Line Indoc – As the second episode of SkyMed begins, Lexi (Mercedes Morris) does a flight simulation with Nowak (Thomas Elms) to prepare for the real thing. He tells her not bad although she’ll have to get through a week of line indoc with Captain Dip$hit first. He says Bodie (Aason Nadjiwan) needs everyone to love him so she should kiss his butt. Lexi wonders if she is doing the right thing since everyone knows she jumped in line. Nowak says she is a good pilot, did her time ramping, and what happened to Wheezer wasn’t her fault. He has to head to the bar because he has a shift starting at five. Before he goes, he stresses the point that she earned this job. Hayley (Natasha Calis) is worried about going swimming with Bodie during their downtime even though he says it is okay.
He says there are only three weeks of summer up here so they have to enjoy it. Hayley says she never gets involved with coworkers, but thought it was cool since he is leaving for Air Canada soon. Bodie promises they’re just two friends going for a swim. At Prism Lake, a young girl livestreams her party from the top of a boat. Nearby, a wife argues with her husband who spent all their money on a boat he can’t get started. When he gets the boat started, it crashes into the other boat in front of it. When Hayley and Bodie make it to the plane, Crystal (Morgan Holmstrom) complains about them being late. She scolds them while Chopper (Praneet Akilla) is just standoffish. Prism Lake is boat or snowmobile in only. It’ll take ground support a while to get here so they’re going to be on their own for a while.
Crystal starts by helping Darla who has had her teeth knocked out during the crash. Her husband explains that she hit the windscreen. He promises to take the boat back first thing tomorrow, but Darla wants a divorce now. Hayley offers to stay until ground support arrives if Crystal wants to take Darla to Thompson. Chopper warns everyone that they have a girl named Mandy (Jerni Stewart) missing. They find her with a branch sticking through her shoulder. Although Mandy wants it pulled out now, Hayley admits they can’t do that since they don’t know which blood vessels it hit. Mandy asks how they’re going to get her to the hospital if they don’t pull it out. Hayley and Chopper discuss cutting her off a tree. She instructs him to cut the branch six inches from the entry wound.
Hayley tells Mandy she is going to give her fentanyl in a small dose. She will hold onto the branch while Chopper cuts it. Mandy learns that she is used to delivering babies so talking people through pain is her specialty. Crystal comes over as Hayley guides Mandy through it. The patients are taken to the hospital where they’re handed over to Trevor. Mandy tells Hayley that she is glad she was her nurse, but she is never having kids. Hayley gets a text from Bodie confirming he is coming in a van. She confesses to Crystal that they went for a swim earlier. When Hayley says she is a professional, Crystal tells her to show up to calls on time. Crystal knows she is a good nurse, but people get hurt when they get distracted up here. She warns her to think about who she is getting distracted by.
Nowak watches as Tristan (Kheon Clarke) says goodbye to the guy he spent the night with. A coworker forces Lexi to load her own plane since she took his place. Bodie almost texts Madison but gets interrupted by a call from his mom and dad. He is asked whether he is bringing Madison home for Christmas since they’d like to finally meet her. Chopper is happy to see Ryan and Denise. He is told he’ll join Bodie at Air Canada soon enough and there is always a bed for him in Forest Hill with them. After the call, Chopper tells Bodie he called a few buddies and West Jet has a ground school coming up. Bodie doesn’t know why AC didn’t hire him and doesn’t think anyone else will either. He doesn’t want to get stuck up here. Moments later, he finds that Lexi is still loading the plane.
He tells her to get her crap together. They argue a bit before landing in the North House First Nation territory. Crystal asks Bodie who crapped in his headset. He says he’ll train people his way and she can train people her way. She says this isn’t his usual way and questions if he is going to tell her about the door. He says he will later when she secures the cabin. Lexi is surprised to see how bad the plane crash was. Jeremy (Braeden Clarke) greets them and helps with the boxes. Crystal tries to find out what was in the container he got from the plane crash. She finds it but doesn’t open it. At Windy Lake, a boy climbs onto his roof to mess with the satellite to fix the reception.
