, I’m sorry. After Grey’s Anatomy, no show should ever do that. That series set the bar VERY high for the rest of the medical dramas out there.

Bee Tee Dubz, we need more of Alex and Joel, please, Saving Hope writers. Their chemistry is unbearable. And less of Maggie, I just couldn’t care for her character at all in this episode.

Scattered Thoughts:

• Is it a coincidence that Joel was wearing an Italian flag surgical cap the same night the Germany vs. Italy soccer game was on? Minus points for Joel. I’m sorry, but I’m team Germany all the way.

• We learned a few things about Alex as an individual in this episode: She’s a Capricorn. She hates being nervous. (I’m seriously loving those flashback scenes at the end of every episode. We’re learning slowly – 2 minutes from each episode at a time – what a beautiful relationship Alex and Charlie had/have.)