March 2, 2021
ER 8.4, Never Say Never: Just When You Think You’re Out of the ER, They Pull You Back In
Susan’s back and I’m excited!
Summary: When we last saw Susan Lewis, she was leaving Chicago on a train. It’s only fitting that when we see her again for the first time in five years, she’s getting off a train. She arrives at County on a busy day, and there’s been so much turnover since she left that no one on call recognizes her. Frank even thinks she’s a patient. Luka barely acknowledges her, instead complaining to Abby that her “aquatic mischief” killed his angel fish.
Finally, someone recognizes Susan – a former patient named Ralph. She treated him after he was electrocuted while working on something in the hospital. While he’s made a full recovery, he now has trouble with static cling and says it’s ruining his life. Another patient tries to get some attention by flashing Susan, but she’s unimpressed. She looks down at his junk and sighs, “Is that all?”
After a while, the nurses recognize Susan and catch up with her. They also catch us up on some things that have been happening off-screen. Apparently Carol never came back to Chicago after she went to see Doug. She sent for the girls and they all live in Seattle now. You mean someone on this show got a happy ending? Amazing! Susan is surprised to see that Weaver’s still at County. Haleh tells her Weaver’s in charge now.
Weaver thinks Susan’s in town for a conference, but she’s actually interviewing for a job in the area and has stopped by to have lunch with Mark. Mark is currently trying to save a patient with Elizabeth, who knows he and Susan have kept in touch but didn’t know they were going to have lunch. Dude, Mark, you have to tell your wife that you’re having lunch with a female friend you once had feelings for. You especially have to tell your wife when that wife is Elizabeth.
Carter is examining a woman who has a lot of medical complaints and needs Carter to take care of all of them (and touch her in inappropriate places). Abby is still pressing him to sort out his future, and she thinks he should accept Weaver’s offer of shift work. Carter is instead eyeing a tenure-track position at Northwestern. Abby doubts that he wants to vault from that into teaching, even if it comes with job security. She thinks he would have already accepted the job if he really wanted it.
Chen asks Weaver if there’s anything she should know about an upcoming meeting with Romano and risk management. She guesses it’s about Paul’s death. Weaver says it’s normal procedure for the in-house legal team, and Paul’s family hasn’t filed a wrongful-death suit (yet), so she doesn’t need to worry. Chen is understandably concerned that, since Dave was fired, her job is also at risk. Weaver tells her Dave was fired for other reasons.
Carter and Abby treat a man who thinks he was bitten by a spider, which he helpfully brought with him. They think he was actually bitten by a flea. Nicole shows up, needing stitches in her finger, and really, really wants to see Luka. Carter guesses that Nicole is a sore spot for Abby and is amused by the situation.
He’s less amused when his patient releases the spider he brought in, since it’s apparently not dangerous. Carter goes looking for it at the admit desk and is under it when Susan sees him. He realizes she’s interviewing for the same job at Northwestern that he wants. She’s surprised that he’s not chief resident at County.
Weaver confronts Romano for not telling her ahead of time that Chen’s going to be interviewed by risk management. She wants to be present, but Romano says she needs to keep her distance. If Chen has nothing to hide, then Weaver has nothing to worry about. Weaver wears him down, though I think it’s more that Romano says she can come so she’ll stop bugging him.
Mark and Elizabeth are still working on their patient, so he ducks out to tell Susan they need a little more time before lunch. But Haleh needs him for another patient, so Susan decides to come back and hang out after her interview. Mark goes to treat a six-year-old named Kenny, who has a genetic disorder that patients normally succumb to as babies. He has a bowel obstruction, so Elizabeth determines that he needs surgery. His parents can’t handle watching him suffer anymore, and they ask Elizabeth to give him medication that will end his life.
Weaver gets Chen for the meeting, trying again to reassure her that there’s nothing to worry about. Elizabeth tells Kenny’s parents that he’s been given something for the pain, but not what they requested. They guess that Elizabeth thinks they’re horrible people. They’re just exhausted from having a child who needs around-the-clock care.
Abby assists Luka as he treats Nicole’s injury. She goes to get something from the next exam room and shares a quiet laugh with Chuny over Luka’s clear attraction to his patient. Nicole tells him that her boss fired her and threatened to create problems over her immigration status. Abby and Chuny silently mock her with fake tears. Very mature, ladies.
Price asks Chen questions about Paul’s care, and Weaver basically acts as her attorney. Price is curious about how Chen got involved in the case, since she wasn’t an attending at the time, just a resident (she’s been made an attending since then). Weaver says that she was given the authority of an attending while she finished up the last days of her residency. I’m not sure how that works, since Chen barely qualified to be chief resident, but okay.
Price says that if Chen wasn’t board-eligible to be an attending, she wasn’t technically authorized to approve the treatment Paul was given. That decision should have been made by Weaver. Weaver thinks the five days remaining in Chen’s residency aren’t enough to disqualify her from knowing the best course of treatment for the patient. Price asks where Weaver was, and Chen reports that Weaver wasn’t in the hospital. She paged Weaver three times and didn’t receive a response.
Weaver says she never got a page, and besides, Chen could have come to get her. Chen didn’t know where she was, but Carter did (though how was Chen supposed to know that?). Either way, Weaver blames the hospital – the cafeteria is closed in the middle of the night, so she had to leave to get a meal. Romano decides Chen’s part of the meeting is over and lets her go but asks Weaver to stay behind. Chen’s future is now in the hands of a woman who’s trying to cover up her own mistake.
Luka calls a lawyer friend to help Nicole with her visa situation. Abby silently judges him. Chen tells Carter that she thought Weaver was going to protect her in the meeting, but instead she protected herself. Carter thinks Weaver’s trying to protect both of them. He has a maintenance worker looking for the spider, which is definitely not that guy’s job. Make the patient look for the spider. Carter tells Chen that Weaver will have to defend Chen, since she was Weaver’s choice for chief resident.
Paramedics bring in a man named Mr. Warshaw who was impaled on a branch or piece of fence when he fell off his roof while trying to get free cable. Wow, instant karma, huh? Elizabeth sends Kenny to surgery, and his parents say they’ll wait in the cafeteria until there’s news. She has a brief chat with Benton, commiserating over how tired they both are because of their parenting responsibilities. Benton then goes to the ER to tend to Mr. Warshaw. For some reason, his wife has brought their young daughter into the exam room. Congratulations, you’ve just scarred your child for life!
Romano discusses Chen’s work history with Weaver and Price; Price thinks she shows a pattern of making poor decisions and needs to be fired before she kills anyone else. Weaver disagrees, then asks how big a deal it is that Chen wasn’t an attending when she treated Paul. Romano thinks she’s going to pin everything on Chen so her own errors don’t have to be brought up. Weaver asks how much support she’ll get from higher-ups if she doesn’t let the buck stop here. Romano says Paul’s family probably won’t be satisfied if she blames everything on Dave and pretends that’s why he was fired.
Mr. Warshaw is stable and ready for surgery, but he doesn’t want it. He wants to die, and he wants it to look like an accident. As Benton tries to convince him that his family needs him more than they need his life-insurance payout, Mr. W. jerks the thing he’s impaled on around to try to cause more damage. Dude, that’s not going to make it look like an accident. Benton has to pull some fancy move right there in the pre-op room to stabilize him before they can move him to an OR.
Romano brings in a photographer to take pictures of Kenny while Elizabeth operates on him. She’s annoyed that they’re turning him into a sideshow. Romano thinks Kenny’s parents are monsters for keeping him alive this long. What are they supposed to do, stop taking care of him? I think that’s called murder. Benton operates on Mr. W. while simultaneously trying to find someone to pick up Reese, since Joanie is having car trouble and can’t do it. He calls Jackie and leaves a message asking her to get Reese. She hears the message but doesn’t pick up the phone.
Elizabeth goes looking for Kenny’s parents after his operation, but they haven’t come to the surgical floor. Susan returns from her interview, which didn’t go well, not least because the interviewer asked her out. Susan, sue the hospital for harassment and retire like a queen! Mark tells her County is looking for an attending, so she should apply there. Susan notes that Weaver didn’t say anything when they talked that morning.
She notices Mark’s scar from his brain surgery, which he never told her about. He thinks he’s justified, since she never told him about her engagement. (She says it wasn’t really an engagement, and it’s over anyway.) Susan wants to move back to Chicago since Chloe and her family moved away from Arizona, and Susan saw no reason to stay. Elizabeth comes in looking for Kenny’s parents, but they’re not there. She shortly declines Susan’s offer of coffee, since she’s breastfeeding.
Benton is still trying to arrange child care for Reese while he operates on Mr. W. Without any other options, Benton has a nurse call Roger, who agrees to pick up Reese. Luka and Abby work together to treat a combative little boy named John Thomas who got hurt playing on his dad’s boat. His mother tries to bribe him into being good, but John Thomas won’t accept her offers. Finally she threatens to tell his father he was playing on his boat without permission. “I’ll tell Grandma you were playing with Daddy’s penis!” John Thomas yells. Luka’s amused and Abby almost loses it. The ice between them has finally been broken.
Elizabeth is still looking for Kenny’s parents and the maintenance worker is still looking for the spider. Weaver tells Chen that despite her efforts to oppose the decision, Chen is being put on probation for a year and might be suspended without pay for a month. Chen can’t believe her guide-wire mistake as an intern is being brought up all these years later. In addition, Chen has to step down as chief resident.
Chen asks if Weaver has to give up anything as punishment. Weaver says her actions aren’t being scrutinized here. This is just a temporary setback, and Chen will be able to keep moving forward. Chen asks straight out if Weaver had her pager on her the night Paul died. She knows Weaver isn’t sorry about the consequences Chen is facing – she’s relieved she’s not the one facing them. Chen tells her to go to Hell and announces that she quits.
Weaver gives the news to Mark, who’s annoyed that Weaver keeps firing/driving away employees. Weaver says she’s as angry about the situation as Mark is, but unlike him, she doesn’t have anyone to complain to. Mark tells her he wants to rehire Susan to take Chen’s place. Kenny’s parents have disappeared, and Elizabeth thinks the paperwork they filled out was all fake. They always planned to dump Kenny there and take off. Elizabeth is sympathetic, but Romano argues that being a parent means accepting all challenges that come your way.
Mr. W. didn’t survive, but all his wife can think about is why he wanted to get them cable so badly. Nicole returns to the hospital with homemade cookies for Luka to thank him for contacting a lawyer for her. She offers one to Carter, who says he would never touch Luka’s cookies. Carter is having more fun than anyone in this entire episode, and it only gets better for him: With Chen gone, he’s now the best candidate for chief resident. Weaver wishes she’d chosen him in the first place, and she admires how he’s handled his addiction and recovery. The spider interrupts the conversation, and Weaver kills it with her crutch.
Mark finds Susan’s old lab coat in a closet and gives it back to her. She’s hesitant to come back to work there, but Mark has basically already accepted the job on her behalf. Benton goes to Roger’s to get Reese, but he’s already in bed and wants to stay there for the night. Roger is happy to have him stay. Back at County, Dave makes his final appearance of the series as he cleans out his locker in the lounge. Weaver comes in but they don’t say anything to each other.
On the roof, Chen complains to Carter that she always knew Weaver was capable of this sort of thing, but Chen never expected to be one of her victims. She encourages Carter to take the chief-residency position; better him than someone else. Carter tells her she can take the open position at Northwestern. Chen asks him to promise that any sacrifice he makes for County is worth it. Elsewhere, Weaver goes to a lesbian bar but doesn’t interact with anyone except the bartender. It’s so lonely being a cold, robotic taskmaster!
Thoughts: Ralph has a sock stuck to the back of his uniform when he talks to Susan. He looks like the monster in Monsters Inc. who triggers a lockdown.
Dear writers: You’ve done the escaped-animal plot before. Cut it out.
This is also your third character named Kenny or Kenneth who’s a child with a genetic disorder. Maybe all Kenneths in Chicago are cursed. (Don’t forget Kenny Law.)
’00s music alert: “Everybody Got Their Something” by Nikka Costa
February 23, 2021
ER 8.3, Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic: Bleeding Hearts
The new and definitely-not-improved Rachel
Summary: Benton is leaving Reese with Jackie for the day, and Jackie looks a little shaky about taking care of a child, but Benton doesn’t have any other choices, now that Carla is dead. Carter’s over at his grandmother’s house, listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers (so we can get the episode title from one of their songs) before work. Millicent wants him to see a doctor about the back injury he suffered when he fell while running over to Doc Magoo’s. He says it’s an exacerbation of his stabbing injury.
Abby’s moving her things out of Luka’s apartment post-breakup. She grabs her jacket from the coat rack, which she accidentally knocks over, right into the new aquarium. She cracks the glass and water starts leaking out. As Mark and Elizabeth arrive at County, still struggling with sleep deprivation, Abby calls around to try to get a replacement aquarium. They’re pricey and she doesn’t know if she needs one for saltwater or freshwater fish. She spots Luka entering the ER and quickly hangs up.
The ER is full of patients, so Mark does some quick rounds to determine who can be discharged quickly. One of the patients is a kid with his hand stuck in a piggy bank, and Mark asks who’s sick, the kid or the pig. The kid doesn’t appreciate it but I think it’s funny. Weaver disapproves of Mark fast-tracking procedures and skipping all the details on people’s charts. Chen asks her a question about a patient, but instead of answering, Weaver takes the patient from her. This frees up Chen to take care of an abandoned newborn brought in by a paramedic named Niki.
Benton tells Cleo that Reese keeps asking to sleep with him; Reese says he’s having nightmares but won’t go into detail. Cleo feels bad for Reese, who must be confused about his mother not being around. Benton can’t believe that his son will grow up without a mother, and there’s nothing Benton can do about it. Dave tells Cleo he treated one of her patients, which makes her mad. She says she was waiting for a surgical consult, but Dave chastises her for chatting with her boyfriend instead of working. And when Dave thinks you’re slacking, you’re really in trouble.
Abby hides in an exam room while trying to avoid Luka, but instead encounters Carter. He stepped on some broken glass at Millicent’s house and is trying to remove a piece of it from his foot by himself. Abby tells him that she and Luka broke up, and Carter manages not to cheer out loud. When Carter leaves the room and Luka asks if he’s seen Abby, Carter sends him in the opposite direction to give Abby more time to hide out.
Carter joins Chen to treat the newborn, who was left at a church just moments after birth. They both have trouble inserting an IV to give the baby fluids, so Carter suggests inserting a line in her umbilical cord. He hasn’t done this since he was an intern, so Chen is hesitant and wants to get a more senior doctor. Carter insists he can do it.
Dave starts to ask Mark a question, but he gets distracted when he sees Niki down the hall. He follows her into an elevator, because Dave will follow a pretty woman anywhere if it means he can get some. She’s heard about him (more specifically, she’s been warned about him) and isn’t happy to be followed. She’s even less happy when the now-full elevator stops.
As Luka and Abby are finally forced to work on a patient together, Mark spots a familiar face in the ER: Rachel (now recast and slightly older). She took a train from St. Louis by herself, since Jen kicked her out. Chen and Carter keep working on the baby, noting that whoever delivered her tied off the umbilical cord with a shoelace. Chen thinks it’s time to ask Weaver for help, but Carter calmly inserts a line in the umbilical cord and is able to give the baby fluids.
The people in the stuck elevator are impatient to get out, but Dave stays calm, probably because he’s exactly where he wants to be. A patient named Eldon feels sick, but Dave tells everyone that if they all chill, everything will be fine. Eldon ignores him and vomits blood. Wow, Eldon, you found one of the few ways you could make this experience even worse. Good job.
The last time we saw Rachel, she was sweetly accepting her grandmother’s pearl necklace from Mark. Now she’s listening to loud music, talking about being a vegetarian, and complaining about her mother. She doesn’t go into detail about why Jen kicked her out, just saying Jen is crazy. Mark insists that they call Jen to let her know where Rachel is, though Rachel doesn’t think she’ll care. Elizabeth stops by the ER and is surprised to see Rachel. Mark just says she and Jen are having mother/daughter issues, which Elizabeth knows all about.
