The ER is once again extremely busy due to neighboring hospital ER closures.  Kerry tells Susan that she is not doing a very good job managing the crowded ER.  Erin is tending to a drunk patient carrying around a urinal who can't seem to quit singing his made up song, "how ya doin"?".  They ask what she is doing with him and she tells them that Luka is having her observe him until his banana bag is done.  Frank, Kerry and Susan tell her to take him outside.  Kerry is on the phone with Mercy Hospital trying to get them to take the overflow of patients and Susan tells her to threaten to break some legs to get their help.  Abby is talking with her brother Eric on the phone.  She is telling him that the ER is busy and that she would like to reschedule for dinner.  Carter has a patient, Mr. Barney, closed up in an exam room while he waits for security.  He had him restrained, but the man has already broken out of them.  Susan comes up and chats with Carter while they wait.  Mr. Barney is extremely agitated and throwing things at the door toward Carter and Susan, while they stand discussing how to remove stickers from cars and how to remove bloodstains from clothing.  As they are talking, the "How ya 'doin?"  man comes up and shakes his urinal bottle in their face.  Susan replies, "Groovy, how you doing"?

Paramedic Morales and Pratt get a good laugh about an x-ray that they see.  A patient has a vibrator in his rectum and it is still turned on.  Jing-Mei walks up to see it and she tells Pratt that she had a patient with a bowling pin in his before.  Mr. Mullens is complaining to Pratt about his pain.  He claims to have a slipped disc and needs a pain shot.  Pratt tells him that today is just not a god day.  Carter tells Pratt that he just saw the man bending over the water fountain for a drink.  Pratt tells Carter that he has seen him fifteen times in the last two months asking for Demerol.

Kerry and Susan complain to the Security Manager about the service that the ER has been getting.  Susan wants to hire a new company.  The manager makes the comment that ten bucks an hour won't keep any security guard in there.  An MVA is coming in and Carter tells Harkins to go with him to check the patient out.  Mr. Mullen is still asking for Demerol.  Carter tells Pratt to send the man to the pain clinic and to get him out of there.  Pratt tells Carter that he is just waiting for the man to leave.  The paramedics bring in the girl from the MVA.  She is a twelve-year-old prostitute and she was hit by a Mercedes and she does not care to give Carter her name, she tells him that it is anonymous.  Erin asks the girl if she has seen her gynecologist or called the police and the girl makes a sarcastic remark to her.  She has her hands clasped tightly and Erin thinks that she is having physical problems.  Carter tells her no, she is just clasping her money in her hands to keep anyone from taking it from her.

Abby and Gallant tend to Philip Berk, a man who has in stage Huntington's Disease.  This disease hits you when you are between the ages of thirty and forty years old.  It shows early signs of depression and ends up causing progressive loss of motor control and function.  People usually die within ten to twenty years of having the disease.  Philip has had it for fifteen.  He has fallen out of his bed at the nursing home and was brought in to the ER.  Susan comes in to take a look at his hip fracture.  Susan tells Abby that Luka has been waiting for forty-five minutes for her to assist him with a patient needing a pelvic exam.  Abby tells Susan that she is an hour and forty-five minutes behind.  Susan tells her that he is going to be even madder that she is keeping him waiting.  Abby asks Susan what he is mad about and Susan says, well hurt.  Abby replies, "About what?  He doesn't care".  Susan asks her if she has spoken to him about it.  Abby replies, "Why?  He is fine". (This all refers to Abby and Carter's relationship).  Susan and Abby roll Philip over and see that the nursing home has been neglecting him because he has a humongous bedsore on his back.

Carter tells Abby that he needs a detox bed for a teen prostitute.  Abby tells him that she will try, but she is busy.  Carter tells her that he wants to take her and her brother Eric out for Tai food for dinner that night.  He wants to hear embarrassing childhood stories.  Abby tells Carter that Eric is allergic to MSG.  Carter and Abby walk in on Pratt and Erin as she is removing the vibrator from the rectum of their patient.  Abby tells Carter that she and her brother usually meet up near the psychiatric hospital that her mother usually ends up in, but she tells Carter that her mom, Maggie, has been doing fine.  Abby meets up with Luka in the exam room.  He has already done the pelvic exam on his patient.  Mrs. Lundgren is the patient and she is anti-men.  She tells them to call her Effie.  She does not like being called by her husband's name.  She tried to vacuum out her period and this has caused some complications.  She tells Abby that the women are at war with the men and they have rights to do as they please.  Abby tells her that she understands and that she is a conscientious objector.

