The hugest of ups to Wing Chun, who makes it look so easy. Bitch.
And now...Part Two of the Sweeps Month Sars/Wing Chun Crossover Event.
Previously on ER: the pathologist goes over the mugger's autopsy report with Luka, who chews his knuckles and interrupts that he knows how the mugger died; Peter tells Jackie to chill on the Jesse tip, but she insists that "he's changing," and Peter just doesn't come around enough to notice anymore; Jesse tries to blow Peter off, but Peter tells him that doing things he doesn't want to do is "part of being a man"; Kerry bitches Luka out for missing his shift, and he tells her to go ahead and fire him, then. She didn't, though. Because, you know, Visnjic is signed on to the show through, like, 2035.
Apparently, however, Visnjic also signed a clause saying that he got to keep his shirt on. Sorry, kids -- no post-coital fade-up this week.
We begin instead with the silent view through a trauma-room window: Chuny, Haleh, and the paramedics, in slo-mo, attending a gurney. The sound comes up after a moment. It sounds like slo-mo sirens, but also a bit like an incoming mortar shell, and as the camera pans across to Luka "Putting The 'Man' Back In 'Manslaughter'" Kovac sitting in the trauma room, eyes closed, mouth ajar, in obvious psychic pain, it becomes clear that the writers have foregone the skillet this week in favor of a long and extremely sharp hat pin. And it hurts. Ow. Luka opens his eyes slowly, responding to Jing-Mei "Squaresville, Daddy Who?" Chen, in whose body Rex the Wonder Preemie has taken up residence. She calls to him in devil-voice slo-mo, "Dooooctoooor Koooovaaaaccchhhh." Luka fixes her with a bleary stare; he doesn't seem to know, or care, what's going on. Then everything speeds up and the gurney busts through the doors; the corn-rowed occupant of the gurney, who has lost a hand somehow, has the thrash-and-scream throttle thrown into overdrive, and various medical personnel try to get him to simmer. Luka grimly steps forward after a moment and asks for the bullet. Thrashing. Screaming. Luka orders tests, tells Chuny to find Benton, and bellows at Corn Rows that he has to calm down, all on apparent autopilot; none of the chaos seems to affect him at all. Then I feel a sharp pain in my ass, and for a moment I think I've got the hat pin buried in my left buttcheek, but no, it's just "Dr." Dave Malucci. Dave enters; Dave makes a stupid comment. I can't believe I wasted six seconds of my life typing that out, when it should really go without saying. Anyway, then Peter "Sysop" Benton comes in and asks what they've got and elbows Dave out of the way, and a paramedic comes in to say that he's found the hand, and someone else says there's nothing to reattach it to, and Corn Rows continues shrieking and flailing about. Dave finds illegal drugs on Corn Rows, and a second later Chen finds a gun, and Dave lectures Corn Rows about dealing drugs and dangerous and blah bling blah. Luka, who clearly just wants to lie down facing the wall for about a year, asks if Peter can take it from there; Peter says yes, and Luka excuses himself. Screech. Flail. A radial artery sprays blood all over Dave's gown. Dave makes sucked-a-lemon face. Go away, Dave.
AA meeting. A man talks about his son getting high and the problems that's causing; pan across various participants to John "Electric Kool-Aid Urine Test" Carter, who's rudely doing a crossword during the man's testimonial, complete with periodic proud smirking when he gets an answer. Focus pull to Abby "Eat Your Heart Out, Sars" Lockhart shooting Carter a "whatever" look from four seats over.
Wheeling Corn Rows to the elevator, Dave shares his perfect-murder plan with Peter: wrap Corn Rows's severed hand around the gun, shoot Romano, it'll have Corn Rows's prints on it. That's actually pretty funny. I'd also like to note that Dave's hair is no longer a composted dandelion, having returned to its customary poo-like shade of brown. Thank you, hair and make-up people. "Put the hand down, Malucci," Peter grunts. Dave tries to jolly Peter. Peter won't have it, telling Dave again to put down the hand and informing him that, when there's a patient on the table, he expects respect from Dave -- respect for the patient, and respect for him. Yeah, good luck with that. Dave snorts, "Respect for a drug-dealing banger?" Peter says icily that all he wants to hear from Dave "is the medicine." "If you say so, Pete," Dave breezes. Peter takes a moment to compose himself, then says that it's "yes, Dr. Benton" or "no, Dr. Benton." Dave smirks at him. Peter does the patented non-eye-roll eye-roll.
Back to AA, where Carter is getting his card signed after the meeting. Abby hangs back to wait for him, and when he turns to leave, she points out, sort of nicely but not really, "You were doing the crossword." "I was listening!" Carter protests glibly, adding that he had "months of this" in rehab. Abby asks when he last "shared." "I'll share tomorrow," he tells her in a combative tone of voice. She says, "There are other meetings, you know," saying she used to go to one at St. Michael's that seemed to have more addicts. Carter knows, but he likes this one; it's convenient. Abby thought he might feel more comfortable around "NA people," but Carter interrupts to snap that he takes his meds, goes to meetings, and pees in cups when people ask him to, so if she wants him to share, he can do that too: "I'll do it tomorrow." He shoulders his bag and strides off. Abby, on my wavelength, makes a mild "oh, put it away, Little Big Man" moue that takes us into the credits.
After the credits, a long shot of Abby, hunched in her coat, crossing the ambulance bay. Huh? Cut to her entering the lounge, where Chen is getting ready to leave. They chit-chat about the night shift. Chen has a really cool top on in this scene. After a brief pause, Chen asks, "Hey, are you and Kovac still goin' out?" Abby laughs awkwardly before saying in a tone of mild exasperation, "Not many secrets down here, huh?" No, Chen says, and leans against a locker to ask if Luka's "doin' okay." Abby dissembles; Chen explains that Luka just seems "a little off." Abby avoids Chen's eyes: "I'm sure he's fine." Abby bustles out; Chen looks skeptical.
