Chesapeake Shores continues to surprise in its ability to handle even typical dramatic moments with realism and integrity. While they could easily branch over into the arena of overly dramatic the writers smartly know when to put on the breaks and ride the line with expert ease. They have to have drama to fuel the forward momentum of the series yet they somehow keep surprising their audience in how they choose to handle their drama. So far they have avoided all the typical tropes despite the fact that they have come close on many occasions. Even when it looked like they were going to cross into a love triangle trope with Trace, Abby, and Leigh they pulled back avoiding crossing that line. Now, however, they are walking the line again with Jess and Bree who both have an interest in the new guy in town, David (Carlo Marks). The previews for this storyline are what have me cautious to completely let down my guard surrounding this storyline. If the writers can successfully transverse this final hurdle without going into the overly dramatic I think I will be able to comfortably say I fully trust them. I’m very curious to see how this plays out.
One of the many smart things these writers have done is build up the mystery around the characters. They have made the audience invest in the lives of these characters by revealing bits and pieces of their backstories when the story dictates the reveal. Even then they only reveal tidbits to keep the audience wanting more. Last week we got the big reveal that something major happened to Jess. Prior to that, we’ve been getting hints all season that there is something big hiding in Gran Nell’s past. Now, we’ve come to learn that Megan went through some dark times too. After her brief chat with Jess, Megan took to the road to escape the chilly atmosphere at the Inn. Along the way, she encountered Mick leading to a conversation that finally started to clue viewers into what happened to end their marriage. The implications seem to be that Megan had some sort of major crisis in her life. I got the impression that Megan may have had a drug or alcohol problem based off the way she was talking about having to go to the city to get help because she had friends there. Though the more I thought about it the more I wondered if she could have been depressed. A lot of shows deal with the ugly destructive power of addiction, but very few tackle the trials and tribulations of mental illness. Depression often gets glossed over as not a big deal , however, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Something like depression could have easily caused the downfall of Mick and Megan’s fairytale marriage. I’m quite curious to see what path the show takes. I’m very impressed by the way Barbara Niven has handled conveying Megan’s inner turmoil. When Megan was talking about her past there was this sadness in her eyes that was chilling. Megan tries to put up a strong front, but I think there is a lot more to her story than we know. One thing I'm confident about is that if Mick gives her the invitation to stay she will fight to regain her place within the family. She's been trying so hard with Jess and all of her children, but it'll be so much easier to fix things if she's in Chesapeake Shores with all of them. I hope that Mick does the right thing in order to fix his family.
Mick is going to have to try to make long-standing peace with his ex-wife especially since his mom is going away for an undisclosed amount of time. Nell has had a front row seat to the turmoil the divorce caused the family, so I can only hope that Mick is smart enough to listen to his mom regarding Megan. Whether he likes it or not the only way to try and fix the mistakes of the past is to force his family to stay together in Chesapeake Shores to confront the things that have damaged their family. I keep saying that because I keep wanting it to happen. The episodes, like this one, where the entire O’Brien family are together in one place are my favorite ones. I hope that next season every member of the family will find themselves back in town on a permanent basis and since there is no way they can resolve all of their issues in the next few episodes they will still have plenty to deal with.
Since it looks like Nell will be out of the picture at least next week I can’t wait to see how the family deals without her being around. Abby’s daughters adore her and every member of that family turns to her when things get tough. I understand why the writers sent her away, but that doesn’t mean she’s not going to be missed. Not too long ago I watched a video about mysterious fairy villages that were appearing in the woods in Washington state. It was fascinating because this woman was taking the time to go out into the forest and set up these elaborate fairy homes just off of main trails. People would come to enjoy them and there was even a spot where this woman set up a wish tree where visitors could leave notes. It was a truly inspiring thing to see because it made adults embrace their inner childhood imagination. It gave hope to people who needed it and when I saw Nell playing with the girls and encouraging them to believe in the magic of the fairies all I could think about was that story. Even Abby and Connor were into the idea of the fairy garden willing to embrace the magic of it for the sake of the girls. It’s amazing how something so simple can bring out the child in even the most stubbornly steadfast adults. With any luck the family will be able to keep that magic alive while Nell is away in Ireland. At least for the meantime a part of Nell will remain behind with Abby in the form of her mystery ring that she gifted to her eldest granddaughter. I hope that when she returns we'll finally learn the whole story behind the ring and this mysterious Dylan. She is stubbornly holding onto the full story, but it's only a matter of time before the truth will have to come out.