On his way out of the exam room, Luka bumps in to a female worker and tells her that he is sorry.  Gallant is with Stella, who is still having problems.  Luka sees the worker he bumped into and goes to speak with her.  Her name is Kathy.  She hands him a chart that belongs to him.  He tells her thanks.  She replies, "is that all you have to say, Sorry and Thanks"?  He asks her what else does she want from him?  She tells him NOTHING and walks away.  Abby has been watching on as this took place.  Abby asks Luka if he is okay.  He tells her that he is happy for her.

Carter is still working on the young prostitute.  He tells her that she has a golf ball sized cyst on her ovaries.  He asks her for her name and she tells him that it is Tina Jones.  He tells her that if she wants to make it to the age of twenty, she needs to quit smoking crack.  He wants to get her into detox.  School, friends, birthday parties...That is what a girl your age should be doing he tells her.  He has to step away for a minute, so he tells her that he will be right back.  Eric sees Carter, not knowing who he is, and asks him where he can find Abby Lockhart.  Carter was expecting him to be in an Air Force uniform.  Eric tells him that he is undercover and smiles.  Erin catches up with Carter and asks him a question and she is still holding the vibrator that she has pulled out of her patient's rectum.  She is not sure of what she needs to do with it.  Mr. Mullen is asking Abby what he has to do to get some help.  Abby ignores him when she sees her brother Eric and she goes to him and gives him a hug.  This angers Mr. Mullen when she ignores him like that.  Carter tells Pratt to come and get Mr. Mullen out of the ER.  Eric asks Abby if it is like this everyday?  Mullen replies for her by telling Eric how the staff there has been treating him.  Pratt writes Mr. Mullen a prescription to get him to leave.  He looks and sees that it is not for Demerol, but for Vicodin.  Pratt tells him to take it or leave it.  Mr. Mullen is now really angry and he turns around and knocks the entire row of chairs down and walks out.  An elderly man with crutches was sitting in the chairs when he kicked them over.  Abby looks at Eric as the man leaves the ER and tells him that they like excitement.

Abby and Eric are in the lounge discussing their mother.  She has a new dog named Dumpy and she seems to treat it better than she treated them they joke.  They know that she is doing good this time.  Eric apologizes for not being around the last few times Maggie has been sick.  Eric is on his way to Offut, Nebraska Air Force base where he has been stationed.  He tells Abby that it is top secret.  He has to be there in the morning, so he will probably not be able to meet Abby later for dinner.  Luka tells Abby that their is another woman who tried the menstrual extraction, as Mrs. Lundgren did.  He tells her that there was a party and several women participated.  Chen needs Abby to bring in the bag of fingers.  Two neighbors cut them off as they were using the lawnmower up in the air to chop some hedges.  All the fingers were place into one bag and now Pratt and Jing-Mei have to sort them out.  A man with the young prostitute asks Abby where the girls clothes and shoes are.  Abby, not knowing the situation, tells him that they are in a bag under the bed.  Frank tells Abby that Adele Neuman is on the phone and Abby tells Frank to tell her that she will have to call her back.

Philip Berk's mother has arrived and is in the room as Susan is treating him.  He is having a lot of problems breathing.  She can see that her son is in a lot of pain and she continues to tell him how sorry she is for having put him in the nursing home.  It was the only one that she could afford.  Abby walks in as Jing-Mei and Pratt are sorting through the fingers.  Carter asks Abby if she spoke with Adele about getting the detox bed for Tina.  Abby didn't realize who Tina was and Carter sees that she is now gone.  Frank gets Carter's attention and they see that Mr. Mullen has Jing-Mei in his arm and has a gun to her.  He is asking for 150 milligrams of Demerol.  Abby goes to the drug lockup to get it.  Abby sees Erin there and quietly tells her to call the police.  When Abby brings the Demerol, Mr. Mullen wants her to show him the label, so that he knows what she is giving him.  He has Abby give him the shot of Demerol.  He then asks Pratt why he wanted to become a doctor.  Is it for the money he asks him?  Or is it because you wanted to help people?  Pratt doesn't know what to say.  Mr. Mullen let's Jing-Mei go and then he walks up to Abby and gives her a peck and tells her thanks.  He then heads toward the door, leaving Jing-Mei and the others shaken up.         

