Big ups to Scrapper and KermitDFrog.
Previously on ER: Chen returns to the ER, and gets bitched out by Kerry for lying about a patient's medical condition; Bad-Heart Girl, a.k.a. "Valerie," thanks Lucy and says Lucy is a doctor as far as she's concerned; Corday brings a woman to see Rollins, then manipulates Rollins into telling her where he left the woman's sister's body by holding up a syringe full of enough morphine to kill him; Luka asks Carol how she's doing, and she confesses she's "exhausted"; Mark suggests that Holling move in with him in Chicago.
Mark "Get Set, Go" Greene looks groggily at his clock, which reads 5:50 in the morning, and jumps out of bed; the Weather Channel blares in the background. "Dad?" he calls out, coming into his living room to find David "Holling" Greene on the couch with a cup of coffee. "You're up early," Holling bellows over the TV, and says it might snow later. "Dad, it's a little loud," Mark says in an exasperated tone, and Holling suggests that Mark could put a door on his bedroom, which Mark says he doesn't want to do, and as the phone starts to ring, Holling offers to build him a door, and Mark asks him to turn "that thing" down and picks up the phone, and he apologizes to someone on the other end by saying, "My dad's visiting," while grabbing the remote out of Holling's hand and muting the TV. "Who the hell's calling at this hour?" Holling wants to know. "My neighbor, you woke her too," Mark says flatly, scratching his ear and heading into the kitchen. "The walls in this building are paper-thin," Holling grouses, adding, "By the way, we're out of coffee," just as Mark picks up the empty pot and clanks it back down, and he goes on to say that he could barely get a cup out of the "dibble-dabble" left himself. I love Holling -- specifically, I love Holling's accent, and the way he busts on Mark doesn't hurt either -- but Mark looks like he might kill his father. He says he'll just get dressed and go to work. "This early?" Holling asks. "This early," Mark mutters. Holling says he likes "that Weather Channel," which he never bothered watching in San Diego because it always said "clear and sunny, clear and sunny, chance of a cloud, mostly sunny." He fixes himself a bowl of cereal. Mark rolls his eyes and goes to get dressed. Heh.
Carol "One For My Babies, And One More For The Road" Hathaway bustles into the ER, looking apprehensive. Chuny welcomes her back and asks after the twins, and Carol says that "they're doing great," but she doesn't know how she'll do: "This is my first full day without them." Get out the binoculars, everyone, and you'll see this subplot heading east from Marin County right . . . about . . . now. Carol remarks hopefully that it seems quiet, but Amira disabuses her of that notion as a gurney goes past the desk. Chuny goes to meet it, and Carol says she'll follow Chuny in a second as Luka "Just Don't Argue Anymore" Kovac gets the bullet from Doris, who has a mondo sasso new haircut. The guy on the gurney, a trapeze artist in the circus, slipped off the platform during practice, but he caught his arm in the cable, and "that's what saved him," or so the two other Flying Wallendas following the gurney tell Luka. The team hoists the injured Wallenda onto a table, and Mark comes in and mock-introduces himself to Carol, adding, "You must be the new nurse." Carol laughs, "Hi, Mark," and Mark goes to wash his hands, but the spigot just sputters and coughs up a bit of spray; nobody knows anything about it, so Mark goes to deal with the plumbing. The Wallenda's pressure crashes. Luka calls out some orders, and Carol is a little slow on the uptake, and a little defensive about that, and Luka tells her, "It's okay if you're a little rusty," and Carol snaps over-cheerfully, "I'm fine, thank you," and Luka shoots her a look designed to give her guff, and have I mentioned that the man can really wear a safety goggle? Enter Robert "Little Big Mouth" Romano, who "didn't know the circus was in town," and Luka fills him in on the Wallenda's condition and asks Carol for something, and she gets defensive again, and Romano introduces himself and yanks the Wallenda's arm out at an angle, and the Wallenda yells in pain, and the other Wallendas protest that Romano is "hurting him," so Romano orders morphine, but Luka says, "His pressure is too low," and the Wallenda speaks to the other Wallendas and they beg Romano to stop, and Romano tells the Wallenda to hang on and yells at Luka, "Kovac, get these guys outta here," and Luka tries to calm everyone down, and after a short conference, the other Wallendas each grab one of Romano's arms and drag him from the room, and Romano struggles and splutters and howls, "Call Security!" Luka tries not to smile, and as Romano makes his loudly enraged and involuntary exit, Luka and Chuny watch open-mouthed. Cue credits.
Mark tells a maintenance guy to put four liters of water at every sink. Lucy "White" Knight, all bundled up and clutching a big old cup of perkalicious coffee, asks what happened; Mark explains that a water main broke, and they can fix it, but it might take awhile. Amira comments that Lucy doesn't come on until that night, and Lucy says that Valerie Page, the bad-heart girl, called her at home. Apparently, Valerie matched with a heart donor, so she's on her way in. John "Courtesy" Carter appears, and Mark busts his chops for all the cases stacking up in chairs, and Carter says he's on the code team and got called to the cafeteria for a false alarm, and then Lily bitches to Carter that his amoebic dysentery patient just used the toilet. "So?" Carter asks. Lily reminds him that they have no water, so they can't flush. Yuck. Carter escapes to another case; Mark tells Lily to put an "out of order" sign on the door and call Housekeeping. Then he tells Amira to find port-a-potties for the ambulance bay, "and maybe some air freshener." Amira looks nonplused.
Luka examines the bottom of a girl's foot as one of the Wallendas looks on. He tells the Wallenda that, in spite of the laceration, the girl can perform tonight, and he instructs the translator to pass this along to the girl, who smiles and thanks Luka. The Wallenda explains that, when the platform collapsed, one of the pieces of wood fell on top of the girl. Luka doesn't understand how she got the laceration on the bottom of her foot in that case; the translator passes the question on to the girl, who demonstrates by doing a one-handed handstand on the bed rail. "Wow," Luka says, and then remarks that he thinks he'll go see "that circus of yours." Enter Romano with a very very tall security guard: "There's one of 'em." The guard escorts the Wallenda out of the room.