Eldon isn’t breathing, so Dave and Niki work together to revive him. Dave also keeps his eyes on the other passengers, making sure one of them keeps another from falling when she starts to pass out. Luka and Abby are also working together, keeping things professional but chilly. He tells her he’s sorry if he hurt her, and she says he didn’t. He just wants her to be happy, which she never seemed to be with him. Really? To me, she seemed happier with him than she ever did anywhere else. Also, I guess Luka’s allowed to brood but no one else is.
Dave and Niki continue working on Eldon, enlisting other passengers as nurses. Everyone’s pleased when Dave successfully performs a tricky procedure. Romano comes to the ER to bicker with Weaver over how Dave, Chen, and Carter treated Paul, the patient they failed to diagnose with Marfan’s. Weaver says it’s tricky to recognize, so it’s not the doctors’ fault that they screwed up. Romano reminds her that that’s why they have attendings. Weaver pretends she was just busy somewhere else, not across the street on personal business. Romano urges her to find a scapegoat if necessary.
The stuck elevator finally gets unstuck and all the passengers flee, other than Eldon. In other good news, Carter and Chen have stabilized the newborn. The woman who found the baby at the church comes by to see how she’s doing. She asks Carter to let her sister see the birthmark on the baby’s chest. She thinks it’s a sign of the Virgin Mary (it looks a little like a bleeding heart) and that it helped her arthritis. Chen thanks Carter for his help, and he says he’s available whenever she needs.
Abby didn’t have time to get the glass out of Carter’s foot before Chen needed his help, so she sits him down to keep working at it. She tells him about her mishap at Luka’s apartment, which she hasn’t mentioned to him. Carter advises her to replace the aquarium so Luka doesn’t think she broke it on purpose. Abby says she’s working on it but needs help getting a new tank into the apartment. Carter guesses that she means she needs his help, and he’s not on board. Abby reminds him that she removed glass from his foot, so like the animals in the fable about the thorn in the paw, he owes her.
Chen learns that Carter discharged the patient Weaver took from her, so she thinks Weaver didn’t trust her to treat the patient correctly. Carter reminds Chen that Weaver made her chief resident, so she must have some faith in Chen’s abilities. Chen thinks she only got the position by default.
Mark brings Elizabeth in to consult on a patient named Mrs. Tanzi who may have appendicitis. She has dementia and her health has deteriorated to the point where she can’t take care of herself or recognize her husband. He thinks she’s ready to die, so he wants to turn down the surgery Elizabeth says she needs. Mark is willing to agree, but Elizabeth isn’t.
Rachel interrupts while they’re discussing the patient, crying because Jen flipped out about her running away and threatened to send her to summer school. She thinks Jen hates her. Weaver goes looking for Dave, who’s needed to help with a trauma, and finds him with Niki in the back of her ambulance. They’re on a break, and they’re not fully clothed. Weaver tells Dave he’s fired. He tries to talk his way back into his job, but Weaver sticks to her decision. She erases his name from the patient board, and after she leaves, he writes it back in.
Mark calls Jen, who’s on her way to Chicago to retrieve her devil’s spawn. Mark spots one of his patients trying to leave before having his shoulder injury x-rayed. The patient says he saw the baby, so he’s going back to his rugby game. Mark’s understandably confused. Dave tries to get Mark to talk to Weaver on his behalf, but Weaver spots him and kicks him out again. Things get more hectic for Mark as Mr. Tanzi tells him that his wife isn’t in her bed. He’s worried that she wandered off. Mark goes to deal with that, telling Rachel to hush and Dave to talk to Weaver himself.
Cleo wraps up a loose end in a non-plotline when she learns that, after weeks of preventive treatments, she’s HIV-negative. She feels like she’s gotten her life back. Carter goes back to the baby’s trauma room, since she’s in distress again. He jokes to Chen that she might be worn out from performing miracles. He suggests that they repeat one of her blood tests. Weaver finds Mrs. Tanzi in the room and has a nurse take her back to bed. Chen discovers what’s wrong with the baby, and Carter gives her the credit for deciding to repeat the blood test, so Weaver will think she did something right. Weaver isn’t impressed, though.
Mr. Tanzi is surprised that his wife is suddenly better. Mark thinks that her appendix burst, which temporarily relieved her pain. He tries to talk Weaver into giving Dave his job back, noting that he’s not the first employee to have sex in the hospital (Mark himself has done that). Mr. Tanzi thinks his wife’s going to stay this lucid, so he changes his mind about her having surgery. Mark tells him her lucidity probably won’t last, but Mr. Tanzi wants her to be given every possible chance to stay alive.
After they leave the room, Weaver tells Mark that he’s not doing what’s best for the patient. Mark tells her that she’s free to take his patient away like she took Chen’s from her. Weaver argues that she was justified in firing Dave, considering his history of insubordination and disrespect. Mark tells her she can’t get rid of an employee just because they don’t get along. If she fired everyone she fought with in the ER, they’d have no staff.
Abby and Carter take an empty aquarium to Luke’s place, but Abby realizes too late that she left her key inside, so they can’t get in. She thinks a window might be open, so she makes Carter bend over so she can boost herself up on his back and reach the fire escape. It’s stuck, of course. She left the aquarium leaning against the building, and it starts to wobble and fall over. Carter rushes to catch it and leaves Abby dangling from the fire escape.
Jen is in Chicago now, and Mark sits her and Rachel down in the lounge to make them work things out. He thinks they’re both to blame for the breakdown in their relationship – Rachel needs to be more responsible and Jen needs to work less. Jen says they’ll figure things out when they get home. Rachel refuses to go back to St. Louis with her. She storms out, and Jen asks Mark to help them, but he has to go do his job.
Paramedics bring in a young woman who was hit by a car. Witnesses said she was already lying in the crosswalk before she was hit. Benton notices that she has a severed umbilical cord, and Haleh sees that she’s missing a shoelace. Looks like we found the mom of the miracle baby. Over at Luka’s, Abby and Carter have set up the new tank, but as they’re leaving with the old one, someone rings the doorbell. It’s the police.
The doctors stabilize the miracle baby mama, Anna, who claims that she doesn’t have a baby. In fact, she says she was never pregnant. Mark brings the baby into her trauma room and tries to get her to face reality. Anna finally admits that she left the baby at the church, thinking God would protect her. Chen says He did, and some people even think the baby is a miracle.
Carter calls his lawyer from the back of a police car, though Abby notes that they haven’t been charged with anything yet. She wonders what they would even be arrested for – “aquatic mischief?” Luka arrives and Abby starts worrying that he’ll press charges. Instead, Luka tells the police to let them go. Carter urges Abby to talk to him, but she wants to put that off.
Mark prepares to send Rachel back to St. Louis, telling her she can call him any time. She asks if she can stay in Chicago and live with him. She guilts him by saying she wants to get to know Ella and spend more time with Elizabeth, who’s a great role model. Mark seems open to the idea, even though it would be a huge change for Rachel.
Elizabeth operates on Mrs. Tanzi while Babcock talks about how mentally incompetent the patient is and how they shouldn’t bother trying to save her. Shut up, Babcock. Elizabeth is so sleep-deprived that she falls asleep during a lull in the procedure. She denies it, saying she was just resting her eyes. Babcock is skeptical, of course, but so is Shirley, and when Shirley’s worried, we should all pay attention.
As Benton is scrubbing in to operate on Anna, Jackie shows up with Reese. She can’t bring herself to spend time with Reese because he reminds her of Jesse. Benton tells Romano he’ll find someone to look after Reese while he operates, but Romano tells Benton to go spend quality time with his son. When Benton’s back is turned while he’s picking up Reese, Romano signs to Reese, “Take care of your father.”
Chen finds Dave moping in the ambulance bay and tries to assure him that Weaver will back down once she’s not so mad at him. Of course, she’s always mad at Dave, so… Dave thinks they’re right to be on the hot seat for not saving Paul. Dave was so intent on saving the patient that he didn’t look closely enough at his x-rays to see what the real problem was. Chen says that Paul’s death just means Dave is a real doctor. Medicine is the only thing Dave’s ever been good at, and he doesn’t want to give it up.
Abby and Carter go to her apartment, talking about a time she borrowed a car without permission (so, stole) to buy Wham tickets. Her upstairs neighbors are fighting, and the woman next door to Abby suggests that someone go up and talk to them. (This is possibly setting up a plot later in the season, but it doesn’t quite hold together, so it’s kind of pointless.)
When Elizabeth is done with Mrs. Tanzi’s surgery, Mark asks how she would feel about letting Rachel move in. He’s sure she would help out around the house and provide free babysitting. Elizabeth figures that Mark has already told her she can stay, so her opinion doesn’t really matter. Except we all know Elizabeth is the boss in this relationship, so if she said no, Mark would listen. Anyway, Rachel gets to stay, and we’ll all suffer the consequences.
Dave is finishing up his shift, and Weaver isn’t happy about it. He knows that if she really wanted to fire him, she would have to go through review and disciplinary committees, which would inevitably refer him for counseling instead of terminating him. Weaver points out that he has five letters in his file for unprofessional behavior and has been counseled for those five instances. He’s also failed two rotations. She might not be able to fire him outright, but she can make sure he can’t work in the ER anymore.
Dave thinks Weaver has it out for him because he doesn’t suck up to her. He knows he goofs around, but he’s also a good doctor. He thinks this is about her not liking him, not his performance. Weaver confirms that she doesn’t like him – he doesn’t respect his co-workers or the hospital. He thinks he’s a cowboy about medicine, but he can’t back it up. He makes mistakes that kill people.
The writers decide to throw in a dab of character background in some of Dave’s last minutes on screen: He tells Weaver he needs the job because he has a child to support. This is news to her, since he’s never mentioned being a father. Dave notes that she’s never asked about his personal life. Weaver repeats that he’s fired. He rants that she’s sad and cold-hearted, and no one likes her. The ER is so important to her because she has nothing else in her life. He ends the fight by calling her a “Nazi [gay slur I won’t repeat].” And thus Dave ends his last speaking appearance by losing all the sympathy he’d been building up.
Thoughts: Don’t cry for me because Dave is leaving. Rejoice with me because soon we’ll have Gallant.
’00s music alert: Cake’s “Short Skirt/Long Jacket”
“Too broken to fix?” “It was more like a crack.” Those familiar with later seasons of the show might agree that this exchange about Luka’s aquarium is a metaphor for his relationship with Abby. Okay, I’ll stop talking like an English major now.
Mark calls Dave and Niki’s romp in the ambulance an “unauthorized physical.” Funny, when Mark and Jen got caught doing the same thing in a bathroom, I said she was “giving him a physical.”
February 16, 2021
ER 8.2, The Longer You Stay: The ER Vortex
Pictured: Weaver not admitting she screwed up
Summary: Carter is wrapping up a busy shift where he saw 140 patients, possibly a shift record. Haleh is wrestling beer away from Pablo and asks Abby for help, but Abby clocks out before she can be forced to stick around. Elizabeth arrives with Ella, looking for Mark, and Abby says that she thinks he quit. Chen asks Weaver for help with a patient, but Weaver reminds her that she’s chief resident now, so she needs to make decisions on her own.
Elizabeth finally finds Mark, who was supposed to meet her in the parking lot to take Ella so Elizabeth could start her shift. She thinks they need a weekend nanny so they don’t have to do childcare hand-offs like this. Mark already objected to a weekday nanny, so he won’t go for that. Elizabeth tells him they’re not bad parents for hiring nannies. If Mark wants them to raise Ella on their own, he needs to be done with work when he said he would be.
Abby leaves at the same time as Carter, telling him he’s stubborn for not asking Weaver about an attending position. Instead, he’s still looking around for other jobs. Chuny tries to get Abby to come back in and find a vein in a patient they’re having trouble sticking. Abby refuses, telling Carter she has to be back at work at 7 a.m., so she needs to go home. She repeats that he needs to talk to Weaver.
Instead of going home himself, Carter goes back to the ER and asks Weaver how her search for a new attending. When he mentions that he’s thinking about applying, she seems surprised but not opposed to the idea. Chen asks Carter to finish up with a patient, since everyone’s swamped, but Carter has dinner plans with his parents. She manages to wear him down. As a reward, Pablo pees on him. Womp womp.
Carter’s patient is a heavy-metal roadie who had a mishap with a special effect. Carter realizes this will take longer than expected. The roadie’s buddy passes out when Carter injects the roadie with a big needle, and Chuny realizes he’s not breathing. Now Carter has two patients. Elizabeth is also struggling, since she has to talk to a patient’s mother while dealing with a crying Ella. Mark finally relieves her, and Elizabeth declares that they’re not taking weekend shifts anymore.
Carter blames drugs for the roadie’s buddy’s condition, and the roadie confesses that they took GHB. Carter tries to hand them off to Cleo, but she tells him there’s a mass trauma coming in – a stampede. The roadie realizes it happened at the concert where the band he roadies for was opening for Metallica. Chuny warns Weaver that the roadies may have mixed alcohol with GHB, so they’ll need to keep an eye out for that in other patients.
One of the stampede victims is a seven-year-old named Kevin, because seven-year-olds just love Metallica. As Benton is helping Cleo with him, a police officer tells him that Reese may have been brought into another hospital in the city. Benton wonders where Carla is, since Reese was supposed to be with her.
Abby goes to Luka’s new place, where he’s playing a video game on his new Playstation. He got that and a huge aquarium, but hasn’t bought furniture yet. Abby was hoping to go out to dinner instead of spending the night alone while her boyfriend kills zombies in a game. When did Luka turn into such an American?
Carter keeps trying to hand off his patients, but no one will let him go. Kevin’s babysitter finally finds him, and Elizabeth chastises her for taking a seven-year-old to a heavy-metal concert. She says her boyfriend brought the tickets over, and they were going to be home before Kevin’s parents returned. Somewhere, Kristy Thomas is seething.
Remember Sam, the PI Weaver hired to find her birth mother? He claims he’s found her. If Weaver wants more info, she can call him later. Luka and Abby go to a bar he goes to a lot – so much that a waitress named Nicole knows his name and his regular order. Abby was hoping for food, but the bar stopped serving two minutes earlier. Luka talks Nicole into getting her something anyway.
Harmony, the girlfriend of one of the concert victims (the guitarist, I believe), comes in, anxious about how he is. Her friend, Dianna, thinks a big reddish stain on the ceiling is blood. Harmony starts wheezing from her asthma, and when Carter listens to her chest, he detects a possible heart problem. He asks Haleh to find someone to give her a workup, and Haleh’s like, “Hey, you just volunteered yourself! Congratulations!”
Benton finds Reese at the other hospital; he was in a car accident but only has minor injuries. A nurse insists that Benton talk to a doctor to get more details. A doctor named Skoft confirms that Carla was driving the car Reese was in, but she won’t tell Benton where or how Carla is, since he’s not related to her.
Harmony tells Carter she’s been having some trouble with a new piercing. Carter guesses that’s what’s causing the problem with her heart. The piercing happens to be…down south, so Carter and Yosh get a nice sight. When Carter says they’ll have to drain the infection, Dianna takes offense, for some reason, and jumps on his back. Carter throws her off and she slams into a window. Yosh says he’ll make up a new chart for Carter’s newest patient.
While Luka plays pool at the bar, Abby chats with another patron, who would love to get a medical professional to look at whatever he has that’s making pus. Carter cancels his dinner plans while his original patient yells for treatment. Chen has disappeared, and Carter demands that someone find her and make her do some work. Malik has a question about one of Abby’s patients, and since Carter doesn’t know the treatment details, he tells Malik to call her. Then he decides to do it himself so he can yell at Abby.