Now Abby's at the desk. Mark "Follicle Man, Follicle Man, Doin' The Things A Follicle Can, What's He Like, It's Not Important, Follicle Man" Greene complains that he hates quiet mornings, because it means it'll get crazy later. Hey, then why not do us all a favor and go home? Oh, well. I tried. Frank The Desk Cop grumps. "Hi Ho The" Kerry "O" Weaver crutches over and tells Frank to roust a guy named Mad Mike out of the linen closet. Frank makes to do so, fetching a wooden baton out from under the counter, but Kerry spots him and, after he charmingly refers to it as a "homeless helper," makes him hand the baton over to her. Frank sulks off. Mark reminds Kerry that he's off at six. Kerry snarls that she couldn't possibly forget since he's told her three times; Mark snips back that it's actually only twice. Don't make me turn this car around, you two. Robert "Ty" Romano Napoleons his way behind the desk, and he and Mark then bicker over Mark's leaving early. Yes, yes, he's leaving early, it's important, I get it, no, no, not the hat pin -- OW! OKAY! God! Luka appears behind the desk and asks Frank if films have come back for a patient of his. More banter on the subject of homeless harassment and "old cop habits are hard to break," and I have to say, Frank sucks. Bring back Amira, bring back Jerry, bring back Amanda Lee if you have to, but for God's sake ditch Old Flat Top, because he's boring. Luka goes over to futz around with a chart to Abby, who wishes him good morning. Luka says "hi" back, distractedly; it's clear that he didn't notice her come in, or much care that she had. Abby asks him if he wants to get lunch later, but before he can say anything, Chuny announces an incoming ambulance, and Kerry tells Luka to take it, so he starts to do so without answering Abby, and she has to prompt him all snap-out-of-it, "Lunch?" "Yeah, sure. If there's time," he says vaguely, and heads for the ambulance bay. Abby shoots him a "don't hurt yourself, Stretch" look. More Mark "six" Kerry "I know" blah blah blah we-get-it-cakes.
Outside, Chuny pointedly shivers and says she should have brought her coat, it'll start snowing again soon, blah. Yes, it's cold. We get it. Luka smiles politely, because he gets it too. Or he did last week. Heh. Sorry. Sally Field comes running up, attired in a weather-inappropriate slip-dress and carrying a paper bag and a suitcase, and kicks it promo-style: "Is this the way to the ER? I'm just a little lost." Chuny tells her to go around front to the walk-ins entrance. Sally looks mildly disconcerted and flounces off to one side in her weather-inappropriate chunky platform slides. Gee, what could it mean that she isn't dressed for the cold? It's not that she's, you know...crazy? Or something? Because I don't think I get it. Yet. Ow. Ow. OW. All right, all right. I get it.
The girl on the gurney protests that she's okay as the paramedic gives the bullet: she suffered a ground-level fall but didn't lose consciousness. Her father climbs out behind the gurney and adds that her school wouldn't let her go back to class until she got checked out. The girl keeps saying she's fine, and Luka asks her name (it's Teresa) and whether she passed out, and they wheel Teresa towards the entrance; Sally clomps along behind them. Chuny tries again to direct her to the other entrance, but Sally blithely tells her that it's cool: "My daughter works here." She chases after Chuny all wanting to chat -- her daughter works in the ER, she brought bagels, bling blah blah, but Chuny has to deal with Teresa, so she disentangles herself and passes Sally off to Frank, who hustles past holding a homeless man by the collar and dumps him in the ambulance bay and threatens to throw him off of Navy Pier if he comes back. Sally looks taken aback at how much Frank sucks. ["That line forms behind Sars." -- Wing Chun]
Trauma room. Luka examines the bruises on Teresa's face; Teresa crabs about wanting to go back to school and how she's missing a test, and her father tells her to pipe down. Luka orders tests. Teresa's father asks about her neck, and Luka tells him not to worry. Luka presses on Teresa's abdomen, and she groans in pain, so Luka sends Teresa's father to go get a cup of coffee. Teresa's Father says somewhat menacingly that he wants to stay. Luka reassures him that he can come right back. A nurse leads TF out. Luka and Chuny turn back to Teresa, both wearing "all right, give it up" faces, and Luka asks if there's any chance that Teresa's pregnant before he orders an x-ray. "No," Teresa brats. Luka and Chuny both smirk. You know, I wouldn't mind if Luka and Chuny got together. She's nice, she's pretty, she doesn't take any crap, they seem to work well together...oh, but her brief affair with Mark has probably turned her off of dating doctors forever. I don't blame her. Mark has turned me off of dating doctors forever. In fact, Mark has turned me off of dating, period. Forever. And food. All right, so I exaggerate. But only slightly. (Urp.)
Mmmm. Dry toast.
Children play on a playground outside. Chen discusses her options with an adoption agency worker, thereby letting us in at last on her plans for the baby. Back-and-forth about prospective parents. More back-and-forth about how it's "unusual" for women of Asian descent to give up their babies for adoption, and how they usually change their minds at the last minute. Chen says she can't have the baby. Agency Worker quizzes her about whether she's discussed adoption with her family, or with the father. No, to both. Does the father know Chen's pregnant? No. Okay, for those of you scoring at home, that rules out...well, pretty much everyone. Except for one guy. One hot guy. One hot guy who we thought might get a larger role on the show, but didn't, which we protested, because, well, he's hot and all. ["Anspaugh?" -- Wing Chun] Anyway, Agency Worker PSAs for us that the father has rights, rights which he'll have to sign away for the adoption to go through, even if Chen doesn't want to tell him. Chen is dismayed.
