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“Chasing Life” recap (1.21): No Day But Today

Previously on Chasing Life, April yelled at Natalie for dating Dom, Sara went to see George speak at a conference but saw him kissing a girl instead, Brenna found out she might be a match for a bone marrow transplant, and Dr. Hamburg had some bad news for April.

April takes the news fairly well. And by that I mean she doesn’t collapse into a heap of tears on the floor the way I imagine I would react if I were told I had cancer and/or my cancer was back. She sits kind of stoically while Dr. Hamburg tells her she’ll need more chemo and a bone marrow transplant, but luckily they still have Natalie on hand. April says she can start chemo next week, she just has a few things to wrap up, but Dr. Hamburg says she needs to start in the morning. Without chemo, she has two to six weeks to live.

Though you’d never guess by looking at her.

At which point I would have demanded to be hooked up immediately, but April’s going to take her 24 hours of freedom. She starts by calling Leo.

In Cleveland, George is happy to see Sara came to surprise him. They make mildly uncomfortable small talk about how busy they’ve both been, when the girl Sara saw George kissing introduces herself as a fellow pediatric cancer doctor. It’s all forced cheer and awkwardness until Sara gets a phone call from April and the mood turns dark.

Speaking of dark, Brenna and Grandma Emma are bummed about the news, too.

But everyone stays so brave for April.

April makes Brenna promise she won’t skip anything for her, not school, not plans, and especially not her bone marrow donor test. Grandma says she’ll help April pack since Sara is gone, and Brenna says Natalie can take her to her appointment. April sends Brenna off to school with a hug and promises her everything is going to be okay.

When they’re alone, Leo tries to see if April really is okay, but she’s all business, ticking off people she still has a tell, like Beth and her boss. April asks if they can have a proper goodbye later tonight since she doubts they’ll allow conjugal visits while she’s in the hospital. Though she can’t be sure, since he was in a coma during her last stay.

Beth, too, keeps a brave face and a sweet joking nature about it, shrugging off the missed trip to Bermuda.

April starts to think of all the other things she’ll miss while she’s in the hospital, like Thanksgiving and Brenna’s 17th birthday. She then starts to think of things she’ll miss if she doesn’t make it out of the hospital, like her own wedding, but Beth says she doesn’t have to worry about that; she’s beaten this before, she can beat it again. Besides, they can totally cram Thanksgiving and a birthday into the time she has left before chemo. April asks about Bermuda and Beth says she’ll take care of that, too.

Because she’s the best friend ever.

When April gets to work, she finds the place in chaos. They’re laying people off because The Boston Post is struggling, and anyone is fair game.

At the airport in Cleveland, Sara is running around like a chicken with her head cut off because she can’t find a flight back to Boston. George grabs her hand and leads her up to the front of the line, playing the cancer card, and finding a flight that will get her into Boston by midnight, which will just have to do.

In Boston, Natalie goes with Brenna to see Dr. Hamburg. Natalie confesses that she feels bad that April’s sick and the last time she saw her, they fought. Brenna tells her that sisters fight, it’s what they do, and not to worry too much about it.

Sister, sister!

Dr. Hamburg comes in and asks how April is doing, and Brenna says she’s busy being worried about everyone but herself. Hamburg starts the bone marrow donor test by asking Brenna if she’s had any major surgeries in the past two years. She hesitates, and Dr. Hamburg thinks it’s because she’s trying to remember and tells her she’s sure she wouldn’t forget something as big as she’s looking for but Brenna says that’s not it. She throws a quick glance back at Natalie before admitting that she had an abortion about two years ago and wasn’t sure if it counted. Hamburg says not to worry because it doesn’t affect her donor status, and Natalie says don’t fret because she doesn’t judge.

Really getting the hang of this sister thing.

At work, April doesn’t know what to do. She says goodbye to Mallory the sexually fluid sex columnist and starts to worry even more. April confesses to Dom that she’s not just stressed about the layoffs, but that her cancer is back, too. He hugs her and says they probably can’t lay her off if she tells them she’s sick but it’s a risk April doesn’t feel willing to take.

Sara and George are hanging out at the Cleveland airport when Sara realizes she made George miss the speech he was supposed to give. He’s not worried about it; he would do anything for his nieces (or their mother but he doesn’t say that part out loud). They start to awkwardly dance around the topic of their dating lives but soon start to get back to that familiar place they were in before they started all that hanky panky nonsense that complicated things.

April goes in to be appraised by Raquel and the man affectionately known as the Grim Reaser. They review her permanent record and tell her they’ll need to meet with her again tomorrow, but she says that won’t be possible because she’ll be in chemo, treating her relapsed cancer. Raquel says they’ll get back to her and looks genuinely concerned about April.

She DOES have a soul!

At lunch, Beth takes April out on a boat, playing tropical music while they sip fruity drinks.

If you can’t take the girl to Bermuda, you have to take Bermuda to the girl.

Beth says she’s handling her breakup a lot better now, and is really invested in her job. April says now she understands why the Post is so important to her, but before they can get into it, a man asks them what they’re doing on the boat and their picnic must come to an end, because sweet Beth hopped on a random boat and claimed it as her own.

