Summary: Neela and Dubenko are at County, having an awkward conversation. She’s accepted a job somewhere else and is discussing it with him for the first time. She held off because she didn’t want him to try to convince her to stay at County. He says he probably would have, but it’s good that she’s leaving. She’ll gain a lot of confidence going into a new environment. Then when the job crashes and burns – because where she’s going isn’t as good as County – he’ll welcome her back.
Neela’s emotional about that. Dubenko is positive that, whether it’s months or years in the future, she’ll be back. County is in her blood. They hug goodbye and she admits that she’s not sure she can do this without him. He assures her that she can. He sends her off to a taxi that’s going to take her to her new job and new life after six years in Chicago.
Brenner’s patient may have a brain bleed, and the man’s son-in-law, Jay, is anxious about him waking up. Brenner’s a little distracted, knowing that Neela’s leaving. Sam and Gates confront him for not saying goodbye to her. That’s all it takes for him to decide to go see her before she gets on her plane. He doesn’t need to rush, though, since her flight is delayed because of a thunderstorm.
Neela’s nervous, so she leaves someone a message asking them to call her to give her some advice. She gets a drink at an airport bar, talking to the bartender about how she’s heading someplace sunny (though she doesn’t say where). Brenner shows up just then, saying he couldn’t let her leave like this. He thought that if he didn’t come, they might never speak to each other again. They acknowledge that the day has been difficult and strange for them both.
12 hours earlier: Brenner’s taking a break in the ambulance bay when Claudia drops Morris off. They’re having a very loud fight about her continuing to be a cop after being shot. She asks if he thinks she should just stay home and bake pies instead. As Sam and Gates join Brenner to greet an ambulance, Frank arrives with a surprise for Neela’s going-away party: a piñata shaped like Gandhi’s head. Oh, Frank. The other three criticize it, and he tells them they have no sense of culture.
The ambulance they’re waiting for is carrying Jay’s father-in-law, Gary, who fell down a flight of stairs. Brenner wants a surgical consult, and Sam tells him that Neela’s already in the ER. She’s examining a woman named Rebecca who’s babbling about stars and the times having changed. Morris explains that she drove a motorcycle into the Museum of Science and Industry and warned people about the end of the world. “Equilibrium is shifting,” Rebecca says, so we can squeeze the episode title in. Neela quips that she thought it was just her, since this is her last day.
Morris mentions that Claudia is having her first day back at work since her shooting. He thought he was okay with it, but he can’t shake his concerns about the danger. Why couldn’t he fall in love with a librarian? Andrew – oh, hey, Andrew, where have you been? – mentions that a librarian in Springfield died last night when a bookshelf fell on her. Yeah, but what are the odds of that happening? It’s not a known danger of the job, like being shot when you’re a police officer. Anyway, point made.
Neela goes to examine Gary, who says he had a sudden headache that caused him to fall (though the common belief is that the was drunk). His wife and daughter arrive, and his wife chastises him for acting the same way he always does. She’s sick of his drinking. Jay apologizes to the staff for his in-laws’ messiness.
Present: Neela apologizes to Brenner for being hard on him about his past. But he thinks she was right about him not handling things well. He uses sex as an escape and a weapon so he doesn’t have to get close to people. The bartender interrupts, commenting that they’re sweet together and act like no one else is in the room. Well, way to remind them that someone else is in the room, dude.
Earlier: Sam notices that Gary has an irregular heart rhythm. His wife, Sonya, is upset that he didn’t mention it to the staff. He doesn’t always take his medication, since drinking makes him forget to. She thinks he has a death wish – if he doesn’t take the pills, he’ll figure out a way to disappear. She blasts him for not being able to control himself today of all days.
Gary explains that it’s the tenth anniversary of something. Sonya complains that he always wants to tell people. Her daughter quiets her, and Jay clarifies that it’s the tenth anniversary of their son’s death. Lily, the daughter, says that Gary blames himself. Sonya storms out and Lily follows her. Gary says he keeps thinking that it’ll get easier, but it doesn’t.