In the hall, a woman explains to Jing "Queen Of The" Mei Chen that her mother has had Parkinson's disease for almost fifteen years. An orderly wheels the mother, played by Ruth Ann from Northern Exposure, alongside Chen and the daughter. What is this, Old Home Week? First the guy in the bubble (Anthony Edwards), then Holling, and now Ruth Ann? What , the ER gets a radio station and that annoying git from the Ford commercials starts broadcasting lines of poetry? ["Dude, don't dis Chris in the Morning." -- Wing Chun] Anyhow. Chen asks if the mother's condition has changed recently, and the daughter says that in the last few days, Ruth Ann has felt so weak she can't use her walker, "and I'm worried she had a stroke." The daughter starts to help the orderly hoist Ruth Ann into bed, and Chen says, "Oh, no, let us help," and the daughter says, "Oh, I don't mind -- I do it every day," but in a tone that clearly means, "I do mind, because I do it every day." Ruth Ann calls herself a "burden" to her daughter Louise, saying that Louise has to lift her onto the toilet and sponge-bathe her; Louise smiles fondly at her and makes "don't worry about it" noises. Louise asks Chen if the problem could be with Ruth Ann's heart, or if the Parkinson's could have worsened; Chen says they'll check. Ruth Ann says she doesn't feel worse, and as Chen says that they'll examine her and run some tests, Louise slumps into a bedside chair and sighs. "You okay?" Chen asks her while putting her stethoscope to her ears. "Oh, yeah, fine," Louise says wearily, sighing again.
Mark reminds Carol about some IV order or other. "I'll get to it when I can," she says hurriedly, bustling around a table. Mark says, "It's been in the rack for an hour," and he barely has the words out before Carol says sharply, "I just checked the rack. Was it in the wrong slot?" Mark says with an effort at patience that it doesn't matter, adding, "This lady has pneumonia," and Carol pouts, "And this gentleman has chest pain. I can only do one thing at a time. Mark, I'm moving as fast as I can." Mark says he knows she is, and he knows it's her first day back, and he knows she'll need a little time to "get back into the flow." Carol gets even sulkier, saying she doesn't think any of her patients "have suffered from my being 'a little rusty,' as Dr. Kovac puts it," and Mark tries to tell her that he didn't mean to imply that, but Carol snits, "Just give me the chart," and she huffs off to deal with it just as Kerry "Faster, Pussycat! Crutch! Crutch!" Weaver comes up to hassle Mark about the water problem.
She blathers on about internal-disaster protocol, she served on the committee that developed it, blah blah blah power-strugglecakes, and Mark says soothingly that he doesn't see a crisis; they've got portable toilets coming in and plenty of bottled water, and "everything seems to be under control." But Kerry squeaks officiously that the OR can't sterilize their instruments, so she's canceled elective surgeries and closed the ER to trauma. Mark says, in the same patronizingly hearty tone he often uses with Rachel, "Well, that sounds like a good idea!" as Kerry goes on to say that they can use water from the physical-therapy pool if people don't want to "freeze their butts off" going outside, and she babbles on about two gallons giving a good flush or whatever, and she gets so worked up that she bounces off an equipment cart, and Mark sort of sends her on her way down the hall by thanking her for the information and saying, "That's -- good to know," while making a "whatever" face.
Lucy greets Valerie as she gets out of a cab. Foreshadowing leaves a nasty finger-bruise on my thigh as Lucy and Valerie exchange perky dialogue: Valerie had just sat down to pancakes when they called her, Lucy is so glad Valerie called her, "news worth missing breakfast for," Valerie forgot her slippers but Lucy will get her a new pair "to go with your new heart," Lucy will get herself a barrette or a ponytail holder or a banana clip or something, anything, to put. Her lank, unwashed, overstreaked hair. UP. Well, except for that last part.
Anyhow. Carol sits at a terminal, yawning. "I'm Sorry" Dave Malucci asks Carol about a chart and whether she faxed an EKG and why he didn't get a call about it; Carol answers him shortly while smothering another yawn. Dave says mildly, "Oh, here's the problem -- paper jam. Fax it again, will you, Carol?" Carol gives him a look that would bend a rebar. Um, Carol? Nobody made you come back to work. No, maybe you can't support the twins on your own, but if you won't accept Doug's help, you've got nobody to blame but yourself, so give the put-upon routine a rest. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic towards new moms or single moms -- just towards this particular one. Cleo "Data" Finch asks if anyone has seen the films for a broken ankle, and Amira bitches, "Don't hold your breath." Carol explains that without water, radiology can't process the X-rays, and they don't know how long they'll have to wait. As Cleo strolls past him, Peter "Touched By An Android" Benton snorts before observing, a little too casually, that if the water shortage keeps up, "some of us might get out of here in time to go grab something to eat." "Sounds like fun," Cleo says neutrally while leafing through a chart. "Yeah?" Peter says hopefully. Cleo says briskly, "Have a good time," and walks away. Peter frowns. Ouch! Dissed by the cyborg!