Lounge. Kerry finds Sally making coffee. Kerry tries to ask who Sally is and what she's doing there, but she can't get a word in edgewise -- Sally's raving on about "Kenyan fresh ground" and how she brought bagels and on and on, and she introduces herself as Maggie Wyczenski and then continues to overwhelm Kerry with a gust of verbiage while showcasing the selection of bagel varieties. Malik comes in to get coffee, and Sally tells him it's not ready yet, and Kerry keeps trying to tell her that the lounge "is for ER staff only," but Malik notices the bagels and tries to dodge in between the two women to get one, and Kerry tells him to "get outta here," and he reaches in and snags a raisin bagel while shooting Kerry a "drop dead, bizzotch" look. Yeah, really, Kerry. Every place I've ever worked, we'd have let Ted Bundy do the can-can on the conference-room table if he'd brought bagels in. You bring breakfast, you get to stay. ["Seriously. Bring in a box of donut holes at my old office and they'd treat you like freaking FDR." -- Wing Chun] Kerry tries again to explain that Sally can't just hang out in the lounge; Sally reassures her that "it's fine, really, my daughter's a doctor here," and says she's Abby's mother. Kerry stares at her in frank horror.
Cut to Abby assisting Elizabeth "Wherefore Art Thou, Bore-Me-O" Corday with a Mr. Patterson, who threw his back out while surfing. Mr. Patterson doesn't look like much at first, but then he busts out the Zambian accent, and I start to find him attractive. Chit-chat about surfing, how the flight to Chicago "nearly killed" Mr. P, where Corday's accent originates, blah bling blah. Short version: Corday and Mr. P have a rapport, and therefore Mr. P is doomed. OW! Frank throws the door open to inform Abby that her mother's here. Abby thinks quickly, decides it's impossible, and turns to look Frank, who confirms that Sally's "out front." Abby snorts, "No she's not." Frank describes Sally. Abby looks annoyed and follows Frank, who gives her the rundown: Sally's serving breakfast at the admit desk, she doesn't know Abby's back to nursing, he guesses they don't talk much. Put a sock in it, Frank. Abby looks at Sally, who's entertaining the entire staff with some story, and says flatly, "That's not my mother." She books, turning to a puzzled Frank and adding firmly, "I have no idea who that woman is." Fade out on Sally, still telling the story and dancing around while Malik laughs.
Commercials. I spend the three minutes look for a pillow soft enough to cushion my poor rear end, which has begun to hurt.
Luka examines Teresa's x-rays and determines that her neck brace can come off. TF impatiently asks if they can leave, but Luka says that he has to conduct a complete neurological exam. TF asks how long that'll take, because he has to get back to work. "It may take a few hours," Luka says, sliding the backboard out from under Teresa. Mmmm. A few hours. Oh, he meant the neurological exam. Well, a girl can dream. TF crabs some more, Teresa apologizes, and he tells her not to worry and leaves to call into work from the pay phone. Luka examines Teresa's face and asks if she feels any pain. Teresa brats, "No." Teresa, honey? Luka wants to take your face in his hands. That's a good thing. Cool your freakin' jets. Luka asks if she's worried about her father; grudgingly, she nods, and Luka tells her he's sure TF wants them to check her out thoroughly. He asks Teresa to stand up and lift her arms, closing her eyes, so that he can check her balance. I've always hated that test; every time, I fall over. Luka lifts Teresa's shirt to check her breathing at the same time, and finds a whack of bruises on her back. Luka exchanges a glance with Chuny and tells Teresa to keep her eyes closed.
Front desk. Sally charms Cleo "Norton Anti-Viewer" Finch with fresh-squeezed OJ, then asks Frank how much longer he thinks Abby will be. Frank lies that he doesn't know, he thinks she's with a patient. Dave snags a bagel. Sally heads for the lounge, and Dave asks Frank, "Who's that?" "Some nutjob claims she's Abby's mom. Weaver called Psych," Frank mutters. Then he comments on Sally's legs. Charming. Dave leers something about "mother-daughter fantasies." Ew. Kerry tells him to see a patient. Dave points out that there aren't any. Like, ha ha. Not. Malik announces that a gunshot wound to the chest is incoming, and Kerry snaps at Dave, "There! Now you're busy," and hurls a box of gloves at him. Heh. Dave heads off, saying he can handle it, but Kerry disagrees, asking where Peter's gotten to; told he's upstairs in surgery, she tells Malik to find Corday instead. Ouch! Everybody got that? Peter's not in the ER? Not coming down? Occupied elsewhere? Got it? Okay, good. Kerry walks over to the computer, where Luka shares his suspicions with her regarding Teresa, namely that her father's abusing her. Kerry authorizes him to send Teresa up for a CT to keep her around, and then to cancel the procedure when the police arrive. Kerry then asks Frank what's holding up Psych, and Frank expositions that they said they'd come down, and that Sally says she's Abby's mother but Abby says she's never seen Sally before. Kerry exhales impatiently and heads for the lounge.
In the lounge, Sally is on a whirlwind of clean-up -- she's refrigerated the leftovers, cleaned out the fridge, blah bling blah. Gee, it seems like she's having a manic episode, but I don't know for sure if I -- OW! Oh, that hurts. See, now that's a serious puncture wound! That could get infected! Did I need that? I don't think I needed that! God. Anyway. Kerry tries to break in, but Sally is babbling about throwing out leftovers and whatnot, and then she compliments Kerry on her "beautiful face" (and it's about time someone did, in my opinion) and rambles on about how she'd love to give Kerry a makeover, that's what she does, well, she's really an artist but she works at a make-up counter to earn money, and all the time Kerry is trying valiantly to interrupt without screaming or whacking Sally one across the shins with her cane, but Sally's "just waiting for Abby" and won't hear it. Kerry can't have her back there by herself. Sally: oblivious. Kerry: using dealing-with-crazy-people voice. Sally: cleaning. Kerry finally breaks it to her that Abby says Sally isn't her mother. "Of course I'm her mother," Sally scoffs. Kerry suggests that Sally gather up her things and wait at the admit desk. Sally says "wait" about a dozen times, presses her eyeballs in with her fingers, and asks, "So...she says she's not my daughter?" Kerry tries again to induce Sally to wait outside, but Sally starts freaking: "Where is she? ABBY!" Kerry jumps, startled. Sally hurricanes outside, screaming for Abby: "ABBY? IT'S YOUR MOTHER!" Kerry follows her, still working the soothing voice to no avail; Sally clomps through the ER, howling for Abby and becoming increasingly agitated. Kerry yells for Frank to call Security and get Psych down there right away. Sally continues to burst into exam rooms, calling for Abby.
