Stream It Or Skip It?
Sullivan’s Crossing has been a hit for the CW since it debuted in 2023, but when each new season drops on Netflix, it actually is seen by a much wider audience. The show’s third season, which aired on linear TV earlier this year, drops on Netflix today.
Opening Shot: Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) hangs up some life jackets, and looks out over the lake.
The Gist: After her huge loss, Maggie has decided to move to Timberlake full-time and work at Sullivan’s Crossing. It’s not the only change that’s happening in the tiny lakefront town in Nova Scotia, though; Harry “Sully” Sullivan (Scott Patterson) has more free time on his hands since bringing in Frank and Edna Cranebear (Tom Jackson, Andrea Menard) as business partners. In addition to that, Edna is changing things at the Crossing big and small, like implementing an online reservation system and moving where the coffee mugs are in the office.
Maggie and Cal Jones (Chad Michael Murray) are exploring a relationship, but Maggie’s trauma over her miscarriage continues to haunt her. She feels it was her fault, and when Cal tries to comfort her, she doesn’t let him. It’s only after a talk with Frank about letting people in does she confide in Cal about how she’s feeling.
In the meantime, Rob Shandon (Reid Pierce) is making plans to reopen the diner in a new space after the fire that destroyed his original restaurant (the same fire where Maggie lost her baby after going in to find Sully). But he’s counting on an insurance payout, and when that claim is denied, he has no idea where to go from there.
Also in the meantime, Rob’s sister Sydney (Lindura) is struggling to keep her relationship with Rafe Vadas (Dakota Taylor) spicy, but he’s being overworked as interim fire chief, and when a new chief is hired — Rafe and Sydney both meet him in a very auspicious manner — the work doesn’t let up.
One of the things Sully is struggling with is writing a personal statement for the new website. But when a romance novel writer named Helen Culver (Kate Vernon) checks in for some writing peace and quiet, she seems to take a liking to the grumpy Sully, and tries to nudge him to write a statement that comes from his heart.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? As we’ve cited before, Sullivan’s Crossing and Virgin River are spiritual cousins, because not only are both based on Robyn Carr novels, but they share production staff.
Our Take: Sullivan’s Crossing continues to be TV comfort food, with an even more lived-in feeling than Season 2 had. While the show’s creator and showrunner, Roma Roth, has shaken up some of the dynamics that we got used to seeing in the first two seasons, the core that makes the show such an easygoing watch is still there.
Now that Maggie is living in Timberlake full-time, she’s exploring things with Cal, and her relationship with Sully is pretty close to what she always wanted it to be, we’re pretty sure Maggie is going to spend the season dealing with her miscarriage. She’ll also have to make an adjustment to being up in Nova Scotia and not actively practicing medicine; will career aspirations get in the way of her and Cal? Will she want to make another attempt at starting a family? Those are the stories we’re going to see from her this season, and Kohan continues her warm, steady presence as Maggie, despite her character’s emotional turmoil.
As we saw in the second season, though, the more intriguing stories will be from Scott Patterson’s Sully. He chafes at the extra time that partnering with the Cranebears have given him, and does not want to use the “r-word” (retired) to describe himself. There is definitely going to be a connection between Sully’s desire to keep working and Rob’s need for a partner to open the new diner. Sullivan’s Crossing is also going to be dealing with competition from a new resort being developed in the region, so there is story potential there.
But what we’re looking forward to is the inevitable relationship between Sully and Helen. Even during their first scenes together, as Sully tries to make up for a reservation snafu, we can see the chemistry between Patterson and Vernon, and it’s not a stretch to think that a relationship is in the offing.
Sex and Skin: It seems that most of the sexiness in this show has been given to Sydney and Rafe, as we see when they get handsy while Rafe is washing a fire engine.
Parting Shot: Construction on the new resort begins.
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Lindura, because she really leans into Sydney’s attempts to keep thing between her and Rafe hot.
Most Pilot-y Line: Helen makes a deal with Sully for free coffee in exchange for the reservation snafu. But she says, “I’m a bit of a caffeine addict. Can’t get through the day without five or six cups.” Could she be flirting any harder? And, of course, Sully is to oblivious to pick up on it.
Our Call: STREAM IT. While the third season of Sullivan’s Crossing brings some changes, the core ensemble is still there, and the show is as warm and inviting as ever.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
