Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | 3 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Late Nate, Jr.
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 9 | Aired on 07.30.2005
Just then the ER doors slam open and Brenda charges in. She couldn't look more urgent if she were riding a gurney and giving someone chest compressions. Before she spots David and Maggie, David gently takes Nate's jacket from Maggie. Brenda comes up to David, demanding to know what happened. "Um," David says. Maggie, who's been standing with her back to Brenda, turns to reveal her face. Brenda's not happy to see it. Maggie says in a rehearsed way, "I called 911. He was at my house when we collapsed. He came to pick me up for church." Brenda snaps, "Yeah, that was, like, two hours ago." Sadly, Maggie's little script is over and she has nothing to add. "Right," Brenda says. She tells David she wants to see Nate, but David explains about the CAT scan. So they've got some waiting to do.
Cut to Nate, parked on a gurney in the hospital hallway, waiting for his scan. The camera zooms in on his face and his eyes fly open as he Dead Zones into a vision of the last moments before his attack. Except now the camera angles are all different from the original scene and the lighting is all stark and high-contrast; Nate and Maggie are practically overexposed (even as they're getting dressed, heh heh), but the surrounding room is in near-darkness. Nate again says, "This wasn't planned," but he has his shirt on before he says it this time, which is different from the original. Maggie still knows. Their voices sound like they looped the dialogue in via speakerphone. And then Nate's arm goes numb again, but his tongue doesn't this time. Maggie goes to where he's standing -- yes, he's still standing -- and rubs his wrist as he says, "Whole thing just went to sleep there -- sleep there for a second." That dash indicates a deliberate editing glitch to convey, you know, whatever. They stand close to each other and wonder what they're going to do. They agree that they don't want to hurt anyone, and but then they start making out again. Um, guys? You're hurting me when you do that. And then the vision ends and sleepy, sleepy Nate is wheeled down the corridor, where hopefully the CAT scan will reveal just what the hell is wrong with him, anyway. I mean that in more than one sense, in case you're wondering.
Claire arrives at the ER with Lawyer Ted in tow, and she's quickly brought up to speed. "Last we heard, he was still unconscious," Maggie pipes up. Brenda, who's sitting as far away from Maggie as she can while still able to hear her, gives her a stink-eye while Claire gives a confused "o…kay." That out of the way, she introduces "my friend Ted" to "my brother David, my sister-in-law, Brenda…and Maggie." "Stepsister," Maggie volunteers. "Former. Sort of." David in particular looks like he's calling on his entire lifetime of experience in dealing with emotionally awkward situations as everyone sits down to wait. Claire whispers to David, "Why is she here?" "Later," David whispers back.