Episode Report Card Heathen: C- | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Makemba
By Heathen | Season 10 | Episode 10 | Aired on 12.10.2003
Debbie -- with what seems like a touch of premature impatience -- introduces Thandie as Makemba Likasu of the Ministry of Health, and her boyfriend Peter of the Ministry of Finance. Carter's eyes are all aglow, because if you're not blonde, you can still nail him if you've got spunk. Debbie explains that "Kem" is setting up a clinic for AIDS patients. Angelique chooses that moment to grab a friend and ask him to dance. Carter then leans in to ask Kem for more details; she replies that her program's funded by the Global Fund, and that she's bringing antiretroviral therapy to Africa. "The triple cocktail? Here?" Carter asks. "Your skepticism is well-founded," says Peter. "We have our doubters," Kem says loudly, with pointed irritation. Carter wonders how she can afford it if the medicine costs fifteen thousand dollars per year for each AIDS patient, yet they can't even get IV antibiotics to Congo. Peter's like, I know that song -- it's called "Disbelief in D Minor." Kem explains that they're not using American drugs, which is just what Frenchie needs to go off again on American commercial self-interest and shittiness. Debbie explains that the WTO ruled that really poor countries can ignore drug patents, which Frenchie claims has blocked them from using cheap generics, and the WTO's action has allowed India to develop a generic triple cocktail that Kem can get for only two hundred bucks a year per patient. "Money we also don't have," Peter says. Peter apparently only knows how to naysay. Kem's pissed at that, railing that perhaps he would prefer to sit back and watch AIDS wipe out thirty million Africans in the next ten years. Kem wants her program to prove to the UN and other "rich countries" that there can be effective aid this way. "I think I just heard someone playing our song," Debbie grins. "Imperialist Yankee dollars ride to the rescue again!" crows another nurse, amused. This cuts the tension, and Kem tells Peter to stop pouting and dance with her. I'm not sure what Peter's problem is. Just because he works in a boring financial job doesn't mean Kem can't be an idealist. Here is where I would speculate that Peter's going to get dumped, but we already know that's coming, so all we can do is shake our heads and cluck that if he couldn't get interested, he should've faked it. Hell, women fake it all the time for men. Carter watches Kem go with a twinkle in his eye that Debbie notices, and not without annoyance.
Hospital. The same sick man from before is being worked up by Carter, the Belgian guy, and Frenchie, who points out that it's Bastille Day. "So I'll be forced to say nice things about the French all day?" Carter scoffs. She smiles. The Belgian notes that Sick Man isn't improving, and wants to know if now's the time on Sprockets when we use spinal taps. Indeed it is. Carter explains to the man's wife, whose name is Celine, that her husband isn't getting any better, but that they'll keep trying. "He will die soon?" she asks. "Not immediately, but yes," Carter admits. Celine's sad. She's six months pregnant and her husband's dying of AIDS. Carter asks if she's been tested; she hasn't, nor have her children. Carter tells her that if she has AIDS, there are things they can give her that might prevent her from transmitting it to her baby. She's grateful.