Abhiroop Das
Season 3 of CTV’s ‘Sullivan’s Crossing‘ continues Maggie Sullivan’s transformative journey of going from a high-profile neurosurgeon in Boston to finding her roots in the small town of Timberlake. The previous season’s ending is marked by catharsis, with Maggie and Cal Jones finally confessing their love for each other. This, among many other factors, motivates the protagonist to make the Crossing her new home for good. Elsewhere, Sydney and Rafe find a middle ground and get back together. However, these positive developments are contrasted with Rob Shandon’s diner catching fire on the night of a party. With Finn’s life in danger, Cal and Sully rush in without a second thought, but only Cal comes out, leaving the patriarch’s fate hanging in the balance. The third season takes on all of these plot threads and tracks how trauma can have long-term effects on a person. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Sullivan’s Crossing Season 3 Recap
The season begins with some good news and some bad news. While Sully appears to have survived the fire and recovered, the stress from the incident causes Maggie to lose her child. While she is now a resident at Sullivan’s Crossing, helping her father and the new co-owners, Frank and Edna Cranebear, with their day-to-day tasks, her inner turmoil gradually takes a toll on her. Cal Jones reacts to the traumatic incident differently, volunteering for a firefighter’s program and acing it. However, he faces his own share of personal issues, in large part due to his father, Jed Jones, who has schizophrenia and has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Cal struggles to reengage with his traumatic past, but ultimately makes peace with his family.
Meanwhile, Sully’s life takes an exciting turn with the introduction of Helen Culver, a novelist who books a stay at the Crossing. Over time, she grows to have a unique relationship with Sully, and the two spend time together navigating through their respective complexes. The problems don’t seem to stop for Sully, as he learns that Glenn Perry, his sworn rival, has kicked off a luxury resort project right next to Sullivan’s Crossing in an attempt to harm the business. Enraged, Sully tries to fight Perry over his actions, but realizes that he has no legal footing to do so. Meanwhile, Rob Shandon is denied his insurance claim for Shandon’s Diner and struggles to keep his family afloat. Ultimately, he decides to open a new restaurant from scratch, and the entire town helps him in the process.
When the town begins to observe strange cases of poisoning, Maggie posits that it might be because of the recent construction project. She gets help in her investigation from Jacob Cranebear, Frank’s cousin, who has come to Timberlake for his vacation. Here, he begins bonding with Lola, who has similarly returned following an internship. The two have a close call with death after they are trapped in a collapsing mine, but Cal and Maggie manage to save the day. Things are not so smooth between Rafe and Sydney. While the couple is in love and has been living together for a while, Rafe’s new responsibilities mean more time spent away from his partner, and this begins to take a toll on their relationship. On the other hand, Rob meets Jane again at the supermarket, and the two rekindle their relationship.
With Jacob’s help, Maggie figures out that the town’s lichen growth has been affected by arsenic pollution, which is causing the recent string of illnesses. Meanwhile, Cal believes that a life in the Crossing is holding his partner back from her true potential as a neurosurgeon, and the statement is soon put to the test when Edna goes blind due to a growing tumor in her head. Seeing that it is extractable, Maggie joins in on the surgery and uses her skills and experiences to contain an operative mishap, eventually saving Edna’s life and restoring her vision. Meanwhile, the new Shandon’s Diner finishes construction, and Rob hosts a big opening party, giving all characters a chance to unite and make amends over their differences. Cal and Maggie finally have a truthful conversation about her desires and priorities, and things seemingly head in a positive direction.
Sullivan’s Crossing Season 3 Ending: Who is Liam? Is He Maggie’s Husband?
The third season ends on a cliffhanger, with a new character named Liam coming into play. He meets Maggie right after she exits Rob’s party, and introduces himself as her husband. While Cal enquires about this in shock, Maggie is too shocked to utter a word, and it is clear that a past she has been avoiding for so long has finally caught up with her. Notably, we have already heard of Liam in the narrative, with the protagonist describing him as one of her summer flings. However, his words contradict this notion, adding a new twist to her newly stabilized life. While it is possible that she lied to Cal about her marital status, the fact that she has already moved on with life indicates that it wasn’t of much significance to her in the first place. To that end, this can also take a humorous direction, with their marriage not being as serious as it initially appeared to be.
Liam’s first mentions in the story also carry additional baggage, as earlier, Cal found a letter addressed to him by Maggie, where she talks about putting her career over the relationship. This sheds light on the possible reason their relationship ended, as Maggie went on to become a successful neurosurgeon. While in the present she has a new set of ambitions, Liam’s reentry threatens the balance she has carefully maintained. It is possible that Liam wants to reassert his presence in her life and might settle in Timberlake to rekindle their relationship. At the same time, there is the wild card of the fact that she still has unresolved feelings about him. The question of career over personal relationships being brought to the center once again spells trouble for the protagonist, who now has more responsibilities than ever.
Still, the party most affected by Liam’s reveal is none other than Cal, Maggie’s lover. Given that the couple has just made the first step in figuring out their issues and working towards solving them, Liam can potentially overwhelm this fragile dynamic beyond repair. It is likely that Cal will be more upset than ever about Maggie holding back such a big secret from him. This can easily cause their troubles to snowball, with Maggie harboring her own share of complaints. With a love triangle waiting to be explored, her choice can be a game-changer for the trajectory of the story going forward. There is also the question of why Liam is making his appearance this late into the story, given that his time with Maggie transpired years ago. As such, there is a possibility of this series of events taking a dark turn, with Cal and Maggie coming together to deal with it.
