I fell in love with Richard Davis and his team from Trademark Properties when they were featured on the first season of ‘Flip this House’ on A&E. Now they’ve moved onto greener pastures with their own series on TLC. I don’t pretend to know anything about flipping houses or designing reconstruction projects, but I can’t help but love the Real Deal. Richard, Ginger and the team aren’t just out to make money, although do make a lot of it, they also bring incredible heart and spirit to every project they tackle. They are willing to take on projects that might cost them in order to help out people in their Charleston community.

The show is brought to life by the unique personalities of the members of the Trademark team. Trademark Properties founder, Richard Davis is always quick with a joke or a helping helping, but can crack down on his labourers in order to get projects done on time. Investments coordinator Ginger, may look like a sweetheart but she knows her stuff and is as tough as any of the men in her field. The rest of the Trademark team, in addition to the eccentric contractors and labourers, make for a show that’s full of both humour and lessons on not only flipping houses, but on life as well.

This episode mixed a lot of important elements which have been sorely lacking in recent seasons. Firstly, we saw humour during intense situations. For me, the best episodes have always been the ones that while having a heavy storyline, threw in humour to remind us that, life really is kind of funny. This week while we worried about Jordan’s health, her hallucinations kept me in stitches. Woody rapping, Bug in the shower and Macy with his pink gloves and apron were priceless. However as soon as the laughter subsides we were reminded of the source of the hallucinations- Jordan’s surgery may not have worked. In the midst of this we were faced with Bug’s detention by Homeland Security. While the gang struggled to figure out why he’d been apprehended, we were treated to wife who stabbed her husband’s corpse- a welcome relief from the weight of Bug’s situation.

Secondly, since the truth of Jordan’s health condition was exposed, we’ve seen the ‘family’ rally around one another in a way they really haven’t in a long time. While the sense of family was heavily emphasized in the first few seasons, I’ve felt the sense of closeness fade in the morgue lately. I was glad to see everyone eager to help Jordan when she needed them and to even see Kate begin to find her place within in the family. In the same way, I was happy to see how even Renee got involved in Bug’s situation and worked as hard as anyone to get him released.

Thirdly, this was an episode that says something about the state of the world in regards to terrorism. While I am usually against television shows that go out of their way to make a social commentary, Bug’s storyline had elements that made it impossible for me to dislike it. Continuity was a major positive for me. Dr. Bowen, who I had almost forgotten about, was brought back into the mix. This show has constantly angered me by dropping characters without so much as mention in later episodes. I was glad to see this season’s writers carry over a character we never really expected to see again. I also liked how we could tell that there will be more to this storyline. It wasn’t just something done to make a statement and then be left alone. Bug’s quietness at Jordan’s apartment hinted at how his experience might affect him in future episodes and I am looking forward to how he deals with it.

Finally, because she’s my favourite, I can’t finish without saying a little bit about Susan Gibney. Like I said before, I liked how Renee wasn’t working against anyone we like in this episode. She usually has to ruffle the feathers of our regular characters in order to get what she wants. It was a nice change to see her fighting with them rather than against them. As I see more and more of her this season, I am more and more convinced that the writers have forgotten to write at least one scene. This would be the scene where Garret and Renee went from a tense and awkward relationship to what we see now, which seems to be working quite well. I may be the only one who thinks so, but I’m convinced that there are deleted scenes somewhere that have Garret and Renee finally making up with one another.

All in all this was a classic episode of Crossing Jordan, one I look forward to seeing again and one that further proves to me that Crossing Jordan more than deserves a season seven.

Today I saw this episode for the very first time and it just about broke my heart. Libby, Nadine and Grace had gone to New York so Libby could compete in the Why I Love My State contest only to find that Rick has tracked them there. Rick and Grace are just about my favorite couple on televison and because I've not seen the entire series I've always held on to a small hope that Rick and Grace would get back together. However, when all was said and done, what Grace had to stay about their relationship was more than true. They just didn't love each other enough. She didn't love him enough to go to Alaska and he didn't love her enough to not marry someone else. The episodes with Rick were some of my favorites and while this one didn't end the way I wanted it to, I have to say that this might be my favorite yet. As I continue to watch the show, I don't think I'll ever smile so much as I have watching Rick and Grace together and I wonder what character can come along to match what Rick brought to the show.

Overall, this was a good episode. Although Jordan is facing a serious illness she seems to be more like her season one self than she has been in a long time. Her reaction to her surgery and the well wishes from her colleagues was heartfelt and believable. Macy is back to the fatherly role he took a break from last season. I had missed this side of him and was touched to see him try and explain the outcome of Jordan’s surgery to the woman he met at the hospital. Nigel and Bug’s reactions to Jordan’s surgery were in character but unexpected at the same time. It was nice to see the two of them bicker in their usual way about getting Jordan a pet but Nigel’s anger about Woody not coming to the hospital surprised me. That said, it was classic of Woody to throw himself into his work rather than worrying about Jordan and hanging out at the hospital with the others. It seemed like something Jordan herself would have done, even though we’ve seen her wait it out at the hospital before. It was nice to see Susan Gibney back in her commanding role as Renee. I realize that more episodes with her would mean more of a legal aspect to the show, but I can’t help but miss her when she’s gone. After this episode I am more convinced that she should take Kathryn Hahn’s position as a series regular.