SULLIVAN’S CROSSING: Episode 3.1

Name: SULLIVAN’S CROSSING: Episode 3.1
Item: SULLIVAN’S CROSSING: Episode 3.1
Author: Review

"Life after Loss"

Family Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

The first episode of Season 3 of Sullivan's CROSSING finds the main character, Maggie, recovering from a devastating loss. As she tries to move forward emotionally with her boyfriend, Cal, her father, Sully, does his best to resist the changes coming to their family Outpost. At the same time, their friend Syd works to keep Rafe's attention now that his duties at the firehouse have increased.

SULLIVAN'S CROSSING: "New Beginnings" should have enough drama stemming from the main character's loss to hold the viewer's attention. However, it falls flat thanks to boring dialogue. In addition, "New Beginnings" features three scenes where the characters' kisses escalate. In one of these scenes, a character intentionally removes her shirt (exposing her bra) to seduce her boyfriend at work. Coupled with a humanist worldview and at least one use of God's name in vain, these scenes prompt MOVIEGUIDE® to advise caution for teenage and young adult audiences.

Content:

(C, Hu, L, S, N, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Light humanist worldview with each characters’ response to hard circumstances boiling down to fixing it with their own willpower, some moral elements such as the characters caring for one another and checking on one another in difficult circumstances, a girlfriend prepares her boyfriend’s favorite dinner when she knows he’s having a hard day, some immoral elements including one character seducing her boyfriend while he’s supposed to be working just to get his attention on herself, a “Creator” is mentioned by Frank and his wife;

Foul Language:

Light foul language, God’s name is used in vain once;

Violence:

None, but the episode revolves around an unseen miscarriage;

Sex:

A girlfriend seduces and makes out with a boyfriend while he’s on the job and it escalates before they’re interrupted;

Nudity:

Partial upper female nudity(only a bra is shown) when a character removes her shirt and proceeds to kiss another character until the scene is interrupted;

Alcohol Use:

None;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

None; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Some immoral elements such as one character yelling at another over the smallest of changes.

More Detail:

SULLIVAN’s CROSSING is a Canadian drama romance based on the book series of the same name by Robyn Carr and produced by the CW. Episode 1 of Season 3, “New Beginnings,” finds former neurosurgeon Maggie struggling to recover from profound personal loss. After her father, Sully, nearly died in a diner fire, Maggie suffered a miscarriage. Though time has passed, Maggie’s strained relationship with her boyfriend, Cal, proves that it hasn’t healed her emotional wounds.

In Season 3’s first episode, Maggie attempts to move on with her life when it no longer includes the baby she was expecting. She continues to work at Sully’s retreat center with their friends Edna and Frank, and she’s got plenty of support from Cal. Unfortunately, the closer he tries to get to Maggie, the more she’s unwilling to open up about her loss.

Maggie isn’t the only one struggling with change; Sully feels left behind as Edna updates business procedures at the family outpost. In the meantime, local fireman Rafe must balance his relationship with his girlfriend, Syd, with new responsibilities at work. Syd herself tries to keep Rafe’s attention and support Rob, who’s looking to purchase a new property. The story of “New Beginnings” centers around each character trying to figure out how to move their lives forward despite emotional hardship.

“New Beginnings” suffers from a lack of engaging writing, resulting in the acting feeling forced and repetitive. For example, the first interaction between Maggie and Cal is the same two bland sentences about their lunch plans paraphrased on repeat. The most emotionally convincing moments in the episode are also the saddest, particularly the flashbacks featuring Maggie reacting to losing her unborn child. These stilted interactions in a series about interpersonal relationships weaken SULLIVAN’S CROSSING.

SULLIVAN’S CROSSING: “New Beginnings” has Christian-adjacent elements. The town of Sullivan’s Crossing embraces the values of a strong community and gives its people a hand. Yet, it’s humanistic in its worldview. For example, Maggie struggles with the loss of her child, and the reason she can move forward centers around the power of will within her, not around comfort from friends and family or reliance on anyone outside of herself. Any time a character faces a hard circumstance or challenge in the episode, they resolve to “figure it out” or try harder in their strength and power to make change happen.

Although SULLIVAN’S CROSSING is free of most foul language, God’s name is used in vain once, and there are multiple instances of characters kissing or making out onscreen. One objectionable scene features a young woman surprising her boyfriend at work and successfully enticing him to make out with her by taking her top off. For these reasons, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for teenage and young adult viewers.