Carter has been in the
shower for twenty minutes and Abby is two
hours away from her shift. She tells
him that she is thinking about going to an
eight o'clock meeting, referring to an AA
meeting. Abby walks over to the
shower to see what is taking him so long
and Carter gently pulls her into the
shower with him, where she drops her robe
and doesn't seem to mind.
Later in the ER, Jing-Mei notices lipstick on
Carter's neck, which she thought might be a cut
from him shaving. Carter and Susan go over
the two boards of patients waiting to be seen.
A new batch of med. students have arrived and
are waiting for Dr. Carter. Carter asks
Frank to get them started on their orientation
manuals and that he will be with them in a few
minutes. Pratt tells Carter that there is
an M.V.A. pulling in and he is anxious to
assist, but Carter puts him on assisting someone
with a bee sting instead. Carter and Abby
go to the ambulance bay to meet the paramedics.
Luka is already out their trying to turn a
paramedic away telling him that they are already
full. Luka glances over at Abby with
Carter (probably thinking about the one that got
away).
Weaver meets with Dr. Romano
as he is having his physical therapy session.
She tells him of her concern about all of the
ER's in the area that are closing down.
Romano is in a lot of pain. Weaver has
apparently taken over a lot of Romano's
responsibilities while he is out. He tells
her that she is "gunning" for his job. He
tells her not to get too comfortable. He
lets her know that he will be back in his office
in two weeks and back in surgery in two months.
Kerry tells him that she hopes that he is.
Elizabeth shows up to see him. Kerry tells
Elizabeth that she will catch up with her later
on and leaves Romano and Elizabeth alone.
Romano tells Elizabeth that she is the one face
that he missed seeing in recovery. She
gets paged to the ER and has to cut her visit
short. She tells him that there was a
motorcycle accident and has to go down to the
ER. Shirley speaks with Elizabeth on her
way to the elevator, but Elizabeth is short on
words. Shirley tells her that she missed
the pox scare they had two months ago (showing
us that two months have passed since the last
episode). Elizabeth gets into the crowded
elevator. On the way down, "The Piano Man"
music is playing and you can see that it reminds
her of Mark.
When the elevator doors open,
Elizabeth is confronted with a very loud and
busy ER. She sees that Jing-Mei and
Gallant are trying to keep a "wild" older lady
calm and then sees her punch Gallant in the eye.
When Elizabeth enters the trauma room, Abby is
there giving her the rundown on the patient
coming in. As they wait, Abby tells her
that the patient is a sixteen-year-old girl who
hit a utility pole on her motorcycle.
Corday goes over everything that they will need
to treat the girl and Abby comments on how it is
like Elizabeth had never been gone.
Carter, Jing-Mei and the paramedics bring in the
accident victim. Her name is Sasha and she
is not breathing and doesn't have a pulse.
Blood oozes out of her mouth. Elizabeth
tells them that she apparently has a C-spine
fracture and that she is probably not even a
good organ donor now. Carter offers to
notify the family, but Elizabeth assures them
that she can do it when they arrive. On
her way out of the trauma room, Elizabeth sees
Gallant and Susan working with a psych. patient
named Milo. He has swallowed a hand full
of nitroglycerin. Susan asks Elizabeth if
she has time for a consult and she tells her
that unfortunately she does. Milo seems to
be distraught that nobody is afraid that he
might explode. Elizabeth assures him that
she is NOT afraid. Susan tells Elizabeth
that Gallant has not "turfed" a case of psych.
all day. The ER has been at capacity
everyday since Mission hospital and St. Paul's
have been closed down. She also comments
that it hasn't helped that Weaver has been gone
so much.
The paramedics bring in a
young woman named Alma after she was shot in the
neck in a gang related shooting. Elizabeth
goes to assist with her. Alma tells Carter
that she is concerned about her boyfriend Ricky
who was also shot. Carter's med-students
are still waiting for him. Carter, Chuny
and Elizabeth work on Alma. Elizabeth
tells Haleh to move the body of the
sixteen-year-old girl to make room for them in
the trauma room. Carter soon realizes that
Alma cannot feel her legs. Haleh grabs
Gallant and asks him for his help in moving the
body and Gallant tells her that he is on his
psych. rotation and really shouldn't be helping
her. As they are talking, Gallant's
patient runs into the wall hoping to explode.
