S05:E14 - We Need to Talk About Charlie Harris

Alex (Erica Durance) is challenged by Layla Rowland (Missy Peregrym) a self-help guru with a hernia, about the value of holistic medicine versus western medicine. When Alex tells her that surgery is necessary, the guru admits to a past sexual assault and does not want to be put under because of the trauma. Alex empathizes and bonds with the woman and agrees to do an awake surgery to save her life. Charlie’s (Michael Shanks) grip on reality and control over his abilities is called into question when he happens upon a car accident, and waits with the driver until the paramedics arrive. When he discovers he’s been talking to a ghost the whole time, and as a result did not notice that the driver had hit a young boy on a bicycle – who subsequently dies – he cannot forgive himself and calls his own sanity into question – along with others at the hospital. When two child filmmakers come into the hospital after their treehouse collapsed, Dana (Wendy Crewson) and Shahir (Huse Madhavji) get to have a little fun with them, making a film in the hospital, which eventually becomes Shahir’s adoption video. The father of the children – a television producer – is initially unhappy that the doctors are playing with the children instead of treating them, but when he sees the video, he not only discovers his children’s talent for the first time, but discovers Dana’s natural ability in front of the camera, and offers her her own television show.