Mark gets the bullet from the paramedic: a twenty-eight-year-old man had a seizure while driving and crashed his car. Another man follows the gurney, holding a hockey stick and looking concerned: "We were on our way to a hockey practice and he just started to shake. Scared the crap out of me." The paramedic says that the guy holding the hockey stick walked away from the wreck with only a cut on his head. Mark asks the hockey-stick guy if Michael, the seizure guy, has had any seizures before; the guy says no, not that he knows of. They hoist Michael onto the table, and Mark orders tests and asks the guy about any medical problems Michael might have. The guy offers that Michael uses "one of those asthma inhalers," and Mark notices "old bruises" and observes, "You guys play pretty rough, huh?" "He got checked pretty bad last week," the guy agrees, and Mark asks if Michael hit his head, and the guy says he doesn't think so. Just then, Michael starts gagging, so they roll him in order to fulfill the gratuitous chunk-spewing quota for this episode. ["NBC's house counsel calls down to see if Michael could possibly spew chunks onto a pane of glass, thus breaking it, and kill two birds with one
barf." -- Wing Chun] Mark asks the nurses to test Michael's theophylline level, and the guy asks, "What's that?" and Mark explains that it's asthma medication, and if a patient takes too much, "this can happen." Then he and Lily watch Michael speeyack some more.Chen walks into Ruth Ann's room. Louise is napping on the railing of Ruth Ann's bed. Chen gets her attention and tells her that "everything looks okay" -- all the tests came back "essentially normal." "Then why can't she walk?" Louise wants to know. Chen theorizes that it has to do with the Parkinson's, and that Ruth Ann's neurologist can adjust her medication "as an outpatient." Louise seems displeased by this and asks if she and Chen can talk outside; out in the hall, Louise asks, "Then you're not going to admit her?" Chen says she doesn't see a reason to. Louise says that she loves Ruth Ann, but she can't take her home and care for her if she can't walk: "I mean, I'm just too exhausted." Chen suggests a home aide, which Louise says with a slightly offended air that she can't afford; she says she wants Ruth Ann admitted so that the doctors can adjust her meds and let her get a little stronger. Chen says that she can't admit Ruth Ann just for that. "I'm asking you, please," Louise says, near tears, repeating again how tired she feels and how she's had "a difficult few weeks," and if Ruth Ann could just stay for a few days . . . she trails off. Chen looks away, then says with an air of sincere regret that she wishes she could help Louise, "but unfortunately the hospital doesn't allow for that kind of admission, I'm really sorry." Louise looks really frustrated but just whispers, "Yeah, okay. Thanks."
Lucy. Valerie. Ugly yellow slippers. Valerie's mom, on her way to the hospital; Valerie's dad, not around, "never has been," Lucy saying she knows "that story." Enter Kerry asking after Valerie, then pulling Lucy aside to mention Valerie's fever of 100.9. Lucy dismissing it as probably just a cold. Kerry pointing out that Valerie will have to take high doses of immuno-suppressive agents so she doesn't reject the new heart, so "even a cold could be fatal." Lucy: "What are you saying?" Kerry telling Lucy they need to notify the transplant coordinator that they may have to decline the heart. Lucy looking horrified and asking if there's anything at all they can do. Kerry saying, "It'll be their decision, but in all likelihood I think that's what's going to happen." Lucy, in shock, muttering, "I can't believe this. She was so close." Kerry offering to tell Valerie. Lucy saying she'd rather do it. Kerry crutching away, Lucy looking grimly determined.
Mark tells Michael he has a fractured hand and will require a cast. "Guess I'm lucky, it coulda been worse," Michael says, and asks about his boyfriend, Curt, the hockey-stick guy. Mark says Curt is fine and is having his forehead sutured, then says, "Actually, I'm a little concerned about you." Michael says he feels fine now, but Mark tells him his seizure came from an overdose of theophylline, and asks, "Were you trying to, uh, hurt yourself?" Michael gives the not-terribly convincing excuse that his asthma flares up when he's under stress, so he took "a few extra pills." Mark doesn't buy it and presses him, "Stress at work? At home?" Michael says he's a landscaper, so "January's a tough time -- work stops, the bills don't," then asks, "Why the third degree?" Mark explains that, "under the circumstances, I have to ask about depression," and Michael says he'd find "a better way" to kill himself if he really wanted to do that. Curt appears and asks if they figured out "what was wrong," and Michael explains what happened with the asthma medication, and Curt asks Mark if Michael will be okay, and Mark nods, "Yeah, should be," as Curt and Michael chat about finding someone new "to play left wing" and how Michael totaled the car but at least he has insurance, and Michael seems nervous during the entire exchange, and Curt whips out a cell phone and says, "We'll just get a rental." Mark looks disapproving.
Elsewhere, Romano diagnoses an older man as "full of stool." Peter looks on with zero expression as Romano announces that "Dr. Benton will see that you get an enema." Enter Lucy, who tries to approach Romano; Romano in turn tries to brush her off with "not now," but she trails along behind Romano and Benton and tells them Valerie has a fever. Romano says he didn't know that and asks if Lucy called the transplant coordinator, and when Lucy says, "Not yet," Romano tells Peter to call the transplant team and "pass on that heart." Lucy continues following the two men like a little puppy, her nappy-ass unsanitary hair flapping on her shoulders like little spaniel ears, wanting to know why they can't operate and listing all sorts of medical-testing pros that apparently overrule the con of Valerie's fever, and Romano again tries to get rid of her with "fever spells infection," but Lucy won't let him -- she thinks Valerie has an infection of her L-VAD, she did a bunch of research on it, treatment with antibiotics, you can still operate, blah blah blah fishcakes. Romano stares at her for a moment, then tells Peter to go work Valerie up. He compares Lucy to the Energizer Bunny, in that she just keeps going and going and going, and Lucy looks pleased. She's a real go-getter, that Lucy -- I wish she would go get herself a job at another hospital.
Carol gets defensive some more, this time with Kerry.
At the desk, Dave speaks to a woman in Spanish. Kerry asks if there's a problem, and Dave comes around the desk to show her a pill bottle. She doesn't recognize the medication, Dolison, and Dave explains that it's a combination of a painkiller and a steroid that the woman's husband got from Mexico, and "now he's vomiting blood." Dave comments that "anyone can get 'em," and Kerry mutters, "Unbelievable," and tells Dave to tell the ICU to get the man "on a steroid taper."