Abby’s smoking outside the bar when Carter calls to ask if she’s having a good time. No, Carter, she’s not. He blames Abby for talking him into going back in to talk to Weaver, which got him “sucked back into the ER vortex.” Luka comes outside and chastises Abby for smoking after she said she was going to quit. Weaver tells Carter she’s going to Doc Magoo’s for a little while, since things are dying down. He says they’re definitely not, and he’s juggling five patients when he’s not even supposed to be working. She tells him he can leave. Meanwhile, Luka’s annoyed that Abby isn’t enjoying herself, or something.
Benton finally learns why no one would tell him how Carla is: She’s dead. Roger arrives and Benton gives him some details about her condition before the doctors realized they couldn’t save her. For someone who supposedly told Carla he never loved her, Roger is pretty shaken up. While he’s saying goodbye to his wife, Benton goes back to Reese and tries to explain to him that Carla’s gone. Reese is too young to understand and keeps asking for his mom. I’m not crying, you’re crying!
A man named Paul is brought into County after having chest pain all day. His brother (he never gets a name, but my closed captioning calls him Glenn, so we’ll go with that) says he thought it was from something he ate. Dave takes the lead on the case, asking Glenn if Paul does drugs. Glenn doesn’t think so, but they haven’t seen each other in a while, and Paul was pushing himself to put together an art show, so it’s possible. Dave determines that Paul is having a heart attack, even though he’s only 27. He needs Chen or Weaver to approve of the treatment he recommends.
Romano checks in on Elizabeth as she operates on Kevin. She starts leaking breast milk during the procedure, and since that’s not sterile, Romano kicks her out of the OR. A bunch of groupies have swarmed the ER, because security just lets anyone in the building. Carter finally gets back to his first patient, who complains that there aren’t enough doctors on staff. Yeah, no kidding. Carter takes a break to tell another patient’s mother that he’s on a ventilator after he stopped breathing. The mother’s nose starts bleeding. Another patient for Carter!
Chen finally reappears and joins Dave to treat Paul. His tox screen hasn’t come back yet, but Dave is pretty sure he OD’d on cocaine, and they can’t wait too long to start treating him. Chen asks for Weaver, but she’s not responding to pages, so Chen approves of Dave’s ideas for Paul’s treatment. As they’re about to start, Paul’s tox screen comes back negative for drugs. Moments later, his heart starts failing.
Luka is still socializing at the bar, so Abby announces that she’s taking a cab home. He thought she was coming back in and didn’t realize that she hadn’t. Luka follows her out to the street, and Nicole comes out a little later to give Luka back his credit card. She tells him his drinks were on the house, since they want to make sure he comes back in the future. Abby rolls her eyes. She decides to walk home, and Luka follows, annoyed with her for being rude. She tells him to go back inside and keep having fun with his new friends.
Carter pops into the trauma room where Dave and Chen are trying to revive Paul and immediately offers a diagnosis neither of them considered: Marfan syndrome. It affects connective tissue, including around the heart. Paul’s supposed drug overdose was actually an aortic dissection, and the medications Dave and Chen gave him made it worse.
Luka and Abby keep bickering as they taken an El home. He tells her she has a bug up her anus (ooh, so close), and she tells him he’s immature. He points out that she doesn’t even know what she wants. She plays games like she’s a teenager who can have any boy she wants, but she treats them all badly. Abby challenges him to just call her a whore straight out. “You’re not that pretty! You’re not that special!” he says. Abby spits out that she’s pretty enough for him in the dark.
Luka continues that she’s never happy and doesn’t seem capable of it (the same conversation Abby had with Maggie). Abby says that didn’t matter to him six months ago. He says that if she’s not depressed or ashamed, she’s just angry. “And you’re married to a ghost,” she fires back. Luka says that at least he treats her with respect. Yeah, telling her she’s not pretty or special is really respectful.
Carter, Dave, and Chen struggle to save Paul, but he’s losing too much blood. The nurses have been paging Weaver for 15 minutes, but she’s still not responding. Carter remembers that she said she was going across the street. Abby and Luka are still fighting about all her issues and everything he’s had to put up with to be with her. He doesn’t know how to help her or be with her. Abby says she doesn’t want help. Luka eventually announces that he’s done, and Carter can have Abby.
Dave thinks the only way to save Paul is to cut open his chest. Chen refuses to do so without Weaver, so she sends Carter to Doc Magoo’s to get her. He runs across the street, slipping on a puddle and landing on his back. After he collects himself, he finds Weaver at Doc Magoo’s with Sam. By the time they get back to the trauma room, it’s clear that Paul can’t be saved. “You killed him,” Weaver tells the doctors.
Roger asks Benton to take Reese for the night, since he needs to make arrangements for Carla’s body. Benton’s like, “Take my son? To my house? You’re asking me to take my son to my house? Was this not the obvious thing that was going to happen now that his mother is dead?” Roger promises he’ll see Reese sometime in the next couple of days.
Weaver questions Dave and Chen’s treatment decisions, surprised that they didn’t diagnose Marfan’s. Chen also didn’t look at the x-rays before approving of Dave’s suggested treatment. Dave says they had to make a quick decision since Weaver wasn’t available. Weaver yells that that’s part of their job, but they didn’t look at the information the right way. Dave doesn’t think she should get a say here since she didn’t answer her pages. Weaver tells him that in a perfect world, he wouldn’t get to see patients. If Dave knew how do be a doctor and cared about his patients, Paul would still be alive.
Carter speaks up that Paul’s condition was so bad when he came in that he probably wouldn’t have survived surgery even if they’d diagnosed him in time. Weaver says they’ll never know, since Dave screwed up so badly. Dave notes that Paul’s family should be screened for Marfan’s, since it’s genetic. Weaver says she’ll handle that and orders the other three not to talk to anyone about the case.
Abby gets ready for bed alone in her own apartment while Elizabeth has to wake Mark up to clean up Ella after a diaper blow-out. Is he deaf? How could he not hear her crying right next to him? Anyway, Elizabeth is a jerk now, and it’s hard to feel sorry for her for all the stuff she’s been going through related to having a newborn and being a working mother. Carter finally finishes up with that one quick patient who was only supposed to take a few minutes to treat. Weaver returns to Doc Magoo’s, looking for her pager, which she’s lost. She finds it in a bathroom stall.
Edson (ugh, Edson) tells Carter that his nosebleed patient needs surgery thanks to a defect caused by excessive cocaine use. Carter has a shift at noon, so he’s going to catch a nap somewhere in the hospital instead of going home. Edson tells him that’s a bad idea, since the longer he stays there, the harder it will be for him to leave. Carter spots Chen in Paul’s trauma room, rethinking everything they did. Reese wakes up in the middle of the night after having a bad dream, and Benton lets him into his bed.
Thoughts: Roger has been recast with Vondie Curtis-Hall. Nicole is played by Julie Delpy. One of the doctors who tends to Reese is played by Kal Penn.
The reason for Carla’s death is that the show was sick of Lisa Nicole Carson (who was rumored to be having psychological issues), so they just got rid of Carla. The resulting plot was kind of ridiculous, when you think about it. But maybe it’s better than having to watch Benton and Carla keep fighting.
Pretty bold of Sam to charge Weaver for a search she didn’t authorize, after he screwed up so badly last time.
January 26, 2021
ER 7.21, Where the Heart Is: Go Forward, Not Back
Close the blinds! Don’t make this poor woman watch her brother die!
Summary: Cleo’s playing with Reese, who’s over at her house for the day. A sitter was supposed to come watch him, but since Cleo has the day off, she canceled the sitter. Benton is hesitant to let her watch his son, so he passive-aggressively notes that Reese needs a lot of attention. Yeah, most kids his age do. Let your girlfriend watch your kid instead of paying a stranger to do it. There’s a softball game that night (remember the County softball team from seasons ago?), which Cleo is playing in, and she wants Benton and Reese to come cheer her on. Benton hates fun, so he tries to use the excuse that Reese didn’t bring a jacket with him. Cleo notes that they can go to Carla’s and pick one up.
Maggie is still in Chicago, staying with Abby, and has been going to therapy. Abby’s been spending a lot of time with her, and they seem to be getting along well. Maggie thinks Abby should go spend time with Luka, though. She says Abby’s lucky to have two great men in love with her, Luka and Carter. Abby doesn’t want to approach that subject. Wait until next season, Maggie. She bugs Abby to have a real conversation with her and invites her to a therapy session. Abby refuses.
Weaver stops by Legaspi’s place and is surprised to see another woman there. Looks like Legaspi has rebounded from their relationship quickly. Mark is back at work but struggling with lack of sleep due to having a newborn. He and Abby team up to treat a seven-year-old named Ben who burned his hands. His neighbor, Mrs. Shayotovich, brought him in. Ben is very unhappy about being in the hospital, and if he were an adult, he would have been restrained by now.
Dave’s looking at new cars, trying to decide between a BMW or a Porsche. He asks Randi which she can see him in. “Most of the time, I see you walking,” she replies. Dave reveals that he’s been moonlighting at a clinic, so he’ll soon be able to afford a down payment on a luxury car. Once he can’t afford the rest of the payments, he’ll fake his own death. Heh. Weaver chastises Dave for browsing for a car instead of working. Carter quips that he still has to pass his driver’s license test.
Weaver pulls Carter into the lounge for a talk. He applied to be chief resident, but he’s still on probation, so he’s not eligible. Carter notes that his probation time will be up by the time the slot needs to be filled. Weaver asks why he wants the role anyway – what if taking on a demanding position jeopardizes his sobriety? Carter thinks he can handle it, but Weaver can’t forget about everything that’s happened. She’s surprised he thought he would even make the first cut.
Mark and Abby struggle to tend to Ben, who yells at both them and Mrs. S. She tells them that she thinks Ben was trying to put out a fire he set himself. He’s home by himself a lot. Luka wants Abby to fill in for a sick softball player, even if it means spending an evening away from Maggie. But she would rather keep an eye on her mother than have fun with her boyfriend and co-workers. Chen asks Carter what Weaver wanted to talk about. He tells her he was rejected from the race for chief resident, which means Chen will probably get it. He seems at least somewhat genuine when he says she deserves it, though not as much as he does.
Benton goes to Carla’s to get Reese’s jacket, and Carla tries to get him to stick around for a while. She reveals that Roger recently moved out. She wishes she and Benton had stayed together; it would have been better for Reese, at least. Roger told Carla he never loved her. Benton thinks he was just trying to be hurtful, but Carla wonders if they ever had a real connection. She gets flirty and tries to remind Benton of their relationship. He gets where she’s going with this and tells her to cut it out.
Cleo calls and suggests that Benton pick up something for dinner so they can have a picnic at the softball field. Reese starts to play Cleo’s piano, and she realizes he’s messing with the keyboard cover. She calls out to him to stop, but of course, he can’t hear her. The keyboard cover slams down on his hand and he cries out.
At County, Chen and Carter give Dave instructions for a patient, then laugh over what it was like being a junior resident. Weaver calls Chen in for her own meeting about the chief-resident position, and the news is the same as Carter’s: She’s not getting it. Thanks to maternity leave, Chen hasn’t done the amount of procedures and shifts needed to become a senior resident, so she’s not eligible.
Chen plans to work hard to make it up by the deadline, but Weaver tells her that hospital policy discourages that much extra work. Chen argues that the rules about eligibility are sexist and discriminatory. Weaver practically offered her the position before her pregnancy. Weaver knows, but Chen didn’t complete the program, so it’s out of her hands. Chen notes that giving the baby for adoption was a sacrifice she made for her career. She feels like she deserves further consideration. Weaver says she’ll think about it, but she obviously won’t.
Ben has finally calmed down, but he’s still a brat – he tries to grope Abby. Mark thinks he has an additional injury from a fall. He also finds a bruise behind Ben’s ear. Dave is still focused on getting a car, so Weaver sends him off to, you know, do his job. Legaspi comes to the ER and asks Weaver why she stopped by the house. Weaver wanted to give her a letter (I assume it’s the letter she was working on at the airport), but she changed her mind when she realized Legaspi has a new girlfriend.
Luka approaches as the two are finishing their conversation and asks Weaver if the two of them are okay. Abby finds Legaspi as she leaves and asks for details about the therapy session Maggie wants her to attend. Legaspi tells her it’s not an ambush and she’s free to skip it. Cleo has brought Reese to the ER, where she tells Benton and Carla that his hand is broken. He’ll have to wear a cast for a few weeks, which will hinder his signing. Carla blasts Cleo for not keeping a better eye on Reese, who needs more attention than hearing children. She yells that she doesn’t want Cleo anywhere near Reese.
While waiting for an ambulance to arrive, Luka tries to strike up some small talk with a distracted Weaver. She tells him that she and Legaspi were in a relationship, but it’s over. Luka asks if something changed, and Weaver says yes. Luka asks if she still loves Legaspi. When Weaver says yes again, Luka urges her to “go forward, not back.”
The ambulance they’re waiting for brings them Jim, a man who was hit by a car while changing a tire on the side of the road. His sister, Bonnie, is with him but doesn’t want to leave the ambulance. Bonnie, who’s developmentally disabled, enjoyed the ambulance ride so much that she wants to keep going. Weaver joins Luka in Jim’s trauma room and assures Jim that Bonnie’s not hurt.
Abby goes to the therapy session after all, arriving as Maggie and Legaspi are talking about ways Maggie can stay healthy. She wants to go back to Minnesota, where the kids grew up. She hasn’t lived there for years, but she grew up there and has family and friends there. One of her friends has already offered her a place to stay and might be able to get her a job. Once Maggie has saved enough money, she’ll get her own place.
Abby laughs at the idea of Maggie thinking she can live a normal life on her own. Maggie doesn’t want to stay in Chicago or go back to Florida, where Abby’s brother lives. She’s worried about being a drain on her children. Abby says Maggie’s plan sounds romantic, but not realistic – it’s not going to magically solve all her problems. However, Abby doesn’t have any solutions herself. She tells Maggie to go ahead and do what she wants, then leaves.
Ben’s father, Derek, comes to the ER and tells Mark that Ben is always getting into trouble. He blames the absence of Ben’s mother. Mark tells him Ben’s burns will heal, but he needs to speak to a psychiatrist before he can be released. He asks Derek if he’s noticed the bruises on Ben’s body. Derek says they must be from fights at school.
Chen chats with Bonnie as she stitches a cut on Bonnie’s forehead. Bonnie and Jim’s parents died in a car crash, but it sounds like he takes really good care of her. Weaver and Luka are having trouble stabilizing Jim, thanks to some internal bleeding, and he’s worried about his recovery, since he needs to take care of Bonnie.
Benton is on Cleo’s case about Reese’s accident, as if she doesn’t already feel bad enough about what happened. She’s annoyed that he’s acting like she deliberately let Reese get hurt. Weaver finds Bonnie wandering around, looking for Jim, who was supposed to be on his way to the OR. Instead, he’s brought back to the ER, since his blood pressure dropped. He’s barely conscious but is still more worried about Bonnie than about himself.
Legaspi has talked to Ben, who didn’t want to open up much. Mark notes that he got very quiet when Derek arrived – Ben seems terrified of him. Mark believes that Derek is abusing Ben. Weaver, Luka, and Chen work to save Jim, but he keeps declining. Poor Bonnie is in the suture room next door, watching through the window and probably not understanding what’s happening.
Abby goes for a walk with Carter and complains about Maggie and Legaspi ganging up on her in therapy. Just a week ago, Legaspi wanted to keep Maggie on the 90-day psych hold, but now she’s supporting Maggie’s plans to move away and live on her own. They turned on Abby for not agreeing to Maggie’s plans.
Carter thinks she should look at this differently than Maggie’s past crises. After all, this time she’s trying to stay well. Abby can choose to hope she’ll make it or give up, which Abby doesn’t seem to want to do. Carter went five minutes without talking about himself, so he brings up his rejection as chief resident. He acknowledges that part of facing addiction is accepting that some people won’t get over it.
