First Snowfall

Chaos Theory
Dead Again
Insurrection
Walk Like a Man
A Hopeless Wound
One Can Only Hope
Tell Me Where It Hurts
First Snowfall
Next of Kin
Hindsight
A Little Help from My Friends
A Saint in the City
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
No Strings Attached
A Boy Falling Out of the Sky
A Thousand Cranes
The Advocate
Finders Keepers
Things Change
Foreign Affairs
When Night Meets Day
Kisangani

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Episode 187 "First Snowfall"

Original Air Date: November 21, 2002

Written by: Jack Orman

Directed by: Jack Orman

Guest Cast:

Sally Field - Maggie Wyczenski
Tom Everett Scott - Eric Wyczenski
Jim Fitzpatrick - Captain Mitchell
Jeff Kober - Matt & Toby's Father
Josh Hutcherson - Matt
Joseph Kell - Drunk Driver
Avery Rice - Kiley Summers
Tish Hicks - Rebecca Summers
Larry Hankin - Homeless Guy
Kris Murphy - Flight Nurse
Mya Michaels - Flight Nurse
Garett Maggart - Lieutenant Ottenson
Daniel Bess - Marshal
Robert Maffia - Perfusionist
Peggy Dunne - Sylvia

Staff:

Don Cheadle - Paul Nathan

Deezer D. - Malik McGrath

Laura Ceron - Chuny Marquez

Troy Evans - Frank Martin

Kristen Minter - Randi

Lily Mariye - Lily

Dinah Lenney - Shirley

Leslie Bibb - Erin Harkins

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The episode sets off with Gallant talking on the phone and Abby watching him closely. He’s trying to get information about Eric, Abby’s brother, after he was taken to Nebraska because he had gone AWOL. She tells Gallant not to say it’s on behalf of a family member because then they won’t give any information. Carter joins them and she explains that since she hasn’t heard from her brother in three days she’s decided to fly to Omaha and go there herself. Carter’s shift just started and he can’t get someone to cover for him so he suggests flying together the next day. Abby tells him she can do this alone but he doesn’t want her to go by herself. He says that she should take Gallant with her since he’s been on a base before. She asks him to get her a cab.

They’re walking towards the cab together and Abby asks Carter to pack her bags for her. Gallant is waiting for them and Abby tells him he doesn’t have to do this especially since he has an exam the next week. Carter says he’ll get there the next day and she thanks and hugs him. When she gets in the cab he waves her off and as he is turning to go back inside, we see the first snow falling down. By the next morning Carter goes outside and there’s about 3 feet of snow.

Nathan is walking towards the bathroom and stops right in front of the door since he is having trouble with his Parkinsons. Carter is talking on his cellphone to know when the roads will be clear and he hold the door open for Nathan, but he tells him to go on ahead, he could be there for awhile. When he finally goes in, Carter is brushing his teeth and his phone rings again. It’s Abby calling from Nebraska because Gallant was successful in getting them on the base. He tells her that they’re snowed in and the El isn’t running. We see Nathan looking at his hands and Carter asks if he’s ok. An officer walks up to Abby accompanied by Gallant and the officer yells that she should get off the phone. She asks him again where Eric is and tells him he has bipolar disease.

The ER is quiet because the ambulances have trouble getting through all the snow. Carter is still trying to get out of there and Harkins comes up to him saying everything is basically done and she asks him what to do. Carter comments: “I don’t know, go play in the snow.” Elizabeth comes in and Carter learns that the El is open and he can leave.

Abby is still on the base and she finally finds out where Eric is. Lieutenant Ottenson tells her that her brother is not in jail, but in the base hospital. Carter is walking into the ambulance bay when a snowball hits his face. Harkins and Malik are playing in the snow like he told her and Luka is coming in on skis. He asks about Abby and he tells Luka that he’s on his way to her. There’s a big trauma coming in which results in Carter goin back inside.

Elizabeth and Nathan are in the elevator going up to the roof and she gives him instructions on the incoming mutliple trauma victims. She then notices Nathan’s tremors and they seem rather bad. He tries to blame it on exhaustion, but Elizabeth suggests it may be a progression of his Parkinson’s and she asks why he is pushing himself so hard. Nathan replies: “Please don’t treat me like I’m dying.”

Abby is on her way to see Eric and they walk in to the base hospital. All of a sudden she hears someone call her name and turns around stunned to see Maggie standing there.

Elizabeth, Susan and Nathan examine one of the victims. It’s a young boy called Toby and his brother Matt is in the trauma room next door. A drunk driver hit an entire family who was making a snowman. Elizabeth determines that the boy is braindead and runs to the other trauma room to look at the mother and the other boy. Luka is working on the boys’ mother who is pleading the doctors to save her boys. Elizabeth continues to move on to the room where Carter is working on the other child, Matt. All of his ribs are broken, and Elizabeth tells Carter Matt would have been killed if his mother hadn't jumped in front of him.