By the stairs, Peter gets Cleo's attention. He sort of hems and haws, "All right, so, when I said I was, you know, trying to get out of here early, and going to grab a bite to eat," and Cleo interrupts, "I wish I could get out early," in a tone that aimed at "light-hearted teasing" and took a wrong turn at "general protection fault," and Peter offers to make it later, and Cleo parries with, "I never know when I can get out. Don't wait on me," and tips her sports-drink bottle up to her face plate.
Elizabeth "Anarchy From The UK" Corday goes into the lounge to find Carol crying. She asks, "Are you all right?" "I'm fine," Carol snuffles, and Elizabeth says she doesn't look fine, and Carol sobs, "I am really fine," and fiddles with a snot-soaked Kleenex. Elizabeth joins the rest of North America in asking, "Why don't you just leave?" Alas, Carol says no, she'll just sit there "and have a good cry, and then I'm gonna feel better. That's what I do at home." Elizabeth looks concerned as the mantle of post-partum depression weighs on Carol like, say, an anvil. Not that I'd know anything about that. Carol honks into the ratty Kleenex. Elizabeth comes around the table and pats Carol's head, and Carol thanks her, and just then Chuny comes in and says, "Carol, are you okay?" and Carol sobs afresh, "Ohhhh, I'm fine!" Elizabeth murmurs to Chuny that Carol feels "a little overwhelmed," and they whisper to each other about all the horrors Carol must have to face, what with the diapers and the dishes and the feedings and the crying and then having to come in and work a twelve-hour shift, and Carol can clearly hear them, and as Chuny cluck-clucks about whether Carol can "stay focused with the patients," Carol sits up with a "hey, quit it" look on her face, and just then Elizabeth finishes dismissively, "All she wants to think about are her babies." The two of them turn around from the coffee machine to see Carol staring at them miserably, and they walk over to the table and Elizabeth says, "Carol -- if there's anything we can do --" and Carol nods bleakly and squeaks out, "Thanks," before bursting into tears again. I still can't figure out whether they wanted her to overhear them in order to snap her out of her mood, or whether they just didn't care enough to keep their voices down. Frankly, I don't care much myself. Nnnnnnnext!
Lucy and Valerie. Valerie expresses confusion over whether she gets the heart or not. Lucy explains the type of infection Valerie has and says they can probably get it cleared up with antibiotics and still go ahead with the transplant. Valerie asks what happens if the antibiotics don't work. Lucy says worst case, Valerie gets a life-threatening infection post-op. Valerie sighs and thinks for a moment, then asks Lucy what she would do. "It's your decision, Valerie," Lucy tells her, but Valerie doesn't want the buck and passes it back: "I know, but would you have the surgery?" After a short pause, Lucy nods, saying, "The risk is small, and you've waited a long time. I would go for it," and as soon as she utters those words, a guy in a FedEx uniform walks in and says, "Dramatic-Irony Death Warrant -- could you sign here, please?"
Downstairs, Mark wraps Michael's hand and not-so-casually prods, "How long have you and Curt been together?" "A while," Michael says, and Mark asks, "Everything okay?" "Yeah," Michael says. Mark, who evidently learned this questioning technique from Dr. Elizabeth Olivet on Law & Order, then wants to know, "What happens when the two of you fight?" Michael doesn't like the sound of that and snaps, "What makes you think we fight?" "Everybody has arguments," Mark observes glibly, going on to say that Michael has bruises, he's stressed out, and he OD'd on his meds: "I'm just trying to put it all together." He sneaks a quick look at Michael for a reaction before saying awkwardly, "It's not uncommon for -- fights to turn physical." Michael looks sad and sort of nods as Mark goes on, "People don't mean for it to happen; it just does," and Michael says he knows that. Mark senses he has a receptive audience and says, "Something just sets it off. That ever happen to you?" Michael considers for a moment while Mark looks sideways at him again, then laughs ashamedly and says that he forgot to pick up the dry cleaning: "He, uh -- he hit me, and -- he said he was sorry, and he promised he'd never do it again." Michael smiles like he can't believe that it happened, or that he's said it aloud. Mark asks, "Has he?" Michael looks at Mark, then looks down; apparently, Curt has hit him since, which Mark says aloud just to confirm it, and Michael nods. Mark says he'd like Michael to speak with a social worker, because "they have experience at dealing with these things." Michael's expression indicates he's willing to do that, so Mark prompts him, "Okay?" and Michael seems to remember himself, and he sits up straighter and says, "I don't know. I don't know."
Lindsay, who confronted Dean "Bundy Wannabe" Rollins in a episode, approaches Elizabeth. Elizabeth asks, "How are you?" and Lindsay says she's all right. Then she says, "It was my sister's funeral yesterday," and adds that she wanted to thank Elizabeth, and Elizabeth tells her, "You really don't have to." And what exactly did Elizabeth do that they expect us to find so heroic and compassionate, aside from violating about a hundred rules of legal procedure and medical ethics -- or does this show now suffer from such a Doug-Ross vacuum that any kind of rule-breaking, no matter how fatuous, is equated with strength of character? Dear writers: Hawk it all you want, but I won't buy it. Signed, Sars. Anyhow. In one of the biggest anti-climaxes since Dell'Amico got written off the show, Lindsay says she heard from the police that Elizabeth got Rollins to tell her where he had put Lindsay's sister's body. Lindsay, near tears, says she can't forget Rollins's voice and the awful things it said to her; Elizabeth takes her by the shoulders and says, "You listen to me. That's what he wanted, to make you suffer, but you don't let him win. He's nothing. He can't hurt you anymore." Lindsay nods and says she knows, but she clearly isn't convinced. Elizabeth comforts Lindsay with an anxious look on her face. For god's sake, please, please send Rollins to the chair already, and don't forget to strap this ludicrous subplot in with him.
