With the second episode of Sullivan’s Crossing, I can say I’m officially hooked. The previous episode kept the characters, and the audience, at a distance, on the surface of the waves of emotion. The newest episode “Homewrecker” dives right in, telling a story of people that are broken and the beginning steps toward healing.
I love themes that are interwoven throughout the stories of all the characters, in a way that is cohesive and natural. The theme here is “broken.” Broken lives, broken dreams, broken bodies, broken minds, and even broken fax machines. How deep do the breaks go and how do they heal?
With Maggie, her life is kind of in pieces. Yet I think at the crux of her struggle is a broken confidence in herself. She lost a patient and, while she is adamant throughout that she was not at fault, internally she might think she’s wrong, that she missed something. Andrew questioned how she could not have known about her partner’s criminal activity (which we learn was billing fraud) and perhaps she thinks that her penchant for distance, missing something that big, gives credence to the possibility that she missed something with her patient. Her affirmation to herself in the mirror is an attempt to convince herself that she can handle things, to match her exterior facade that she doesn’t need any help from anyone.
She finally reveals the truth of her situation in three interesting stages to three different people. First, to her childhood friend Sydney, relaying just the basics and quickly turning the subject back to Sydney. Next, to Edna, where her facade finally cracks and she nearly bursts into tears. Edna is obviously the person Maggie feels most comfortable around and who she can be vulnerable with, allowing the woman to take her hands and offer condolences and words of love and encouragement. Yet even with her, Maggie still doesn’t give all the details. Finally, to Sully, with whom she actually tells what happened to her patient. However, I’m not sure she would have told him at all, had he not been with her as she went over the paperwork. Ever since she got to Sullivan’s Crossing, the two of them have had their guard up around each other.
Maggie’s confidence in herself as a daughter, and in her relationship with her father, has also been affected. A confidence that has been deteriorating over years as she questions whether Sully even wanted to be her father.
Her healing begins when she’s called on to help Roy, the man who in the previous episode she suspected had dementia, who has fallen and hit his head. The calm way she assesses his situation, quickly taking note of all the available information, allows Maggie to get Roy the help he needs, when others may have just seen the minor cut on his head. That experience is a reminder to Maggie that she finds a worthiness in helping others and that she’s not as broken as she thought.
The change in her demeanor is instantaneous and palpable throughout the rest of the episode, as she turns from cold to warm with Cal, acknowledging his kindness, giving some details of her past, and even later on accepting his help getting home. The mystery man, however, remains. While he displays open handed kindness and is keen to ask others about themselves, he is not comfortable giving details about his own life. Behind his smile and humor there is a pain (perhaps centered around the circled calendar date?) that remains hidden.
Also in pain is Sully, who is dealing (or not dealing) with a broken heart. As with Roy’s broken body, everything is connected. Where the different clues led Maggie to the source of Roys problems, Sully’s is represented by the broken home around him. Last week I thought Maggie’s silent judgement of crumbs on the counter and dishes in the sink was a bit much. Here, though, we see how far things go beyond that. Expired medication and food, no water, broken appliances. His home and business is falling apart around him and he’s lost the heart to maintain those things since Maggie left, or was taken from him. The details are still not clear. We learned he’s a recovering alcoholic. At first I thought that perhaps that’s the reason why Maggie’s mother took her away, and why she kept him away, adverse to Maggie’s belief that his choice was not to go after her. Yet his sobriety medallion is, I think, 22 years, which is longer than Maggie has been gone. The details are still buried and covered with dust. What is clear, however, as much as he tries to hide from her, is his pain over losing Maggie. He relates to the devastation of the mother of Maggie’s patient. Although, in his case, she was still alive, existing in a world that, whatever the reason, was apart from him.
The wounds between he and Maggie are deep and will take time to heal. He takes the first step with the act of making her a sandwich, yet there is so much love in that simple parental acknowledgement of her needs that the scene brought a tear to my eye. While Maggie still can’t bring herself to say everything she wants to, her thanks to him about keeping their mural says more than the words. I’m telling you, when she finally calls him “Dad,” I will be an emotional wreck.
The episode has a secondary theme of the isolation of a small town. Sketchy cell service, low income, a single ambulance. Yet there’s also a community that relies on one another, helps one another, and protects one another. There’s a beauty and healing in the isolation of nature, too. Standing on the calming water and breathing in the silence. The peace that comes with the stars.
After a night of fun and letting go, Maggie is walked home by Cal to find her isolation broken by a surprise visit from Andrew. He’s dealing with broken trust. His own trust in her of her judgement with her partner he apologizes about. Yet there is his trust in their relationship that is still on the table. Being walked home by another man is a small thing, however is another piece to the puzzle of questioning whether or not Maggie loves him. Her evasiveness about the idea of moving in him with, the fact that she ran to Sullivan’s Crossing instead of him (and without informing him), and now, when he says he loves her, she doesn’t return his words. Where do they go from here?
Written by Adam Pettle and directed by Gail Harvey, the crew came together to create an emotional hour of character exploration.
I give the episode 9 out of 10 karaoke disco anthems.
New episodes of Sullivan’s Crossing air Wednesdays on The CW and stream free on The CW app next day.