Episode Report Card Heathen: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Beyond Repair
By Heathen | Season 8 | Episode 11 | Aired on 01.09.2002
As Carter heads for the restroom, strains of "Battleflag" by Lo-Fidelity All-Stars plays -- the same song that played over the scene in which Sobriki committed the stabbings. Carter bursts into the bathroom and grabs the sink, leaning heavily on it and trying to collect his thoughts. He's clearly rattled that this troubled man, this schizophrenic killer, so casually asserts his complete normalcy when Carter -- the innocent victim -- struggled for so long and still can't say that he's completely recovered. And won't ever be able to say it, either, because his painkiller addiction will haunt him for the rest of his life. Noah Wyle manages to convey all this with simple facial expressions, and it's the best and most subtle performance he's given in a long time. As the music crescendos, Carter whips around, paranoid that the demon is behind him. Exhaling shakily, he splashes water on his face. But he hasn't completely regained equilibrium, and pukes violently into the sink. Yes, in searching for words, for a way to cope, for an expression of his every emotion at this second, Carter plumbs the depths of his soul and comes up with his breakfast. We go to commercial wondering what Carter ate.
Sandy escorts Kerry to the Blackhawks game, the latter clearly not a major hockey fan, for she's rambling on that the puck needs to be bright pink or have a flashing light so that people can follow it. She should watch a FOX telecast. The puck's blue, just for her. Sandy laughs at her silly stereotypically girly girlfriend with the dumb girly talk and the bad haircut. Whoops, that last one was my complaint, actually. Laura Innes is beautiful. Someone, anyone, please fix her head! Kerry, mid-laugh, suddenly spots Susan and Malik and ducks her head, trying to hide in the swarm of people. Malik and Susan breeze right by, with him spouting some nonsense about being the Bruce Lee of love. People have railed about Susan going on a "date" with Malik instead of consoling Carter, but honestly, I think it's pretty clearly not a date. I don't really understand why she bolted without worrying about whether Carter saw Sobriki or not, but I don't like Susan that much anyway, so I'm going to ignore it and assume she's self-involved. Sandy totally busts Kerry for being closeted, railing at how horrible that makes Sandy feel, and reminding Kerry that she hit on Sandy first. Kerry says something very telling: "They're not my friends. They work for me." That speaks volumes to me about her detachment from people in the ER. Sandy asserts that Kerry needs to out herself in the workplace. "I don't got time for this," Sandy says idiotically, disappearing into the crowd. I hate, hate, hate "I don't got." Why does Sandy have to sound illiterate? Who made that decision? What, because she's a firefighter, she's lax with her English? Whatever.