Lucy and Valerie get off the elevator. Valerie asks how long the operation lasts, and Lucy tells her, "Four, five hours." Valerie asks if they let med students watch the operation, and Lucy says, "Only if they're on the transplant service," but says she's "going to talk them into making an exception." Valerie asks Lucy to tell her mom to feed Spoony, her cat, because Valerie forgot, and if you had any doubts as to Valerie's fate, The Patented Soon-To-Be-Orphaned-Pet Omen should clear them right up. Lucy says she'll do that, then says she has to go change. An apprehensive Valerie gets wheeled into pre-op; Lucy wiggles her fingers comfortingly and says she'll see Valerie later. The doomed Valerie wiggles her fingers back.
Oh, for the love of Pete. Jail ward. Elizabeth asks the security officers for "a moment with" Rollins, who sits sullenly in his wheelchair, attired in scrubs the color of a poisonous mushroom. Elizabeth stalks over to him. Rollins baits her. She sits down in front of him without responding; he continues to drag the hook through the water, calling her a coward and sneering at her conscience. Predictably, Elizabeth takes the bait, saying that she enjoyed the power she had over him: "I held your every breath in my hands, and I so wanted to repay some of the pain you caused." Rollins looks somewhat taken aback by this outburst, probably because Alex Kingston has her bicuspids firmly lodged in a panel of dry-wall on the set and can't get free, but despite this impediment, she blathers on a bit longer -- she calls him "pathetic," she says she "didn't want power over" him at all, she tells him loftily that "my job was simply to put you back together." Finally, she gives him a big kiss-off line about how she doesn't care one way or the other whether he goes to the chair or spends the rest of his life in prison, an alleged apathy belied by the fact that she trooped her ass all the way to the jail ward to speechify at him for five minutes, and after bidding him goodbye, she gets up and says flatly to the wardens, "You can take him now," and as she lets herself out, Rollins screams at her to get back there, "I haven't finished with you yet!" and Elizabeth adopts a mien of exhaustion.
Get a job, Fergie.
Carter wheels Louise down the hall and asks if she's had any chest pain or shortness of breath. Louise yawns sensually and says no, but she's maybe had some lightheadedness. Chen appears and wants to know what happened, and we see Ruth Ann on a gurney behind Louise; apparently, Louise slipped on the ice while helping Ruth Ann into the car. Ruth Ann pipes up, "My wheelchair fell over." Chen asks Ruth Ann if she lost consciousness, then asks Louise, and Louise says she doesn't think Ruth Ann got knocked out, "but I fell first, so I don't know." Chen orders Dr. Dave, who is walking along with Ruth Ann's gurney, to put her on a monitor, and when he asks if she "wants this one," she says grimly, "I just discharged her." "I'm a firm believer in continuity of care," Dave says. What a coincidence -- I'm a firm believer in Dave shutting up.
Dave leaves, and Louise apologizes to Ruth Ann, and Lydia gives Carter a blood-pressure reading on Louise which Carter deems "a little high," and he orders some tests. As Chen examines Ruth Ann, Carter asks what Ruth Ann came in for. "Weakness, exacerbation of Parkinson's," Chen says, and Louise notes, while staring resentfully at Chen, that Ruth Ann "hasn't been able to walk for three days; it's getting harder for me to take care of her." A light bulb goes off over Carter's head, and he gives Chen a "the hell?" look, and Chen looks at him, then at Louise, then back at him before saying with a hint of irritation, "Her head CT was normal." Carter looks skeptical but says only, "I see," before coming over to help Chen with Ruth Ann.
The OR. The transplant team begins shutting down Valerie's old heart; Lucy looks on. A woman arrives with a cooler and asks, "Anyone lookin' for a heart?" One of the other surgeons, Dr. Hanover, busts on her for "making [him] look bad," and the woman tells him to take it up with the FAA; Lucy worries, "Is it too early?" and Peter reassures her that no, "it can wait on ice for a while." The woman takes the plastic-bagged heart out of the cooler. Lucy oohs and ahhs at it.
Cut to Mark asking Adele The Social Worker about her session with Michael. It didn't go too well, apparently: "He denied everything?" Adele confirms that Michael "claimed the boyfriend never even touched him." Mark sighs that he "thought [Michael] was ready to talk." Adele says it's not uncommon for victims to change their minds: "He probably loves the guy and wants to protect him." Thanks for the PSA, Adele, but here's a tip for time -- grip the skillet firmly in your right hand and swing it upwards in an uppercut motion. Mark asks if Adele will be around all day; she says she will, and asks if Mark plans to "take another run at" Michael. Mark says yes. Adele tells him to call her and grabs the elevator, and Mark spots Carol and asks how she's doing. "Four hours and forty-three minutes to go," Carol sighs, and Mark observes that counting the minutes probably isn't a good sign. Enter Amira with a chart, calling a patient a "real bitch." I don't know where Amira came from, but I hope she stays.
Chen and Carter argue about Ruth Ann and Louise. Carter says of Louise, "The woman is exhausted." "I know that, John," Chen drones defensively. "So she needs a break, a couple of days," Carter says, and Chen shakes her head firmly and says, "I can't." "You can't, or you won't?" Carter asks, and Chen snaps, "Both." Carter tells her in a patronizing tone just to say she's ruling out a stroke, and Chen says incredulously that she can't lie about a diagnosis, and Carter starts talking down to Chen blah blah blah making "what's called a judgment call" blah blah blah "rules need bending, we bend 'em" blah blah blah voice-of-wisdomcakes. Chen reminds him that she bent the rules before and got into big trouble for it, and Carter says condescendingly, "Well, if you're afraid of getting yelled at then maybe you're in the wrong department," and puts his hand on her shoulder all Dawson-Leery-"buck up little camper"-style and says, "Look, everybody does soft admits, it's just part of the drill."
