S05:E10 - Change of Heart

In the wake of Martha’s death, Alex (Erica Durance) busies herself with work and memorial arrangements to distract from her grief. Unbeknownst to her, Charlie (Michael Shanks) and Shahir (Huse Madhavji) have gone to get Alex’s pseudo-estranged brother Dougie (Ben Bass) to bring him back to attend their mother’s funeral. Alex treats a young girl, Erin (Josette Halpert), who has had kidney failure her whole life and requires a transplant. Her younger sister, Vicky (TJ McGibbon), is her living donor who is prepared to give her a kidney now, but Alex consults an ethicist, given the donor’s age. After speaking with Vicky, the ethicist deems Vicky capable of making her own decision, but Vicky does not get the chance to as a virus that has traveled to her heart has caused sudden cardiac failure while Erin is on the table. The two sisters get to play together for the first time in the spirit world – since Erin has been too sick her whole life to play like a child – and when Erin dies on the table, she is able to make a sacrifice for her sister by giving Vicky her heart. Maggie (Julia Taylor Ross) and Sydney (Stacey Farber) work together to treat a young woman who contracted an STI on the eve of her wedding, after panicking about the prospect of “til death do us part”. The scenario sparks debate between the two on relationships and honesty and in the end, they come to the realization that they have just gone through a ‘shidduch’ and are now ready to rekindle their relationship. Charlie successfully brings Dougie to Hope Zion, but his first encounter with his sister Alex is less than pleasant. Dougie redeems himself in the end by orchestrating a last minute memorial for their mother after Alex’s plans fall through. With the Hope Zion family around her, Alex says goodbye to Martha.