Dubenko comes to the ER to help Neela with her two cases, and she mentions that whichever one she takes will be her 2,500th surgery since her internship. Dubenko goes to see Rebecca, who’s still babbling. “Reckoning is here,” she says. Morris sedates her, then asks Neela and Dubenko their opinion on whether he was sexist for suggesting that Claudia find a new job. Neela says yes and Dubenko says no. The conversation ends as they start to take Rebecca to surgery, then stop because she’s seizing. Dubenko leaves, and Morris asks what’s up with him.
Present: “Denial. Avoidance. Fear,” Neela says. Heh. She’s actually talking about herself and how much she’s missed out on because she let those things get the better of her. When she was a kid, an aunt took her to a toy store and gave her five pounds and permission to buy whatever she wanted. Neela spent hours considering all her choices. She wound up not buying anything.
She’s always been afraid of making a mistake, so it’s crazy that she became a doctor, where making a mistake can have huge consequences. She knows that she screwed things up by not taking chances at various points in her life. That’s why she needs to go, even if it scares her. She doesn’t want to be indecisive anymore.
Brenner assures her that he’s not going to try to convince her to stay. Neela asks why he’s there, then. He’s not sure. She asks how he got past security without a ticket. She realizes he bought one, and he asks if she knows of anything interesting to do in Detroit. He just didn’t want to let her go without saying goodbye.
Earlier: Jay has stayed behind to be with Gary, which Gary clearly appreciates but won’t admit. He tells Brenner that Jay was his son Tim’s best friend. He pulled Tim out of the water when he drowned and tried to save him. After the funeral, Jay came by every day to check on the family. Jay jokes that he actually just wanted to flirt with Lily. They’ve been married for three years now. Gary notes that even though he lost Tim, he got a new son in Jay.
Neela and Dubenko bring in Rebecca for a CT scan as Brenner is finishing with Gary. Neela suggests that Brenner do a procedure to check Gary for a bleed. If it was present before the fall, it could explain his symptoms and the fall itself. Dubenko and Brenner think it’s a rare possibility, and they’re pretty sure that Gary fell because he was drunk. Neela has doubts, since his his blood-alcohol level isn’t that high for an alcoholic. She notes that they wouldn’t want to miss something they can fix. Brenner asks Dubenko for his input, and Dubenko says he trusts Neela’s judgment.
Frank tried to hire a snake charmer for Neela’s party, but he wound up with a woman who brought in a large snake and some tarantulas. He sends her away, even though she could have saved him from something really racist. Ironically, he’s trying to smooth things over with Neela because of his racism when she first arrived. Sam suggests that he go with flowers instead. He argues that they’re neither original not cultural. Maybe, but they won’t get you sent to HR. Sam tells him he’s being offensive – Neela’s parents were born in India, but she’s English.
Dubenko’s getting a little micromanagerial, and Neela doesn’t like it. He repeats what she said about not wanting to miss something they can fix. Brenner, however, has decided to do the procedure Neela suggested on Gary. Sonya’s uncertain about it and asks Jay for his opinion. Gates is also uncertain, and he’s much more vocal about it with Brenner. Brenner thinks that Neela had her reason for suggesting the procedure. Gates says it’s because it’s her last day and she doesn’t want to make a mistake. If the procedure causes a complication, she’ll feel just as bad as if she’d missed something. Gates refuses to do the procedure, but Brenner orders him to do it.
Neela and Dubenko can’t agree on whether Rebecca needs surgery – she says no, he says yes. He reminds her that this would be her 2,500th operation, as if that’s an excuse to cut. He thinks the significance of the day is clouding Neela’s judgment. Neela challenges him to say what he’s declining to say. She thinks he sees her departure as personal. He needs to just wish her luck and let her go.
Dubenko won’t, since he thinks her new hospital is inferior to County and that she chose it to spite him. Sure, Dubenko, she’s basing her whole career and future on you. He says he can’t wish Neela luck because he wants her to hate her new job. He hasn’t spent all these years mentoring her so she can move on to a “B-list” institution. They continue bickering as they get started on Rebecca’s operation. Neela says that if she stayed at County, she would always be Dubenko’s protege. It’s time for her to move on.
She notices spots on Rebecca’s skin and tells Andrew not to start the operation yet. An examination confirms her suspicions that Rebecca has acute porphyria. It explains her physical symptoms and her apparent psychological issues. It also means she doesn’t need surgery. Neela says that she’ll have to be content with just 2,499 operations at County.
