Sullivan’s Crossing Season 1 Episode 4 Review: Rock and a Hard Place
Sullivan’s Crossing Season 1 Episode 4, “Rock and a Hard Place,” continues to pick up the pace with an intense rescue mission but takes a relatively sharp turn back into the drama and character development.
The episode sees Maggie Sullivan and Cal Jones continue their rescue mission for Chelsea and save Frank Cranebear’s life in the process. Afterward, it provides a few more hints about the secrets Cal and Sully are hiding.
While it sometimes deviates into melodrama during the rescue mission, it largely succeeds in providing a realistic depiction of a family responding to a crisis.
Crises are known to draw people together and bring out the best people. Hence, though the rescue mission might seem a little too dramatic, it does seem necessary to get Sully and Cal to open up more.
As Sully watches a family narrowly miss a parent’s worst nightmare about something happening to their child, it forces him to acknowledge his gratefulness for his daughter, and, for the first time, he puts aside their differences to stand up for her.
Viewers don’t know Cal’s story, but it’s clear that the crisis allows him to open up more to Maggie, even making a move to ask her out on a sort of pseudo-date.
Maggie, too, seems changed and less in a hurry to leave Sullivan’s Crossing as she starts to recognize that the community is like a family. While Boston is a big, flashy city, it doesn’t have the sense of community that Sullivan’s Crossing does.
It’s an interesting reminder that one can tell a lot about someone based on who rallies around them during their most difficult times and how there’s something special about a close-knit community with people who truly have each others’ backs.
The intense rescue mission storyline cuts off rather abruptly. However, the change in direction does help develop Sully and Cal further.
As mentioned above, they are the most changed by the crisis. Unfortunately, their walls only come down briefly and come back up after they become afraid of feeling exposed.
While Sully’s attitude towards Maggie remains softer, he still keeps her in the dark about his financial problems and the prospect of losing the Sullivan’s Crossing campgrounds.
Similarly, while Cal invites Maggie to dinner and reveals his lawyer background, he abruptly clams up rather than explaining why a particular song seems to stir a painful memory for him.
The new information viewers receive about Cal and Sully is enough to stir some empathy for their gruff and secretive nature.
However, it’s odd that their experiences during the crisis and familiarity with Sullivan’s Crossing’s sense of community wouldn’t have penetrated any of their walls.
While the show clearly wants to keep building its mystery, it may be time to start explaining Cal’s and Sully’s secretive and off-putting behaviors instead of overusing them.
Despite a shift in tone and a bit of melodrama, Sullivan’s Crossing continues to intrigue viewers with more intense storylines as it slowly progresses its character development.
What did you think of this episode of Sullivan’s Crossing? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Sullivan’s Crossing airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Rachel Ulatowski
Rachel Ulatowski is a freelance writer from Oshkosh with a penchant for TV, film, and celebrity news. Her work can also be found on Screen Rant, The Mary Sue, and Monsters and Critics. When she's not writing professionally, she enjoys blogging, running, watching film and television, and conducting research for her future novel.