The enjoyment in watching Midway to Love isn’t in wondering which of the obvious choices is Dr. Rachel August going to choose. It’s how is she going to arrive at the obvious choice?
She’s a successful television-show therapist in New York, but she’s starting to lag in the ratings, and the network wants to give her show the kind of tabloid makeover only Maury Povich or Jerry Springer could love, hoping to attract a younger audience. Rachel objects, and takes a week off to go home to Kentucky and think it over. Back home in Midway, a little town outside Lexington, she has a meet-cute with Mitchell–a collision that causes her to spill coffee on him. He’s her would’ve-been high school sweetheart, who has never gotten over Rachel, and sees an opportunity for a second chance.
While Rachel is nervous about rekindling what she ran from in her high school years, the reasons for returning to it mount. She wants to see patients again. While in Midway, she connects with a foster child and makes a profound impact on the young girl. Rachel’s dad, also a therapist, seems to play matchmaker in a way most dads don’t. It becomes clear that this is going to be one of those home-is-where-the-heart-is romances where she gives up big-city success for bigger small-town rewards. But can she get out of her own way long enough to make it happen?
The network helps out. The new producer gets pushy, and tries to twist Rachel’s arm by insisting that the good doctor has to go along with the new show format to fulfill her contract. Rachel used to work along, but now has a bearded new co-host, who is nauseatingly fangirlish. The show that results is a far cry from what Rachel ever envisioned. Hey, what’s not to love about staying in New York?
We’ll let you guess as to how this all turns out, but suffice it to say that Midway to Love charms its audience just as intended and merits the Dove-Approved Seal for All Ages.
The Dove Take:
Sometimes we go an awful long way to find what’s already right in front of us.