Chen says she hears him, but she's not going to admit Ruth Ann: "She's my patient, it's my call." Carter makes "okay, you're right" noises, and Chen says, "Yeah?" and Carter says he doesn't agree with her about the patient, but Chen has to do what she thinks is best. Chen thanks him for his input, and Carter says, "Any time," then turns around and tells Amira he needs a telemetry bed for Louise Duffy. Chen does a double-take: "Wait, you're admitting the daughter?" Carter says disingenuously that "her hypertension's out of control, I want to rule out an MI," and Chen snorts, "You're kidding, right?" and Carter says something about unstable angina, and Chen can't believe her ears: "She slipped on some ice! You said so yourself." Carter says mildly, "Well, it's my patient, it's my call." "And where's the mother supposed to go?" Chen asks. "That's your patient. That's your call," Carter says. He beats a hasty retreat as Chen narrows her eyes into an "I'll get you for this!" face and shakes her head.
Michael makes to leave, saying that Mark must have misunderstood what he said. Mark tries to get him to stay, telling him he won't "be safe until you get out of this relationship." Michael says something about wearing more pads, and Mark says something about most domestic homicides having a history of physical abuse, and Michael accuses Mark of trying to scare him, which Mark admits to before urging Michael to "get away from" Curt. Speaking of the devil, Curt comes in and says he got the rental car and asks Mark if Michael can go. Mark says no: "We need to get a CT scan." Michael looks confused, and Curt asks, "What for?" Mark dissembles, "head trauma." Michael says nervously that he told Mark that they play "a lotta hockey," and Mark says he wants to clear Michael medically before he plays again. Curt smells a rat: "I'd like to take him home." Mark ignores him and tells Michael directly that he wants him to stay: "I want you to understand the risk that's involved." Mark comes around the table, and Curt stands between him and Michael and cuts him off: "He understands them [sic]." Mark says he isn't sure of that. Michael pipes up, "Curt, why don't we let Dr. Greene just --" but Curt tells him firmly, "Wait -- shut up," and turns to Mark and pastes on a "charming" smile: "If you need him to sign something, he'll sign it." He turns back to Michael with the same glib smile: "Won't you, Mike?" Michael, cowed, nods, "Yeah, yeah." Mark tries once more: "You don't have to go. It's your decision." Michael shoots him a look and says thanks, but he feels better now; he murmurs to Curt, "We should get home," and Curt gives Mark a "so there" look and follows Michael out. Anyone else get the feeling we'll see them again?
Dave and Cleo share some no-humor banter about the no-water situation, and Cleo tells Dave the food in vending machines will kill him. Promise? Cleo asks if anyone has seen Chuny, because she needs a translator, and when Dave asks what she's got, she tells him, "Father-daughter combo, present with aplastic anemia." Dave asks, "Both of them?" and Cleo says yes, it's strange, because neither has a history of toxic exposure. Dave takes the chart from Cleo as she adds, "Bone marrow's not makin' squat," and Dave decides to barge in on the case because he's "got a hunch." He chats with the family in Spanish while Cleo protests "what are they saying?" and "what are you doing?" with all the emotional vigor of a limp dishrag. After the daughter finally tells Dave what he wants to hear, he stalks from the room, explaining to Cleo that the father and daughter got shots for their colds from an illegal pharmacist who brings drugs up from Mexico. Cleo says, "Oh god," in the same tone the rest of us use to greet a broken nail, and when she notices that Dave is rummaging purposefully in his locker, and she asks, "What are you doing?" Dave says that the daughter gave him the address of the pharmacist. Cleo says they should really call the police; Dave snorts, "Yeah. They see a squad car, they'll bolt in two seconds." Lily comes in for Cleo, saying they could use her out there, and Dave tells Cleo to go ahead, he's got it; Cleo gets territorial, saying that the father and daughter are her patients and she "can handle it." Dave shrugs, "Yeah, they're all yours." Cleo looks exasperated -- or as exasperated as a woman with a injection-molded face can look -- and follows Dave into the hall: "What are you going to do?" Dave tells her not to worry about it. Just then, a gurney with a kid strapped to it rolls past, with Carol draped over the side cooing that they'll take good care of the kid. Cleo follows the gurney, and in the process of getting the bullet -- the kid has a broken leg but no head trauma -- she knocks over an equipment cart. What's up with the equipment-cart sight gags? That's two so far, and for the record, we don't see the kid again either.
Mark gives orders to Amira at the admit desk, and while doing so he spots Curt and Michael heading out and shoots them a meaningful look. A guy with dreads announces that he's hooked up the water and somebody needs to sign for it, and Amira groans, "Finally!" and Carter asks if that means the water is back on; the guy says no, they still have to check the pressure. Chen asks Mark if it's possible to page individual numbers on the code team. "If you know the number," Mark drones, not seeming to care why she asked, and Chen taps a pencil on a chart and adopts a scheming look.
Peter runs off stats as he and Lucy wheel Valerie out of the OR. Lucy, looking awestruck, says, "Wow." "What?" Peter asks. Lucy, doing her best impression of a five-year-old visiting her older brother at the science fair, burbles, "It's weird. There's someone else's heart keeping her alive right now." Okay, Lucy? Either you can let your gnarly hair dangle all over the place, or you can torture us with your overly earnest dipshit kiss-ass rambling, but not both. In short, SHUT UP. Peter humors her, though, asking if it makes her want to become a surgeon. The nurses hook her up to the machines by the bed, and Lucy asks if Valerie will start breathing on her own soon. Peter says that general anesthesia lasts longer in some patients. Lucy checks Valerie's eyes, starts in surprise, and says, "Dr. Benton, her gaze is deviated to the right." This must mean something has gone wrong, because Peter hurriedly checks Valerie's eyes while Lucy says in a frantic tone, "Valerie, squeeze my hand," and then, when Valerie doesn't, Lucy chokes out, "Oh, my god." Peter yells out to the nurse that they have to get a CT from radiology and orders Lucy to unhook Valerie from the vent and bag her, and he shouts his patented, "Come on, people, let's move," as Lucy uncouples the ventilator and looks scared.