Back in the ER, the doctors still haven’t been able to stabilize Jim. Bonnie comes in, objecting to Weaver shocking Jim, since she thinks it’s hurting Jim. Eventually the doctors realize they’re not going to be able to save him. Weaver and Chen take on the horrible responsibility of telling Bonnie that her brother died. She has trouble grasping the idea, and Weaver tells her she’s going to have to be brave.
Legaspi finds Abby in the lounge and asks her to give Maggie another chance. Legaspi thinks that Maggie has a good shot of turning things around this time. If Abby lets Maggie leave town without addressing their issues, neither of them will be happy. Abby doesn’t think happiness is a possibility anyway. Legaspi asks why, but Abby’s not the one in therapy, so she won’t elaborate. She will, however, consider Legaspi’s advice.
Weaver brings in Adele to deal with Bonnie’s situation; she has no other family, and she has the developmental level of a child, so she can’t live on her own. All the facilities that would be able to take her are full, so she’ll have to go to a group home. Weaver objects to that, since Bonnie won’t get the attention needs. Adele says there are no other options.
Mark needs Adele next, since Social Services wants to take Ben into emergency custody. They tell Derek that they have some suspicions about his previous injuries. Derek has excuses for everything, and Adele tells him that if they turn out to be the truth, Ben will get to go home in three days. Derek refuses to let Adele take Ben, so she yells for security to restrain him. Ben begs to stay with his father, but Adele picks him up and carries him away.
Maggie surprises Abby with dinner when she gets home from work. Abby tells her that she left the therapy session because it scares her to hope too much. Maggie understands. She knows she might not succeed, but after her suicide attempt, she realized she doesn’t want to die. Even more than that, she doesn’t want Abby to have to watch her die. Maggie is going to take control of her life, which will allow Abby to move on with hers.
Maggie thinks Abby’s putting her life on hold because of her mother. She won’t even take the night off to go to the softball game. Abby argues that she doesn’t sit things out. Maggie tells her to stop using her mother as an excuse not to do the things she wants to do in life. She should go to med school and get married. Abby notes that she did get married. Maggie tells her to get pregnant, then. Abby reveals that she did that, too. When she was with Richard, she had an abortion because she felt like she wasn’t meant to be a mother.
Realizing what Abby’s real concern is, Maggie says that her bipolar disorder first surfaced when she was a lot younger than Abby, so it’s unlikely that Abby also has it. Maggie has always kept an eye on that. Abby worries that any child she has might have bipolar, but Maggie notes that she would love that child anyway.
She guesses that Abby never told Richard about her pregnancy or abortion. Abby thinks that was the beginning of the end of the relationship; they never talked about anything. Abby was too scared to risk becoming her mother or having a child like her mother. Maggie hugs her as she cries, telling her that life is about taking risks. Otherwise, you miss out on good things, and Abby deserves those good things.
Weaver puts Bonnie in a cab to a group home, though Bonnie doesn’t completely understand why she can’t go back to her house. Somehow, Weaver is able to see Bonnie off without crying or offering to let Bonnie live with her, which I probably would have done. In happier news, softball! Luka looks goofy in a backwards baseball cap! Abby comes to the game and agrees to play. Maggie’s with her, ready to play cheerleader.
Scans show that Mark was right about an injury Derek didn’t know Ben had. Legaspi thinks he was also right about Derek being abusive. Weaver finally gives her the letter expressing her feelings. Even if Legaspi has moved on and doesn’t want to get back together, Weaver wants Legaspi to know how she feels. Mark asks Ben about his injuries, which Ben lies about. He finally says that he’s bad a lot, so he gets punished. He thinks he deserves it. Mark gently tells him he won’t be able to go home.
Malik (R.I.P. Deezer D) makes a great hit at the softball game, and Maggie cheers for Abby as she rounds the bases. Abby sits with Maggie to watch as Luka tries his hand at softball for the first time ever. Despite what Abby thought earlier in the day, the two of them are happy. Luka hits a foul ball but doesn’t know what that means, so he runs the bases anyway. Abby and Maggie let him have his moment.
Thoughts: I can’t believe I’m just now realizing this but Randi and Meghan from Felicity are basically the same person.
Way to not defend your girlfriend to your ex, Benton. Sometimes I wonder why Cleo continues to put up with him.
I’ve watched this episode multiple times over the years, and the Bonnie plot wrecks me every time.
Telling Derek they think he’s abusive right in front of Ben was a big misstep on Mark and Adele’s part. Though I guess, after the next episode, that’s going to be the least of Ben’s problems when he gets older.
January 19, 2021
ER 7.20, Fear of Commitment: Every Day Comes With Its Own Surprises
Weaver’s worst plot ever
Summary: Benton is at a nursing home to see Ferris, as he promised he would. He arrives just as Ferris appears to be having a heart attack. Earl and Walter are also residents there and are trying to be helpful, unlike the nurse on duty, who only does basic things like taking people’s blood pressure. The paramedics arrive, including Doris, and Benton gives them instructions for Ferris’ treatment. He rides in the ambulance with Ferris, promising he’ll be fine, even though he’s in congestive heart failure. The ambulance hits a man on a motorcycle, so now the paramedics have a second patient to transport.
Maggie is still in County’s psychiatric ward, but physically she seems fine, and psychologically she’s stable. Abby is sympathetic because she’s there on a 90-day hold, but Maggie understands it. She feels bad for putting Abby through everything she did. Benton hands the motorcyclist off to Dave, then checks on Luka, who’s taking care of Ferris. Benton returns to the motorcyclist but struggles to treat him since he smacked his hand against something when the ambulance crashed.
Legaspi stops by the ER and mentions to Abby that Maggie is on her way to the courthouse for a hearing. This is the first Abby’s hearing that Maggie is contesting her commitment. Luka has stabilized Ferris but can’t get him a bed yet. Benton promises to get things sorted out after he operates on the motorcyclist.
Abby complains to Luka that Maggie didn’t tell her about the hearing. She guesses that Maggie doesn’t want Abby to show up and testify that she should remain on the 90-day psych hold. Luka offers to go to the courthouse with Abby, but as always, she says she’s fine handling things on her own. Luka asks if she would prefer going with Carter. Low blow, but also…fair.
The staff has pitched in money to get Mark and Elizabeth a gift basket and video baby monitor. Dave objects to adding his own $50 just because that’s what the other (richer) doctors are giving. He then tries to pass the buck (…see what I did there?) on a patient he doesn’t want to have to take care of. Chen calls him on his crap and he asks if she’s PMSing. Of course, that just makes things worse.
In the OR, Benton is suturing the motorcyclist with his left hand, since he hurt his right hand in the crash. Romano busts him and takes over, noting that if anything goes wrong, Benton will be on the hook for malpractice. As Benton leaves the OR, a nurse tells him that his wife is there. (She means Carla.)
Down in the ER, Carter is treating a woman named Noni who’s pregnant but experiencing pain. In the next bed, Chen’s patient, Grainger, wants medication for a migraine he’s been unable to treat with his regular meds. He blames numbers of some kind – 80, 146, 72, 109. Carter realizes those are the numbers on Noni’s monitor, which was out of Grainger’s line of sight.
A homeless patient maces Dave for not respecting her requests not to be touched or have her belongings touched. Amazingly, we don’t get to see Chen smirking. Weaver takes the patient’s mace and tries to figure out why she seems familiar. She casually threatens to have the patient arrested if she doesn’t calm down. The patient shoots back that they used to drown redheaded babies because they thought they were evil. Weaver replies that they used to burn crazy people, thinking they were witches. I smell a buddy-comedy spin-off for these two!
Abby tracks down Rifkin, the lawyer who will be arguing that Maggie should remain on the 90-day hold. He doesn’t have all the details he needs since he just got the case that morning. They run into Nesmith, the lawyer who will be arguing on Maggie’s behalf. His defense strategy is claiming that Maggie didn’t intend to kill herself when she took all those sleeping pills. Rifkin wants to put Abby on the stand to testify that Maggie did want to die.
Carla is in the ER because she took a misstep and broke her ankle. She was carrying Reese at the time, but he’s okay. Benton chastises Carla for carrying their son while wearing heels. She’ll need surgery, but she says she can’t stay in the hospital; Roger isn’t around to look after Reese. Oh, if only there were another parent who could take care of him. Carla mentions that she and Roger haven’t been getting along well lately.
Benton offers to take care of Reese while Carla’s in the hospital, but she knows Benton moved in with Cleo and doesn’t think that would be a good environment for their child. So she never had Reese around Roger before they were married? Benton notes that Cleo is a pediatrician, the best possible person for their son to be around. Carla says Cleo doesn’t seem like the motherly type. Yeah, well, neither do you, Carla.
In court, Deraad testifies that Maggie hasn’t shown any signs of being suicidal since she was admitted to County and has followed all the recommendations for treatment. Abby is called to the witness stand next, but there’s an interruption when another patient waiting for his hearing starts complaining about how long it’s taking. Luka arrives as Abby testifies that she thinks Maggie should remain committed. The agitated patient gets more agitated and has to be removed from the courtroom.
A paramedic brings in a man who was pushed down during a fight and is, according to the paramedic, faking unconsciousness. He’s wearing a possum costume and has given his name as O. Possum. Another costumed patient IDs him as Brett and says Brett bit him. Dave has to change his clothes post-macing, so Carter gives him a white coat, which Dave normally refuses to wear. Chen cracks up, but I think it’s more at the thought of Dave being an actual doctor than at the sight of him in the coat. Lily summons Carter to tend to Noni, who’s collapsed and bleeding on the bathroom floor.
Nesmith tries to argue that Abby wants Maggie to remain committed because she doesn’t want her embarrassing, mentally ill mother living with her. Abby says that Maggie has lived with her briefly a few times before, but she always stops taking her medication and disappears. Nesmith notes that Maggie looks pretty stable right now. Abby says she’s only been taking her medications for a week; this won’t last. Nesmith gets Abby to admit that Maggie isn’t a danger to herself when she’s med-compliant. Abby says she can’t look after Maggie – after all, Maggie attempted suicide while under Abby’s care.
Carter determines that Noni is miscarrying the baby just as the baby’s father, Victor, arrives. Weaver treats Brett’s bite victim (we don’t know his name but he’s dressed as a kangaroo, so I’ll call him Kang) and asks if he and Brett are rival mascots. Kang introduces her to the mind-blowing, yes-this-is-a-thing world of furries. Brett started to take things too far while mock-grooming Kang, so Kang hit him. Weaver appears to be rethinking her career decisions.
Maggie testifies that she overdosed on sleeping pills but didn’t mean to kill herself. She just wanted to sleep through the drive from Oklahoma to Chicago. She took a few, didn’t think they were working, and took more. In the gallery, Abby tells Rifkin that she took 900 milligrams, 36 pills. Maggie apologizes to her for putting her through all of this. Abby tells Rifkin to ask her where she got the pills. The judge hushes her. Maggie insists that she can take care of herself if Abby won’t take her in. Abby comments that her credit cards have all been canceled. The judge hushes her again.
Carter sends Noni to the OR to stop her bleeding. He tells Victor that Noni’s inability to clot properly could be a sign of liver disease. He asks about any medications Noni’s taking that could have caused that, and Victor hesitantly mentions root extracts that are supposed to induce a miscarriage. Carter’s confused, since Noni seemed to want the baby. Victor admits that she didn’t know she took the extracts – he snuck them into her tea. So Victor’s definitely going to jail, right?
Weaver determines that her macing patient has a tumor on her ovary. “Every day comes with its own surprises,” the patient spits out. Weaver finally realizes why she’s familiar – she’s Princess Taffeta, a former children’s show star. “Every day comes with its own surprises” was her catchphrase. P.T. doesn’t want to be admitted to the hospital, and she doesn’t have any family members who can come be with her. She doesn’t think it matters, since in the end, everyone dies alone.
Abby takes a smoke break while court is in recess, and Luka joins her to try to assure her that her testimony went well. Maggie wants to talk to her, and Luka thinks Abby should see her. Even if Maggie doesn’t want her help, she needs it. Abby agrees, but the conversation doesn’t go well – Maggie says she doesn’t want to be a burden to Abby, but Abby doesn’t believe that Maggie is finally going to take care of herself this time. She can’t take Maggie’s word that she’ll seek treatment after her commitment time is up.
Kang tells Weaver the origins of his furry obsession (which I don’t think she asked for, dude): His boss had him dress up as a reindeer for a Christmas party, and wearing a costume made him feel free and outgoing. He’s not a plushie or a furvert, though. I think you can intuit what a furvert is; a plushie is someone who’s “overly fond of stuffed animals.”
Cleo and Dave tend to a teen named Lynda, finding marks on her back from a folk cure Dave is familiar with. It involves heating a coin and dragging it across someone’s back. He thinks the coin used on Lynda was dipped in oil of wintergreen, which can lead to aspirin toxicity. Looks like the white coat turned Dave into a real doctor after all. Carter talks with Noni after her operation, assuring her that she’ll be able to have children in the future. He can’t convince her to press charges against Victor, since she thinks he just got scared about becoming a father.
Rifkin questions Maggie about the sleeping pills she took, trying to get her to admit that she intended to kill herself. She continues to insist that she accidentally took too many (“too many” being nine times the recommended dose). She admits to stealing the pills, but only because she knew Abby wouldn’t buy them for her if she asked. Rifkin notes that Maggie has been committed twice for suicide attempts, one of which was also an overdose.
Dave asks Lynda’s grandmother about the folk treatment, but the grandmother doesn’t speak English. Benton brings Reese along as he visits Ferris, who also has Earl and Walter visiting. They’re familiar with the exploding-condom story and seem pleased to meet the culprit. Earl overhears Dave struggling to communicate with Lynda’s grandmother and offers his services – he was a translator in the Army and speaks Cantonese. Cleo and Dave discover from Lynda’s blood tests that the coining wasn’t what caused her to get sick, so they’re out of ideas. Earl provides a possible clue: Lynda’s grandmother thinks she’s possessed because she’s started having sex.
Weaver catches P.T. trying to leave the hospital without receiving treatment. She asks P.T. to speak to a psychiatrist before she signs herself out. P.T. knows she doesn’t have long to live, so she gives Weaver one of her puppets from her show, Mr. Whiskers. She says the puppet ended her potential career as a famous actress, but on the plus side, the show paid for her first house.
The judge is ready to make a ruling in Maggie’s case: She’s released on her own recognizance. The judge quickly moves on to the next case, but Abby objects. Rifkin tells her they have to move on. Abby complains that she’s the one who’s been dealing with Maggie’s issues for 30 years, and no one else understands how serious things are. The judge doesn’t have to care about what happens after Maggie leaves the courtroom. Maybe next time the judge won’t hear the case at all because Maggie’s suicide attempt will be successful.
Benton wants to stick around the hospital to make sure Ferris is taken care of, so Cleo offers to take Reese home with her until they can reach Jackie and ask her to pick him up. Benton doesn’t want to put that responsibility on Cleo, but she’s excited about hanging out with Reese for the afternoon. Dave recognizes Mr. Whiskers and thinks Weaver got him on eBay. He’s brought in a chaplain to talk to Lynda, thinking her problem is psychosomatic – she just feels guilty because her grandmother caught her messing around with her boyfriend. Cleo’s skeptical, but Dave says she just can’t admit that he outsmarted her.
Maggie returns to County to sign paperwork that will allow her release. Legaspi will only give her three days’ worth of medication; Maggie has to come back each week to get more. She’ll be staying in a shelter since Abby won’t let Maggie stay with her. Abby wishes her mother luck, knowing they’ll see each other the next time Maggie has a mental-health crisis.
Maggie says that might not happen, but Abby knows she won’t just walk away from this suicide attempt and turn her life around. When Abby saw Maggie seizing in the ER, she was sure that Maggie was going to die. This could still end that way. But Abby will always show up and try to fix things because Maggie has that power over her.