Why is Sully Moving to Ireland?
One of the biggest changes to the story introduced at the end is Harry Sullivan’s decision to move to Ireland with Helen Culver. This means bidding goodbye to the place he has called home for his entire life, the Crossing. Sully breaks the news to his daughter during the party, explaining that he will be joining Helen on her journey back to her home country, but that does not mean that the Crossing is no longer a part of his life. Furthermore, he attributes his decision to his newfound spirit of exploring life in all its colors, something that was not possible here at Timberlake. Over the course of the season, we have seen Sully use his second chance at life to partake in newer experiences, be it yoga or dancing, and a move to Ireland comes as the culmination of everything he has been trying to do.
Sully’s decision gains more depth when we look at the larger picture. As he himself explains to Maggie, he has spent his entire life by his father’s accord. This led to many of his ambitions getting stifled in the process of dedicating everything to the Crossing. However, it is Helen, an aspiring novelist, who opens his eyes and makes him believe in the idea that he can still start from scratch despite growing old. Sully describes this shift of gears as a chance to finally carve out an identity of his own, one that might be the key to making him a better person. Together with Helen, he can put in the work to definitively end his anger issues and alcohol addiction. Additionally, he also has a chance to put his skills and positive qualities to use in a new location, learning and adjusting to their culture and lifestyles while finding his own identity in the world.
Sully’s departure from the Crossing also means that Maggie will take on his share of the responsibilities, and his confidence in his daughter serves as a marker for how far the two have progressed. This also serves as the natural progression to Frank and Edna becoming co-owners of the Crossing. With the torch passed, the place’s identity is bound to change, and this is exemplified by the tiny details introduced when Maggie arrives as a permanent resident. From the new coffee machine to the online guest entry system, Sully understands that he is not in touch with how things work in the modern era, and it makes more sense for his daughter to take the lead. However, there is always the chance of things going wrong. Given that Sully was the glue holding things together, and that people like Glenn Perry haven’t given up yet, the new Sullivan’s Crossing will have to go through many trials and tribulations.
Does Maggie Become a Doctor Again?
Maggie learns through Sully’s decisions that it is possible to find balance in life without sacrificing one element or another. This becomes the key to solving a dilemma that has plagued her for the entirety of the season, that is, the choice between returning to her job as a neurosurgeon and staying back at the Crossing. Things get even trickier when she successfully performs a complex surgery on Edna Cranebear and, in the process, reexperiences the joy and satisfaction her work provided her with. Although she is offered a position as a neurosurgeon, choosing it means sacrificing Cal, her father, and the life she has carefully built up in Timerblake. However, she synthesizes her two loves by declaring that she will instead open a general physician’s clinic in Timberlake and use it to help people while still being a part of the Crossing.
Maggie elaborates on her decision by stating that it was never Neurosurgery that appealed to her that much. Instead, it is the act of saving lives. This recontextualizes the joy she felt helping Edna, and also calls back to when she figured out the town’s lichen poisoning. That, coupled with her diagnosis of Sully in the previous season, confirms that Maggie’s true calling is to use her skill set to save as many lives as possible instead of narrowing herself down to one form of specialization. Opening a clinic in the small town of Timberlake also serves as a boon for the residents, providing both medical aid and employment, in the form of Jacob, who is likely to become Maggie’s protege given his background in biology. The decision adds a new dimension to the protagonist, integrating her more with the town and its people.
Who Ends Up Together and Who Doesn’t?
Alongside the main characters of ‘Sullivan’s Crossing,’ there are several characters whose fates are inextricably tied to each other. However, whether their pairing is a success or not isn’t always certain. Things seem to be looking forward for Lola and Jacob, as they both end the season in each other’s arms, contemplating their future trajectories as a couple. Both of the characters are supposed to be out of Timberlake and make some major sacrifices in their lives to extend their time together. While Lola has put her degree on hold, Jacob finds it hard to show his commitment in a similar manner. Ultimately, Jacob makes the tough call of continuing his research degree in Alberta, but also finds the right balance in his dynamic, promising to keep with Lola. Their mutual decision is one that reflects trust, keeping up with the larger theme of the story.
Sydney and Rafe’s dynamic takes on a more complex shade this season, with their priorities in life often clashing. Their discord originates in Sydney’s refusal to get married, as the idea of a husband taking control of his wife’s life scares her. While Rafe tries to make his case about the positive sides of marriage, the two soon reach an impasse. In particular, he vents out his frustrations with the relationship not advancing in any way, not realizing that his own frequent absence plays a large part in this. Things take a nerve-racking turn as the two refuse to have a heart-to-heart about this subject. Still, it is dispelled at the party, when Rafe finally apologizes for overstepping his boundaries and not being sensitive enough in the relationship. Sydney agrees to finally have a talk, mirroring the second season finale, but this time with both of them having more experience under their belt.
Rob Shandon and Jane’s relationship also finds its footing at the end of the season, with the former wishing to take things to the next stage at last. This comes after two seasons of the couple missing the mark and maintaining a lukewarm relationship. Rob describes this as taking things slow so as to avoid trouble in the future. While Jane agrees with the sentiment, their dynamic begins to strain, leading the two to drift apart. This season serves as a point of reconnection for the two, ending with Rob joining hands with her in his restaurant’s opening party. This means a lot for Jane, who exclaims how she never thought that the day would come. As such, both of them find companionship with each other, with the promise of their feelings blossoming into something more special down the line.
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