Never Say Never

S08E04

After the credits, we see that Susan has finally hooked up with the core group of nurses. They're telling her all about how Carol disappeared -- she got on a plane, sent for the twins the day, and never contacted her old ER buddies again. She didn't? That's really, really lousy. "Dr. Kovac don't [sic] know what happened," Haleh sighs, shaking her head. Um, I'm sure he can take a guess. Susan doesn't know who Dr. Kovac is. "Tall, hunky guy, dark hair," winks Lydia. "Can't miss him." Haleh intones, "Don't want to!" Hee! Haleh rules. Suddenly, Weaver shrilly yells that someone must move Mr. Schnack "before we have to hold the wake ourselves." She's trucking down the hall. Susan takes one look at Weaver and gasps, alarmed. "She's still here?" Susan whispers, appalled. "Even worse, she's in charge," replies Haleh. As she reaches Reception, Weaver scolds the hens for clucking when they should be laying eggs. "We have patients breaking the eight-hour mark," Weaver notes, pointedly. Glum, they disperse, but not before bidding Susan a friendly farewell.

Grabbing her purse, Susan blatantly tries to make a getaway. Weaver glances up, then double-takes when she realizes that someone in the ER has a worse hairdo than she. Seriously, Susan's hair is all styled and blunt-cut in the front, but dead flat in the back, creating the effect of severe and unfortunate bedhead. "Susan?" Weaver asks, smiling. Susan fakes enthusiasm and explains that she's interviewing in Chicago, and planned to lunch with Mark. "He's in with a bad GSW," Weaver explains. They small-talk that Susan is interviewing for staff positions at Rush, Northwestern, and some private hospitals. Kerry thinks a minute, then snaps back into business mode and curtly clips, "Well, good luck with that." They exchange polite farewells. "Welcome back," Kerry calls as she bolts away. "Sort of," Susan says under her breath, accompanied by a mild eye-roll. Frank then kicks her out of Reception, because he is the master of that domain.

Inside a trauma room, Mark and Dr. Elizabeth "\%$@!@#!" Corday hack away at a very bloody patient. "Chest cavity's filed with clot," Elizabeth shouts. They're covered in goo. Susan peers through the window and decides that what Mark really needs right now is an erection, so she knocks and waves with a warm smile. Bing! Mark's head pops up -- the one with his face on it, thankfully. "Who's that?" Elizabeth demands. "Susan Lewis," Mark answers. "Your friend from Scottsdale?" she asks, pointedly. "Phoenix," Mark corrects her, trying to be blasé. "It says Scottsdale on the phone bill," Elizabeth grumbles. So evidently, Mark has been calling Susan, and Elizabeth hadn't -- until now -- let on that she was paying close attention. Another completely manufactured point of tension, a chewy piece of revisionism to fuel Elizabeth's fury. Okay, let's say it's true -- wouldn't Susan therefore already know about Carol fleeing town to find Doug? Mark probably would've told her while they rehashed old times, especially given how close he became with Carol. Bah. Humbug. Elizabeth continues working as Chuny lauds, "[Susan] looks great, doesn't she?" Mark darts a look at Elizabeth, who pauses and glares at him. "Pericardium's tense with blood," Mark offers, reminding everyone that the blood-soaked slab of meat on the metal table is not, in fact, tonight's dinner, but a breathing patient. Elizabeth would rather know why Susan has inconsiderately chosen to reinvade her husband's life. Mark tries to be flip about their lunch date, but Elizabeth instantly calls him on the fact that he never mentioned it to her. Susan signals that she'll wait in the lobby for him, and disappears from view. "That's a big bleeder underneath," Mark says, again trying to sound relevant to the surgery at hand. He acts innocent about his omission and carefully keeps from meeting his wife's eye, but Elizabeth still shoots ocular daggers at him for roughly the eighty-third time this season. They probably hoard stock footage of Elizabeth's evil eye, just to save time and money. She is so one-dimensional this season. Mark shakily says, "Can you feel the defect?" He's referring to the patient, but it smacks of being a meta about their marriage. Chuny watches with barely contained amusement, ever more certain that she's going to win the office pool.