Saving Hope Recap: "The Fight"

This week’s episode of Saving Hope, “The Fight,” was definitely my least favorite episode so far. I can’t really put my finger on what was wrong with the episode, but overall, it just wasn’t good and I spent most of the hour looking at the time and wondering why it wasn’t over yet.

Alex started the episode, sitting by Charlie’s bedside and noticed that his lungs didn’t sound right. She asked to have an x-ray done. As Charlie watched in the background, his voiceover stated that it was pneumonia, perfect. Meanwhile, Maggie kissed Joel in the middle of the hospital and it was awkward for everyone involved (mainly because she’s the worst). Joel and Alex talked about the night out that the doctors were planning and Alex teased Joel about the club they were going to, but wouldn’t give him the specifics.

Even though she’d just finished her regular shift, Alex decided to take a shift in the ER. She commented to Zach that it seemed like a quiet Saturday night and he told her that she’d just jinxed them. Sure enough, a few seconds later there was an announcement that there was a trauma patient coming in. There had been a fight in a nightclub and the patient, Eddie, had a stab wound that seemed like it was going to be fatal. As Alex and Zach started operating on him, Eddie appeared at Charlie’s side.

Eddie was the kind of character that you can’t help but root for death to win. (What? It’s okay to wish fictional characters dead. Do not judge me). He was basically a punk kid and a drug dealer who had gotten into a fight with another drug dealer. When the other drug dealer showed up at the hospital, ‘spirit’ Eddie, screamed in his face and threatened to kill him, his family and his little dog too. Charlie was not impressed in the slightest and he did not appreciate having to chase Eddie all over the hospital. But he was intrigued by the fact that Eddie managed to wake himself up, not once, but twice, by repeatedly screaming at his body and ordering it to fight.

The other patient that Alex was dealing with in the ER was a hockey player, Todd. He’d gotten into a fight off the ice and he’d hurt his ribs. But he freaked out when Alex wanted to run a CT scan to check for a concussion. Alex was sneaky though and did some kind of blood test to check the elevated levels in his blood and found out that way that he was hiding something. Todd told her that his career was all he had and he wasn’t a talented player so he had to be a fighter. He refused the test and attempted to leave with his girlfriend, but then a gunman came into the ER and two people were shot so Todd was forced to stay because the police needed statements from witnesses.

Let’s back up and talk about the gunman for a moment. I think he had something to do with the nightclub incident since one of the people shot was the guy Eddie had been fighting with. But it happened really fast and then it was sort of dropped so it was just a weird moment. Anyway, the other person shot was a woman named Irene, who had been in the ER waiting with her husband, who needed to see a doctor. The bullet was lodged in her spine and Alex asked the nurse to page Joel so he could operate.

Joel, along with Gavin, Shahir and Tom were at the club that Alex had told him about. Apparently, it was a club with dancers dressed in drag and they were celebrating Shahir’s birthday with his boyfriend. Shahir was uncomfortable and his boyfriend thought he was mad that his coworkers had found out that he enjoyed a drag show, but the real reason he was mad was because he gets anxious around large groups of people (I can totally relate) and he felt his boyfriend should know that about him after being together for over a year. When Joel gets called back to the hospital, Shahir asks if there’s anyone needing brain surgery so he can leave too.

Irene’s husband, Anthony, does not want her to have the surgery because there’s a risk she could die. Joel explains that it’s time sensitive and he needs to remove the bullet from her spine or she’ll never walk again. Anthony won’t sign off on the surgery and Joel is mad. Alex points out that he’s being selfish because he wants to play the hero, but Anthony just wants his wife to live. They eventually agree to the surgery and as Joel preps the team, he suddenly leaves the room for a minute and then comes back and tells them they’re going to do the less risky surgery. (This seemed like an odd moment to me. Someone like Joel should not constantly be second guessing himself).

Todd finishes giving his statement to the police and ignores Alex’s request for him to stay for more treatment. But then he starts laughing and can’t stop until he collapses. Shahir gets his wish and comes to the hospital to perform surgery. Todd has three aneurisms in his head and one ruptured. Shahir removes a second one, but the third one can’t be operated on. He and Alex explain that Todd’s hockey career is over, but he says that he will play again. Alex calls him an idiot and points out that he has a woman who loves him and he should be doing anything he can to keep himself breathing for her.

Charlie is standing over his body, yelling at himself to fight. He doesn’t wake up, but his fever breaks, so that’s something. Alex is proud of Joel for doing the less risky surgery and he tells her that’s what Charlie would have done. Alex has a flashback to her and Charlie walking together and she asks him if they would still be together if they weren’t colleagues. Charlie launches into all the things he loves about her that have nothing to do with her being a doctor. It’s very sweet and then the scene goes back to the present and Alex sees Charlie in his tuxedo, standing in the doorway. She calls out to him, but when she blinks, Joel is standing there. He tells her that she’s tired and she should get some rest.

This is usually the part of the recap where I quote Charlie’s final lines of the episode since he always gives an awesome speech that ties everything together. But there wasn’t one this week, just the final shot of Alex curled up on the couch. Maybe that was part of the reason I didn’t like the episode. Or maybe it was because I didn’t really sympathize with any of the patients. Or maybe it was just a bad episode.

NBC didn’t show previews for next week, but I am looking forward to the next episode even though I didn’t like this one. All shows have an off week every now and again. What did you think of “The Fight?” Share your thoughts in the comments below.