Saving Hope Recap: "Bea, Again"

Saving Hope returned tonight from its Olympics’ break with the new episode, “Bea, Again.” When we last left the Hope Z doctors, a devastated Alex had to stand by while Dawn insisted Charlie be taken off the ventilator, Gavin stunned Maggie with a kiss and after starting to tell Alex he still loved her, Joel took his aggression out in a bar fight and ended up with a broken hand.

 The show resumed with Alex crying and cuddling with Charlie as tuxedo Charlie told her that he wasn’t ready to go and he wasn’t going to. Charlie leaves the room, desperate to find a way out of the situation and runs into Mac, a fellow doctor who had died months ago. He tells Charlie he’s there to help him die.

Alex is encouraged by the fact that Charlie’s still breathing on his own and thinks there’s still time for an appeal. Mel is skeptical, but calls a lawyer who has helped people win impossible cases in the past. The lawyer sets up shop in the hospital as Alex finds out that an old patient of Charlie’s, Bea, is there for a checkup. Alex flashes back to four years earlier (holy terrible hair!) and recalls Charlie helping her when Bea was rushed in for an emergency. Back in the present, Bea explains she’s taking a year off to travel with her boyfriend and just wants to have all the recommended tests done first. Charlie tells Mac that he’s not ready to die and Mac points out that no one is ever ready, that’s the point. He wants to help Charlie figure out what’s keeping him from crossing over.

Flashing back once again, Alex recalls going over Bea’s charts with Charlie, Mac and Dawn. Bea had a tumor and Alex suggested draining some of the excess fluid to help her breathe. Charlie gave her the surgery and Alex was nervous, but Charlie reminded her that it was a teaching hospital. The procedure was a success and it was obviously the first of many bonding moments for Alex and Charlie. Outside the hospital, Mac tries to get Charlie to figure out what he needs to make peace with. Charlie reiterates that he’s not ready to die. Bea attempts to order a latte while she waits for her test results, but she keeps asking for a ‘telephone’ instead. Charlie and Mac realize she might have a brain tumor.

Dana is not happy with Joel. His hand is broken and he’s sporting a black eye, but he insists that he just wants to get back to work. She’s worried about him after he lost his patient, but he points out that happens all the time. She says not by suicide. Joel ignores her and goes to help another doctor (Zach?) with a patient who broke her wrist after she fell off the altar while singing in the church choir. She’d been previously paralyzed in a car accident and Joel is surprised when she feels pain in her foot. Joel thinks she might have been faking paralysis, but Zach (I’m going with Zach) doesn’t believe that’s the case. The entire church choir is in the waiting room and Joel is less than impressed when they burst into song (Daniel Gillies has the best facial expressions).

Maggie (unfortunately) still exists and she and Gavin talk about their kiss. She tells him that they’ve been friends for five years and she loves him, but only as a friend. Gavin makes it clear that is not enough for him. Maggie doesn’t want things to get weird between them, but it’s too late for that. Alex and Joel have their own awkward moment when they run into each other in the break room, but they skirt around their issues and go their separate ways (I seriously hope Charlie wakes up soon so the show can explore Alex and Joel without making her seem terrible).

Charlie and Mac figure out that they might have misdiagnosed Bea, but there’s no way to get the information to Alex. Maggie tells Alex that it was obvious how much Charlie loved her (way to speak in the past when he’s not dead yet) and Alex says that he was her best friend from the moment she met him. Maggie pauses at that, but then Charlie’s breathing starts to get ragged.

Alex tells Bea that all her tests came back good and Bea mentions her headaches, but Alex doesn’t think much of them. Charlie follows Bea to the door and shouts at her that he’s the voice inside her head and she needs to go back and talk about the headaches. She turns and walks back into the hospital and a surprised Charlie looks at Mac and goes, “Did I just do that?”

Dana stops by to check on Charlie and Alex gives her a minute alone with her. The lawyer returns and tells Alex that she has bad news; the court won’t even hear the appeal. Dana comes out and tells Alex that it’s okay to be upset and asks if there’s anything she can do to help. Alex tells her to take the DNR off Charlie’s file since he never wanted that. When Dana just stands there, Alex tells her to go to hell. Dana seeks out another doctor (Dr. Reycraft) and offers him the chief resident’s job. He says he thought that was Alex’s job and Dana says she needs time to grieve. He takes the job and excitedly calls his parents to share the news (which made it hard for me to hate him for going behind Alex’s back).

Alex is cuddling with Charlie and Bea stops by with flowers. Alex tells her that she’s sorry that she didn’t tell her how bad things were. Bea explains that she just wanted to bring him “shoes” and when Alex asks her to repeat it, she says “shoes” again instead of flowers. Alex points out the error and she says that she’s been having trouble lately. Alex asks her to stay with Charlie for a few minutes and then goes to consult with the neurosurgeon. He finds a mistake in the pathology report, proving that the initial diagnosis had been wrong all along.

Joel tells Gavin about his patient and his suspicions that she has conversion disorder. Gavin agrees and offers to talk to her, but he points out that they can’t force the woman to deal with trauma if she’s not ready. Joel is not happy with that answer and walks out. He confronts the patient and asks her if she ever talked to anyone after her husband died. She tells him that she talks to God every day, but Joel tells her that he means a professional. She gets upset and starts crying as Joel tries to comfort her.

Alex tells Bea about the brain tumor and the misdiagnosis. She’s understandably upset, but the doctors promise to do what they can. Mac feels terrible and says that he was at fault and he’d been too arrogant back then. The lights start to go out and Charlie freaks out, but Mac tells him that it’s not his time. Charlie asks what the point of all of it was and Mac says it was so Charlie could help him cross over. Mac tells Charlie that it’s not his time and he needs to push past his familiar thinking. He says goodbye to Charlie and goes into the light. Charlie returns to Alex’s side and tells her that he’s not going anywhere.

There’s another flashback to four years earlier and Alex and Charlie talk and flirt a little before Dawn shows up to go to dinner with Charlie. In the present, Dawn arrives in Charlie’s hospital room and Alex forces her to put her hand on Charlie’s chest. Dawn is stunned that his breathing is normal and his heart is strong. Alex convinces her to make the legal changes. Dawn asks Alex to take care of him and she promises she will. Later, she goes to the neurosurgeon and suggests that maybe Charlie has been misdiagnosed too.

This was a solid episode. It wasn’t as emotional as the one before the break, but I enjoyed it. I still wish I knew all the doctors’ names and that Joel didn’t have a different personality in each episode, but the hour flew by for me (aside from the parts with Maggie). Next week looks like a Joel-heavy episode and I am very much her for that. Until then, feel free to leave your comments below. See you next week!