While on the topic of stubbornness, I have to talk about Kevin. While he has been depicted as the perfect son it is becoming abundantly clear that there is a lot more than meets the eye going on with him. It would seem as though he overly dramatized his family issues to Georgia. To be fair his family has a ton of drama in their past, but it definitely seems like he oversold it. Either that or the O’Brien family has done a lot more healing than we were aware of because to Georgia they seem like a very different family than Kevin conveyed to her. In fact, Georgia seems to be fitting in with Kevin’s family in a very natural way. During the dinner table scene where Nell laid down the law with the family, it was like she’d always been a part of the O’Brien family. I just hope that Kevin’s PTSD from the attack he survived won’t get between them because I would love to see Georgia be officially made an O’Brien. Though, I do already see one big problem with him wanting to stay and her wanting to get back to their lives. I hope he wins out and can convince her to stay with him. This episode really showed how badly Kevin still needs to heal and I’m talking more than just his physical injuries. Though, he has a few more of those now thanks to his stubbornness. Taking off with Connor and climbing up a treehouse was definitely not a good idea. I hope he didn’t severely injury himself during that stupid stunt. Brendan Penny continues to tactfully give life to the real issues injured vets experience. A good performer can bring to life lines, but a great performer makes the audience believe every word spoken. Penny certainly fits into the latter category with his every word resonating which was particularly evident during the conversation Kevin had with Connor at the treehouse.
While I loved the scenes with the brothers alone just being two crazy guys I am worried that the fallout from Kevin's fall will find Connor stuck with the blame for the whole incident. Whether he can verbalize it or not he was as worried for his brother as everyone else. They haven’t got to spend much time together, so he saw an opportunity and took it. Though, their ultimate destination was at Kevin’s discretion, Connor may still catch blame for allowing Kevin to partake in such a risky activity. At the core, Connor is a good guy who loves his family, but he has major issues that need to be dealt with too. He hides everything behind sarcasm and childish actions, but in reality he’s still just that little boy who saw his parent’s ideal marriage shatter before his young yes. I don’t think Connor is beyond hope for redemption, but it’s going to be very hard to redeem him if they keep giving him reasons to hightail it out of town. I hope I’m wrong because he needs to stick around just as badly as his mom does.
Someone who I hope doesn’t stick around for long is Wes. I don’t hate him as much as I originally did as I’m starting to see that he is just a man who does indeed love his daughters. He has made a ton of mistakes and chief amongst those mistakes is the one that could potentially cost his daughters both their parents if he drags Abby down with him in this whole DOJ investigation. I knew Gabrielle was too eager to get that merger done in the season premiere. The fact that Wes has put Abby in this position does not sit well with me. He knew he was taking a massive risk and to inadvertently involve the mother of his children is just wrong. They may not be married, but his actions still impact his entire family. I wish Abby had insisted he leave town especially after he admitted to what he had done, but he's still the girls father, so it’s not exactly like she could ban him from being with them. As long as he keeps his distance from Abby and does his best to protect her during the DOJ investigation I can handle him being around for now. Though, if he ends up throwing her under the bus with this investigation I think he’ll be deemed beyond any chance of redemption by most fans. I just hope that he stays away from Trace because if he also screws up Abby’s chance at happiness I think that’ll be the final straw for a lot of viewers regarding him.