Bees cause him to fall from the roof. Nowak notices that Chopper is filling out paperwork for West Jet. When Nowak tells him he doesn’t have enough PIC hours, Chopper says he is just checking out options for a friend. Hayley and Tristan pick up the hockey player who fell from the roof. She gives him advice to be careful about the locals since the bears are friendlier. Both have just moved up here. Tristan tells him to just do himself and screw them if they don’t get that. He goes on to say you don’t always have to be friends with everyone you work with. Evan (Brandon McEwan) begins experiencing anaphylaxis so they have to rush to save him. Crystal makes Jeremy stop his truck because she wants to know what is in the box he took. He lets her open it. She finds a water pump that he intends to give to his neighbor.
She pulls out a bottle of alcohol as Jeremy tries to explain that this stuff is coming up regardless. If he is the one bringing it, he can make sure it isn’t something worse. He reminds her that she was running that stuff with him before she left. She says she was young and stupid enough to think she was in love with him. Jeremy says the ice roads are getting less reliable every year and the prices at the Northern Store are skyrocketing so people can’t afford what they need anymore. He is just doing what he can to help them even if that means having a whiskey pipeline. Crystal says she cares about the people and keeping his crap away from her airline. At the Winnipeg Memorial Hospital, Tristan tries to talk the others into getting caffeine. Hayley confirms the kid is going to be okay. Tristan mentions that his brother had a nut allergy. Nowak wonders why he said had, but Tristan won’t elaborate on that.
Bodie gets onto Lexi as she argues she knows how to bond a plane. Lexi reminds him that they’re supposed to have each other’s backs. As they prepare to leave, Lexi rushes to get the door shut. However, it pops open whenever they try to take off. Bodie quickly blames and scolds When they get back, Crystal tells Bodie to never pull something like that again with a patient onboard. She knows he is trying to take something out on Lexi but setting her up with the door when they have a patient onboard is wrong. Crystal tells him to act like he cares about this job while he is here. Pierce (Jeff Teravainen) approaches Bodie to ask when they’re losing him to Air Canada. He says not for a couple of months. Nowak approaches Lexi who complains about working with Captain Dip$hit.
She tells him what happened and how it still warrants a report. She claims she already has two strikes against her because she is a woman and black. Nowak says everyone knows the door on 911 is tricky so he should’ve checked it himself, but he was too busy screaming about the clearance expiring. Nowak says it was Bodie’s fault for rushing then. He says Bodie would be a bigger a-hole if he reported the incident. When they see Bodie talking to Pierce, they suspect the worst. Hayley tries to get a drink and notices that Mandy is getting sick to her stomach. She tells Hayley that she is going to the doctor today to find out how far along she is. After Hayley tells her to try ginger for her upset stomach, Mandy confesses she hasn’t told anyone except her jerk boyfriend who isn’t returning her calls right now.
Hayley gives her phone number and tells her to call whenever she needs to talk. Mandy admits her boyfriend isn’t really a jerk. Hayley returns to the locker room where she gives Tristan coffee and Crystal a green tea since she doesn’t drink coffee. When Bodie and Chopper enter, Nowak decides to go after Bodie. He mentions that Bodie is hauling a PFO letter around before saying the golden boy didn’t get the job. When he calls him a joke, Bodie leaves without saying anything. Nowak flies with Chopper who is obviously upset with him.
Nowak says Chopper would’ve done something if someone went after him the way Bodie has been going after Lexi. Tristan talks to a young patient who is worried about getting his tonsils taken out. Once the boy is transported to an ambulance, Tristan tells Nowak that nobody gets their panties twisted over the rules more than he does. Tristan believes Nowak just wanted to embarrass Bodie about not getting the Air Canada job. At the Deep Lake First Nation, a man argues that his wife needs to go to a doctor. He yells that she is in pain, but the nurse tells them they’re not going to get any drugs from her. Hayley enters with Gerald and tells Camille hello. When Hayley and Crystal go back to the plane, they’re approached by the husband who now has a rifle.