In a quiet room away from the fray, Abby clutches a receiver and prays, "Please pick up." She reaches an answering machine and begs someone named Eric to pick up the phone; when Eric finally answers, she bitches at him that Sally is in Chicago, why is she there, "I can't take her...now, okay, she can't be here," but Eric just hangs up on her. Abby slumps, letting the receiver dangle from her hand.
Corday gently informs Mr. P that he has a herniated disk. Mr. P doesn't think that sounds good; Corday goes on to say that, because he has weakness in his foot, he'll need surgery to alleviate the pressure on the nerve. Mr. P asks if it can't wait until he gets home, but Corday shakes her head regretfully: "I wouldn't suggest it." Mr. P doesn't want back surgery, so Corday thinks for a moment, then proposes endoscopic surgery instead. It'll only take about an hour, she'll insert an endoscope and remove the fragments of disc, and he'll leave with "a couple of stitches and a Band-Aid." Wow. That doesn't sound like a big deal at -- YEOW! Okay, okay! You don't have to jam the entire pin into my buttcheek every time, you know! Malik ducks in to tell Corday about the incoming GSW; Corday says she's coming. Mr. P asks if he'll still be able to surf. Corday doesn't see why not. She excuses herself. Mr. P looks worried as he watches her go. I dress my wounds while Foreshadowing looks through my CD collection.
In the hall, Corday tells Malik to book an OR for an endoscopic diskectomy. Sally blows past, still bawling Abby's name; Kerry gives chase. Corday makes "the hell?" noises as she enters the trauma room. A security guard appears to confine Sally, and he and Kerry basically gang up on her to make her sit down, and the screaming crescendos. Pan over to a nearby hallway where Abby leans against the wall, arms crossed over her chest, shrinking down into herself. At last, Sally agrees to sit, and she repeats over and over again, "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine." But she's obviously not. Just in case you didn't see the episode, or hear Sally Field's bicuspids tearing through piece after piece of the ER set. Just then, Abby rounds the corner. "Abby!" Sally squawks, bringing Abby up short. "Abby. There she is -- that's my daughter," Sally quavers, holding out a trembling hand to point to Abby. Abby's mouth twitches: "Hi, Mom." Kerry regards Abby with an eloquent look of pity. Excellent job by Maura Tierney and Laura Innes here. Sally Field...less so.
In the trauma room, the GSW victim wails that he doesn't want to die. Just to save time here -- it's Jesse, Peter's nephew, as you probably guessed from the previouslys. And the unforgettable sensation of two inches of hat pin entering your tuchis. Maybe that's just me. Anyway, Corday gowns up; in the background, Dave tells Jesse to "pipe down, I can't hear anything." Nice attitude, Caribbean Clown College. Anyway, stats called off, Mark ordering tests, Corday saying Jesse needs a chest tube, Dave saying "mother may I" (literally) and getting permission to put in said chest tube.
Sally's babbling: "Look at you, you're still so pretty." Abby cuts to the chase: "What're you doing here, [Sally]?" She came to see Abby. How'd she get here? The bus, she came on the bus. Does Eric know she's in Chicago? Oh, Abby knows how busy Eric gets. So Sally just left and didn't call? Why didn't she call Abby first? "I -- I was worried about you," Sally whispers. She'd heard about the separation -- "a year ago," Abby interrupts snappishly, looking away. "Yeah, I'm divorced." Sally, agape, puts a melodramatic hand over her face in a hammy gesture of disbelief. Abby asks what about Sally's job at the department store; Sally dodges with a little of the old "my daughter is more important than any stupid job," then without taking a breath changes the subject to the fact that she left her stuff in the lounge (read: she pulled a Mary Camden and got fired). She starts to rush off to get her things, but Abby says through gritted teeth that she's working. Sally knows; she'll wait. Off she goes. Kerry sees Abby sitting all hunched in her seat, and comes over. After a pause, she prods Abby not unkindly: "Frank said that you said you didn't know her." Abby looks resolutely away for a moment, then nods very slightly. Kerry takes a seat: "How long has she been bipolar?" Abby, over a barely perceptible lump in her throat: "Since I was a kid." "She's off her meds?" Abby snorts, "Apparently." Fired her acting coach, too. You know, apparently.
Jesse's trauma room. Chest-tube insertion. More blather about the weekend away, in which Mark passive-aggressifies at Elizabeth about "last-minute complications," and Elizabeth calls him on it and assures him that "there won't be [any]." Oh my God, my ass looks like a cheese grater. I FUCKING GET IT, okay? Stop poking me with that thing! It becomes evident that Jesse's losing blood internally somewhere, and he's got no breath sounds on the right; the machines start beeping, and Mark theorizes that the bullet "tumbled" over to the right side of Jesse's chest. He quizzes Dave on what to do. Dave wants to intubate and put in a chest tube. Survey says...correct, and they set about doing it. Corday calls for a chest-tube tray, and when Dave asks, "Tension hemo-pneumo?" she shoots back, "Yeah, let's find out." (A tension hemo-pneumo is blood gathered in the chest cavity that collapses the lung...I think. I've tried to wean myself off of the Stedman's this time out.) Yet MORE blather about the weekend trip, which Cleo fortunately interrupts (and I never thought I'd write those words) by wandering in: "I heard you had a kid." Corday tells her it's surgical. "So you've got it?" Cleo drones. "Three docs, no waiting," Mark grunts. Cleo takes her leave. Blood starts spurting out of Jesse's side, and Corday yells an order; Dave reaches across Mark to put a hand over the pumper and comments, "God, I love this guy. He's an entire medical education in one convenient package, you know?" Cram it, Dave. Don't you have a box of Manic Panic to experiment with or something?
