A road-side amputation, scandalous sex, and ‘shrooms – now that was a doozy of an episode!

***Warning: Spoilers ahead!***

Charlie still hasn’t woken up, but he’s still breathing on his own, which is encouraging for Alex (and all of us!)

The fact that he’s still in a coma is a mystery to neurosurgeon Shahir Hamza, but the newly dead psychiatrist who overdosed on ‘shrooms and joined Charlie in the limbo space of Hope-Z has a few speculations as to why he hasn’t fully gone one way or the other.

She doesn’t buy that Charlie’s stuck in this limbo world because of a brain injury, but believes he’s holding on to something psychological. And she pushes Charlie – like, actually pushes him – into revealing why he isn’t waking up.

 It’s the first time we really see Charlie lose his temper as he catches himself off guard, revealing that he’s not sure if he wants to wake up.

But is that really it? How could he not want to wake up? The love of his life is agonizing over him, he’s got an amazing job and a wedding ahead…

He did reveal in a flashback though that his parents died in a horrific car crash when he was a kid, and that he didn’t speak for a whole year afterwards. Could it really be the grief from all those years ago preventing him from waking up now?

Road trip!

It seemed at first like Kinney and Joel’s road trip up to a training day for rural doctors would lighten the emotional weight of the episode, but no dice.

(Though side note: I loved the Kinney-Joel road trip tunes. The Lynrd Skynrd on the drive up and Feist for the drive home made me want to hop in a car and find myself some “quilts, fudge and maple sugar!”)

But it was not an idyllic trip up north when Kinney’s childhood friend was pinned underneath a truck (gah!) and Kinney took charge and did a field amputation with Joel’s help (and by help, I mean cutting a femur with bolt cutters).

That was one graphic scene! I’m not squeamish, but there was a lot of peek out from between my fingers moments.

And no show would be complete without some sort of relationship scandal – and this week it was Kinney and Joel getting it on while playing darts at a small town bar post-amputation. What started as a  smooch ended up with the pair fumbling to open the hotel room door.

Kinney and Joel!! Not only is Joel dating Maggie (who was back at the hospital), but Kinney is the Chief of Surgery, Joel’s boss. Is there a scandal ahead?

But it was like nothing happened once they got back to the hospital. Hrm.

The indiscretion with Joel aside, this episode confirmed the fact that Kinney is one of my favourite characters at Hope-Z. I love how aggressive and no-nonsense she can be. And in this episode, she also really revealed a softer, more emotional side. Oh Kinney! I really hope they give her the Chief or Surgery job. It’d be terrible if they took it away from her at this point.

And of course, I had to pull out the Kleenex at the end of the episode. Was anyone else all verklempt for that whole last scene with Alex shaving coma-Charlie in his hospital bed?

That was a heart breaker!  It was so tender and intimate. So much love!

C’mon Charlie, wake up already!!