Jay stays with Gary again as Brenner and Gates do the procedure on him. They note that Jay does a lot for the family. Gary starts declining, so Brenner has to stop. He tells Jay to talk to Gary and try to keep him awake. Jay does, revealing that there was more to Tim’s death than people know. They had a fight and he slipped. Brenner and Gates stabilize Gary, who was unconscious the whole time and didn’t hear Jay.
Present: Brenner tells Neela that Jay hit Tim, who fell overboard and drowned. Jay didn’t tell Tim’s family the truth until today. The family has been stuck for years, and Brenner thanks Neela for helping him see that he’s been stuck, too. He needs to figure out things in his life before he can be with someone else. But because of her, he’s starting that process. He came to the airport to thank her. What they had mattered a lot to him. They kiss goodbye and she thanks him for saying that.
Earlier: At the admit desk, Frank tries to block Neela from noticing that Bollywood dancers are arriving. She helps Morris with a patient who hurt his hand playing tug-of-war at a company picnic. He says he was so focused on the game that he didn’t let go when it started hurting. Morris punctures himself on a needle and Neela tells him all the things he needs to do to make sure he didn’t contract anything. He’s very calm about it, even though he’s had a number of slightly dangerous encounters today. A light bulb goes off in his head.
Frank takes Neela to the lounge, where the staff is ready for her surprise goodbye party. They figure she thought they weren’t going to do anything for her. Everyone toasts her as Dubenko arrives with Neela’s name plate, which Haleh asked him to get. Haleh takes Neela to the name-plate wall, saying that she knew this day would come but she’d hoped it wouldn’t be this soon.
On the way down, Neela recalls some of her memorable moments at County, like her first day, Dubenko telling her she’s a good surgeon, Abby asking her to be her maid of honor, Gallant saying he was thinking of asking her out, and Pratt praising her for saving a patient. She puts her name plate on the wall and smiles at Haleh, who looks really sad to see her go.
Present: Neela gets a call back from the person she left the message for. It’s Abby! She promises that Neela isn’t making a mistake leaving County. If she were, Abby would tell her that. She orders Neela to get on the plane, threatening to hang up. She doesn’t, though, probably partly because she’s not that mean and partly to make sure Neela actually gets on the plane.
Brenner returns to County and asks Sam for an update on Gary. It sounds like Neela was right about his diagnosis. Claudia comes in and Morris, who’s wearing donkey ears, says he was an a%$ that morning. He made her a pie to make up for his sexism. He tells her he was stuck by a needle and it made him realize that he can’t really say anything about the danger she puts herself in at work. He supports her continuing to be a cop. Brenner and Gates confirm that Neela’s diagnosis of Gary was right. Unfortunately, the tech fixing his aneurysm screws up, so Brenner and Gates jump in to take over. The tech threatens to write them up.
Neela lands in her new hometown the next morning as Brenner checks on Gary. He tells Jay that the odds are that Gary will do well, but they won’t know for sure for a little while. Now that the family knows what really happened to Tim, Jay isn’t sure where they stand. Brenner tells him that truth is a time bomb. Now that his secret has exploded, it can’t hurt him anymore. He can move on.
As Neela drives to her new workplace, Brenner meets up with Dubenko. He seems to have decided to make Andrew his new protege. Brenner goes to see a therapist, and it looks like he’s been seeing her for a little while, so he really is doing the work to deal with his past. Neela goes by the physical therapy center at her new workplace, because there’s someone there she knows. She’s taken a job at Ray’s medical center in Louisiana. “Finally,” he says when he sees her. He asks if she’s really there, and she confirms that she is.
Thoughts: Imagine working in this show’s art department and being told you have to either find or make a piñata that looks like Gandhi’s head.
Also, imagine being Gates and telling Brenner – your superior – that his decision to do the procedure Neela suggested for Gary is stupid. And now imagine him saying that to Benton or Romano and watching them tear him a new one.
I need to know more about the “seven-year-old Republican” who bit Morris.
Not that I’m comparing Doug and Carol to Ray and Neela, but the latter couple’s reunion at the end of the episode feels similar to Doug and Carol’s reunion in season 6. Maybe it’s because Shane West’s body language is especially George Clooney-ish.
'90s Flashback 
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