Carter has called the police on Victor, even though Noni never agreed to press charges. The law considers what Victor did murder, a crime whether Noni wants it to be one or not. Chen tries to get in touch with Grainger, but there’s no record of him with the VA. There’s also no record of the doctor she let him leave with. (There must have been a scene that was deleted.) Weaver goes looking for Mr. Whiskers and finds him with Brett, who appears to be a plushie. Poor Mr. Whiskers. Poor us.
Benton chats with Ferris about how Benton’s screw-up led him to become a doctor. Ferris says he should be proud. Benton notes that sometimes he gets so tired from his hectic life that he forgets what’s important. To him, the two most important things in the world are his son and his surgical skills. He’s a father and a doctor before anything else. Ferris asks if he’s considered teaching, but Benton doesn’t think that’s in his skill set. Ferris says caring is the only skill he needs.
Weaver goes to visit Legaspi, giving us some exposition that the harassment charges against Legaspi were dropped after Shannon admitted she’d lied. Legaspi doesn’t want to have dinner with Weaver or be friendly with her in any way, since Weaver won’t let go of her insecurities about her sexuality. Abby and Luka end the day together, and she thanks him for being there for her today. Then Maggie shows up, looking for someone to be there for her.
Thoughts: Lots of familiar faces here:
- Nesmith is played by Jon Gries.
- Lynda is played by Brenda Song.
- Victor is Felicity’s ex-boyfriend David.
- Noni is my girl Kimberly McCullough.
How dare the show disrespect Laura Innes with this episode’s plotline for Weaver. The woman was nominated for two Emmys for your show!
90 days seems like too long of a psych hold for someone who’s no longer in crisis. There has to be some sort of treatment facility Abby and Maggie could compromise on where Maggie could receive care and monitoring without being treated like she’s under lock and key. (In fact, in a later season, they visit a facility that would work.) Plus, if Abby thinks Maggie’s going to ditch her meds again, 90 days won’t change anything. It’ll just delay what Abby thinks is inevitable.
For the record, Carla barely acknowledges Reese when they’re together, while Cleo is always happy to see him. You can see she really likes children and get why she went into pediatrics. Unlike Carla, I would absolutely trust her to look after my child.
January 12, 2021
ER 7.19, Sailing Away: The Rescue Mission
No one’s hair looks that good after hours in a convertible
Summary: The screen lets us know it’s Friday as Carter and Rena go by County to pick something up. Rena has her dog Norman with her, and the dog takes an immediate liking to Abby (and vice versa). Abby recognizes a car in the ambulance bay as Richard’s. She tells Randi to call security to tow the car, then rushes to break up the conversation her ex-husband is having with her boyfriend.
After Luka excuses himself, Richard tells Abby that Maggie has checked into a motel in Oklahoma and has been there for three weeks. Some guy she was with left, and she doesn’t have the money to continue paying for the room, so the manager found Abby’s last known phone number and called it. Since it’s not clear if Maggie is answering the door when the manager goes by, Abby doesn’t know if she’s still alive.
Luka treats a sorority pledge who got hurt while chasing a greased pig during Greek Week. Yes, alcohol was involved. Abby has called the motel in Oklahoma, and the manager confirmed that Maggie’s still there. Also, she owes him $800. Abby doesn’t have that, so Luka offers to wire the money. Abby, however, wants to go out there.
Luka urges her to wait and let a doctor handle everything; Abby can go once Maggie’s back on her medication. Abby would rather bring her to Chicago and have her committed there. Luka doesn’t get why Abby is so willing to help her mother after the way Maggie always treats her. Abby knows Maggie only acts the way she does because of her illness.
Instead of going on a honeymoon, Mark and Elizabeth are at home, getting ready for the baby. He’s started baby-proofing, even though that obviously won’t be necessary for a while. Back at County, Carter comes across Abby trying to get a flight to Oklahoma. She tells him what’s going on as Norman tries to snack on medical waste. Carter and Rena came in to get basketball tickets, but now Carter’s mind is on something else. He calls his travel agent and books two one-way tickets to Tulsa (Maggie won’t fly, so Abby will have to drive back to Chicago).
Mark makes a mobile in his garage, singing along to Styx’s “Come Sail Away” so we can get our episode title. The music is too loud for him to hear Elizabeth calling for him, so she pages him and tells him she thinks she’s in labor. Luka is treating another sorority pledge/victim of greased-pig wrestling. Abby calls him away to tell him she’s flying out to Tulsa that night…with Carter.
Carter explains the same thing to Rena, and we go back and forth between the two conversations. Luka argues that Maggie needs to be hospitalized right away, not go on a road trip with Abby and Carter. Abby doesn’t want Luka to make the decision for her. Rena’s annoyed that Carter’s going to miss the basketball game to help a friend who could get the same help from her boyfriend.
Abby tells Luka that she’s used to this and doesn’t want a lecture from him. Norman barks at Carter and Rena’s fighting, and Carter yells at him to shut up. Hey! You shut up! The arguments end when Luka tells Abby not to put herself in a position to get hurt again, and she replies that he’d be the expert on that. Luka and Rena both give in and tell their significant others to just go. Meanwhile, Mark brings Elizabeth to the hospital, where they get congratulations and encouragement from some co-workers. After some time passes, they leave again – the labor wasn’t real.
Saturday: Abby and Carter have rented a convertible in Oklahoma, because why not rescue your mother from her mental-health crisis in style? On the way to the motel, Carter asks why Maggie doesn’t like to fly. Abby explains that she decided to take Abby and her brother Eric to Disneyland when they were younger, but when they were flying over Nevada, Maggie tried to open the emergency doors; she thought they were flying over a nuclear test site. So I think it’s less that Maggie doesn’t want to fly and more that Abby doesn’t want her to.
Abby and Carter arrive at the motel, and Abby says that after 30 years, she still wonders what makes Maggie act the way she does. The manager tells them that Maggie came in with a guy who left after prepaying for a week. The manager tried talking to Maggie, but she didn’t respond. She doesn’t come to the door when Carter knocks, so the manager opens the door for them. Maggie’s inside, looking like…well, like she’s been holed up in a motel for three weeks.
Abby cleans her up while Carter gets a call from Luka, who’s just checking in. A couple of motel guests ask Carter if he’s related to Maggie. I don’t know what the point of that was. Carter offers to get some food from a nearby diner, leaving Abby to bathe her mother like a child. It seems like Abby’s used to doing this alone and doesn’t appreciate having Carter ask her if she’s okay. She just wants to get this done and leave.
Now frat brothers are coming into County after suffering Greek Week-related injuries. The staff tends to one who jumped off a roof. In Oklahoma, Carter brings food back to the motel room, which Abby’s trying to clean up. He tells her he gave the manager extra money for the mess, so she doesn’t need to worry about it. Abby tries to get Maggie to eat, but when Maggie refuses, Abby says it’s time to leave. Maggie insists on staying, but Abby tells her she won’t win this fight. Carter ends things before they can escalate by just picking Maggie up and carrying her to the car.
A patient named Ferris is stationed in an ER hallway, calling out for someone to take him to the bathroom. No one feels like it, which is dumb, because if he doesn’t get to a bathroom, they’ll just have to clean him up. Ferris recognizes Benton as one of his students from his middle school chemistry class. Fun fact: Benton once filled a condom from a Bunsen burner and caused an explosion. Benton! What did Mae think of that? Ferris tells Benton that he had a stroke a month ago but has been doing pretty well since then. A few days ago he started bleeding after getting his teeth cleaned. Benton offers to look at his chart.
Abby apologizes to Carter for getting him involved in her family drama. Yeah, he inserted himself in the drama. Don’t apologize. Carter asks if things are always like this. Abby says her perspective has changed over the years. At least this is better than the two times Maggie attempted suicide. Abby turns up the radio so she doesn’t have to continue the conversation.
A frat pledge named Adam needs treatment after cutting his hand on a beer bottle. He was locked in a car trunk and panicked when the frat brothers didn’t let him out. He should have known they would come back; they did last time. Adam didn’t make it through the process last time, so he’s trying again. Benton clearly wants to tell this kid how dumb he is, but he knows he shouldn’t.
Mark and Elizabeth return to the hospital, thinking she’s in labor again. The road-trippers stop in a diner, and Carter tries to strike up a conversation with Maggie. She won’t tell Abby or Carter how she wound up in Oklahoma. She also won’t take the bipolar medication Abby has brought her. She says Abby can’t make her take it, but Abby wants her to choose to take it. Maggie goes to use the bathroom, and Abby follows her to keep an eye on her (and smoke a cigarette).
In a hotel that night, Carter and Abby have phone conversations with Rena and Luka about when they’ll be back in Chicago. Maggie is on the balcony, watching a family by the pool. She likes to watch people who go about their normal everyday lives, and think about how lucky they are not to have her problems. Abby says Maggie can have an ordinary life, too, if she just takes her medication. Maggie has tried being ordinary but it didn’t last. She’s not like everyone else. She asks Abby why she came, and Abby says it’s because Maggie needed her. “There’s no one here to save,” Maggie replies.
Sunday: Maggie naps in the backseat of the convertible as Abby offers to talk to Rena about the whole situation. She teases that Carter has to expect some drama when dating a teenager. He reveals that Rena broke up with him – she thinks he has a crush on Abby. Carter doesn’t seem too disappointed, and also doesn’t do much to deny that Rena’s right about his feelings for Abby.
Elizabeth’s second round of labor was real, and Mark is carrying their new baby, Ella, around the hospital. Dave brings him celebratory cigars and asks to hold her, but Mark shuts him down. Dave tells Mark he owes $300 for the cigars, but I hope they were cheaper than that and Dave asked for extra money because Mark was mean to him. Elizabeth gives breastfeeding a shot, nervous about it along with everything that comes with motherhood. Mark knows she’ll be able to handle it all.
The road-trippers stop at a gas station, where a mechanic notices that one of the car’s tires is leaking air. He says it’s from a nail and offers to fix it for $15. Abby accuses him of puncturing the tire himself. She thinks he believes she doesn’t know anything about cars because she’s a woman. When Carter joins the conversation, the mechanic lowers his price to $10. Carter tells him to fix the tire before they call the police. The mechanic goes even lower, to $5.
While Carter and Abby were distracted, Maggie got out of the car and is now walking across a few lanes of busy traffic. When Abby stops her, Maggie says she just wanted to get some food from a convenience store. Abby goes with her and gives in when Maggie wants junk food instead of something healthy. Abby also buys more cigarettes, and Maggie tells her to take better care of herself. Abby’s face: “Don’t mention the irony. Don’t mention the irony.” When Abby and the cashier aren’t looking, Maggie pockets something.
Abby and Carter wait for Maggie outside the bathroom while the mechanic fixes their tire. Carter thinks Maggie seems better today, though Abby notes that she couldn’t be worse. Carter has negotiated the mechanic down to $3, as if money is Carter’s biggest priority right now. Maggie thanks Abby for coming to get her, sounding sincere.
Benton has arranged for a new nursing-home facility for Ferris, who I guess is difficult because no one has wanted to take him. Benton is going to go see him every other day to give him blood tests. Cleo’s impressed that Benton is going out of his way for a patient. He explains that the exploding-condom trick could have gotten him expelled, but Ferris just gave him a bunch of detentions instead. He had Benton prep his experiments, which changed Benton’s view on school and science.
Abby and Carter arrive in Chicago that night, now in good moods, thanks to a revelation that Carter had a perm in middle school…twice. Unfortunately, he thinks the pictures have all been destroyed. Carter drops Abby and Maggie off at Abby’s place, and Abby thanks him for coming on the rescue mission with her. When they try to wake Maggie, she’s unresponsive. Abby guesses that she took something and tells Carter to call 911, but he figures it’s faster to drive to the hospital.
Luka gets advance notice, so he’s ready when Maggie arrives at County. He and Carter tend to her together as Haleh finds the package of sleeping pills Maggie took. Luka is worried about Abby being in the trauma room, but she says she’s okay. As Adam is brought in after a shot contest, Carter and Luka continue trying to stabilize Maggie. She begins seizing, which is when Abby gets emotional for the first time.
Next door, Benton questions one of the brothers from the frat Adam was pledging. He had 35 to 40 tequila shots in a row and has a blood-alcohol content of .529. Freaking A – half of his blood is alcohol?? Benton and Cleo have spent 40 minutes trying to save him, but there’s nothing they can do. Benton tells the frat brother to clean up Adam, since they wrote stuff on him in marker. The frat brother tries to argue that Adam drank voluntarily, but Benton says that they were supposed to look out for him.
Luka wants Maggie, who’s still unconscious, to be placed on a psych hold, but Carter doesn’t see the point right now, since she can’t talk to anyone. Abby knows it could be a moot point anyway, since Maggie might not wake up. William White comes by the hospital to let Benton know that he was accepted into med school. He appreciates Benton’s encouragement and help. Benton tells him to just work hard.
Maggie’s awake now and her vitals are normal, so Luka has allowed Legaspi to go see her. Abby wishes she’d listened to Luka about having Maggie committed in Oklahoma. Luka says she’ll be okay, but Abby replies that Maggie will never be okay.
Thoughts: Laura Innes directed this episode.
It’s pretty presumptuous of Carter to think Abby would want his help, but it’s also in line with his character. He wouldn’t expect anyone to not want him around.
We didn’t see Mark and Elizabeth’s wedding, we don’t see the baby’s birth – why are the major parts of their lives off-screen this season but we see more than enough next season?
I would pay good money to see a picture of a young Carter with a perm.
January 5, 2021
ER 7.18, April Showers: Get Me to the Church on Time
A happy ending (for now)
Summary: It’s the morning of Mark and Elizabeth’s wedding, and she is not a pleasant bride. She regrets deciding to get married while pregnant. Her mother, Isabelle, tries to calm her, telling her to enjoy her day. That lasts for about five seconds before Elizabeth learns that it’s raining. Mark tries to downplay that, but it just gets worse: Rachel missed her flight and will be arriving in Chicago later than planned. Mark assures Elizabeth that will be the last complication of the day.
At County, Cleo tells Benton that she might miss the wedding, since her attendance is dependent on Dave agreeing to take her shift. Weaver is finishing up a night shift and handing things off to Luka. A bunch of nurses have called in sick, and Weaver knows it’s because they want to go to the wedding. She interrogates Connie over the phone, questioning whether she really has a fever of 102.
Abby is actually sick but wants to stay at work to make up for her lying co-workers. Luka tells her Weaver is going to a conference instead of the wedding, and Abby clues him in that Weaver wasn’t invited to the wedding. Makes sense, after the whole mess with Mark’s competency evaluations. Weaver tells Connie that she wants a note from a doctor confirming she’s really sick, and if Connie shows up in any wedding pictures, she’s fired.
Outside, Weaver runs into Mark, who’s there to look for his missing wallet. She tells him she’s happy for him and Elizabeth. “You still can’t come to the wedding,” he replies. No, just kidding. As a call comes in about a car accident involving a prison van, Chen asks if Rena will be carded at the wedding, since she’s underage. Heh. Abby asks where Luka is, since the paramedics want to know how many accident victims County can handle. Carter gives her an answer, not bothering to defer to Luka, his superior.
Mark parked his van in the ambulance bay, and by the time he gets outside to leave, it’s being towed. Instead of arguing with the tow-truck driver, he just grabs his tux. Carter offers to let Mark use his car, but before he can leave, Mark gets news that Rachel is still stuck in St. Louis, so he has to deal with that first.
Elizabeth is already dressed, wearing a gray-ish outfit that doesn’t look like a wedding dress but is still pretty. Her mother remembers her wanting to marry a neighborhood boy when they were kids. Elizabeth says that kid wound up being indicted for insurance fraud. Isabelle notes that Elizabeth’s life has already turned out better than expected. Unfortunately, her father, Charles, won’t be able to make it to the wedding, thanks to flight difficulties. Elizabeth gets emotional, but Isabelle assures her that everything will be great. She gives Elizabeth her something old, a pair of her grandmother’s earrings.
