Next Of Kin

Next of Kin

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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Buy the Season 9 DVD

Episode 188 "Next of Kin"

Original Air Date: December 05, 2002

Written by: Dee Johnson

Directed by: Paul McCrane

Guest Cast:

Sally Field - Maggie Wyczenski
Tom Everett Scott - Eric Wyczenski
Marcello Thedford - Leon
Megan Ryan Vint - Morgan Brenner
Judith Hoag - Morgan Brenner's mother
Mary Carver - Matilda
Jurnee Smollett - Romy
Elaine Bromka - Melody Cranston
Jeffrey DeMunn - Eric Wyczenski's Rehab. Doctor

Staff:

Abraham Benrubi - Jerry Markovic

Yvette Freeman - Haleh

Laura Ceron - Chuny Marquez

Conni Marie Brazelton - Conni

Gedde Watanabe - Yosh Takata

Leslie Bibb - Erin Harkins

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Abby is asleep in her bed and it’s snowing outside. Her alarm clock shows us that it’s 5 am. We hear glass breaking in the other room and Abby startles a bit and wakes up. She opens her bedroom door and goes into the living room where the tv is on. Eric is watching it and complaining to Abby that she needs to get cable. Maggie is in the kitchen, trying to make some breakfast since she’s been up since 3am to sit with Eric. He sarcastically says that she’s making his last supper as Abby has found a place for him at a treatment center. He doesn’t want her to take charge over his disease and he’s angry at her for doing so anyway. She tries to convince him again that it’s the best way to treat his bi-polar disorder but he doesn’t want to hear about it.

In the ER a young patient named Timmy is being seen by Carter. He’s complaining of a headache and Carter asks the mother what happened. Timmy and his brother share a look and confess that they were playing a game with gravity and they hung Timmy upside down. Back at the admit desk Susan asks about Abby who is back in town. She’s about ready to leave but Jerry tells her Weaver wants Susan to cover her shift. She complains that it’s the second time this week. Carter and Chen are talking when a young girl leaves her duffel bag in chairs and she quickly runs out. All of a sudden they hear screaming coming from the bag and they find a newborn baby. Carter runs out to look for the girl as Chen tends to the baby.

Maggie, Eric and Abby are walking around in a treatment center and a doctor is giving explanations and showing them around. Eric is still being sarcastic and is obviously not pleased to be there. Maggie suggests they go meet some other patients so Abby can talk to the doctor. Abby asks him about anti-psychotic medication and that she can give her input as well, since she is a nurse. However, the doctor tells her the resident needs to provide that information, because it is an important step in the programme.

Carter, Chen and Harkins are busy with the baby, who is only about one hour old. Things could have been worse, but there’s no information on the baby or the mother. Chen comments that she made a responsible choice but Harkins doesn’t share that opinion and judges the girl for what she did. There’s another trauma coming in and Carter and Harkins leave to go help.

Gil Brenner is being brought in, together with his 12-year-old daughter Morgan after they had a car accident. Susan joins them in the trauma room but he has an internal injury so Dr. Corday takes him to surgery. They ask him if they need to call anyone but he doesn’t respond. In the other room Morgan has a fractured leg so they’ll put a pink cast on it, because that’s her favourite colour.

Back in the treatment center, Eric is participating in some kind of group therapy, but it’s not going well. Abby and Maggie leave so he can be alone. As they’re going down, Maggie questions if this is the right place for him. Abby rolls her eyes and they continue to disagree about the treatment. Maggie wants him to do it on his own, voluntarily and the discussion turns into a deeper lying problem. Abby tells her just because her mom has the disease as well, this does not make her an expert. She then starts to name all of the things she used to do when they were kids and says: “You’re not anybody’s mother.” Maggie runs away, upset.

Chen is tending to the baby again, talking to him and smiling. They’re waiting for a bed to open upstairs and the baby’s roommate is Melody Cranston, Susan and Gallant’s patient. She’s a middle-aged woman with possible food poisoning. They need to run more tests and she asks if she will have to be admitted, she’s a nurse herself. Her boyfriend Bill is sitting next to her.

Elizabeth is upstairs with Mr. Brenner and tells him about his surgery and his daughter. She asks him again if she can call his wife, but he tells her she left them about three years ago.

Kovac has just arrived late and Susan complains about it since she’s already working a double shift. Luka responds: “Blame my alarm clock” and Susan quips: “Oh yea? What’s her name?” His patient is an elderly woman named Matilda. She is diabetic and has a hip fracture.

Pratt is carrying Morgan into another room, she now has her cast on. She needs to go to the bathroom and Harkins gives her a bedpan and they leave the room to give her some privacy. Just a few moments later, they hear the bedpan fall to the floor and Harkins goes in to help her and discovers that Morgan is actually a boy. She tells Pratt what she saw and he tells her to find the mother while he goes in to talk to Morgan. Pratt asks him what the deal is with the girl clothes and Morgan tells him that he is in the wrong body. He and his dad moved so he could start over at a new school because his mom thinks he’s a freak so he begs Pratt not to call her, but call a friend instead. Leon shows up at the ER and is upset because he got fired from his job.

Carter gets a phonecall from “Anita Coffee” and goes outside to find Abby waiting for him. They get a cup of coffee at Doc Magoo’s.

Luka and Susan are working on Matilda when all of a sudden she looses consciousness. Susan checks her gag reflex and Matilda jumps up scolding her. Haleh comes in with Jeremy Cranston, Melody’s son and Susan takes him to her room. He doesn’t seem to pleased with the fact that Bill, Melody’s boyfriend, is there and he tells Susan that he should be the one to contact for all of the official things. He says that Bill can be a jerk sometimes.

