If you’re ready for more idyllic scenery, swooning romance and life-or-death drama, good news: “Sullivan’s Crossing” Season 3 is finally here. Based on the novels by “Virgin River” author Robyn Carr, the series follows young neurosurgeon Maggie (Morgan Kohan) back to her hometown in Sullivan’s Crossing after her life in Boston falls apart.
Season 1 found her torn between small town charms and the life she built in Boston, but Maggie started to reconnect with her long estranged father, Sully (Scott Patterson), and found an unexpected connection with a new local, Cal (Chad Michael Murray), who left his practice as a lawyer and came to Sullivan’s Crossing after his own heartbreaking life upheavals.
Season 2 really honed in on Maggie’s pull between the two lives and deepened the roots she set down in Sullivan’s Crossing in Season 1, strengthening her bond with Sully and falling even more for Cal. By the end of the season, both Maggie and Cal commit to their new lives there — and to each other. But there’s a whole lot more that happened in “Sullivan’s Crossing” Season 2.
It’s been a while since Season 2 aired, so here’s a handy recap of everything you need to remember before Season 3.
Sully Survived His Health Scare
After collapsing at the end of the Season 1 finale, Sully spent the first couple of episodes of Season 2 cooped up in the hospital, where his doctor grew increasingly convinced he was showing signs of early-onset Alzheimer’s. Maggie, who knows a thing or two about the brain as a neurosurgeon, was unconvinced.
When she found his Alcoholics Anonymous sobriety chips, she realized her mom never told her the true story about Sully. She also put two and two together and deduced that Sully was actually suffering from Wernicke’s encephalopathy, a vitamin B1 deficiency that can occur in alcoholics. But not before Frank (Tom Jackson) broke him out of the hospital and the two wound up hunkered down during a hurricane, leading Sully to confess he was the one who hit her with his car all those years ago.
Sparks Flew Between Maggie and Cal
Things got off to a rocky start in Season 2 for Maggie and Cal, who left town because he thought Maggie was moving back to Boston. He also left her a letter explaining his decision — except Lola (Amalia Williamson) intercepted it out of jealousy, so Maggie thought he just ghosted and bailed. They got past it and even shared some steamy kisses while taking shelter during the storm, but before their relationship could make much progress, Cal told Maggie he never wants to have kids, so she became convinced it would never work for them.
Maggie’s Pregnancy Complicated Her Plans
… Because Maggie also learned in the first few episodes that she’s pregnant. The baby is Andrew’s (unfortunately for her and the audience, who both get to spend a lot of the middle season episodes with him back in town), but she was willing to give it a go with Cal until he plainly said he never wants any kids.
After that, she backed off, and when Maggie’s mother came back to town with Andrew in tow, she thought she might reconsider her decision to break things off with him. The problem? Andrew’s horrible. He was pushy and rude, making broad assumptions and decisions for her future without asking (assuming she would quit her career, for example), dismissing her life in Sullivan’s Crossing, announcing her pregnancy to a lot of people (including Cal) without her even being present, and barely making an effort to get along with Sully after they had a tiff.
It didn’t take long for them to realize they’re no longer a good match, despite Andrew’s wishes that the pregnancy would bring them back together, so he left.
Maggie’s Stepfather, Walter, Betrayed Her
While Maggie was trying to figure out what path to take toward her future, another of her ties to Boston got fractured when she learned that her beloved stepfather Walter (Peter Outerbridge), the man who was supposed to be the upstanding reliable dad in comparison to her experiences with Sully, was actually the one behind the billing fraud that brought down her firm.
That means Phoebe (Lynda Boyd) and Walter can’t help Sully with the financial troubles threatening his ownership of the Crossing (something he wouldn’t accept anyway), and it also brought Phoebe back to town, where she reconnected with the people she left behind when she left Sully.
She also rekindled her connection with her ex-husband, and the two shared a sweet kiss in the kitchen. However, soon after, Walter came to win back his wife and tell Maggie the full truth: he took out a dangerous loan after the stock market crashed so he could invest in her practice, and he only started committing fraud after the people he borrowed from threatened his family. He even gave a heartfelt apology to Sully (who wasn’t having it), and after a heart-to-heart with Phoebe, she agreed to take him back and went home with him to Boston.
Cal’s Sister Made a Surprise Appearance
Toward the end of Season 2, a mystery woman came calling on Cal, and it turned out to be his sister, Sedona (Meghan Ory). We got glimpses of their childhood and relationship with their volatile father through flashbacks earlier in the season, but we learn a lot more after Sedona comes to town. Their father was a schizophrenic, and Cal starts to fear Sedona might be too after she arrives, displaying erratic behavior and suffering from hallucinations.