Chen pages Carter; she, Malik, Chuny, and Amira all watch and giggle as he stumbles out of a Port-o-San and falls down in the snow. Carter enters the ER at a run, toilet paper clinging to his heel, slips on the wet floor, and knocks over the guy wet-vac-ing the floor, and the two of them crash to the ground Buster Keaton-style. Chen rushes over to see if he's okay. Malik makes fun of him. Carter catches his snap that it's a joke, then bitches Chen out; she says derisively, "It's payback time, just take it like a man." "Payback for what?" he snaps, and she answers, "For blackmailing me." She goes on to say that she admitted Ruth Ann after all. They discuss whether or not Chen is heartless. She defends herself by saying that she wouldn't tell him about the TP on his shoe if she were really heartless. As he rips it off, we hear a crunching sound. Chen and Carter both turn towards the door, Chen asking, "What was that?"
Cut to Michael standing in a fountain of water beside a water tanker, yelling, "Somebody, help!" Chen, Carter, and Malik rush over to a prone Curt, and Carter asks what happened, and Michael shouts over the sound of running water, "He was trying to put our stuff in the trunk! We should move him!" I still don't know quite what happened, but I think Michael backed over Curt and squashed him into the water truck. Anyway, Carter says they shouldn't move him till they get the stabilizing equipment, and he tells Malik to go get an airway kit and Dr. Greene, and Chen adds that he should get the driver to turn the water off. "I thought I had it in first gear -- it just went backwards!" Michael hollers as Carter and Chen work on Curt, and Carter observes, "He's not moving much air," and Michael wails, "Curt, I'm sorry," and Carter says they've got it and asks Michael to stand back as we fade to commercial.
Get a job, Shania. You too, Maury.
Carter and Chen, soaked from the water pouring out of the truck, and Mark follow Curt into a trauma room. Carter says Curt will need a couple of chest tubes; Mark announces that he'll intubate and tells Michael he needs to wait outside. Michael watches through the trauma room's window as the team gets ready to do a thoracotomy, and Mark asks, "He just backed into him?" and Carter says incredulously, "Yeah -- actually pinned him up against the water trough." Well, that answers that question, but it brings up a new question: the captioning says "trough," but I heard Carter say "truck." Whatever. The team tries to relieve the pressure on Curt's insides, but the ThoraSeal doesn't work, as Chen explains, because the suction is generated by the flow of water, and since they don't have water, they don't have suction. Curt's blood pressure and pulse ox continue to drop, and he goes into cardiac crisis as Chen and Carter jury-rig a suction device using the maintenance guy's wet vac and a bunch of sponges. The device works, and Chen and Carter give each other "nice going" looks; Mark nods at them, "Good save." See? See how well they work together? Any bets on how long it takes them to get naked? I give it two more episodes. ["Two more episodes and a bottle of peroxide, maybe." -- Wing Chun]
From outside Valerie's room, Lucy watches Peter examine Valerie as ominous strings hum in the background. Romano bustles around a corner; Lucy begins, "Dr. Romano," but he blows her off tersely: "Just a second, Ms. Knight." He goes into the room to talk to Peter. Lucy heaves a sigh. Although we can't really hear what they say on the soundtrack, the captioning says, among other things, that Romano asks, "Spontaneous respiration?" and Benton answers, "No. No brain stem activity." Romano thanks Peter and leaves the room, and before he can even close the door behind him, Lucy says flatly, "It was a stroke." Romano says yes, and that their attempts to open up the blocked vessel failed. Lucy asks if Valerie can recover. "The truth?" Romano asks, then says more gently than usual, "She's in a permanent vegetative state." Angry with herself, Lucy says, "It was the L-VAD, wasn't it? Threw a clot to her brain," but Romano tells her not to blame herself: "This was not your fault. I'm the one that put the thing in, remember?" Almost tenderly, he continues, "We make these medical decisions all the time, nothing's risk-free." Lucy stares at him for a moment before casting her eyes downward and muttering, "I'd better go talk to her mother." Shouldn't a doctor who's actually graduated from med school talk to the family? Just wondering. Romano tells Lucy to hold up a minute: "UNOS has identified a potential recipient in Milwaukee." Lucy, softly: "What are you talking about?" Romano explains, "A domino heart procedure -- we take out Valerie's new heart and give it to someone else who needs it. You need to get consent from the family." He hands her Valerie's chart. Lucy looks downright disgusted by this and says numbly, "But she'll --" Romano cuts her off as he hands her a pen: "She is already dead, Ms. Knight." Lucy stares at him, mutely takes the pen, and zombie-walks out of the room.
Michael follows Curt's gurney and asks Lydia where he's going. Lydia tells him the ICU. Michael asks if he's going to be okay, and Mark says in that annoying tone of false heartiness, "We'll see," and asks what happened. Michael again says he thought he had the car in first gear and says he's not used to driving stick shift. Mark clearly doesn't believe him.
Chen blow-dries her hair in the lounge. A still-damp Carter comes in and refuses her offer of the blow-dryer, and he makes pointed bitchy comments about doctors working together and having a plan of action, and then he flounces out. Huh? Chen doesn't get it either, and she follows him into the hall and asks if he's still bent out of shape about the way she handled the Duffys. He says no. She asks if he's still mad about the practical joke. He says no to that too, but adds that she couldn't admit she screwed up -- she had to hide behind a "silly gag." Chen concedes the point as Carter goes into his O Wise Man routine again, advising her that she'll have a better time of it in the ER if she can just "deal with things honestly." Whatever, Carter. Husky Lad much? Chen thanks him and promises, "No more practical jokes." They shake on it.
