SULLIVAN’S CROSSING Episode 2.1

Name: SULLIVAN’S CROSSING Episode 2.1
Item: SULLIVAN’S CROSSING Episode 2.1
Author: Review

"“A Decent Premise Marred by Bad Melodrama”"

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:

SULLIVAN’S CROSSING is a Canadian medical drama series produced by The CW. After a humiliating scandal, Boston neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) relocates to the town of her youth, hoping to rebuild her life. In the premiere episode of season two, “Guilt Trip,” Maggie’s father gets a stroke. Meanwhile, Maggie keeps her out-of-wedlock pregnancy a secret from her neighbors. Can she make amends with her father? The show is based on the “Sullivan’s Crossing” book series by Robyn Carr.

The season two premiere of SULLIVAN’S CROSSING leaves much to be desired. It has decent acting, a prominent father figure, and beautiful landscape shots of East Canada. However, it suffers from the diagnosis of “Mediocre CW drama.” The symptoms are heavy melodrama, dull writing, and dry exposition. Its “immoral side effects” include an out-of-wedlock pregnancy and a man randomly taking off his shirt. As a result, MOVIEGUIDE ® advises caution for teenage and young adult audiences.

Content:

(BB, C, H, L, V, S, N, D, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

A strong humanistic worldview with Christian-adjacent elements, the town of Sullivan’s Crossing embraces the values of a strong community and giving its people a hand, the protagonist is a neurosurgeon who looks after the health of her family, the heroine’s father works to redeem his past mistakes and become a responsible man in his hometown, the extended cast members get into complicated romantic situations, and the heroine goes the “pro-life” route despite getting pregnant out of wedlock;

Foul Language:

The father character exclaims “damn”;

Violence:

Moderate hospital action throughout, a father’s body is dragged to ER during the opening scene, a man gets into a violent outburst and throws a game board off his bed, an elderly man’s bloody hip injury is briefly shown, and another patient collapses onto the floor in the hospital;

Sex:

No onscreen sex, but the heroine “slept” with a potential love interest in season one and she is pregnant without getting married first, and several side characters engage in casual flirting in town;

Nudity:

A male cohort takes off his shirt and showcases his abs to his female roommate;

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol use;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking, but painkillers are injected into a stroke victim and a man suffering from a hip injury; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

The heroine keeps her pregnancy a secret from her two love interests and the rest of the cast, and a father harasses a nurse for not being “fast enough” for his requests.

More Detail:

SULLIVAN’S CROSSING is a Canadian medical drama series produced by The CW. After a humiliating scandal, Boston neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) relocates to the town of her youth, hoping to rebuild her life. In the premiere episode of season two, “Guilt Trip,” Maggie’s father suffers a stroke. Meanwhile, Maggie keeps her out-of-wedlock pregnancy a secret from her neighbors. Can she make amends with her father? The show is based on the “Sullivan’s Crossing” book series by Robyn Carr.

In the first episode of season two, “Guilt Trip,” Harry “Sully” Sullivan, Maggie’s emotionally estranged father, suffers a stroke. Sully makes a slow recovery at the hospital but realizes his mind is slowly deteriorating. Maggie and her neighbors at Sullivan’s Crossing reach out to comfort him. However, Maggie feels guilty about having argued with her father. As it turns out, she abandoned his home mere hours before the stroke.

Meanwhile, Maggie grapples with her pregnancy from the end of season one. Throughout the series, two men fight for Maggie’s affection. She keeps her secret under wraps for fear of embarrassment. Later, a local golf owner threatens to buy up the land of Sullivan’s Crossing. Lastly, Maggie discovers that Sully’s mental condition is worse than she imagined. Will the citizens of Sullivan’s Crossing be able to handle the pressure?

“Guilt Trip” is an average episode, but it’s only enjoyable for hardcore fans of CW soap operas. The main plot of Sully’s hospital recovery is well-acted, has some beautiful moments, and displays Sully’s struggle to be a better person. Yet, the non-Maggie subplots fall flat, and the dialogue is more robotic than the text generated by ChatGPT. SULLIVAN’S CROSSING buckles under the limitations of being a CW production.

In terms of technical prowess, SULLIVAN’S CROSSING is solid. The show is shot on-location in Nova Scotia, Halifax, and other places in East Canada. “Guilt Trip” has several amazing establishing shots illustrating the “small community” atmosphere of Maggie’s hometown. The dialogue scenes use a “depth of field” blur effect for extra “oomph.” The show keeps its camera work simple but cuts above most other CW dramas. The same cannot be said of its moral content.

In terms of worldview, SULLIVAN’S CROSSING leans into strong humanistic themes. The show is not explicitly Christian, but Maggie and her friends embrace the values of community service, saving people’s lives, and making up for past mistakes. Maggie is a neurosurgeon who deeply cares for her patients and her reputation. In a B plot, Maggie’s two love interests respect her boundaries and try to be honest with their feelings. In the A plot, Sully admits that he wants to “redeem” his past mistakes with Maggie and vows to “not give up hope” in battling his recent stroke.

Next, the show offers a strong sense of “community” between Maggie and her neighbors. Two of her neighbors are Indigenous people who speak their native tongue on occasion. The citizens of Sullivan’s Crossing support Sully the night he’s placed in the hospital. Lastly, the community treats Sully as a respectable father figure. Despite the messy divorce in Maggie’s childhood, Sully deeply cares for his family and friends. However, the writers could not resist the typical CW immorality.

Regarding its objectionable content, SULLIVAN’S CROSSING falls into the pitfalls of sexual promiscuity and brief medical action scenes. A significant plot point is Maggie having a secret love affair despite not being married. Maggie feels torn between her career and motherhood. In “Guilt Trip,” she chooses a pro-life path but keeps her baby a secret from most of the town. There is no on-screen sex, but Maggie does respect her two love interests. Next, a man casually removes his shirt before his “not-girlfriend.”

Moreover, there are a few hospital action scenes. Sully’s body is dragged to the ER during the opening scene. Later, Sully gets into a violent outburst and throws a game board off his bed. An older man suffers from a hip injury, and his bloody injury is briefly shown. The man and Sully are both injected with painkillers. In the end, Sully jumps out of his bed and walks into the hallway but collapses onto the floor due to his cognitive decline. The show is tame by CW standards, but viewers should take note.

The season two premiere of SULLIVAN’S CROSSING leaves much to be desired. The show has decent acting, a prominent father figure, and beautiful landscape shots of East Canada. However, it has the diagnosis of “Mediocre CW drama.” Its symptoms are heavy melodrama, dull writing, and dry exposition. Its “moral side effects” include an out-of-wedlock pregnancy and a man randomly taking off his shirt. As a result, MOVIEGUIDE ® advises caution for teenage and young adult audiences.