Saving Hope review

Spoiler free (except for a premise description)

Saving Hope is a Canadian import about doctors and the spiritual. We guess the TV gods thought we needed this to replace Grey’s Anatomy during the summer and A Gifted Man since that was cancelled. We disagree.

The premise: An arrogant (aren't they all?) chief of surgery, Charlie, is in a coma from a car crash that happened on the way to his wedding. Charlie is able to walk around his hospital as a spirit. Meanwhile, the other doctors try to save Charlie’s life. His fiancée, Alex Reid (Erica Durance) is one of the surgeons trying to save Charlie, which is weird and inappopriate.

That ought to be enough to stop you from watching this show, but maybe you are thinking, “Well, if they execute it well, it could be good.” That didn’t happen, at least not in the pilot. The show mostly ignored the main premise and focused on the other doctors and their patients. The supernatural element needs more development, and the patients’ cases weren’t very original. The other doctors are pretty fun though.

We liked seeing Elijah from The Vampire Diaries as Alex’s ex. He’s still hot on this show, and his character is more jovial…and less honorable. We didn’t much like the cheesy reminders of how important hope is. The Shawshank Redemption drove that point home the best, and now no one else needs to try anymore. That means you too, Obama. We liked the part where a life was saved with a tampon. It was weird that so much of the episode was a flashback to before the coma.

Overall, this show isn’t awful/has good moments, but too much of it is cliché that we have seen before on other, better shows. If you are missing Grey’s Anatomy and need a soapy, medical guilty pleasure that won’t make you think too much, give it a try. It’s on hulu, which is always nice. We’re checking out though. Bottom line: Meh and average.

Episode grade: C