After she had a seizure, Maggie performed a series of medical tests, including having Sedona draw the face of a clock — a moment that immediately had any “Hannibal” fan shouting “encephalitis!” Indeed, Maggie determined that Sedona likely has a brain infection of some kind and sent her to get more tests, and it turns out she has a teratoma, a tumor on her ovary that’s causing her body to attack her brain. It’s not schizophrenia and, after her surgery, she should be back to normal. Before she left, Sedona gave her brother a blunt talk about his feelings for Maggie, telling him she thinks he would be a good father.
Her visit also inspired Cal to call his mother, in what is evidently the first time in a long time, and while he didn’t reach her, he left a voicemail asking to get in touch.
Sydney Got Even in New York, But Came Home in the End
Aspiring model Sydney made the tough decision to move back to New York and attempt to pick up her career where she left it when she went home to Sullivan’s Crossing. We quickly see that she didn’t leave because she was failing as a model, but because she was being manipulated and misrepresented by her ex, David, a top talent manager who played mind games with her and spread lies. He immediately tried to do it again when she came back, but she outed his misdeeds with a recording of him threatening her and regained control over her modeling career.
Just before the end of Season 2, Syd came back home to Sullivan’s Crossing, saying she doesn’t fit into that world anymore, and once she got to New York, she realized she never went back for the modeling. She just needed to face down David and hold him accountable. What’s more, once she did that, she realized she’s ready to move forward with Rafe (Dakota Taylor), promising a potential end to their on-again-off-again dynamic. He rebuffed her at first for leaving him and going to New York, but they reconciled in the finale after she opened up to him.
Sully Confessed to Lola, but There’s a Twist!
At the end of Season 2, Sully finally decided it was time to unburden himself and confess the truth: he was the one who hit Lola when she was a child, causing her years of pain and hard recovery because of his drunk driving. He also planned to turn himself in, but first he confessed to Maggie, who recruited Cal to put his law expertise to use and consult first. Cal warned that there’s no statute of limitations on a hit-and-run and he could possibly face time in prison, but Sully is committed.
Heartbroken, Lola realized that’s why Sully had taken care of her all these years, and left in tears after telling him she never wanted to see him again. However, Sully’s confession also prompted Lola to finally make a trip back to the scene of the crime, for the first time since the accident, where she unlocked a new memory of the car that hit her … and it wasn’t Sully’s. She rushes to tell him and gets there just before he heads to the police department.
The Town Rallied to Save the Crossing
After Sully fell into financial woes, his ownership of the Crossing came into question in Season 2, and after he made a deal with a sketchy investor mid-season, he almost lost it all when the investor stabbed him in the back, changed the terms off the deal, and ultimately, tried to take the whole thing at auction.
Fortunately, the town rallied around Sully, everyone scrambled for what they could contribute, Maggie gave an impassioned speech that inspired several competitive local bidders to give their bids to Sully, and with a little help from Frank and Edna’s coin collection holding up a cash transfer at the bank, Sully had enough to hold onto ownership of the Crosssing.
With Sully’s home and livelihood no longer in question and Cal realizing he’s ready to start a new life in Sullivan’s Crossing, Maggie realized this is her home and decided to let go of her life in Boston. After telling Sully the good news, she goes to Cal and they finally tell each other that they love each other. The whole trio is finally set to be settled in and starting a new life together.
The Diner Burned Down in a Fiery Cliffhanger
“Sullivan’s Crossing” Season 2 wrapped things up with a classic cliffhanger — specifically, a Sully-in-peril cliffhanger (which will officially become a pattern if we get the same ending in Season 3). A fire broke out at the diner while Rob was not there and quickly ravaged the building. Cal and Sully rushed in to save Finn, but Sully never came back out with the other two. By the end of the episode, they realized no one could find him and that’s when, boom, the diner exploded.
Anything Else to Remember Before Season 3?
- Frank and Edna (Andrea Menard), everyone’s most steadfast and sturdy couple, hit a rocky patch in Season 2. There were a couple of factors (Frank keeping Sully’s secret, as well as some disagreements about a dispute in Frank’s family over his mother’s regalia), but by the end of Season 2, the couple was back on steady ground. And in the finale, after the Crossing is saved, Sully brings them both in as business partners.
- Connie (Lauren Hammersley) spent the season getting more comfortable with her sexuality, almost sparking up a romance with Alysa (Michelle Nolden) before a humiliating encounter with some crass locals almost set her back. After a chat with Cal, she realized that he was living her dream of starting over, and she landed a job in Otter Lake. Connie and Alysa had a heart-to-heart at the end of the season, where she expressed she needed to figure out who she is first, and Alysa gave her a kiss “to remember her by” before they said goodbye.
- Rob fumbled through his own romance in Season 2. The widower started a new relationship with a mom from his son’s baseball team, he even really liked her, but he closed up after they got intimate. However, after a chat with Cal, he realized what he was doing and set it right, telling her he wasn’t ready for a relationship and they decided to keep it casual.
“Sullivan’s Crossing” Season 3 premieres May 14 on The CW.
