Sometimes life imitates art, and working on the set of “Saving Hope” is no exception. Take Michael Shanks – he plays Charlie, the former Chief of Surgery, fiancé to Dr. Alex Reid, who is both lying in a coma and wandering the halls of Hope-Zion Hospital in spectre form.

Ghost-Charlie can’t engage with his colleagues, mirroring the reality that Shanks doesn’t always get to interact with his.

“I spend so much time not working with the other actors and not being able to interact with them. So, when I’m watching the surgeries, and the hands-on stuff, I really want to get involved,” he says in between takes.

“I love working with Erica and Charlie loves Alex, so there’s a very strong parallel,” he continues. “I have to work near her and work around her but really, I want to work with her. Talk about Method Acting!”

Episode 2 is all about contact…or in the case of Alex and Charlie, the lack of it. “Alex is dealing with the newness that Charlie’s been taken from her and she’s desperately trying to find ways to being him back to her,” says Durance about her character’s role in this episode.

“It’s all about adjusting to all of that newness that was ripped out of her life. Her strength and determination and all her medical knowledge isn’t enough.”

Through flashbacks, we catch glimpses of the connection they had before the accident. “He grounded her so much and he was someone she could talk to about the medical things going on in her cases,” says Durance.

“They really build in the characters and give people a glimpse of the connection they had together.”

Shooting the flashbacks is a highlight for Shanks. “I love working with Erica. She’s such a vivacious spirit. I’ve known her for a very long time, so we really have this ease and comfort and trust when working with each other,” he gushes.

“It’s all about those special connections we have with people in our lives,” Durance says. “We search for that contact everywhere.”

Though Alex feels embarrassed moving out of a doctor-ly role when trying to care for Charlie, at the end of the episode, she decides to give it a shot, knowing that the potential for connection outweighs her own discomfort.

“She tries to play a song for him that she hopes he’ll remember and it ends up that his hand moves and it’s the way he always used to hold her hand,” says Durance.

“And it’s this moment of joy and elation and sadness and desperation that fuel the next few episodes.”

The next episode, however, is titled “Blindness,” so we’ll have to see how much of Episode 2’s “connection” remains…