A construction accident wreaks havoc soon after the inspection committee arrives to decide whether James River should stay open on the “No Exit” season finale of HAWTHORNE. The hospital’s shiny new super-duper scanner crashes from about fifty feet in the air causing a domino effect of electrical explosions, power outages, and injuries. Candy is hurt in one blast while Gail collapses in a supply room. Christina and Tom lead the rest of the staff in solving each crisis as it comes, but one inspector wants to shut the hospital down anyway. She’s vetoed by the inspector who had been shadowing a totally on her A game Christina all day. Throughout the melee, Steve and Bobbie share secrets, Brenda bickers with Ray while he pines for Candy, and Tom and Christina make their way back to each other, leaving Erin in the dust. Oh, and Christina is pregnant.
This is a chaotic, jam-packed episode that works pretty well until the last few minutes, so long as you can suspend disbelief that an inspection would continue while a hospital is evacuated. Let’s start with the weaker parts. Brenda was over-the-top nasty with Ray, though I love her impatience with mean girl nurse Judy and she’s classy getting Ray into Candy’s ambulance. What has happened to Ray, anyway? He’s just a lovesick fool now, and he used to be interesting. Sadly, I don’t care about Candy’s fate since her character hasn’t done much this season. Kelly doesn’t have much to do in “No Exit,” though she does help Justin of the unlucky Adams family.
I now officially love Steve and Bobbie. Last week left me thinking they were not long for this world, but they rebound well. Their story is nicely threaded throughout the episode and they sparkle together. We finally learn how Bobbie lost her leg as a kid and Steve is sweetly humble as he explains why he changed his name. Love “So, you’re Guillaume Corleone?”
Christina kicks all kinds of ass tonight. She voices her opinion of the super scanner respectfully and doesn’t push it, she is accommodating to the inspectors, and she calmly deals with each disaster. She and Tom find their rhythm working perfectly together, just like old times as Tom says.
The last few minutes are rushed, to say the least. Camille appears and Christina sends her off to Marcus, luckily without any weapons. Erin, who was clutching Tom with the power of a sumo wrestler last week, inexplicably gives up because Tom and Christina worked together to save people during an evacuation? Tom apologized well, though I wouldn’t say Erin had been selfless. After Christina and Tom save the hospital, they say all the right things to each other, but it’s so abrupt with nowhere near enough build-up, so I feel cheated and I`m not entirely ready to buy what they`re selling. Great kiss, though.
The final words: “I’m pregnant.” Wow. I knew it was coming, but wow. Camille is conceived after Christina’s first time with her husband and here she is pregnant again after her first time with Tom. Someone apparently forgot to give her a birds and the bees talk. It feels so unnecessary because Tom and Christina are already interesting–the surface has barely been scratched–without throwing a potential baby in the mix.
I enjoyed “No Exit,” but it could have been better without the rush to tie up loose ends in the final minutes, but producers probably wanted to hedge their bets in case Hawthorne isn’t renewed. It’s hard to write a season finale that also works as a series finale, so I give the writers credit, but I still wanted more build-up for the Tom- Christina reunion. To end on a positive note, this is the best I’ve seen Christina as a character: strong, competent, open, and not at all preachy. I hope we see more of her in a (longer) third season of Hawthorne.
What did you all think of “No Exit?” Does the abruptness of Tom and Christina’s reunion bother you or are you just glad they’re back together? Any predictions for what we will see if there is a third seasonof Hawthorne? Let me know in the comments.
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