Cleo walks down the hall and spots Jackie waiting in chairs. Cleo asks why she's there, and Jackie asks where's Peter, and Cleo tells her he's up in the OR, "why?" Jackie, clearly struggling not to lose control, stutters that she tried to reach Peter, they called her at work, "it's Jesse," they told her they'd brought him to County, and "the man over there said that he was brought in a few minutes ago...that he was shot." Cleo's Horrified Realization 3.3 module activates, but a virus stalls the program, and only part of the command line executes. Jackie clutches at the neckline of her jacket: "Somebody shot my boy." Cleo: "Continue to run scripts on this page? [Yes] [No] [Help]." Actually, she sighs. Whatever, same difference.
Could Third Watch hype this "Aftermath" episode a little more? What, the entire main cast dies?
Aw, eToys asparagus boy. He's cute.
Cue The Vibraphone Of Great Urgency as Cleo scampers all Tekno past the OR main desk to ask where to find Peter. We see her dash through a set of double doors, and the camera moves over to show Peter beyond two more sets of double doors. Moments later, Cleo appears beside Peter, gowned and masked. Cue Piano Of Personal Tragedy. Peter comes busting through the first two sets of OR doors...
...and smash cut to him busting through the trauma-room doors. "What the hell are you doing?" Peter wants to know. Dave and Corday bend over Jesse; Dave says smugly, "We found a hole in the right ventricle," and Corday adds that she's just cross-clamped Jesse's aorta. Dave then seals his eventual doom with, "Thank God for bangers, huh? Better than a good shooting war." The remark prompts a glowering Benton to elbow Dave out of the way. Dave gripes, "Hey -- that's my patient!" and Corday patiently tells Peter that they've got it. Peter, ignoring them, gets into trauma gear; Mark tells Peter in a clipped tone that "Dr. Malucci's assisting," and Dave splutters that Jesse's not going to make it anyway. An entering Cleo spits at Dave, with more emotion on her face than we've seen from her in the entirety of her time on the show, "It's his nephew." Everyone freezes. "It's Jackie's son Jesse." That shuts Dave up. Peter shouts for two-oh silk.
Carter greets Frank at the admit desk. Luka tells Carter that it's "pretty slow." Abby comes up to the desk and says to Luka without preamble, "My mother's here." "You...you weren't expecting her?" Luka asks, more politely than out of interest. Abby says no, then asks if Luka has a few minutes. Because that's all it takes. Oh, sorry. OW! Hey! If you MUST use that INFERNAL hat pin, Foreshadowing, ONLY use it FOR FORESHADOWING! It's 2:23 in the morning, and I DON'T feel like visiting the real-LIFE emergency room to get my TETANUS updated. A pincushion costs TWO BUCKS. GO BUY ONE. And if you ate the last ginger snap, I'll kick your ass back to Dawson's Creek. Ingrate. ANYWAY. Chuny comes over to give Luka the results of Teresa's pregnancy test, and he curses and grumbles and goes off to deal with it without another word to Abby, and Abby sort of sucks her teeth and tries not to look too annoyed. Carter happens over and invites her out for a coffee, and she accepts without hesitation.
Jesse's trauma room. They work frantically on Jesse. He's going south. Peter's freaking out and yelling for them to cut off the alarms; Mark's worried that what Peter wants to try won't work. Peter shouts, "I can get it!" Romano comes in to harangue Corday about the procedure on Mr. P, and she argues with him, but finally follows him out into the hall in a huff. Peter moves over to take her place beside Jesse.
In the hall, Corday informs Romano that it's Peter's nephew "in there." Romano doesn't even feign concern, saying that Mr. P needs open lumbar surgery. Corday, breathless and distracted, corrects him that the endoscopic procedure "is the best course of treatment in this case." "And it's faster, too," Romano remarks pointedly. Corday agrees that that's true, listing endoscopy's other benefits while peering all preoccupied into the trauma room. "And you can still ditch out of here in time for your romantic weekend?" Romano prompts. Corday's head snaps around, and she bridles: "What the hell are you insinuating -- that I chose an inappropriate course of surgery to accommodate my weekend plans?" "You said it, not me," Romano shrugs. "I've gotta get back," she huffs, and storms back into the trauma room. Okay, in light of what happens later, let's remember that she did in fact advise Mr. P to have surgery, but he didn't want it. He said the words "I don't want back surgery." Heard him myself. So, there's that. OW! All right, that's in bounds, I guess.
Trauma room. Corday yells, "GLOVES!" Jesse is still going bad. The bullet tore a crucial membrane. The heart isn't filling. Peter calls for ice to pack Jesse's head to preserve brain function. Mark yells at Dave to do it. There's blood everywhere. Cleo stands nearby, staring dully at the table. I could have just written "staring" there and gotten the job done, I suppose, but the script probably called for "dully." Anyway, the trauma proceeds apace.