Mr. Mullen is now unconscious on the ground in the ambulance bay.  Carter asks Abby how much she gave him and she replies 400.  Weaver says, That will do it.  Carter wonders if he is still breathing and Pratt asks him why he cares.  Carter replies that he doesn't.  The police show up and Weaver tells them that they will need to monitor his breathing.  Carter tells Abby that she needs to go inside and lay down.  Carter asks Weaver what happened to the metal detectors that they were suppose to get a year ago?  It's all about the Security plan that they are working on she tells him.  Eric comes out and checks on his sister Abby.  He can tell that she is smarter than the other people there and wonders why she does what she does.  She tells him that she is happier than she has been in a long time.  What happened to med. school he asks her?  She doesn't reply, but she tells him to give her a call with his new number when he gets to the base.  He tells her that he still has three hours before he needs to leave, but she tells him that she is really busy and she wants him to have a good trip.

Susan tells Mrs. Berk that it will be a couple of hours before they can get her son up to the OR.  She tells Susan that her husband had the disease and she had hoped that it would pass up her son, but it didn't.  Her husband suffered with it for twenty-five years.  She doesn't want to watch her son the same way.  He was an Opera singer and the disease took everything away from him.  It hit him when he was only twenty-nine.  It his hard for her to see him like this.  Abby asks Carter for a piece of paper.  He wants to know what for.  She tells him that she needs to work on her resume.  Susan comes out and Carter tells her that it is about time.  She is not interested in the walk out.  She has come to get Abby.  She has patients that need to be tended to.  She understands what is going on, but she reminds Carter that the healthcare system isn't the greatest, but they are there to treat patients.  As Susan is out, Mrs. Berk turns the ventilator off that is breathing for her son.  Carter reminds Susan about him being stabbed and Lucy being murdered.  Susan tells them that there are patients who needs them and she heads back inside.  Susan comes in and sees what has happened.  She turns it back on.  It is too late.  Abby comes in and sees that there is no heartbeat.  She asks, "He coded"?

Weaver comes out and asks Dr. Carter to take a walk with her.  She tells him that the metal detectors will arrive tonight or tomorrow morning.  A new security company is going to be working the ER and construction on triage will start as soon as they can approve the bids.  Carter thanks her, but she tells him not to.  All she expects is for him to clear the board and work the four hours he is behind due to the walkout.  She tells him that there will probably be a disciplinary hearing over what has happened.  She wants him to either lay off three senior nurses or cancel some x-ray equipment to get the money to pay for the security measures.  He asks her for her opinion and she tells him that it is his decision.  He decides it would be best to lay off the nurses.  She wants their names on her desk first thing in the morning.  Everyone cheers for Carter and for what he has accomplished.  Jing-Mei and Pratt head inside and she tells him that she is okay and that he can go home.  She has some work to finish up.  Romano is down in the ER doing scunt work because of Carter's mess and he lets Carter know that he told Weaver that he wanted him fired.  Harkins has made a good impression on Romano.  A young man is asking for a doctor and he is told to wait.  He asks again and Frank and some others feel threatened, so they call security.  Security comes and they throw the man to the ground.  Gallant asks who he is looking for and he says, "G".  Gregory Pratt is his brother.  The guy is now crying.  Gallant tends to him.  Susan is on hold on the phone and has been for a while.  She is surprised to see Carter still working.  He tells her that he is staying until the board is cleared.  Susan gives up and hangs up the phone.  She wants Abby and Jing-Mei to go out for a girl's night out.  Abby looks over to Carter and Susan can't believe that she is looking to him for permission.  She agrees to go out with Susan and Jing-Mei, but there better not be any male strippers.  The doctor that Susan was on hold with calls back.  She tells him about his patient, Mr. Berk, dieing and he agrees to send over the death certificate.  Gallant has walked Pratt's brother home.  Gallant asks him who is the oldest and he tells him that he is.  Pratt's mom took him in when he was only nine-years-old.  He does not know any other family except for Pratt.  Pratt opens the door and has been worried about Leon.  He asks if he got lost again and Leon responds that he remembered where the hospital was.  Pratt doesn't seem to thankful to Gallant for bringing him home safely.  Carter and Erin have been clearing the board and she can finally go home.  The how ya doin" guy asks Carter how he is and Carter tells him good.  Carter's metal detectors have arrived.  Abby and Susan are at the table discussing a man friend of Susan's.  They wonder how Jing-Mei is doing and Abby sees her up on the stage dancing.  She seems to be doing pretty good.

Reviewed by Tony Conner on October 29, 2002