Carter does an ultrasound on Alma and learns
that she is pregnant. Abby and Luka are
tending to Ricky in the next trauma room.
Luka tells him that he is lucky that his
injuries are not life threatening. Ricky
comments on how bad the other guy was that he
had shot. Ricky learns that Alma wasn't as
lucky and he goes into a rage of anger.
Abby goes to get Dr. Corday. Alma is
surprised and worried. She doesn't want to
die and she really wants to see Ricky.
Elizabeth sends her up to surgery.
Kerry arrives down in the
over-crowded ER to find that a majority of the
patients belong to Gallant. She asks Frank
if Dr. Romano has called and he tells her that
he has several times. He also tells her
that a Dr. Rydell has also called for her.
Kerry sees that Stella Willits is still waiting
to be seen by Gallant and she tells him that
Stella is nothing more than a hypochondriac and
to send her on to the psych. ward. Gallant
tells Kerry that he would like to examine her
first. Carter asks Pratt how the med.
students are coming along. This is after
the fact that he asked him to look after them
while he was busy with the traumas. Pratt
tells him that he gave them three volumes of
Rosen to read. Carter was hoping for
something more "hands on". Carter gets a
call that he has been waiting for from urology.
As he is waiting, one of the new med. students,
named Erin Harkins, taps him on the shoulder and
wants to know an approximate time as to when the
orientation will begin. Kerry overhears
this and is upset that Carter has been keeping
them waiting. Weaver introduces herself to
them and tells them that she will give them a
brief tour of the ambulance bay, after which
their Chief Resident, Dr. Carter, will give them
his undivided attention, as this is his primary
responsibility. Chuny tells Carter that
there was an accident downtown at a demolition
site and that about a dozen patients are being
brought in. Carter heads out to the
ambulance bay and he and Kerry take the first
patients being brought in. It is a
forty-year-old business man named Mr. Chambers
and his secretary Tammy. He was injured
when a crane collapsed. His secretary is
more concerned about him than herself.
Susan and Pratt tend to Ken Ambrose, a
thirty-four-year-old florist with a fractured
ankle who is in a lot of pain.
Elizabeth is on her way back
down to the ER and she runs into Haleh.
She asks Haleh where the trauma is and Haleh
shows her. She notices that Haleh is
looking good and thin and Haleh tells her
eighty-five pounds and counting. Elizabeth
sees Weaver and Carter in the trauma room with
Mr. Chambers. They fill her in on what is
going on and Kerry asks what she can do to
assist and Elizabeth tells her nothing.
The secretary sees that her boss is having
trouble breathing and Kerry explains to her that
he has a collapsed lung and that the procedure
that Elizabeth is doing should help inflate it.
Luka comes in and Elizabeth tells him to tend to
Mr. Chamber's wife. Tammy tells her that
she is not his wife, but his secretary.
She replies that she should not be in the trauma
room then. Luka tells her that he should
take a look at her cuts and he takes her out of
the room.
Pratt and Lewis are tending
to Mr. Ambrose. Pratt sees that his ankle
and foot are in a terrible condition and that
there is no pulse. Pratt asks Jing-Mei to
hold the foot. He then asks Ken if he has
ever been to Hawaii. Ken replies no and
Pratt tells him to pretend that he is there now.
Pratt grabs the foot and pops it back in to
place. Susan looks on in surprise and asks
him why he would reduce an ankle without any
pain medication. The patient responds that
it totally feels better. Pratt explains
that there was no pulse, which meant no blood
and dead tissue. He had to save the foot.
Ken thanks Pratt.
Back in the other trauma
room, Elizabeth and Kerry disagree with Mr.
Chamber's care. Kerry wants to discuss it
further, but Elizabeth replies,
"I'm a trauma
surgeon, and last I looked, you weren't Chief of
Staff,". She then gives Carter more orders
and walks out. Out in the hallway, Luka is
still tending to Tammy's cuts. Abby walks
up to him and tells him that Ricky is back from
x-ray. Ricky is happy about the way things
turned out with the shooting. Abby wants
to know if Ricky wants her to find out how Alma
is doing, but Ricky could care less. He
thinks Alma would be better off dead if she is
going to end up paralyzed. Luka leaves the
room angry and Abby follows out after him.