Lucy and Valerie's mother hug. Valerie's mother continues to weep as Lucy stalks from the lounge, bites off the words "she said yes" in Romano's direction, and slaps the chart onto the desk. "Hey, Lucy?" Romano says. "I'm sorry." Lucy says nothing, just walks away from him and into Valerie's room, where she sits down by the bed and leans her chin on the railing, looking as though she ate a very very sour Sour Patch Kid.
Carter tricks Chen into thinking her patient ate nails by X-raying himself wearing a shirt with nails taped to it. Like, ha ha. Not.
Carol makes to leave for the day. Kerry crutches past and asks, "So, you made it through the day, huh?" Carol says wearily, "Just about," and Kerry says it's good to have Carol back. I agree -- well, with the exception of the "good" part. And the "Carol" part. And the "back" part. And the -- okay, you get the point. Carol heads out the door and Kerry runs into Dave, who has a shiner, and Cleo. Kerry asks, "Hey. Malucci, what did you do?" Heh. Dave blames it on a "sucker punch" in a bar fight, and when Kerry asks if he has any broken bones, Cleo quips, "Short a few brain cells, but otherwise okay." Oh, lordy -- does the fun ever stop? Kerry tells him to guard with his left time and crutches away, and Dave sits down on a bed and tells Cleo he went to the sketchy clinic and pretended to have a sore throat, and the guy didn't even look into Dave's mouth, just gave him dipyrone. Cleo observes that the FDA banned that drug twenty years before. , Dave says, the guy got out a syringe and a vial of chloramphenicol, which is also bad, evidently, because Cleo says, "You didn't." Dave says no, he didn't take the shot, but rather grabbed the vial and ran, at which point "things got a little violent." Cleo says that it was worth it, and Dave is all proud of himself: "I've got evidence now. They're goin' down." Okay, Frito Bandito. Peter comes up and asks Cleo if she has a minute, and she whacks a gauze pad onto Dave's temple and says, "Sure." Dave winces, and Cleo smiles. Peter again tries to ask Cleo out to dinner, and she pretends she doesn't know that he means just the two of them, and then she needles him, "Peter -- you asking me out?" and makes a weird twitchy motion with her mouth. Note to the inventors: the Cleo 2000 prototype doesn't flirt very well. Peter says, "Yeah," and Cleo stares at him "flirtily" and doesn't answer.
Mark paces while a police officer talks to Michael. When the officer emerges, Mark asks what he thinks. The officer deems Michael "pretty shaken up," and they discuss the seizure and whether Mark should have let Michael drive, and Mark explains that Michael took too much asthma medication, blah blah blah, and the officer asks if he should know anything else, and Mark looks down and shakes his head: "No, that's it." Very believable, Mark -- well, in a world where "believable" means "transparently dishonest." The officer goes on his way, and Mark goes door to talk to Michael, walking in to find Michael taking a toot from his inhaler. "Hey, everything okay?" Michael asks, a little too cheerfully. Mark hints, "The police seem satisfied with your story," and Michael responds just as passive-aggressively, "Guess you got what you wanted." "How's that?" Mark asks. "Me, safe at home tonight," Michael answers, not meeting Mark's eye. Mark tells him the social worker will come down and suggests that the three of them talk. Michael says no. Malik comes in to inform Mark that Holling locked himself out of Mark's apartment. Michael thanks Mark: "I appreciate your encouragement." Mark makes an "ohhh-kay" face.
Lucy sits outside in the freezing cold, contemplating the fragility of -- oh, no, musing on the fleeting -- wait, wait, she's cursing the capricious -- oh, fuck it. Lucy sulks. Luka swaggers out of the ambulance bay and walks over to her. He has a watch cap on, but it's pulled up too high, and I would call anyone else wearing such headgear "Nipple Head," but I just can't bring myself to call Luka that. Anyway, Luka observes that Lucy looks cold. She wipes tears from her eyes and snuffles, "I am." Luka begins to take his coat off. Then he whips off the hat and begins to do a strip-tease while unbuckling -- oh, there I go again. Actually, he just offers his coat to Lucy, who tries to protest, but he drapes it around her shoulders anyway, saying, "I'm European, we like to be gallant." Sigh. Okay, sorry. So Luka sits down to Lucy and asks if she's just gotten off her shift, and he mentions that he has two tickets to the circus; Lucy says she's actually just coming on. Luka asks why she spent the whole day at the hospital. Lucy refers obliquely to Valerie's death, and goes on to say, "It's never been very easy for me to be here. Sometimes I felt like I would never fit in." Luka looks sympathetic and says he knows about that, but he's moved around a lot, "and now I'm used to it." Lucy meets his eye and half-nods, saying that every day she's felt glad to walk into the ER of her own choosing, and not get rolled in "on some gurney." Look, Foreshadowing, for the last time -- no means no! God! Lucy adds that at the end of each day, if she's "helped just one person, it's been worth it." An ambulance pulls in as Lucy finishes, "And that didn't happen today, and that makes me sad." Luka eyes the ambulance: "Hey, your day is not over. Maybe this is your one person." "Doubt it," Lucy grunts. Luka suggests they find out. Lucy asks, "And miss the circus?" and Luka says he's had enough circus for today, and they smile at each other and go meet the gurney, and as The Piano Of Redemption begins to play, the paramedics introduce them to a bonehead who plowed his snowmobile into a tree, and Luka offers to show Lucy how to use a trach light, and as they wheel the anvil into the ER, the camera pans up overhead to end the episode.