Next up on April’s farewell tour is Brenna. April brings her a cupcake and says they’re celebrating early, right here in the crisp autumn air, instead of in the stuffy hospital. Brenna asks how April is doing and she says she’s SuperGirl. (Which is wrong: Sweet Marley Rose is SuperGirl.) Brenna admits that she hated it last time April was in the hospital, that she felt like an only child and it broke her heart. April pulls out a present and gives it to Brenna, saying now they can stay close. It’s a video camera, and Brenna is tasked with being April’s window to the outside world.

CHALLENGE = ACCEPTED

Sara calls April while she traipses through the airport to catch her connecting flight. She tells them Doctor Uncle George is coming home, and then starts to ask April technical questions about her treatment faster than George can feed them to her. He looks at her like he’s falling in love all over again

After April has a final rendezvous with Leo, she heads to The Charles to see Natalie. Cancer has put things back into perspective, and even though she still thinks it’s wicked weird, she’ll let it go for now. Natalie asks if she still wants her bone marrow and April tells her she’ll need it, to which Natalie doesn’t even blink before saying she can have it. But April has another request for Natalie, perhaps a loftier one. April doesn’t know what’s going to happen to her, but no matter what, she wants Natalie to promise she’ll look after Brenna. In fact, she NEEDS her to promise it. She needs to know Natalie will be the big sister Brenna needs, that she’ll be there for Brenna in a way she won’t be able to for a while. Natalie promises, again without hesitation.

It’s raining on my faaaace.

And imagine how much that must mean to Natalie, to be asked that. She spent her life feeling like the King’s bastard, an accident, her father only seeming to care about her insofar as it didn’t affect his “real” family. Second string. But now here’s her biological sister, needing her down to her DNA, and trusting her to look after the sister they share. She’s finally being called up to the big leagues, and I think it’s a responsibility she’ll take very seriously.

At Casa Carver, Brenna and Emma fuss over the Thanksgiving dinner they’re failing at, while Leo fusses over April. When she asks what’s up with that, he realizes he’s never been on this side of the hospital trip.

While all this has been going on, a boy at the hospital named Finn finds out that they found a bone marrow donor for him, though they don’t know where or who. His parents looked a little twitchy about the price, but they’re mostly just excited he has a chance to get the transplant he needs. We find out he used to be a runner, and is looking forward to getting back into top form in the spring, even though one of his legs is now a prosthetic. Someone is giving him a second chance, and he’s not going to waste it.

The Carver family giggles over some bad food, until Emma gets a call and finds out Sara’s connecting flight was cancelled. To make matters more serious, the doorbell rings and April finds Raquel at the door.

I’m going to miss her face.

Raquel says she’s sorry about April’s relapse, and seems genuine about it. Raquel explains that it has come down to laying off either April or Danny, and if it were up to Raquel, she would keep Danny, because he doesn’t have a life outside of work to distract him, but Reaser said April has grounds for a lawsuit because of her health, so they will probably keep April by default. April realizes that it wouldn’t be fair to Danny, since he was their choice, so she tells Raquel she quits. And Raquel looks genuinely sad to lose her.

April goes upstairs and cuts her hair again, trying not to cry.

Hey there, Delilah.

She shaves her hair off, and heads to Hamburg, mopey and unresponsive. Hamburg decides that April isn’t in the right headspace to fight for her life just yet so she takes her to a wing of the hospital that’s under construction. She tells April to stop being strong for her family and friends and prepare herself for what’s to come. She tells April to tell her how she really feels, to get angry. April okay sure she is angry, she’s angry at Hamburg for not catching this sooner, she’s pissed that Hamburg tries to get her to ignore statistics when the statistics are so bleak. It reminded me a bit of Buffy in season 1, “I don’t wanna die.” Heartbreaking.

Then, brave Dr. Hamburg hands April a sledgehammer, even though there was a small chance April could have swung it at her instead of at a pile of wreckage. April takes her anger out on the wall and then looks at Hamburg, defeated, and says she feels stupid for having hope, for believing she beat it.

Italia Ricci hurts my heart.

After April gets hooked up, Sara finally arrives at the hospital and holds her daughter, promising she’ll never leave again. April says she’s ready now, ready to fight.

Brenna calls and tells April school is weird without Greer, but she’ll tell it all about it when she gets to the hospital. She takes April’s coffee order and ends up standing at the cart next to Finn, who I bet is who will be getting Brenna’s bone marrow. I’ll be interested to see if the anonymity goes away next season.

Leo gives April a blanket while she gets her some chemo and she admits that she thought she was scared about what she would miss while she was in the hospital, but now she’s realizing that she’s actually more scared about the things she would miss if she doesn’t survive. She shrugs and pulls out her iPad, ready to binge watch bad television to keep her mind off things. Leo says, “Let’s get married,” and she thinks it’s a bad new reality show but he scoots closer and says he’s serious. He says they’re living on borrowed time; there is no future, there is no past. Why not get married? April thinks it over for a second and says you know what? Why not. So she says yes.

Hooray?

What did you think of “One Day”?

Here are some of our favorite #ChasingLesbians tweets from the Season 1 Finale:

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

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