Sullivan’s Crossing Review: “Coming Home”

Sullivan’s Crossing, a new series airing on The CW, is just that. Premiering last week, and now available to stream free on the CW app, the show is based on a novel series of the same name by Robyn Carr, and one of several series that the network has acquired from international sources.

The show is being promoted as part of The CW’s “Cozy Wednesdays”, the branding of which gives me a fond callback to the days of The WB Network. Sullivan’s Crossing is a plain old family drama, something The CW hasn’t offered in years that didn’t also include demons, ninjas, or super heroes. There’s no big action sequences, or maniacal villains to thwart. Just people.

That’s what drew me in. I’m at a point in my life that often I just want to watch something slower, something quieter, and Sullivan’s Crossing fit the bill.

Here I’ll explore some of the characters and ideas conveyed in the premiere episode titled “Coming Home,” focusing on the central question: How close are you willing to let others get to you?

That appears to be the main conflict of the lead character, Maggie Sullivan, portrayed by Morgan Kohan (When Hope Calls).

Traversing borders is something Maggie is adverse to, albeit the one she crosses to return to her childhood home in Timber Lake, Nova Scotia after fleeing from Boston following an arrest by the FBI and a ruined career as a promising new neurosurgeon. The details of what exactly happened are sketchy, as the show seems to be as keen on keeping the audience at arms length as Maggie does with everyone in her life, as though we are yet another person trying to pry details from her that she is unwilling to give.

In a way, that style of storytelling is refreshing. To not have large amounts of exposition thrust upon you, instead finding the details amongst conversation between the characters that actually sound like they’re talking naturally with each other, without the need to fill in information the characters already know simply for the sake of the audience. We’re not even told til halfway through the episode that Harry “Sully” Sullivan, played by Gilmore Girls’ and CW alumni Scott Patterson, owner of campground Sullivan’s Crossing, is Maggie’s father. Again, the details of when exactly Maggie left to follow in the footsteps of her step-father to become a neurosurgeon are sketchy, but suffice to say that she and Sully are not exactly close.

That, however, does not seem to be an isolated incident in Maggie’s life. The episode is rife with examples of a woman who doesn’t want to get close to others. A man who she has been dating for two years proffers the idea of moving in together and she seems to not be thrilled at the prospect. Following the incident with the FBI, she hit the road without even informing said man. Back home in Nova Scotia, she’s greeted warmly, yet apprehensively by a community that is uncertain of Maggie’s intentions for being there, and she’s certainly not offering any details. It’s not even clear whether her father, whom she calls “Sully” like everyone else, knows what happened in Boston.

Maggie cuts herself off from people and approaches situations from a distant, observational and, perhaps, judgemental standpoint. Cal, a kind stranger played by yet another CW alum, Chad Michael Murray (Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill), offers her a tour of the campground and Maggie tags him as someone who is hitting on her, instead of just being friendly. She politely (or rudely, per your point of view) dismissses him. Sure, she could have simply told him she was Sully’s daughter and a tour wasn’t needed. Yet, again, she’s not one to offer details. In that case, however, is a stranger owed any details?

When Cal finally does discover her identity as Sully’s daughter, he tries to backtrack his judgements of her. Yet, as she rightly says, how does knowing who she is change anything, and promptly shuts him down again. I personally was cheering her on in this moment. Others might think she’s rude. Perspective and perception. How we see something, and what we interpret from that.

There are several instances throughout the episode where a situation can be viewed from multiple perspectives and who’s right and who’s wrong is left to interpretation, by the characters and the audience. A distraught man with potential dementia is wandering around the campground and Maggie attempts to intervene and insists the man be assessed for treatment. The community, including Sullly, waves off that idea, saying that what he needs is family, and everyone at Sullivan’s Crossing is treated as family. It’s obvious that Maggie is hurt by this notion. While the community and her old friends feel like she abandoned them (no calls or letters), perhaps Maggie herself feels abandoned. She looks on in jealousy as her father treats those around him with love and affection while he doesn’t even claim to be her father anymore. The details are few of what happened between them, yet it’s obviously had an affect on Maggie’s personality and how she approaches people. She admits to her boyfriend (I say with a question mark, because she appears aloof on that particular subject) that she got so caught up in her career that she’s afraid she may have lost herself. Is that just an excuse, however? Has she just been running away all these years, from her father and Sullivan’s Crossing, where now she’s come full circle as she runs from her current problems? With a malpractice suit trapping her in Sullivan’s Crossing for now, time, and perchance Maggie, will tell.

With the down to Earth characters, small town ambience, and the gorgeous scenery of Nova Scotia, Sullivan’s Crossing is laying the foundation of a story viewers can fall in love with.

Morgan Kohan aptly portrays someone who has a lot to say, yet struggles to speak. In so many scenes her mannerisms are rigid, her voice somewhat cautious, evasive, and distant. Yet her eyes have a nervous energy within them, speaking to the hidden words and emotions. In scenes with her childhood friend, Sydney (Lindura), and the Cranebears (Tom Jackson and Andrea Menard), Kohan relaxes, her smile natural and genuine, in contrast to her scenes with Murray where her smile is a polite, obstructive wall. Even in her relaxed scenes, however, she still has a touch of reservation in her words and actions. The balance and choices speak to an actor who is so very in tune with their character, an impressive feat to obtain in a first episode.

The other leads also appear comfortable in the roles from the get go. Scott Patterson had a lot of experience playing a character with a gruff exterior and a heart of gold, and I think viewers will respond well to that familiarity. Yet this is not Luke Danes. While the trappings may be similar, the details are different. Patterson excels at the awkward tension here as he plays a man who doesn’t appear to know his daughter, or how to be her father. While Maggie obviously has a lot to say yet doesn’t want to, Sully doesn’t know what to say at all. There’s a lot of show, not tell, in the episode and Patterson is able to say a quite a bit with his quiet, yet heavy sigh during a moment alone.

Chad Michael Murray has a relaxed and suave demeanor throughout the episode. While there may not have been much humor within the episode, my favorite moments came from him. The humor, as with everything in the show, was subtle, no pointed jokes or pop culture references, and Murray played that so naturally. Wasn’t what he said, yet how he said the lines that made them funny, and to me that’s the best kind of humor.

The first chapter of a new story is difficult to tell, introducing new characters and setting up the premise, while trying to capture an audience. People are addicted to nostalgia. I myself am way more likely to rewatch my favorites than try anything new. Somehow, though, even with the new characters and story, the show still has that nostalgic flare. The people could be people you know, or even could be yourself. Who else sees themselves when watching Maggie, raise your hand. The places could be places you’ve been, perhaps on a family road trip. There’s a comfort in that.

While writers Roma Roth and Kerri MacDonald, along with director Bradley Walsh may not have spelled everything out to the audience, leaving us in the dark about many a detail, they succeeded with emotion. There’s deep wells of emotion and conflict within each character and delving into that, and what the characters discover about themselves and each other, is what a good story is all about.

I give the premiere episode 7 out of 10 pine trees.

Sullivan’s Crossing airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW, streaming next day on The CW app.