We cut to the lake and Abby filling Carter in on her family history: her mother used to sell cosmetics; her father left when Abby was seven because "he couldn't take it." Sally's an artist, Abby says, and "it was fun, actually" when Sally got manic during Abby's childhood, because they did stuff like camping out in the living room and painting the walls with murals. But then Sally would freak out and start screaming and crying, and Abby's brother Eric got the worst of that. Carter nods and occasionally puts a word in. Eric lives in Florida, and he's an air-traffic controller in the Air Force. So both of Sally's kids work in high-pressure, chaotic environments. Did you get that? Because my ass got it, I assure you. Abby's beeper goes off. She checks it, puts it away, and goes on to say that the manic episodes led to depressive episodes, during which Sally would take to her bed for weeks at a time, leaving Abby to "scam meals off the neighbors" so that she and Eric could eat. Carter suggests getting Sally some help, giving her meds or something, but Abby just shakes her head: "No, she won't take the drugs, she likes it...when she's manic." She looks down, burying her chin in her coat, then looks up at Carter: "I can't do this again." Carter regards her gently as she shakes her head again. "I'm not strong enough." She stares out at the lake.
Cleo comes out to talk to Jackie. Peter's in with Jesse now; Jesse got shot in the chest; they found bleeding around his heart. "His heart?" Jackie breathes. MS Bad News runs: "His condition is very grave. They're working to stabilize him so they can move him to the OR." "Ohhh Lord," Jackie sighs, starts to cry, then stops herself. Cleo asks, with a reasonable amount of sincerity, if she can get Jackie anything. Jackie says no, she has to call Walt again. Walt? Will we actually see Walt? I miss Walt, I don't mind telling you. ["'Walt' was busy playing Johnnie Cochran in a TV movie this week, unfortunately." -- Wing Chun] Anyway, Jackie gets up to phone Walt's auto-body shop, but a girl in braids stops her: "Mrs. Robbins?" Jackie looks her over. I can't even describe how, but if you've seen Jackie for thirty seconds on this show, I don't need to. And that's why Jackie is my girlfriend. "Is Jesse okay?" Braids asks tearfully. Jackie snaps, "Get out." Braids, in a broken voice: "Is he ah-ight?" Jackie points at her and says in a low, chilling voice, "You don't get to be here." "Please," Braids pleads, but Jackie isn't buying what she's selling. "Get out," she snaps again, then screams, "GET OUT!" Braids's lip trembles, but Jackie's not done: "I don't want you here. You get away from him, you STAY AWAY FROM my son." Braids backs away, crying; her posse of friends follows her, glaring at Jackie. Jackie in turn glares at them and covers her mouth; then she makes a "yeah, you'd better" gesture with her head. God, I love Jackie. Jackie stalks off to call Walt. Cleo watches her go, probably wondering how she can FTP Jackie 1.0 to her hard drive. I watch her go and wonder when the brain trust at NBC will finally give Jackie and Haleh a spin-off. Girl, Don't Even: every week, another foot in the ass. I would watch every week. I would tape every episode and save it. They could have Grams from Dawson's on as a special guest star. Sigh.
Trauma room. Gratuitous close-up of the rib spreader. Peter's covered with blood, and it's all going wrong. Peter can't see, he's got sweat in his eyes, he's calling to move the light. Jesse's bleeding out. The machines beep wildly. Peter can't think of what to give Jesse . He recovers and calls for more blood. Corday points out that Jesse's not clotting, but Peter says they can reverse it and yells for more suction. "Pump's running dry," Haleh says quietly. Mark observes that "we're not keeping up with blood loss," and Peter hollers for him to "squeeze it in faster." Everyone else in the room exchanges Looks Of Significance. Close-up of Jesse's still face.
Luka comes into a waiting area. Teresa and TF both bitch him out for keeping them there so long. A social worker asks TF to step out into the hall; TF is still bitching, but he follows the social worker. Luka tells Teresa to wait there, and goes out into the hall also; it turns out that the social worker is actually a detective from the Chicago police department: "Dr. Kovac here is concerned about the extensive bruising he discovered on your daughter's body when he examined her." TF doesn't get it. "She has bruises all over her back and stomach," Luka mutters. "They're from her fall," TF shrugs, but Luka says flatly, "They're at least a week old." Compare his lack of affect here to his reaction to Paulie The Wife-Beater last season, when he became enraged; here, he's -- not much of anything. He just sounds, and looks, exhausted. TF exhales in disbelief, "You...think I beat my little girl? Oh my god...I love my daughter." Luka looks at his shoes. "I would never...no, uh-uh. You're wrong. You are very wrong." A three-second shot of Luka, in the space of which Goran Visnjic manages to convey that Luka neither believes TF nor cares much whether he's telling the truth. Boy, can that guy act.
Trauma room. Tight shot of Dave looking guilty and uncomfortable. Floor-cam shot of Peter and Mark struggling with gauze and sutures. Judging from the look on Mark's face, he doesn't think it's going to do much good, but he pitches in anyway for Peter's sake, and for that, I like him here. Don't worry, it won't last. When Peter finishes the suture, Mark says heavily, "Chest cavity's filling with blood." Peter continues to work frantically. Corday says, her voice breaking, "He's oozing everywhere." "Come on, Jesse. Come on, man. Don't give up on me," Peter says under his breath, his hands moving quickly. Mark leans over to look into the wound, shoots Corday a look, and bites his lip. Peter's lip buckles as he exhorts Jesse again to come on, don't give up, but it's dawning on him that it's over. His hands slow. "Come on, Jesse." "Peter," Corday whispers. The machines flatline. "Peter," Corday says again. Peter begins to weep silently, leaning back a little from the table. Over his shoulder, Haleh looks worried and sad. Without another word, Peter wanders away from the table in a daze. Pan down to Jesse's face, still motionless.
Peter walks down the hall, passing a hand over his eyes. He's moving as though every joint in his body aches. The rest of the ER goes about its business. He approaches the waiting area, and before we even see her, we hear Jackie scream, "NOOOO!" She screams it over and over again and clutches Peter's bloodied torso, and he folds her into a hug, and her legs give out from under her, and they stand there -- Peter silently rocking Jackie, Jackie keening and clinging to Peter -- under a banner that says "Happy Thanksgiving" on it.