Abby and her mom are talking in the hospital and Abby says that it’s happening to him. She tells her about Eric and Jodie coming to visit her before and that she had a bad feeling about it. Maggie tells her that she already knew, but thought it was situational. Abby can’t believe what she’s hearing but her mom explains that Eric didn’t want her to know and they were trying to protect her.

Back in the ER the mother is crashing. Elizabeth doesn’t seem to know if they should go on but Luka says that she had a pulse and was talking before so they decide to open her chest. The husband, who was unharmed in the accident, wants to come in but Luka and Elizabeth quickly yell: “No!”. He comes in anyway before Nathan can stop him and is horrified when he sees his wife’s condition. He vomits and Nathan takes him outside. Then, Chuny comes in and tells them that Carter thinks Matt's heart was punctured by one of his broken ribs. Matt is having a heart attack caused by his injuries and Elizabeth says that the heart is probably damaged beyond repair. We see Susan wheeling Toby into another room Elizabeth gets an idea so she hurries after her. Susan confirms that Toby is brain-dead and Toby's father comes up and starts talking to his son. Elizabeth tries to explain the situation to him: Toby is dead, and the only way to save his other son Matt is to transplant Toby's heart and lungs into his brother. The father is shocked and he tells Elizabeth that she needs to save both of his children. Elizabeth tries to explain it to him again but then she is called to assist Luka, Carter and Kerry. Finally Elizabeth asks Nathan to talk to the father and get consent for the transplant.

Gallant is still at the hospital with Maggie and Abby but she seems to be a little uncomfortable that he’s there so she tells him thank you, but he can go now. The lieutenant comes out of the room and tells them that Eric wants to see his mom, only his mom. Abby asks: “Does he know I’m here?” and he tells her that Eric does know. Maggie goes in and tells Abby that she’ll talk to him about seeing her.

Elizabeth is called away to work on Matt, who's gone into cardiac arrest. As she and Carter work to keep Matt's heart going, Nathan comes in and says that he got the father's permission to do the transplant. They get Matt stabilized and hurry him towards the OR. As they pass the other trauma room, Luka pulls the sheet over the mother’s face, she’s gone. The father sees Elizabeth and Carter with Matt, and he follows them to the elevator. He wants Elizabeth to promise him the transplant will work, but Elizabeth can only tell him: "We need to get to the OR." The father tells Nathan he wants to wheel Toby in to say goodbye to his mother.

In the OR, Elizabeth quickly hooks up Matt to a heart and lung bypass machine. The transplant doctor arrives to take over, and Carter walks out with Elizabeth. Carter is impressed by Elizabeth and can only say: “Wow.”

Maggie tells Abby that Eric is not ready for this. He’s emotionally exhausted and ashamed. They walk in together and Abby greets Eric who asks rather sarcastically if Abby was expecting to see him in a straight jacket. It’s all a little akward and Abby tells him that she loves him and that’s because she was worried, she doesn’t think he’s crazy. She suggests that he come back to Chicago with her but he laughs and brushes off her idea. Abby continues to reason with him and says that he knows what it’s like because he’s seen it all, he was there when Maggie got bad. She turns to her mom for backup but Maggie takes Eric’s bag and tells them she’ll be in the waiting room. After she left, Abby asks Eric why he didn’t call her instead of Maggie and that it took her three days to find out where he was. She says that she’s more dependable and reliable than Maggie. Eric points out that he didn’t ask his mom to come and says that he can do this alone. The lieutenant comes in and says that it’s time to go.

Nathan is working on the drunk driver that hit the family. The man is very intoxicated and Elizabeth joins them. Nathan is walking away while Elizabeth continues to examine him, but then the driver makes comments about Nathan’s tremors. He asks him: “Do they let you treat patients like this?” and Nathan replies: “Only the ones they don’t care about.” The driver is getting angry because of this comment and Nathan turns around and yells at him “Do you know what you did? You killed a whole family!”. The driver is not impressed and is clearly oblivious as to what he’s done. Elizabeth suggests that Nathan goes and works on another patient.

Maggie tells Abby that Eric needs time because he can’t feel like they’re ganging up on him. Abby is still upset because Maggie just walked away earlier instead of helping her and she gives Maggie the finger behind a wall. Her mom tells her again that this is something that Eric needs to decide, because he has to want this. Abby is scarcastic and says that she’s been living with the disease all her life and she doesn’t need a lecture. But Maggie replies that she’s never been inside of it and that this is all about Eric. Things can’t go back to the way they were.