The stuff with Trace is yet another instance of this show doing exactly the opposite of what I was expecting. I thought for sure that Mick buying the property out from under Trace would cause a rift between him and the entire O'Brien family, Abby included. Instead, it may actually bring them all even closer especially if Trace and Mick end up working together. Also, unexpected was that Trace finally opened up to Abby about what drove him back to Chesapeake Shores and it wasn’t anything like I was expecting. He made a serious but honest mistake while driving tired. There weren’t any drugs or alcohol involved in the accident, but Trace is still racked with grief over it. That is a testament to his great character that he cares so much. Despite all their past drama he and Abby still love each other and that was made evident several times throughout the episode. Abby said that she only wanted them to remain friends, but with every passing week, it’s becoming increasingly more evident that they are meant to be much more. Even with the distance that has been between them Abby still knows him well enough to know that he needs to get back to playing music. She even goes as far as bringing him his old guitar from her house to help get him back on track. On top of that she admitted to being jealous of Leigh, so I think they are finally back on the right track to getting together. Here’s to hoping anyway because I think it’s time to explore them as a couple. Besides Abby is going to need all the support she can get given the situation Wes has gotten her into. Most importantly this whole storyline gave Jesse Metcalfe a beautiful moment to shine as he gifted viewers with a front row seat to his incredible emotional range as trace broke down in Abby's arms. Not to mention it also gave him another reason to sing again. I don’t like country music, I never have, but he has such a beautiful voice that it’s impossible to not love his songs. I hope that now that Trace has a guitar again the show will continue to treat us to more of Metcalfe’s stunning voice.
While the scenes between Abby and Trace were very high on my list of favorite scenes the stuff with Bree and Jess were top my list this week. I adore the relationships all of the sisters have, so every time they share a scene together it makes me very happy. The actresses have amazing chemistry that makes it so easy to believe them as sisters. Laci J Mailey and Emilie Ullerup are always a great duo and they bring such a great energy to the relationship between Jess and Bree. While I see the value in causing a bit of drama between these close-knit sisters I really hope that they can take the high road and not let David come between them. The scene at Bree’s cottage with the cucumbers and the snotty scarf had me laughing. Ullerup had impeccable timing in her delivery throughout this scene and Mailey’s responses were spot on. If this David storyline causes them to be in more scenes together then I’m happy with it, but if it pulls them apart it will be a little disappointing at least until the writers can bring them back together. What makes all of this even worse is that David has great chemistry with both of the sisters. He actually made Bree happy for the first time in a long time. Then again he made Jess extremely happy as well and we have no idea what her past romantic history is like so it could be every bit as screwed up as Bree’s which means she's just as deserving of a good kind boyfriend. I also have to note that I don’t like that Bree still misses Martin despite how much of a jerk he was to her. Who knows how this storyline will play out, but I've doubted these writers before and been proven wrong, so I'm going to sit back and enjoy the ride that these very capable writers are taking us on and hope it ends in a surprising way.
This was another great episode of
Chesapeake Shores that challenges what we have come to expect from television. Even with this pending love triangle involving the sisters, the show seems to be taking a less dramatic approach than other shows that have done similar stories. With only two episodes left in the season things look they are about to start coming to a boiling point as the O’Brien’s have to confront the demons from their pasts. Things seem like they are about to get very interesting for the O'Brien family.
Be sure to tune into the penultimate episode of the season next
Sunday, October 2nd at 9/8C on Hallmark Channel.
Hit the comments with your thoughts about this episode. Who do you want David to end up with? Do you think this love triangle will cause permanent damage to Jess and Bree’s relationship? Is this the time for Trace and Abby to finally be together? What do you think Megan was suffering from that required treatment? Can the O’Brien family stay together while Gran Nell is away?
About the Author - Aimee Hicks
Aimee works for a newspaper in North Carolina and has a BA in Broadcasting and Cinema. She has been a TV lover since before she really understood what TV was and has a passion for analyzing performances and theorizing what may happen on her favorite shows. Her interest in television covers just about every genre, but her first love is the sci-fi/fantasy genre. For the 2016/2017 season she will be reviewing Chesapeake Shores, Dark Matter, Frequency, Gilmore Girls, Jessica Jones, Lucifer, and Orphan Black. She will also be handling the Best Scene Polls for Supergirl and previewing several new and returning shows. She also oversees the popular SpoilerTV feature, Performers of the Month (#POTM) which highlights the most outstanding actor and actress from each month. You can email her at aimee@spoilertv.com.
