Episode Report Card Heathen: C- | 1 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Just A Touch
By Heathen | Season 10 | Episode 19 | Aired on 04.21.2004
In Trauma Yellow, Seizure Woman -- I'm so creative with the names today -- gets treatment from Neela, Malik, and Pratt, as they try to rule out a heart attack as the cause of her seizures. Pratt's leading and doing the quizzing thing with Neela, but she's giving pretty vague answers unless Pratt presses her. "We don't have to do this if you've got something better to do," Pratt brats. Weird little thread here; wish they'd snip it like the one dangling from Luka's lab coat.
Carter is on the phone in the lounge, explaining to whomever that he's stuck at the hospital and needs a notary to come to him. As he hangs up, Chen enters and apologizes for stranding him -- what, did she pick him up from home so her could come with her and her father? I'm confused -- and promising to give him a lift home. He laughs that he already made arrangements to get a notary to come to County, and shrugs that he'll just kill time there until his shift. He's picking out themes for the nursery, and asks Chen to pick her favorite: jungle, aquatics, or the circus. Unless Carter wants his child to grow up a twisted head case, I suggest he stay away from anything involving the clown, that nefarious lower order of humankind. "If you had a baby, which..." Carter begins, and then sees Chen's wounded eyes. "I like the jungle," she says softly. Carter is grateful for his flirtation with yoga, because it's enabled him to get half his leg in his mouth here without popping a joint. "It's okay, don't worry about it," Chen insists with a sad smile. "You know, sometimes I forget, myself. Actually, I think that's when I feel worse -- when I realize I haven't thought about him in a week or so." She distantly, ruefully, notes that once her father dies, she'll be totally alone in the world. Carter is sad. Oh, gross, and also smug. What is wrong with him? Did the wind change once during a scene, freezing his features in that cat-ate-the-canary arrangement? Chen shakes her head no and bites her lip. "Maybe you should," Carter says. That's easy to say when you're not the one who has to deal with potentially uneasy adoptive parents. "Maybe I should've kept him," counters Chen. "He is three years old now." She looks awed, proud, and distraught at the same time. It's actually the first nice scene I feel like I've seen from Ming-Na in a while -- Chen's been such an ice block lately, it's nice to remember that she has a human side. I think this was my favorite part of the whole episode, for continuity and character reasons in addition to her lovely acting.