Nathan goes on to examine a young girl, Kylie, who is complaining of stomach ache. Her mother tells him Kylie's brother complained of an earache a few days ago an Nathan prepares to examine her ears. He tries to insert the otoscope but his hand trembles uncontrollably and he inevitably jams the instrument against her ear. Kylie screams and Nathan pulls back, horrified. Kerry comes over to see what’s going on and Nathan says that he probably scared the girl more than anything and hands Kerry the otoscope. Kerry says that he should finish the workup but he says he’s going home.

As Elizabeth walks by the trauma room, she spots Matt's father sitting on the floor in the dark next to his dead wife's body. Elizabeth goes in and he asks about Matt. She replies it's too early to know if the transplant was successful. The father is a complete wreck and he starts to talk about his family and Elizabeth listens sympathetically. She assures him that he made the right decision, seeing as though he had no choice. She points out to him that she knows how he’s feeling but he tells her that’s not possible. Elizabeth tells him about how she lost Mark. The father listens to her story as she tells him that some day soon, he’ll look into his childs eyes and he’ll see all the beautiful things that live on in him. The father replies that he needs Matt to be ok and Elizabeth nods her head, saying he will be. She hugs him and they cry together silently.

Abby is upset when she discovers Eric has requested a court martial. She goes in to talk to him and he says that they want him to say that he’s crazy, but he’s not. He tells her once again that he’s not Maggie, he’s not like her.

Nathan is on the roof looking down and Elizabeth comes up to him. She gives him his written evaluation, and he tucks it away without as much as a glance. He tells her that his disease is going to cripple him and Elizabeth asks why it always has to be so extreme with him. He has the gift of a physician so she wants him to use that gift, because he did a great job with the father earlier that day. She turns around to leave and says: "By the way, I keep my promises. I failed you."

Abby is sitting on the steps outside a building on the base and Maggie is next to her. She apologizes to her mom and tells her that she’s just scared and that she was angry at her because Maggie didn't do anything to help Eric. But Maggie shakes her head and tells her: “No, you're angry at me for giving it to him.” She then confesses that she sometimes feels guilty too for passing it on to him. Abby’s phone rings and Maggie says that she’ll try to get them a hotel room. Abby answers her phone and is happy to hear that it’s Carter. While she’s telling him about Eric, we see a car pull up in front of her. She asks Carter about the snow and he tells her the city is a wreck. The driver of the car gets out and Abby is relieved that it’s Carter and she smiles.

Nathan goes back down to the ER and he gets a fiber-optic otoscope and goes to Kylie. Kerry is still with Kylie and her mother and Nathan comes over with the otoscope and asks to check Kylie's ear. He says that Kylie should put the otoscope into her own ear and then shows her the picture of her eardrum on the video screen. Her eardrum is clearly irritated so Nathan explains what they should do about it. Elizabeth comes up to him as he finishes up and tells him that he’s needed upstairs.

She takes Nathan into the OR where the doctor is finishing the transplant surgery on Matt. As the surgeon removes the by-pass machine, he tells Nathan to get the paddles ready. He shocks Matt’s new heart and then watches as it starts to beat stronger and stronger.

Reviewed by Funbol on March 23, 2004

NBC Review

DESPERATE ABBY LOOKS FOR DISTURBED AND AWOL BROTHER; OSCAR WINNER SALLY FIELD RETURNS TO GUEST-STAR - Abby's (Maura Tierney) family nightmare continues when she and her mother (Oscar-winning guest star Sally Field, "Norma Rae") go in search of her AWOL brother (Thomas Everett Scott) -- whom she suspects is suffering from serious mental problems -- and the two women meet at a Midwestern air force base in hopes of preventing his military court-martial. Back at the snowed-in hospital, Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle) struggles to get out of Chicago to join Abby while Dr. Corday (Alex Kingston) treats a family of patients who are severely struck by a truck driver while building a snowman. Meanwhile, Corday tries to help the father (guest star Jeff Kober) make a life-or-death decision while she sympathizes with the troubled Dr. Nathan (guest star Don Cheadle) as he struggles with his increasing symptoms of his physical handicap. Laura Innes, Goran Visnjic, Sherry Stringfield and Sharif Atkins also star. TV-14

TV Guide Review

November 21, 2002: First Snowfall: Sally Field returns to the role that won her a guest-actress Emmy. Field is back for four episodes as Abby's bipolar mother, Maggie, who resurfaces after Abby's brother Eric is arrested for going AWOL from the Air Force. The trio shares a less-than-loving reunion at Eric's Omaha military base, where old wounds and ugly accusations lead Maggie to spill a brutal truth about Eric's battle with mental illness — and why the terminally bitter Abby was kept in the dark about it. Back in Chicago, a blizzard hampers Nathan and Corday's desperate attempt to save a family torn apart by a drunk driver.