Rachel won’t make it to the wedding, either, so Mark promises they’ll tape the whole thing for her to watch later. The prison-van passengers start coming in, which means the staff has to treat patients who are handcuffed to their gurneys. Chen wants her patient’s handcuffs removed since she may have a wrist injury. The officer with her refuses to take them off. In the next trauma room, Carter, Abby, and Haleh treat the van driver, but it doesn’t look good for him.
Things also don’t look great for Elizabeth, since her limo reservation has gone missing. She tells the person giving her the news on the phone that their company will get her to the church if she has to ride someone like a donkey. Isabelle wants her to eat something and calm down, but Elizabeth isn’t going to just stand there and let things fall apart on her special day: “This is America, and sometimes in this country, you have to kick some a$%.” Isabelle says they’ll just take Elizabeth’s car.
Before they can leave, Mark calls to report that all flights are grounded because of an impending storm, so Rachel can’t make it in. Elizabeth asks if he wants to postpone, but neither of them wants that. Amira praises Mark for not telling Elizabeth that his van was towed, which would just cause her more stress. She also gives him an umbrella.
More van victims come in, mostly with minor injuries. Mark leaves with Amira’s polka-dot umbrella, but when he gets to an El station, he learns that there’s a technical problem and no trains are running. He tries to catch a bus, which, of course, is crowded with people who couldn’t take the train. He asks a guy to let him squeeze in since he has to get to his wedding. The guy doesn’t believe him but lets him on anyway, yelling for people to make room for the dead man walking. (Considering Mark’s health problems…ouch.)
Back at County, Carter hasn’t been able to stabilize the van driver, and since the trauma room is needed for patients who can actually be helped, Luka tells him to declare the driver dead already. Carter ignores him and keeps shocking the guard, not wanting to give up while the man’s co-workers are watching. Luka tells him the driver is brain-dead and they need to move on.
Weaver’s flight is one of the ones delayed by the storm, so she’s drinking and doing a crossword puzzle at an airport bar. A guy strikes up a conversation with her, but Weaver is no longer interested in conversations with men, if you know what I mean. At County, Carter has moved on to another patient, hoping to leave as soon as things have calmed down. Luka has other ideas for him. Abby is also still there, and Carter asks if her boyfriend didn’t give her permission to leave. Oh, shut up, Carter.
Rena arrives, ready to go to the wedding with Carter, and he puts her to work with a patient named Veronica who has a dislocated shoulder. Veronica doesn’t want any pain medication because she’s afraid it will threaten her year-long sobriety from heroin. It’s raining harder now, making Elizabeth again regret getting married right now. The church doors are locked, for some reason, but when they open, Elizabeth gets a nice surprise – Charles made it after all. He and Isabelle haven’t seen each other in ten years and would prefer not to see each other ever again, so Elizabeth warns them to be on their best behavior.
Mark is stuck on a bus, trying to reach someone on his cell phone. A woman tells him that cell phones give you brain cancer. Mark gives her a hilarious looks before going to ask the driver what’s wrong. The engine seized, so they’re waiting for another bus, but the driver doesn’t know when it will arrive. Mark decides to take his chances in the rain. Unfortunately, his umbrella gets caught in the bus doors and goes inside-out.
Chen examines one of the van victims, Sara, who says she hurts all over. The guard with her thinks Sara’s faking. Chen notices that Sara has a C-section scar, and Sara laments that she’s missing a visit with her daughter. She may not see the girl again for a while, since she lives with Sara’s sister, who’s about to move to California. The guard mocks that the girl is probably better off without Sara. Chen comforts Sara and glares at the guard.
Rena helps Carter fix Veronica’s shoulder, which really shouldn’t be allowed, since Rena has no medical training. Luka chastises Carter for not giving Veronica enough pain medication, even though she refused narcotics. Luka overrides that, warning Veronica that she could have permanent nerve damage if they don’t give her morphine. Veronica gives in, and Carter decides Luka can handle this on his own.
Another accident victim (not one of the prisoners) tells Cleo that she dreamed last night that she would survive a car accident. Cleo says her grandmother also had some psychic abilities; she could predict when her cat would get sick. The woman continues that in her dream, she also strangled a female doctor. Cleo quickly leaves.
She tells Benton he should go to the wedding without her, since she still hasn’t confirmed that Dave can cover for her. Plus, Benton never really asked her to go; he RSVP’d and told her to save the date. The real issue, of course, is that Cleo doesn’t want to go to her boyfriend’s ex’s wedding. Benton tells her that his and Elizabeth’s past relationship isn’t a big deal. If Cleo doesn’t want to go, she should just say so. Cleo says so. Mark returns, asking to borrow someone’s car, but Benton is on his way to the church and offers him a ride. See, Cleo? If Benton can be this nice to his ex’s new partner, everything’s fine.
Guests are starting to arrive at the church, where Elizabeth is trying to relax. Charles hopes he’s better at grandparenting than he was at parenting. Elizabeth notes that she didn’t turn out too badly, but Charles says that was luck. He asks if she’ll continue to practice medicine after the baby is born. She will, though she knows it makes her sound like a hypocrite, since she always criticized her parents for working after they had her. Charles is sure she’ll be better at balancing work and family.
Mark’s latest disaster is a traffic jam. He knows Elizabeth will be panicking, especially since she’s having to deal with both her parents (so I guess he knew Charles was coming after all?). Mark hasn’t even met Charles yet, though Benton has. They chat about Elizabeth’s parents, then about how difficult Isabelle is. This turns into a discussion of moms, women and their moms, and whether Benton has met Cleo’s mother. Benton probably regrets offering Mark a ride.
At the hospital, Sara makes a run for it but is taken down by some guards. Chen feels horrible that she has to be away from her daughter. Weaver’s new friend, Mike, tries chatting with her again at the airport bar, though this time she’s more welcoming. She tells him she was writing a letter to a friend. Mark, still in traffic, is annoyed that his phone is broken and he can’t tell anyone where he is. He thinks the wedding started without him. Benton’s like, “They can’t start without both the bride and groom present, genius.” Mark climbs up on Benton’s car to see what’s causing the traffic jam. Seems safe.
Paramedics bring in a boy with hypothermia who was found on a soccer field in the rain. Luka tells Abby she can end her shift and go lie down until he’s ready to leave. He thinks she’s mad at him for some reason. She says she isn’t, but she’s a little annoyed with how he treated Carter. Luka makes it clear that he’s not going to be extra-nice to her friend when he’s not doing his job correctly.
Carter and Rena have made it to the church, where Carter’s complaining about Luka. Rena thinks there’s tension because Luka is dating Carter’s “ex.” Carter finally admits that he and Abby never dated. Rena guesses that he just wishes they had. Dave is also at the church, since Cleo said she didn’t need him to cover her shift. He’s brought some surprise guests, figuring that there would be some no-shows because of the rain. He also went off the registry for his gift. Romano arrives next, asking if people are surprised that he was invited.
Mark goes to the front of the traffic jam, which was caused by a crash between an arguing man and woman. Mark tries to get a ride to the church from a cop who definitely has more important things to deal with right now. Chen’s patient, Bryan, tells her that he must have fallen asleep waiting for his parents to come get him from soccer practice. They work a lot, and sometimes they forget to pick him up.
Mark runs into Doris, who agrees to take him to the church in her ambulance if he helps her with any injured people in the traffic jam. Benton comes to help as Mark examines Kevin, the male half of the fighting accident victims, who clearly know each other. Sounds like they’re married and he cheated on her. The woman, Brenda, is pregnant and thinks her water just broke. Oh, of course! Why not add that into this whole mess?
Elizabeth worries that Mark got cold feet and won’t be coming to the church at all. Charles and Isabelle are on the verge of bickering again, and Elizabeth tells them to cut it out. She admits that she worries about Mark all the time – she’s more scared of being without him than being with him. Charles reminds her that Mark’s treatment worked and there’s no sign that the tumor has returned. He assures her that she and Mark will have a great life together. (Cough.)
Mark gets in the ambulance with Doris and Brenda, who wants to go to the hospital without Kevin. Kevin tries to get in anyway, and when he and Mark fight over the door, Mark accidentally gets smacked in the face with it. Bryan’s father comes to the hospital, and Chen confronts him for forgetting to pick up his son. He doesn’t seem as worried as he should be that his son could have died because his incompetent parents can’t communicate with each other.
After delivering Brenda to the hospital, Mark is ready to finally go to the church, but he needs a clean shirt, since he bled on his. Abby tells Luka to hand his over. Romano checks in on Elizabeth, letting her know that the other guests are getting restless. Fortunately, he has a message from the ER that Mark is on his way. He manages to tell Elizabeth she looks beautiful without sounding gross.
Weaver’s tipsy now and still talking to Mike. His flight is ready to board, and he asks if she wants to get dinner the next time they’re in the same town. She declines, though she appreciates his company. He gives her his card in case she changes her mind, but she quickly throws it away. Benton returns to County, where Cleo has decided to join him at the wedding after all. He teases that he might not still want her company. Chen calls her son’s adoptive parents to thank them for the card and pictures they sent her. She’s happy to hear the baby laughing in the background.
Doris gets Mark to the church, where the guests greet him with applause for finally arriving for his own wedding. The ceremony starts immediately, and Charles wishes Mark good luck when he hands her off at the end of the aisle. That makes it sound like Mark will need luck dealing with Elizabeth. He couldn’t just say, “Congratulations” or “I’m so happy for you”? Elizabeth teases that it was nice of Mark to show up. He replies that it was raining. And after all that, we don’t even see the wedding!
Thoughts: We’ll pretend that Doug and Carol were invited to the wedding but they couldn’t get off work or they couldn’t get a flight because of the storm.
I hate sitcommy plots where everything goes wrong on someone’s wedding day. Just pick one disaster.
Again with Cleo being awkward about Benton and Elizabeth’s past. She’s marrying someone else, Cleo! They’ve both moved on! You need to chill!
For the record, Connie is at the wedding. Good luck not getting fired, Connie.
December 29, 2020
ER 7.17, Survival of the Fittest: Dave Isn’t the Only Fool This April Fools’ Day
I would feel sorry for Dave, but he brought this on himself, really
Summary: Cleo is trying to treat an elderly woman named Mrs. Howard who is a little altered (she thinks she needs to get her children from the school bus, but it’s 10 a.m. and she’s too old to have school-age children). Benton comes by and Cleo asks him to examine Mrs. Howard, since he removed her gall bladder last month. She claims to remember Benton, but she might be pretending.
Carter chases a boy named Simon through the ER until he hides in a supply closet where Abby’s working. Simon is scared to have his blood drawn, and Carter doesn’t appear to have much sympathy for him. Abby tries to help Carter with the blood draw, but it still doesn’t go well. Carter, try working on your bedside manner.
Yosh pulls Abby away to help him and Malik subdue a patient who’s thrashing around on a gurney. The patient has a pillowcase over his head; Malik says he cut up his face. Luka enters, takes a syringe of Haldol from Yosh, and injects the patient…who’s actually Dave. He, Yosh, and Malik were trying to play an April Fools’ joke.
Weaver criticizes the jokesters for goofing off instead of doing work. Dave is struggling to stay awake with ten milligrams of Haldol in his system. Weaver tells him to go sleep it off, then heads off to do something productive. Someone has tied empty cans to the bottom of her cane, and she accuses Dave, who says it wasn’t him.
Rena has come to the ER to help keep Simon calm for his blood draw by blowing bubbles. This both distracts him and helps him blow through the pain. The blood draw goes perfectly, and now Rena looks more competent than Carter. The two of them chat, having not talked since he decided they shouldn’t date because of their age difference.
Paramedics bring in a man named Eddie who was shot by police. They think he held up a liquor store. One of the cops, Grant, has a minor arm injury, and his partner taunts that if he’s good while Benton examines him, he’ll get a lollipop. Mrs. Howard is still in a gurney in the hallway, yelling that she needs her wallet and purse so she can leave. Everyone’s just ignoring her. Abby notes that Carter is in a good mood now after being a jerk earlier. She figures that seeing Rena made him happy.
A school bus pulls up outside to deliver a middle-schooler named Stuart who’s having an asthma attack. A teacher tells Carter and Abby that there were fumes on the bus. Carter can’t let the other students on the bus come into the hospital in case it’s a Hazmat situation, so they’ll have to say outside in the cold. Elizabeth takes Eddie up to surgery, promising Mark that it shouldn’t be too much work or take too much time.
Carter and Abby help Stuart onto a gurney as some boys on the bus mock him. Guys, your teacher is RIGHT THERE. How dumb are you? Stuart tells Carter and Abby that they were on a field trip to see an art exhibit. (Carter, sophisticate that he is, knows it’s a Gaugin exhibit.) Romano asks Elizabeth if she can still reach the table in the OR, considering her pregnant belly keeps growing. She shoots back that at least she can see the table. A short joke! How mature! She asks him to order her pizza and ice cream so she can eat after surgery.
Weaver starts moving Mrs. Howard out of the hallway as Benton tends to Grant’s injury (also in the hallway). Carter asks Weaver to help him with Stuart, so she hands Mrs. Howard off to Chuny, but Chuny then gets called away to help with another patient. Mrs. Howard decides to just leave on her own. The hallway is busy, so no one notices at first when she approaches Grant and takes his gun.
Grant’s partner, Kimble, pulls her own gun and tells Mrs. Howard to drop hers. Benton calmly but authoritatively tries to deescalate the situation, and Grant tells Mrs. Howard to drop the gun so no one gets hurt. Kimble keeps her weapon pointed out Mrs. Howard, who’s now crying and doesn’t seem to get how dangerous the situation is. There’s a long moment where nothing happens, but then Mrs. Howard turns and points the gun at a child in the hallway. Kimble fires at her twice. (For the record, because this will come up: Kimble is white; Mrs. Howard and Grant are Black.)
Benton and Weaver rush Mrs. Howard to a trauma room to try to save her. Kimble and Grant go over what happened – they asked her three times to drop the gun, and she didn’t respond. They’re not sure what they’ll tell their superiors about how Mrs. Howard got her hands on Grant’s gun. Benton comments loudly that he guesses one shot wasn’t enough, because there’s a lot of damage. He murmurs to Weaver that he hopes the cops get their stories straight.
The fire captain who keeps turning up tells Mark that he hasn’t detected any serious substances on the bus. He thinks one person smelled something, maybe nail polish remover, and mass hysteria went through the crowd. Some of the kids actually got sick, though, so they need to be examined. Luka takes a girl named Emily while Dave talks with a couple of girls who seem to already have crushes on him. The three bullying boys are so dumb that they’re smoking nearby. Wow, I don’t miss middle school at all.
Benton and Weaver are still working on Mrs. Howard when detectives arrive to question Grant and Kimble. Grant seems much more worried about the possibility of Mrs. Howard dying than Kimble does, even though Kimble was the one who pulled the trigger. Luka examines Emily, who has questions about the chemical that may or may not have been on the bus. She reveals that she might be pregnant.
Since detectives are still working the crime scene, the doctors have to find new places to treat their patients. Cleo is surprised to hear that Mrs. Howard has died, thanks to Kimble. Stuart is shaken by the incident, since he was in the hallway, and he asks Carter if he was scared. Carter says he was, but he moved in front of Stuart on instinct to make sure he was safe. Stuart is still wheezing, and he claims not to know what might have triggered his asthma. Carter thinks he’s hiding something.
Up on the OR, Elizabeth asks Shirley to rub her back while she operates on Eddie. Of course, this is when Romano comes by to check on her. Eddie has more injuries than Elizabeth realized, so her short, simple surgery is going to take longer than she thought. Romano thinks it’s too much for Elizabeth to handle in her “delicate” condition. She tears up and he tells her there’s no crying in the OR; “that’s what the ladies’ room is for.” And the HR department is for you, Romano.