She tells him that Alma is pregnant with Ricky's
baby and she wonders if she should tell him
about it.
Gallant examines Stella and asks her about her
complaints. Stella grabs him medical
charts on her and begins to write all of her
symptoms and ailments down for him, since there
are so many.
Kerry is still upset about all of the patients
still being in the hallway. Elizabeth sees
her and tells her that Mr. Chambers has an
aortic dissection and that he is going up to
surgery. Kerry asks to speak to her
privately before she leaves. Elizabeth
follows her into an empty room. Kerry
tells her that she has been disrespectful and
Elizabeth takes offense to the accusation.
Elizabeth tells Kerry that she is the one with
the attitude and if anyone has a problem that it
is her. Kerry can't hold back any longer
and she begins to cry. Elizabeth seems to
be surprised at the tears and Kerry ends up
having to excuse herself.
Gallant and Susan tend
to a grown man, named Mr. Dwyer, in a diaper who
thinks he is a baby. Gallant assures her
that he is only doing it as a method of
relaxation, but Susan insists that he needs a
psych. consult. Gallant asks him what he
does for a living and he tells them that he is
in shoe sales. Gallant asks him when was
the last time he had is diaper hanged and he
tells him that morning. He tells Susan
that the man probably needs his diaper changed
and that he probably has a diaper rash, which
would make him a medical patient instead of a
psych. patient.
Frank brings Pratt a nice
floral arrangement from his patient Ken who is
feeling so much better. Jing-Mei sees them
and is jealous. Pratt is on his way out;
his shift is over. She asks Carter if it
is true that his boss Weaver was crying earlier.
As they discuss it, Carter's med. student Erin
Harkins comes up with a man who is having severe
chest pains. His name is Mr. Royston and
his two sons Pete and Derek are with him.
Carter tells her to watch the kids while he and
Pratt take the man to the exam room. Mr.
Royston is having a heart attack, so Carter
wants to take him to the cath. lab for
angioplasty and Pratt wants to be more
aggressive. He goes into cardiac arrest
and Carter tells Abby to get cardiology down
there.
Luka watches as the police
take Ricky off to jail. Luka doesn't let
him leave without telling him that his
girlfriend is pregnant. He tells Luka that
she is not his girlfriend. Luka tells him
that she is carrying his child and is upset that
he doesn't even care.
Dr. Kayson from cardiology
comes down to assist with Mr. Royston. He
doesn't seem to like the arrogance of the med.
student (Pratt). The motorcycle accident
victim's father shows up looking for his
daughter. Susan sees him and has him wait
for a moment while she finds Dr. Corday.
Susan tells Corday that she can talk to the
father, since she is on her way up to surgery,
but Elizabeth tells her that she will find him
and tell him herself. Kayson, Carter and
Pratt have done all that they can do to revive
Mr. Royston, but they cannot get a good heart
rhythm. Carter calls the time of death,
just as Derek walks in. Carter takes him
out of the room and Dr. Kayson heads back to
cardiology. Pratt sees that the heart has
gone back into V-tach, so he decides to shock
his heart. Abby tells him no, that they
have already pronounced him. Pratt ignores
her and shocks him anyway. Mr. Royston's
heart goes into a normal rhythm. Carter
explains to Derek and Pete about how they worked
hard to save their father. He explains to
them that they did a good thing bringing him to
the ER. He asks them if they would like to
see him one last time to tell him goodbye.
They go to the room to find that he is now
alive. Carter cannot believe what he sees.
Elizabeth has found Mr.
Huffner and she tells him what happened with his
daughter Sasha. Susan watches as Elizabeth
coldly explains about his daughter's motorcycle
accident and death. Elizabeth leaves him
there to cry alone and she walks off.
Pratt and Abby listen in as
Dr. Kayson chews Carter out in the next exam
room. He cannot believe that a student
would go against what his superiors had told him
to do. Carter takes up for what Pratt had
done and he tells Kayson that his name is not on
it and that he and Pratt will take whatever
comes. Pratt had done it so that the man's
wife and kids could have more time with him.
Kayson leaves and Carter gets on to Pratt for
his negligence. He tells Pratt that he
only did it to show that he could.
