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
As Abby passes Brian's door, which is next to hers, she hears the lock rattle and knows he's about to come out. I should point out that in "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic," it was an old woman who lived in that apartment, and she poked her head out of the door to commiserate with Abby about the loud, arguing couple living upstairs. If Continuity would stop stealing Rachel's Ecstasy, this might have been avoided. Abby speeds up guiltily and ignores his shouts until she's at the bottom of the stairs and he's staring right at her, calling her name. "What?" she asks innocently. Brian frets that Joyce didn't come home all night, and never called him. "Did you call the police?" Abby queries, her eyes too wide. Brian figures she's just mad because they had an argument, and tells Abby to have Joyce call him. Abby bites back her irritation and escapes through the front door.
Susan listens attentively as Mark explains Ella's good progression -- her extremities are moving, she's pinking up, and if she goes seizure-free for two days, she's in the clear. But the next step is milking Elizabeth for a feeding, so Mark grabs a breast pump and heads upstairs, thanking Susan for covering his shift. She's polite and insists that he should take care of his child.
Next, Susan meets up with Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen, who's accompanying a new patient to the trauma room. This man was attacked by a sloth at the zoo and his right arm is caked in blood. He gives a sassy lecture explaining that sloths aren't the same as monkeys, which is heartening information I will use next time I'm face-to-face with one -- it's almost as helpful as pointing out that llamas are larger than frogs. I figure that the writers didn't feel like looking up what Sloth means, so they got all clever on us and used the critter instead. Now wave goodbye to Slothy! He won't be back. And you know what? It so doesn't matter.
Chen ditches Slothy like a bad subplot and flags down Mark. A bad trade? Probably. She's relieved to hear that Ella is finally thriving, then clears her throat and broaches an awkward subject. "Um, look, I didn't file an H5122 with the chart," she begins. Mark blinks blankly. "Mandatory reporting of illegal substance abuse," Chen defines for him, and us. "Oh, right," Mark says, pretending he simply forgot. Chen presses that she thought he might want to handle the paperwork, and Mark lies that he'll take care of it. The elevator doors slide shut, and he collapses against the wall, tense.