Carter tells Mark what Stuart admitted to him: Some of the kids on the bus were huffing solvent. They held a rag to Stuart’s face and forced him to breathe in some of it. MIDDLE-SCHOOLERS ARE THE WORST. Carter asks Mark to leave Stuart’s name out of whatever comes next. Two of the girls from the bus then tell Mark that Dave fell asleep while they were talking. Abby finds him and wakes him up, sending him back to work with the imprint of his stethoscope on his cheek. Yeah, he should definitely be treating patients right now.
Mark confronts the three bullies and asks what they were huffing. They won’t tell him what the solvent was, so Mark decides they’ll have to undergo tests to determine what it was. He takes the ringleader, Bo, to an exam room, where Mark and Malik use a big needle to scare him into blurting out that they huffed spot remover. Apparently that stuff is bad for your liver.
Carter goes to the hospital daycare looking for Rena. Another volunteer there appears to have heard of him. While waiting, Carter goes to check out a 3D model of the human body and accidentally knocks all the organs out of it. (Hilariously, a kid in the scene seems really amused by his fumbling.) Carter tries to put it back together, and the volunteer teases him, asking if he’s really a doctor. Heh. Anyway, Carter tells Rena that he’s changed his mind and wants to keep seeing her. She says she’ll think about it.
Cleo doesn’t get why Mrs. Howard became so agitated after Cleo left her to do rounds elsewhere in the hospital. She also doesn’t know why Mrs. Howard would want a gun. She joins Mark to treat a woman named Laura who was just in a car accident. She’s eager to get to her OBGYN to have her eggs harvested; there’s only a small window for that to happen. Mark tells her that she appears to have a small blood clot in her brain, which may have caused her to pass out while driving. She’ll need blood thinners, so she can’t have her eggs harvested today. Laura still wants to leave, so Cleo suggests that they get her doctor to come to County.
Luka confirms that Emily’s pregnant, which she’s excited to hear. She thinks that she’s capable of raising a child on her own. She tells Luka she’s wanted her baby her whole life. You know, all 13 years of it. Benton goes back to tending to Grant’s injury as Grant defends Kimble’s actions. She was forced to make a split-second decision, and she followed all the guidelines. Benton sarcastically asks if the guidelines cover shooting little old ladies.
Grant notes that Mrs. Howard could have hurt someone. Benton says that all he knows is that an elderly Black woman is dead. Grant denies that race had anything to do with Kimble’s decision to shoot. Okay, but she could have shot Mrs. Howard in the arm. Grant said he would have done exactly what Kimble did. He trusts her; she’s a good person. She’s a single mother and a widow, and an investigation could really harm her career. Kimble was trying to protect innocent people, and Benton should keep that in mind when the detectives interview him.
Bo’s tests come back and are bad enough that he needs to be admitted to the ICU. Luka asks Abby to talk to Emily about telling her mother she’s pregnant (even though she’s only 13, being pregnant gives her emancipation, which means Luka has to stick to doctor/patient confidentiality). Mark tells Bo that his liver is failing, thanks to the amount he’s been huffing. He’ll need a transplant.
Cleo lets Mark know that Laura is crashing. The blood clot has caused a stroke and done something to her spinal cord, leaving her with quadriplegia. Benton speaks with a detective about what happened to Mrs. Howard and expresses his displeasure over how Kimble handled things. Mrs. Howard was frail and scared; Kimble could have easily taken the gun from her. The detective notes that she could have hurt someone. Benton insists that Kimble didn’t need to shoot her.
Emily’s mother, Mrs. Perrault, arrives, believing Emily’s being treated because of the fumes on the bus. Luka clues her in by asking about Emily’s last period and whether she has a boyfriend. Mrs. P. blasts her daughter for getting knocked up and tells her she’ll be having an abortion. Emily vows to have the baby and be a better mother than her own. Looks like that wouldn’t take too much work.
Carter tells Stuart that they found out what caused his asthma attack, and no one knows that he ratted out the bullies. Even if they do know, Bo’s not going to be an issue. Stuart’s upset that he had to change into a hospital gown in front of everyone; he’s not the slimmest, most fit child. Carter tells him about another chunky, unpopular kid who spent his time studying instead of hanging out with classmates. He went to med school, and at his graduation, he cut out all his haters’ tongues with a scalpel. Carter…no.
Romano has joined Elizabeth in surgery and found more damage that needs fixing. The procedure the patient needs takes five hours, and Elizabeth refuses to let Benton take over. She just needs a bathroom break. Romano threatens to replace her, so Elizabeth calls his bluff and asks Shirley to insert a catheter so she can relieve herself in the OR. Both of them are being childish and ridiculous, and if I were Shirley, I would quit right now and get a job at a hospital that only employees professionals.
Stuart is suddenly popular with two of his classmates because he knows how to download musical ringtones to their phones. (To really date this episode, they want Papa Roach and Blink 182.) Rena appears to have arranged the new friendship. Carter asks her to dinner again, but she has to study for a midterm the next day. He offers to help her study, and just as she’s about to accept, Abby comes by. Carter suddenly acts like their plans are still uncertain. Rena thinks their age difference is still an issue, so Carter tells her that Abby used to have a thing for him. When Rena asks if they used to date, Carter doesn’t exactly deny it.
Chuny tells Benton that Mrs. Howard’s family wants to talk to him. Cleo lets him know that Mrs. Howard’s sodium level indicates that she was severely dehydrated, which led to her confusion. Neither of them paid enough attention to her lab work to notice this. If they had, they could have given her an IV and prevented her from becoming altered. Benton says that Kimble is to blame here, not the doctors.
Laura’s husband, Greg, arrives to sit with his comatose wife. Mark thinks the fertility drugs Laura was taking caused her stroke. Greg had no idea that Laura was planning to sell her eggs to a couple for $80,000. People pay that much for eggs?? Have these people heard of adoption? It costs half that! Anyway, Greg’s business is doing poorly and he’s about to file for bankruptcy, so Laura must have come up with a way to save them.
Rena introduces herself to Abby and says she hopes Abby doesn’t mind her and Carter spending time together. Abby’s confused about why she would mind, and especially confused when Rena tells her that Carter said they dated. Luka gives Emily an ultrasound as she reads her horoscope in a fashion magazine. He’s understandably skeptical that she’s up for this huge responsibility. Emily thinks she’s more mature than Mrs. P. was when she gave birth at 16. She’s eager to see a social worker, knowing that she’ll be able to sign up for welfare.
Mark finds Greg fighting with Laura’s doctor, Alexander, who’s come to harvest Laura’s eggs. Since Laura gave consent to have the harvest done that day, Alexander can do it without Greg’s permission. Plus, Greg doesn’t have the money to pay for Laura’s long-term care, so he should welcome the $80,000. Mark tells her that the fertility drugs could have caused Laura’s condition, but Alexander has used them for years and has never seen this happen. She guesses that Laura had an underlying medical condition that the drugs exacerbated.
Elizabeth and Romano are almost done in surgery, and Romano is too egotistical to praise her for toughing it out. She hides her exhaustion until she’s alone. Carter notices that Abby is being cold to him, so she tells him she knows he lied to Rena about them being exes. She didn’t correct Rena, so now Carter owes her one. Abby also told Rena that she dumped Carter, though Carter doesn’t think that would happen.
Alexander harvests Laura’s eggs while Mark assures Greg that she’s not in any pain. Meanwhile, Benton talks to Mrs. Howard’s children, who are surprised that their mother got so agitated. She’s had dementia for a long time, and Benton tells them that there are a lot of factors that could make it worse – in this case, dehydration. Mrs. Howard’s daughter had her doubts about her mother’s nursing home before and thinks the staff wasn’t taking good enough care of her. She knows Mrs. Howard appreciated Benton’s kindness.
Dave is finally taking a nap, but Luka wants him to wake up to a surprise: He’s using a skin-sealing substance to glue Dave’s hand to his face. What is this, a frat house? At least Luka’s in a good mood. Carter and Rena start to leave together, but Mark asks Carter to stay behind to do some chart reviews. Carter begs off, saying he was going to help Rena study. Is that what the kids are calling it these days? They can’t get their stories straight about the subject they’ll be studying, but Mark lets them go anyway.
Elizabeth comes down to the ER so she and Mark can finally go home. Instead, they stay put since Romano has sent her pizza and ice cream, just as she wanted. Elizabeth is proud of herself for getting through such a difficult case. Now, though, she doesn’t know why she felt the need to prove that she could be competent while pregnant. Why keep working so hard when she doesn’t have to? She’s decided to start her maternity leave now.
Thoughts: The IMDb says Mrs. Howard is played by the same actress who played the woman I called Dorothy in “Leave It to Weaver.” She has the distinction of getting to die twice on the same show.
I can’t figure out what Malik, Yosh, and Dave’s plan was for their joke. And two of those guys are smart – they had to know there was a huge chance something would go wrong. Why use real Haldol when there was such a big possibility that someone would get injected with it?
I assume Bo became a bully because he was upset that his name is Bo.
Rena, just FYI, saying things like “it’s a school night” doesn’t help downplay the age difference between you and Carter.
December 22, 2020
ER 7.16, Witch Hunt: Abby Misplaces a Child While Carter Dates One and Elizabeth Acts Like One
Now it’s Abby’s turn to be broody
Summary: Weaver is exiting Legaspi’s place to get the morning paper when two detectives approach her. They’re there to see Legaspi and are curious about why Weaver is there. Over at Abby’s, Luka is in a good mood (!) and has brought Abby breakfast. He’s ready to find an apartment so he can move out of the hotel. One of his options is in the slaughterhouse district, and Abby teases that after living on a boat and in a hotel, he should find a treehouse next.
Carter wakes up in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar dog sniffing around him. He spent the night with Rena. Her roommate is annoyed since the new couple kept her up last night. Carter and Rena both say they don’t usually sleep with someone so early in the…is this a relationship? I guess so. They agree to have lunch together that afternoon.
Weaver gets ready for work, listening in as Legaspi talks to the detectives. They’re asking questions about the conversation she had with Shannon after the train crash. Mark is nervous about the results of his competency evaluation, like, maybe you should have taken it more seriously, my man. Elizabeth tells him not to worry; he’s a good doctor no matter what the tests say. Okay, but if he loses his license, he won’t be a good doctor anymore. Elizabeth is off of bed rest and going back to work for the first time.
Abby pours goldfish into a coffee pot at the admin desk after removing them from a patient who swallowed a bunch on a bet. She offers them to Carter as pets. Amira gives him a basket of coffee that Rena had delivered to him to make up for not having coffee at her apartment. Chen teases him about his new girlfriend, but Carter says he just gave her a good assessment on an evaluation. Amira busts him, reading the note in the basket, which thanks him for a great evening.
Legaspi is now at work, and of course Weaver wants to know what was up with the detectives. Legaspi is annoyed that Weaver left, though Weaver had to get to work. The detectives may want to talk to Weaver, too, since Shannon has accused Legaspi of sexual harassment and assault. Legaspi thinks she’s trying to divert attention from the fact that the train crash she caused killed more than 30 people. Weaver is shocked to learn that Legaspi revealed to Shannon that she’s a lesbian.
Elizabeth busts Benton for operating on one of her patients and taking over a bunch of her responsibilities while she was on bed rest. Now that she’s back, she wants every part of her job back. Babcock cracks that Mark may have developed his brain tumor after Elizabeth got pregnant. Ha…ha? In the ER, an elderly woman named Georgia claims a bed and tells Mark she’s dying. No, she doesn’t have a diagnosis from a doctor: She’s a fortuneteller, and her death is in the cards. She reads Mark’s palm and tells him there’s a crack in his lifeline. Georgia predicts that she’ll be dead by sundown.
One of the detectives from Legaspi’s place comes looking for Weaver to ask about Legaspi’s treatment of Shannon. Weaver says Shannon’s accusations are ridiculous; she was suicidal and has psychological problems, so they can’t take her seriously. Luka eavesdrops as the detective asks Weaver about the nature of her relationship with Legaspi. Weaver says they’re colleagues, but the detective knows colleagues don’t tend to be at each other’s houses first thing in the morning.
Elizabeth catches Romano finishing up what seems like a job interview with someone. She’s annoyed that he keeps finding replacements for her. Yeah, how dare he try to keep the hospital running while she’s out? Elizabeth threatens to report him for discrimination against her for taking leave while pregnant. She knows of a pregnant woman who killed her husband and was exonerated because she pled temporary insanity due to her hormones. Romano gives her a bunch of responsibilities before she can go back to the OR.
Luka calls Abby in to help him with a baby named May. Weaver pulls Luka aside to try to clear up any misconceptions he may have after overhearing her conversation with the detective. Really, she just wants to make sure he doesn’t tell anyone that she was at Legaspi’s this morning. This is Luka, who’s not exactly a gossiper, so he stays casual the whole time and acts like he didn’t hear anything juicy. He goes back to May, who’s having a little trouble breathing but doesn’t seem too sick.
Romano is summoned to Romano’s office, where Legaspi is just leaving a meeting with him. Ruh-roh! Mark treats a guy named James who’s part of an amateur wrestling group. Another wrestler, Todd (AKA the Weasel), is next door, being treated for a wound from a razor blade. Apparently fans love watching guys go at each other with blades. People of Chicago, please find better hobbies. Dave is trying to convince Todd to give up an activity that has so many risks, including scarring from blades. He reminds him that women don’t like scars. He tries to get Mark, recently scarred from brain surgery, to back him up. Shh, Dave.
Romano interrogates Weaver about Legaspi’s sexuality, which, of course, has nothing to do with her ability to do her job, and is therefore none of his business. Does this hospital not have an HR department? Weaver defends her and says she’s never witnessed any unacceptable sexual behavior at work. Romano guesses that she’s trying to protect Legaspi. He wants an emergency disciplinary hearing. Weaver says this is a witch hunt, but Romano says it’s damage control.
Carter and Rena have lunch at Doc Magoo’s, and he tells her a story about trying to use his grandparents’ horses in a chariot as a kid. Carter’s childhood was very different from most people’s. Rena mentions a lecture she attended that morning, and Carter notes that it must have made her feel like she’s back in college. Guess what – Rena is in college! So when she said she was a pediatric intern, she actually meant that she’s doing an internship that requires hundreds of hours of experience in the ER. Rena’s only 19.
Abby checks on May, who’s still having trouble breathing and will need a chest x-ray. Abby sends May’s mother, Mrs. Jeffries, to get some coffee while they wait for someone to take May for the x-ray. Carter pulls Abby out of May’s room to tell her that Rena is younger than he thought. She’s shocked that he couldn’t tell she was still a teenager when they slept together.
As they’re talking, Mrs. J. returns and asks where May is. Abby says someone must have picked her up, but no one got her for the x-ray, and no one moved her to a different room. Oops, Abby lost a baby! The ER goes into lockdown and Legaspi comes to comfort Mrs. J. while Abby talks to a police officer. She feels helpless and wants to do something more than just answer questions. Georgia tries to comfort her by telling her that “sometimes God calls little babies home to be His angels.” Georgia, you’re not helping!
Legaspi leaves Mrs. J. to answer the police’s questions and goes to talk to Weaver about her meeting with Romano. Legaspi says it was degrading (what a shock!). Shannon was depressed because she was questioning her sexuality, and Legaspi just wanted her to feel less alone. Weaver asks what Legaspi told Romano about the two of them. Legaspi gets that Weaver is more concerned with keeping their relationship a secret than she is with what Legaspi is going through.
Weaver reminds Legaspi that not everyone in the world will accept them for being together. Legaspi doesn’t want to live her life sneaking around just so they don’t have to face people’s disapproval. Weaver points out that there are no openly gay women in high-ranking positions in hospitals. Legaspi tells her this isn’t about her – it’s about Shannon, who would rather die than deal with the stigma of being gay. In that case, Legaspi realizes, it might be about Weaver after all.