Pratt speaks with Derek and
Pete about their father's condition. He
tells them that their dad is still very sick and
that he may not wake up. Pratt offers to
take them to the cafeteria and Carter looks up
to see that thy see Pratt as a hero.
Carter tells Abby that he is "pooped" and Abby
massages his shoulders. She asks him if he
wants to stay home tonight and he tells her that
is she continues massaging his shoulders like
that, he will do whatever she wants. Mrs.
Royston comes in looking for her husband.
Abby and Carter take her to his side.
Carter asks her if her husband made any plans if
something like this was to happen and she tells
him no. Carter asks her if she would want
a Do Not Resuscitate Order if his heart were to
stop beating. She asks him what his
opinion is and he tells her that it would be the
right thing to do.
Kerry is still upset with
Gallant because Stella is still there.
Gallant tells Weaver that he ran some test on
her and that she has a hyperactive thyroid and
that the wait was merited. She wants
Stella out of her ER, but she is also happy that
he found the problem.
Derek comes to find Abby and
tells her that something is wrong with his dad.
Abby sees Pratt and tells him to come with her.
They enter the room to see that Mr. Royston is
in arrest. His wife has signed the D.N.R.,
so all they can do is watch him die. Derek
can't understand why nobody will help his
father. He wants Pratt to help, but there
isn't anything that he can do. Derek
leaves the room as his mom and brother cry.
Elizabeth's
shift has ended and you can see that it has been
a rough day for her return. Jing-Mei asks
for her to sign off on a patient and you can see
that Elizabeth's thoughts are elsewhere and that
she is tired and ready to go home. Frank
tells her that neurology called and Elizabeth
asks what it was about. Frank tells her
that Alma is now a quad (quadriplegic).
She goes into the lounge for a breather and
comes across an old staff photo with Mark in it.
She takes the photo down for a closer look when
Pratt comes in. She watches as Pratt opens
Mark's old locker and closes it. She
watches the locker as Pratt leaves the room.
Later in the lounge,
Abby finds Carter sleeping on the couch.
Abby goes over to him and kisses him without
waking him up. Luka walks in and Abby
tells him, "shhh". He wants to know if she
is going to wake him up. He mentions that
she came in with him that morning and Abby tells
him that he should be able to find his way back
home without her. Luka offers to give her
a ride, but she tells him that she is okay.
Pratt goes home to find that
there are several people in his apartment.
He tells Biz to come out into the hallway with
him and then tells him that he doesn't want to
see him around his place again. Pratt then
goes in and tells everyone else to leave.
Everyone, but Leon, leaves. Leon doesn't
understand why "G" made all of his friends
leave. Pratt tells him that those guys
were just using him.
Carter finally wakes up on
the lounge couch and seems to be sore. He
walks out to the admit. area and asks Randi if
Abby is still there. She tells him no, but
the new med. student is still waiting in chairs
for him. Carter wakes Erin up and tells
her that it is time for her to go home.
They can give the orientation another try
tomorrow. Erin doesn't like what he says
and tells him that she has been waiting there
for him for sixteen hours. She is tired
and hungry, she only had a diet soda and gummy
bears to eat all day, she stinks, she has been
called names, and she just wants to get her
orientation done. Carter sees that she
means business, so he takes her on the ER tour.
Reviewed
by Tony Conner on October 14, 2002
NBC Review
DR. CORDAY MAKES EMOTIONAL
RETURN AND DR. PRATT CAUSES MORE PAIN WITH
RESUSCITATION -- Chaos reigns as the ER is
overloaded with patients after another hospital
is shut down just as Dr. Corday (Alex Kingston)
makes an emotional return -- and the aggressive
Dr. Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) enrages his
counterparts when he resuscitates a heart attack
victim who had been pronounced dead. As the
tight-lipped Corday sees the ER for the first
time since Dr. Greene's death, she clashes with
the tightly wound Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes).
Meanwhile, Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle) and a frisky
Abby (Maura Tierney) hardly care to conceal
their growing romantic attraction to each other;
Dr. Gallant (Sharif Atkins) gets an eye-opening
education when he pulls a shift in the
psychiatric unit; Dr. Romano (Paul McCrane)
faces a daunting new challenge. Goran Visnjic,
Ming-Na and Sherry Stringfield also star.
TV-14