He wants them to take his wife to the hospital. He says that old lady at the nursing station won’t book a medevac no matter how many times he takes Sunny there. Sunny complains that the pills don’t help and the nurse just keeps saying she has indigestion. Bodie says they don’t have enough fuel to make it to the closest hospital, but the husband doesn’t believe him. Crystal tells Sunny and Keith that they could check her right here. Hayley finds that she has an irregular pulse so she decides to check her pulse. Keith gets paranoid when Crystal tries to give her something, but she says it is just antacid and lidocaine. If the problem is in her stomach, they’ll know in about 15 minutes. Keith checks the fuel and learns that they lied to him. Bodie offers to take them to Thompson. When he goes for the rifle, he gets hit in the side of the head.
Keith warns him that he won’t be fine if they don’t take them to a hospital right now. Sunny asks them not to judge because nobody takes a native woman with pain seriously. The drugs don’t even help. It hurts so bad sometimes she can’t stand up or get enough air. They have a little girl and Sunny doesn’t want to leave her because she lost her little girl when she was young. Once they board the plane, Hayley tries to figure out what could be wrong since Sunny’s mother died when she was young too. Once they listen to Sunny’s chest, Crystal tells Keith she thinks she might have heart failure. Crystal tries to convince Keith to put the gun down by promising to take Sunny to the hospital and stay with her until she gets the care she needs. They use the faulty cabin door to distract Keith so Crystal can hit him with a fire extinguisher, take his gun, and tape his hands.
Moments later, Hayley checks on Bodie even though he says it is only a cut. Hayley admits it wasn’t safe hooking up with a coworker since he isn’t leaving Thompson yet. They aren’t sure that is a bad thing though. They begin kissing. Trevor tells Sunny she’ll need to see a cardiologist in Winnipeg. Crystal was right since she has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. She complains she can’t believe it took her that long to consider the heart, but Trevor thinks she did well under those circumstances. Crystal is going to make a statement to the Northern Police although she doesn’t think Keith is dangerous. She claims they both deserve better than what they got. Lexi gets tired of not getting help so she reminds Sparky and Nuts of what she did for them. She tells them they should have her back because she had theirs.
After they help her, Bodie comes over to tell her that Pierce was asking when he was leaving for AC. He didn’t say anything about the rejected takeoff because it was his fault. Later that night, Lexi drinks shots with everyone at the bar while Nowak serves them. Another worker takes a picture of Bodie dancing with Hayley and sends it to Mandy. Nowak tells Bodie they would’ve found out about AC eventually. Bodie tells him he doesn’t think about him at all before walking away with the beers. Mandy rushes in to confront Bodie and tells everyone that she is knocked up with his baby. She dumps beer all over him, curses him, and leaves.
Chopper joins him outside the next day as Bodie confesses he wanted things to go back to the way they were. He tells Bodie that he needs to take the controls. Crystal confronts Camille to tell her she didn’t listen to Sunny who has a serious condition. She thinks Camille thought she was just another native woman looking for drugs. Crystal says they can’t make assumptions and their patients shouldn’t die because of it. When Crystal turns around, she sees Jeremy giving out supplies to locals. Tristan is happy when he learns someone gave him the creamer he likes. Crystal tells Hayley that Bodie was adopted so his feelings might be a little more complicated right now. The guy she is seeing isn’t the real Bodie because Bodie doesn’t even know who he is right now.
They leave to get Wheezer (Aaron Ashmore) who is being taken to Thompson General. He talks to Lexi about getting the right seat and living the dream now. Wheezer reveals the Aviation Authority is sending a team up to interview him about the crash. Although Crystal says he did nothing wrong, he says something went wrong and they’re determined to find out what happened.
SkyMed Review
After the first two episodes of SkyMed, the show has brought a lot of action and a lot of cringe. The series likely isn’t for anyone who knows the ins and outs of being a medic because it probably isn’t factually correct all the time. The scenery is gorgeous and the flying scenes actually look okay so this doesn’t look or feel like a low-budget show.
The acting isn’t terrible although some cast members stand out from the pack. Most of the drama centers around the medics getting into teenage squabbles for one reason or another although the rescues are decent. Truthfully, SkyMed is a show that people are going to enjoy or hate. It is easy to see why viewers would fit into either group.
There isn’t a lot new here since SkyMed is a member of a very crowded genre with arguably much better competitors. It is still a good time killer when there is nothing else to watch though. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of SkyMed can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work by following this link.