Ben Affleck, get a hot oil. Get it now.
The cafeteria. Chen approaches a table where Frank The Hottie Boombatty OR Nurse and his friends are eating lunch. Soooo, that's the father. Well, I for one approve wholeheartedly. Go, Chen! And can you think of a set of parents who would combine to make a cuter baby? Because I can't. When he sees Chen, Frank asks his friends to excuse them, and they do, tittering. Oh, grow up, friends. Chen touches her belly and takes a seat. Frank flicks his eyes in the direction of her womb: "Um...so..." "Yeah," Chen sighs, half-laughing. Frank makes a "yeeee-IKES" face and leans back in his chair. Chen apologizes and guesses she should have told him sooner. Frank doesn't know what to say. Chen blazes ahead: "I wanna give him up for adoption, but...I need your permission to do it." "'Him,'" Frank repeats, starting to look angry, and I don't blame him -- abrupt much, Chen? Chen nods, and draws a set of forms out of her bag: "Will you sign the paperwork? Please?" Frank stares at her, his jaw set. Chen stares back, looks away, then looks back at him again. Oh, please, Frank, don't sign the paperwork! Make with the Carla and make Chen's life hell so you can stay on the show! Goddamn, he's good-looking.
Okay, moving right along. Corday wilts over to Mark and asks after Peter, whom Mark reports is still talking to Jackie. "God, what a tragedy," she sighs, and Mark asks if she didn't recognize Jesse, but she says she only met him once. Mark nags her a bit about the trip. She says it's an outpatient procedure, and she should finish in less than an hour. More nagging. Corday goes to operate on Mr. P. I plunge my entire bum into a bucket of ice water. Dave approaches Mark to ask what he should do with the body: "It's a mess, and I don't know where Benton went." That sounds super rude, but he's actually relatively respectful about it. You know, considering that it's Dave. Mark says they can't touch the body until the police sign off on it, and tells Dave to pull a sheet over Jesse. Dave asks if Mark thinks Peter heard "all that stuff [he] was saying about his nephew, before I knew." Mark shrugs, "I don't know," but means, "Yeah, probably, so for the love of Pete, stuff it." Dave looks perturbed, as well he should.
A thuggish kid asks Frank if Teresa Ruiz is there. The kid, Vinnie, identifies himself as "a friend" and says he got worried when Teresa didn't come back to school. Frank tells him she's up in radiology: "You can't miss it, just look for a long line of pissed-off people." Heh. Sounds like my post office. Vinnie doesn't like the sound of that and beats it out of there, telling Frank to tell Teresa that he stopped by.
Mr. P's surgery. Mr. P's awake for the procedure; Corday banters with him about surfing while she wields the endoscope. She spots some bleeding, grumbles, and calls for a cautery; the anesthesiologist announces a drop in pressure. Corday spots the disc, but "can't get a good hold of it." Then she gets it after all. A tech spots "some leaking fluid," but Corday reassures him that "it's just irrigation solution." The tech gives her a look but doesn't say anything else. Corday prepares to close and makes a "hanging ten" joke, followed by a Frankie Avalon joke. Such jokes, as I probably don't need to mention, don't bode well for poor Mr. P and his back. Or for my ass, which isn't sufficiently numbed by the ice water to withstand the onslaught of pin jabs it suffers during this scene.
In the lounge, Sally works frenetically on a fashion drawing; the model's face looks a lot like Randi. Abby comes in and asks what she's up to, and looks at the drawing: "They're beautiful." Sally continues manically scribbling and erasing. "May I see?" It's Kim "Fall Into" Legaspi, down from Psych. Abby introduces her. Sally snorts, "Psychiatrist?" then chuckles, "I don't need you." Legaspi smiles benevolently that Abby told her Sally has bipolar disorder, and asks when Sally went off her meds. "Am I off my meds?" Sally asks with a desperate smile. When Legaspi doesn't buy what she's selling, Sally goes off on an anti-lithium rant: it upsets her stomach, it makes her drowsy, she can't do her drawings when she's on drugs, she can't do anything. Legaspi asks what she's on now. She's on Prozac. Abby rolls her eyes in disbelief upon hearing this, and Sally stammers that her HMO doctor gave them to her for depression; Legaspi patiently explains that anti-depressants "can trigger a manic episode," and Abby says quickly, "She knows." Legaspi offers to write Sally a scrip for Depakote if she'll promise not to take any more Prozac. "Sure," Sally gushes. Legaspi goes to get the prescription. Kerry gives Abby a "so?" look. Abby thanks her, and Kerry catches her snap and leaves. Abby sits beside her mother and asks conspiratorially, "So, are you gonna take it?" "You bet," Sally whispers. Abby sighs and hands her an envelope, which Sally opens all eagerly; it contains bus fare back to Tampa. Sally immediately starts in with the face-covering and the shuddery crying, and Abby tells her, "Oh, don't, really, don't. Don't start" (and a heartfelt word from both me and the set designers, who will have to start from scratch for week's episode), and says she can't have Sally there, she "can't do it again." Sally wails something about Abby's ex, which Abby cuts off with a short, "I'm fine -- just please go home." More sobbing from Sally: "Why do you want to hurt me?" Abby chews her out for just showing up, going off her medication again, wearing a dress "that would look ridiculous on a woman half [Sally's] age" (although I think she looks pretty good in it, actually), running around the hospital "screaming, humiliating" Abby. Sally wails and gnashes her teeth and why, why, why does Abby want to hurt her? Abby sarcastically says that now comes the crying, and the depression, and then Abby gets to spend weeks worrying that she'll come home to find Sally dead in the bathtub or with her head stuck in the oven. Sally gets pissed, grabs her stuff, and slams out of the room, sniveling. Abby puts a hand to her mouth and chews her thumb.