Abby searches a laundry cart for May, telling Carter she heard about a baby getting scooped up with some laundry in another hospital. Carter enlists her to help him with another patient, but Abby gets distracted by what the police are doing in their search for May. The police aren’t interested in her opinions. Abby tries to apologize to Mrs. J. and assure her that May will be fine.
Mark thinks James is on steroids, but it takes about five days to get test results to prove that. Dave says Mark should just ask him if he’s using. Yes, people who use illicit substances are often very open to admitting it. Mark gives it a try anyway, and James tells him he’s leaving. Mark won’t let him go until his parents get there. James throws Mark off of him and runs off.
Dave follows him outside, telling James that his father would want them to take care of him. James knows his father will be furious if he finds out about the steroids. Dave hints at a bad childhood we’ll never learn about when he says that while he doesn’t know James’ father, he knows “the type.” He’s able to convince James to stay.
Weaver checks in with Chen about a patient of hers who needed a psych consult. Chen tells her that psych is taking longer than usual to respond to pages. Haleh says she heard that Legaspi is being fired. Weaver tells her not to gossip, but Haleh says that’s not gossip. The real gossip is that Legaspi is a lesbian. Why is the staff acting like they’ve never met a gay person before?
Cleo examines Mark to make sure that James didn’t injure him when he threw Mark to the floor. James apologizes, and Mark blames roid rage. Dave thinks James is scared because his father is abusing him. Mark has no sympathy for James, and he ignores Dave’s concern that telling James’ parents about his possible steroid use will just make things worse. Dave coughs, “Tumor” and says that the old Mark would have helped James. Maybe Weaver was right to have his competency evaluated.
Mrs. J. makes a statement to the press asking for whoever took May to return her to the hospital. Abby smokes nearby and asks Luka to leave her alone. He tells her he can’t do that. Abby blames herself for May’s disappearance, though Luka thinks she shouldn’t.
James’ father has arrived and he’s not happy with his son. Dave pulls him out of the room and urges the father to show his son some compassion, since he’s injured. James’ father says James just needs a kick in the butt to get himself together. Dave accuses him of abuse and tries to stop him from going back into James’ room. The father shoves him into a wall, so Dave headbutts him. Mark intervenes and sends Dave away.
Abby should probably not be sticking someone with a needle while her mind is on a missing baby. Poor Mrs. J. is sitting in the waiting area, alone, right in Abby’s eyeline. A paramedic radios that she’s picked up an abandoned baby at an El station and is bringing her in. Abby thinks it could be May. Fortunately, she’s right, and though the baby is hypothermic, she’s otherwise okay.
Mark tells Dave he’s been suspended for the rest of the week. Dave thinks he’s being punished for defending himself. Elizabeth checks on Mark, who downplays the seriousness of being elbowed to the floor by a teenager on steroids. Weaver gives him a letter she forgot to give him earlier; it’s actually his competency results. He opens it, frowns at what he reads, and tears the letter into pieces. But that’s just so he can make confetti to celebrate that he passed.
The sun has gone down but Georgia is still alive, so maybe she should rethink fortunetelling. What was the point of that plot? Rena wants to do something with Carter, but he’d like to put an end to whatever’s developing between them before it goes any further. Weaver meets with Romano, Anspaugh, and Legaspi so Romano can argue for Legaspi to be disciplined. Anspaugh thinks her actions with Shannon were appropriate. Romano wants her put on administrative leave until there’s a formal hearing. He asks Weaver if she has anything to add, since she’s one, too – meaning a female doctor, not a lesbian.
Weaver says that Legaspi is a great doctor and didn’t do anything Shannon accused her of doing. Romano mocks her for not providing a stronger defense. After Romano leaves, Anspaugh nicely tells Legaspi to ignore him and wait for this to pass. Weaver apologizes to Legaspi, who doesn’t want to talk to her. She also no longer wants to date Weaver. She can’t be with someone who’s ashamed of their relationship.
Weaver says she wishes she could be more like Legaspi. She’s spent her whole life fighting for respect and acceptance. Now Legaspi is asking her to do that yet again. Legaspi replies that she’s not asking for anything. Weaver begs for more time, not wanting things to end like this, but Legaspi is done. In happier news, Abby tells Mrs. J. that they want to keep May overnight, just to be safe, but she seems fine. Mrs. J. clearly isn’t upset with Abby for losing May; she’s just happy to have her baby back.
Thoughts: For those keeping track, this is where Elizabeth really becomes unbearable. It won’t let up much until the end of season 8, unfortunately.
I assume Shannon would be even MORE suicidal after the train crash, knowing she caused more than 30 deaths.
Rena says she’s 20 – “in September.” Well, it’s March now, which means you’re 19 for six more months, so just say you’re 19, you weirdo.
Did another medical show do a plot like Georgia’s? It feels familiar and Grey’s Anatomy-ish.
December 15, 2020
ER 7.15, The Crossing: Unburdened
No matter how you feel about Benton, this is impressive
Summary: Luka is broodily examining a patient as Weaver chats with Legaspi. They’ve just wrapped up a mass trauma, treating 37 people and only losing two. Weaver is pleased with Luka’s work and thinks things have quieted down enough for him to go home. Things go slow-motion as he leaves, then comes back in, telling Abby he wants to check on Bishop Stewart. He says he’s fine, but there’s clearly something distracting him. He goes to the ICU to see Stewart, who’s having trouble breathing. Luka tells him he’ll need to be intubated soon. Stewart is ready to die and doesn’t want any extreme treatments.
Seven hours earlier, Abby is dealing with a difficult patient in the ER as Mark wraps up a shift. Randi complains about the lack of sunlight and asks if the groundhog saw its shadow. Carter says the two things aren’t connected. Mark tells Carter to let Weaver know that he’s finishing his competency testing, which he keeps making jokes about, like, you’re facing literal life-or-death situations every day. Maybe take this seriously.
Malik introduces Carter to Rena Trujillo, a pediatric intern who’s helped to calm down an anxious child. Up in the OR, William is observing Benton, who’s become something like a mentor to him. William doesn’t know how he’ll answer the question of why he wants to be a doctor at his med-school interview the next day. He admits that he always thought it would be cool. Shirley tells Benton that as soon as he’s done with this surgery, he needs to go to the ER to help with a mass trauma.
Carter chats/flirts with Rena after they’re done with their patient. She asks him to sign a time sheet for her so she can collect hours for her internship. Abby grabs Carter for the mass trauma, which we finally learn is a train derailment. Carter and Luka are being sent to the site, leaving Chen behind as the highest-ranking doctor on call. Randi turns on the news and sees the full extent of the disaster.
Luka and Carter arrive at the crash site, and the incident commander, a firefighter named Davis, tells them the crash was caused by a stalled car on the train tracks. Their first priority is helping another firefighter whose legs are stuck under the train. Luka tells Carter to deal with that while he triages others. The trapped firefighter, Lorcan, apologizes to Davis for jumping into an unsafe situation, as if that’s his biggest problem right now. Carter urges Davis to get his crew working to lift the train ASAP.
Luka goes to the driver of the car that stalled on the tracks, Shannon. She doesn’t seem to be injured too badly. Carter thinks Lorcan will need to have his legs amputated before the train can be moved, which means he needs a surgeon in the field. Luka crosses the crash site and takes in all the destruction and injured passengers. He has a flashback of the aftermath of a similar disastrous experience.
Inside the train, Luka finds a woman who can’t find her son. She’s been impaled by something and can’t move her legs, but she’s more worried about her son. Luka goes looking for the boy, Myles, climbing up to the roof of the train so he can get access to the car Myles might be in. He finds the boy under a bunch of debris and has another flashback.
Elizabeth comes to the scene and gets an update on Lorcan’s condition. She slips and falls on the ground but keeps going. Davis asks Lorcan if he should call Patty, Lorcan’s ex-wife. The divorce just went through, and the firefighters were going to go out and celebrate after their shift. Lorcan just wants to do whatever needs to be done so he can get untrapped. Back inside, Luka and a firefighter free Myles from the debris.
Weaver arrives at County to help everyone prepare for all the patients coming in. Benton tells William to keep shadowing him and ask any questions he has, but stay out of the way. Dave brings in the first patient and Benton starts working and teaching at the same time. William gets yelled at by Haleh, which I think is a rite of passage in the ER.
Carter triages more patients on the scene as the firefighters work on moving the train. Elizabeth says that she thinks her slip-and-fall earlier strained her back. Davis wants a stop to the effort in case the train shifts the wrong way and puts more weight on Lorcan. Elizabeth realizes that Lorcan’s vitals indicate he won’t live long enough to be freed from under the train. She needs to amputate both his legs. Lorcan is understandably resistant to this idea, but if it’s this or bleed to death, he doesn’t have a choice. Good thing Elizabeth has a former surgical intern to assist her.
Mark continues joking through his last competence tests. Dude, shut up. Also, the test, which involves matching arrows of different orientations and colors, looks tricky, so maybe concentrate instead of yapping. Your career is on the line. Elizabeth and Carter do the best they can in their makeshift OR as Lorcan decides he wants Davis to call Patty after all. Elizabeth starts feeling pain and tries to work through it.
Luka runs around the crash site, helping as many people as he can. He decides to ride to the hospital with Myles and lets Carter know that Myles’ mother still needs help. Carter tells him that Elizabeth is having contractions, but she says she can keep operating if she gets connected to a fetal monitor. The paramedics don’t have one, so Luka makes some quick decisions: Carter will continue the amputation while Elizabeth goes to the hospital with Myles.
Shannon is now in an ER trauma room, next door to a train passenger. Benton leaves Dave to tend to the passenger alone so he can help with other patients. William is still observing everything, probably happy that he doesn’t have to deal with things like LOSING A PIECE OF BONE FROM HIS LEG. I didn’t need to see that, show. Chuny tells Benton that Carter is on the radio looking for guidance in Lorcan’s amputation.
Myles goes into respiratory distress just before he can be loaded into a medevac helicopter. Elizabeth doesn’t want to delay the trip to the hospital, so she tells the pilot to fly while she intubates Myles. Meanwhile, Benton tries to give Carter instructions for the amputation, but all the noise at the scene and the helicopters overhead make it impossible for Carter to hear him.
Abby meets Elizabeth and Myles at the hospital and sends Myles off with paramedics while she tends to Elizabeth (good idea, since Abby was an OB nurse). Elizabeth admits that she hasn’t felt the baby move for a while. Back at the crash site, Myles’ mother is finally being transported to the hospital. She tells Luka to make sure Myles is taken care of in case she doesn’t make it to the hospital alive.
Carter and Benton clear up their communication issues and Benton talks Carter through the amputation until Weaver calls Benton away to help someone else. Benton tells Carter to call him on his cell so he can work away from the radio, but Carter doesn’t have his phone with him, and Davis and Pam the paramedic don’t have phones, either. (This was 2000, before everyone had a phone with them 24/7.)
Chen examines Elizabeth and assures her that her early labor can be stopped. Benton moves Myles into a trauma room just as Dave is finishing up declaring his patient dead. Now Benton has access to a phone, so he’s able to go back to helping Carter. Davis tells Lorcan that Patty will meet him at the hospital, but now Lorcan doesn’t want her to see him in this condition.
Benton might be a genius, as he’s able to keep talking Carter through a procedure he himself can’t see while drilling a hole in Myles’ skull (and accidentally splattering William with blood). Benton realizes he needs to do a more extensive procedure on Myles, which will need his full attention. He gives Carter some final instructions, which Carter will need to follow while Lorcan thrashes around with only Davis to try to calm him.
Myles’ mother has declined by the time she reaches County, and Luka has to shock her in the ambulance bay. Mark arrives to be with Elizabeth, who’s still having contractions, though the baby isn’t in distress. Myles is stabilizing, so Benton gets back on the phone with Carter, who’s almost done with Lorcan. Chuny calls Weaver away to talk to Shannon while Benton takes Myles to the OR. William is left alone in the trauma room, holding the phone, while Carter yells for Benton. “Good luck,” William tells him before hanging up.
Luka and Benton both have patients who need surgery, and unlike the last time they worked a trauma together, they’re both willing to let the other’s patient go first. Luka thinks Myles should be the priority and lets Benton go first. Shannon asks Weaver about some of the patients she saw in the ER and whether they’ll survive. She doesn’t want to call her parents because she doesn’t think they would understand. “I thought it would be painless,” she says. “The train would hit my car… I’d just be gone.”
Lorcan is finally transported from the train site, minus his legs. There’s no surgeon available to finish up Carter’s work, but he’s stable. Romano arrives, wearing a gi, and criticizes Carter’s field amputation. Weaver defends Carter, pointing out that Romano didn’t answer his page and come do the amputation himself. Romano says he can’t wear his pager in the dojo. Does anyone find this entertaining? Anyone? Yeah, I didn’t think so. After some more crabbing, Weaver tells Carter that he did great, and Lorcan was lucky he was there.
Weaver has summoned Legaspi to the ER to talk to Shannon. Legaspi asks when Weaver will be off work and says to feel free to wake her when Weaver gets home. I guess Weaver is okay with the “lesbian lifestyle” after all. We’re back to the first scene of the episode, but before Luka goes to see Stewart, we get more: Randi tells Luka that Myles is okay and his mother has feeling in her legs again.
William meets up with Benton after being put to work by some nurses who thought he was a volunteer. Benton thinks he can talk about this experience in his interview, but William is no longer sure he wants to go to med school. Everything he saw tonight was traumatic. Benton tells him he’ll get used to it, but William doesn’t want to get used to seeing these sorts of things. At least now he knows before he puts in all the work (and money) training for a job he doesn’t really want. Benton urges him to go to the interview anyway; he should keep his options open.
Elizabeth’s contractions have stopped and the baby is okay, but she’ll need to go on bed rest for a little while. Abby tells her she just needs to slow down. This is where Abby catches up with Luka before he goes to see Stewart. In the ICU, Stewart asks Luka how long he has. Luka says just a few hours. Stewart thinks Luka came to give confession. He says Luka believes he’s lost his faith, but it’s never left him.
Stewart blesses Luka and invites him to unburden his heart. He’ll take Luka’s burden with him when he dies. Luka admits to him for the first time that he lost his family. His wife, Danijela, wanted to move someplace safer, but Luka was still finishing his internship. He went out one day to get some supplies, leaving his family at home. He was on the street outside the building when a mortal shell hit it. Luka ran inside, passing by his injured neighbors to try to get to his family.
He has more extensive flashbacks of his memories from earlier as he tells Stewart the story. Danijela told him to find their son, Marko, who was under debris like Myles was. Luka started to take their daughter, Jasna, off for help, but he realized that Danijela was bleeding to death. When Luka turned to help her, Jasna stopped breathing. Luka tried to save both of them, praying that someone would come to help him. If he had taken Danijela to the hospital, she could have been saved, but Luka couldn’t leave Jasna. He prayed for help but no one came.
Luka tried to hours to revive Jasna, only stopping because he exhausted himself. In the end, his whole family died. Stewart acknowledges that he couldn’t bring himself to sacrifice one family member to save another. If he had, he would always feel guilty. Stewart says the mysteries of life and death make up our faith. They’re “gifts of love and life,” as is Luka, so he shouldn’t turn his back on them. Stewart finishes the ritual, telling Luka he’s forgiven of his sins and should find peace. Luka stays by Stewart’s bed all night, and in the morning, the bishop is dead.
Thoughts: Lorcan is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Rena is played by Lourdes Benedicto.
Isn’t Carter still on probation? Chen should have gone to the crash site. Actually, no – Benton should have gone, and then he and Luka could have a redo of “May Day.”
When Benton gets on the radio with Carter, he asks what Carter’s doing in a tone of voice that makes it seem like he thinks Carter got bored and started cutting off someone’s legs. Maybe Carter should have explained up front that he was just finishing an actual qualified surgeon’s work.
'90s Flashback 