Episode Report Card Heathen: B | 3 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT A Simple Twist of Fate
By Heathen | Season 8 | Episode 14 | Aired on 02.06.2002
Babcock and Carter babble about leukemia things. Babblecock notices Carter's mother hovering over Mickey, which confounds him. Eleanor promptly charges out of the room and screams that Mickey is coughing up blood; as they run to his bedside, we see red goop dribbling down his chin like so much tasty strawberry jelly. Mickey stares gloomily into space and mouth-breathes, resisting the urge to swab his chin with some toast. Carter's all, "Ain't no thang," but Eleanor won't have it. "This isn't normal," she hisses. Carter and Babcock again hurl medical jargon, which frustrates Eleanor enough that she yells at them to shut up, and please just to help Mickey live, live, live. Mickey thanks her by upchucking a few more jars of jelly -- seriously, the "blood" drips from his lips in thick, dark chunks, and it's utterly vile. Remember when I complimented ER on its unusual restraint with the gratuitous vomit? Yeah, I recall that, too. Color me hasty. Eleanor, visibly agitated, can't handle the gravity of all this, and backs out of the room in distress.
Carter catches his mother frantically slamming her hand against the elevator call button. "Mom?" Carter quizzes. "What are you doing?" Eleanor stammers that she can't do it -- she can't coddle Mickey through this. "I can't see him in that kind of pain -- not again," she breathes. "What did you expect?" spits Carter. "You cannot get this kid's hopes up and then leave!" Eleanor hurries into the open elevator and turns, begging Carter with her eyes to give up and let her flee. He regards her with clear distaste. "You're really going to do this," he realizes. "You're going to drag me back here and then bail when it gets too tough!" As the doors close, Carter grabs them and throws them open violently. He's fuming. Eleanor pulls her fur coat up, covering most of her face so that only those blinking, beseeching, irritating eyes are exposed. She looks like a frightened six-year-old, except for the bags and wrinkles. Mary McDonnell hasn't aged too well since Independence Day. "This kid didn't think he'd have to go through this alone!" Carter yells. A nurse shoves her way onto the elevator, so Carter steps back and shakes his head accusingly as the doors close on his current of wrath. Or rather, Wrath. Pesky little bugger.
Enter Gluttony. Susan and Mark flock to the side of a little girl being wheeled in from an all-you-can-eat buffet, where she had gorged herself until she began wheezing. As they set her up in Trauma Yellow, Gluttony admits that she was chowing on shrimp and lobster. Mark's all, "Shrimp and lobster?" He's gaping madly, as insensitive as can be. He could've just gone ahead and said, "Hey, show me how the piggy eats, Oinkbag." Tearfully, Gluttony cops not only to eating both, but to eating rather a lot of both. Mark tries ordering a course of solumedrol, yet can't seem to choke out anything but the first syllable. Susan, thrown and curious, fills in the blank for him, then shoots him a thoughtful look. "Mark, I've got this," she offers with forced cheer. But Mark, eager for the distraction, persists in treating Gluttony. He sends the redheaded temp nurse in search of the pulse ox cables...