Dave slinks into the trauma room where Peter stands over Jesse's body. He starts to apologize; he didn't know. "Get away from me," Peter rumbles. Dave doesn't leave well enough alone, saying he just thought "it was some banger," and Peter punches him dead in the face, knocking him down. About fucking time someone rang Dave's bell. ["Of course, I could not agree more. And, just this once, I would like to commend CTV for not showing that clip in its promos, because I was actually surprised by it. I even gasped out loud." -- Wing Chun]
At the front desk, Elizabeth -- wearing a ridiculous hat with twin pom-poms on it -- proudly shows Mark her watch: it's six on the dot. Ow, ow, OWWW! Mark asks if she's ready to go. Seconds later, Dave and Peter come thrashing out of trauma room, whaling on each other. Peter is punching Dave in the face and stomach, Dave is jumping on Peter's back, Peter is slamming Dave against the wall, and everyone is rushing in to pull them apart. Dave pouts, "I was just tryin' to apologize." God, SHUT IT, Jerk Chicken! Peter stalks away as the others watch in silence.
In a conference room, the detective talks to Teresa while Luka stands outside, polishing the blade on his scythe. TF sits beside a CPD patrolman on a bench; he lifts his head to glare at Luka. The detective comes out of the conference room and tells Luka with a shrug, "Says her father never touched her -- says she falls down a lot." Luka asks if she believes Teresa. The detective says it doesn't matter; the courts won't remove Teresa from the home, since she and her father both deny it. Luka asks to talk to Teresa, and the detective okays it, so he goes in and sits down; Teresa avoids his eye. He asks what happened that morning. "I fell down," she shrugs. What about the other bruises? She finally looks Luka in the face: "My father wouldn't hurt me." Luka trots out a truism about the people who love us hurting us anyway, like, we get it. He goes on to say that "sometimes, they can't control their anger." Yep, we still get it. As the inner demons shoot dice on the floor, Luka drones on that they don't mean to hurt us, but they do, it's a sickness and they need help, blah blah blah. One of the demons passes a trump card up to Luka, and he plays it, telling Teresa she's pregnant. Teresa turns to stare at him, shocked, then says tearfully that "I told him this would happen. He wouldn't listen to me." "Listen to you about what?" "He won't wear a condom -- he won't. That's what we fight about all the time." Luka does that human-nature-disgusts-me movement with his jaw; Teresa goes on, "That's when he hits me -- but he doesn't mean to!" "Your father," Luka says, thinking he's confirming it. "No! Not my dad!" "Then who?" "Vinnie." "Vinnie?" "You know, Herb's brother?" "So who's on first?" "Exactly!" No, not really. Vinnie's her boyfriend. Uh duh. Luka can't believe what he's hearing; his mouth works silently before a moment before he finally comes up with an incredulous "he's in the seventh grade?" Teresa babbles on about how Vinnie doesn't hit her "on purpose, he just gets upset." Her face softens: "He loves me." Luka looks like he'd like to smack her in the back of the head, but he settles for rolling his eyes all "you've got to be shitting me" and staring into space.
Oh, hello, chickens. Come home to roost, have we? Mr. P is having severe head and back pain. Romano, bitching about having to cover for Corday, asks Mr. P to turn over, but Mr. P can't; in fact, he can't even feel his legs. Romano and the nurse manage to get Mr. P rolled onto his side. As Mr. P pants in pain, Romano looks at the bandages, then announces grimly to Mr. P that he's "leaking spinal fluid, probably a compression," and he orders Mr. P moved to the OR, "and find me Elizabeth Corday!" Oh, dear. Hobey? Hobey! Leave the chickens alone! Bad cat!
Bed and breakfast. Enter Mark and Corday with their bags. Corday raves about the room. Her hat is still retarded. Mark says something about the big bed, and I wrest one of the chickens away from Hobey and sacrifice it on a small altar made from an anvil left over from last season so that I never have to hear any references made by Mark to sexual activity ever again. The phone rings. Mark hands it to Corday. A look of fear settles itself onto her features. Bok bok bok BOK!
Musical interlude. Cleo finds Peter in the trauma room, preparing to clean Jesse up for transfer. She goes in, dons gloves, and silently begins to help him, glancing over occasionally to check him okay. Peter slowly removes tubes and blood-soaked bandages from Jesse's body. It's sad, but it played better the first time we saw it, when Lucy died. Still, it's a nice moment as Peter gently wipes Jesse's face clean of blood.
Abby finds Sally shivering and crying on a bench at the El stop. Abby sighs, "Where's your coat? You look like you're freezing." Sally weeps that she's sorry, she knows she ruined everything, she knows Abby and Eric hate her. Abby rolls her eyes at the guilt trip and takes her coat off to wrap it around Sally, saying in a tone of mild irritation that she doesn't hate Sally. Sally sobs even louder, saying that she loves Abby, "you're my angel." The El platform begins to rattle and pitch, weakened by the bite marks taken out of it, as Sally wails that she never meant to hurt Abby, "please forgive me, please forgive me," and she huddles in Abby's arms and remembers that when Abby was born, it was like she was the answer to all of Sally's prayers, she told herself she'd be okay because Abby was there, "and I loved you, God how I loved you!" and as she goes on in this soggy vein, we pan up from Sally's tear-streaked face (and paint-streaked teeth) to Abby, rocking her mother and saying "I know" over and over, not even present because she's heard it so many times before. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." A train comes by, and I'm sorry too -- sorry that Sally didn't Gant in front of it.
week: Corday has something to tell Mark. Sally has no place to go. It's a Thanksgiving event. Thank God Carol's not involved, that's all I can say.