Episode Report Card Heathen: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Four Corners
By Heathen | Season 8 | Episode 1 | Aired on 09.26.2001
Cuddled on the couch with his child, Mark hears keys jangling and knows Elizabeth is home. She walks inside seconds later, half-heartedly asking about the baby's welfare while she kicks off her shoes. Mark asks about the homeless man over whose treatment they sparred. "Extubated in recovery when I left," she sighs. "I think I repaired the oozing, but it might've stopped on its own." Mark waves it off as a judgment call; he prefers to kill his patients, but Elizabeth's allowed to be an idealist. Elizabeth still hasn't so much as looked at her daughter. Granted, she's tired and had a long day, but she isn't required to hold the baby or feed her because Mark took care of that. All she needs is to peer into her child's face, maybe caress her head once, showing some flicker of affection. But evidently she's dispossessed of the required selflessness. Mark begins his confession. "Elizabeth, in the elevator with Fossen..." She cuts him off, certain it's better to bury that topic temporarily. Pun accidental. She crosses to him, leans her cheek against his head, and kisses his shiny pate. They snuggle like that for a minute, then she kisses the baby and heads up to bed. Halfway upstairs, though, looking momentarily sickened, Elizabeth turns and calls his name. But instead of voicing her worst fears, Elizabeth swallows them and says instead, "I'll get up with her." Mark stares after her briefly, then focuses anew on the baby, the fresh life he created shortly before terminating another.
The preview for next week teases some bad news Benton must break to Reese, and ends with the assertion, "Make no mistake: ER is back." And with it comes overblown ads.