Cater and Abby are having coffee and she tells him about Eric and Maggie. Her plan is to get into a routine with his treatment and she’ll work nights so she can keep an eye on him during the day. She mentions that she might have to get a bigger apartment since Eric will be moving in but Carter doesn’t seem to excited. He tells her that she could share that responsibility with Maggie but Abby laughs and tells him the story of how Maggie used to abandon the both of them when they were younger.

Mr. Brenner is coding in the ER and Elizabeth tries her best to save him, but is unsuccessful.

Luka is with Matilda and she questions why a good looking man like himself isn’t married. She tells him about her loneliness and she was a killer in her days.

Gallant goes up to Susan with the results from Melody’s tests. Everything seems to be normal except her level of salicylate which is extremely high. Susan comments that Melody is a nurse and would know better than to take an aspirin overdose and she also knew that it wasn’t enough to kill her. She tells Gallant to ask for her records since she suspects it might be Munchhausens.

Corday comes down to the ER and tells them Mr. Brenner is dead. She and Carter walk up to Harkins to ask if she has called the mother yet and she stuns them when she says Morgan is actually a boy. Carter orders her to call the mother since she is next of kin and Pratt is on his break.

Abby arrives at the treatment center to find that Eric withdrew from the programme and left. She is shocked to hear that her mother came and got him.

Pratt arrives at Leon’s boss who just fired him. He pleads with him to give his brother his job back, but when he answers that he’s too dumb to do anything, Pratt pushes him up against a garage door. He tells him Leon took a bullet to the head but has always worked hard. The man mentions that there was a robbery in his store a few nights ago and he suspects Leon giving the key to the thieves. Pratt leaves and says he should leave Leon out of this, he didn’t do anything wrong.

Morgan’s mother has arrived in the ER and Carter explains to her what happened. They stop outside of her son’s room and Carter tells her that Morgan doesn’t know of his father’s death yet, but he will tell them when they enter. They go in and Morgan gets upset when he sees his mother and asks about his dad. Carter calmly tells him that he died and Morgan starts to cry. His mother holds him and says she will take care of him now.

Matilda is talking to Luka again and she grabs her purse and takes out her checkbook. Luka asks what she is doing and she replies she wants to give him a tip. He refuses but she insists since she has no one else to spend the money on and she wants to thank him. Eventually, Luka caves and he takes the check from her. Harkins follows him outside to the admit desk and blurts out to the rest that he received a check. Luka doesn’t seem to care very much about it and says it’s just a simple gesture from the old woman. But when Harkins reaches into his lab coat, she tells him the check is for $10,000.

Gallant is back with Melody’s medical records and they show that she has been hospitalised many times in the past with indications of abuse. Susan comments: “Looks like Melody has got a lousy boyfriend.”

Abby is back at her apartment and finds Maggie packing. She asks her what the hell she’s doing and Maggie explains that Eric doesn’t want to do it this way. She is taking him back to Minnesota in the morning where he will live with her and see a psychiatrist. Abby is angry and upset and tells her mother she had to pull many strings for Eric to get into that center. Maggie tells her that she may have been the only one to always be there for the both of them, but she’s responsible now too. Abby asks where Eric is.

Back in the ER Chen has to let go of the baby as a bed became available upstairs. She says goodbye with a sad look on her face and Susan comes in to talk to Melody. Her boyfriend is at work so Susan decides to confront her about the many admissions to the hospital. She tells her that she should inform the police if she is being physically abused but Melody refuses and says she just needs a few more days, because then he’ll join the Navy. Susan is confused until Melody says: “My son.” Her son has been abusing her and she doesn’t want to put him in jail, she only needs a few more days.

Pratt returns from his break and talks to Harkins who tells him Mr. Brenner died in the OR. He runs to Morgan’s room to find his mother cutting off his hair. She says she has to do it or he will never be accepted in his new family. Morgan is staring back coldly as his mother goes on to tell she’s doing it for his own good.

Chen is in the middle of examining a patient when Romy arrives. She’s the girl that left the baby in the ER before and she now wants her baby back. She tells Chen that she was scared before, but now her mother knows and she’ll help her. Harkins keeps questioning if she’ll take care of the baby but Chen defends her saying that she’s trying.

Susan and Haleh watch as Matilda’s vitals are deteriorating. Luka comes in and asks why no one told him that her condition had taken a turn. Haleh tells him that Matilda had an advanced directive and she wanted that in her file. Luka finally calls the time of death.

Gallant and Jeremy are talking about the Navy and Susan walks up and tells Jeremy that his mother needs to be hospitalised for a couple of days. She has an ulcer that was brought on by unintentional aspirine overdose. Gallant looks confused and asks her about the diagnosis and she tells him that she stretched it a bit because her son abuses her.

Abby and Maggie arrive at the hotel where Eric is staying. She wants to open the door but Eric locked it so she can’t get in. He comes to the door and she says she needs to talk to him. He opens the door and lets his mom in but he doesn’t want Abby there. They get into an argument and Eric says: “You’re not like us and you never will be.” Abby gets tears in her eyes and is upset. She turns around to leave telling her mother not to bother to call her. She walks away and doesn’t listen to Maggie calling out to her.

Pratt goes into the Lounge and finds Carter there. He tells Pratt he needed to call the mother because he wasn’t there, so he stepped up. She’s still Morgan’s family, but Pratt counters: “Define family.” He leaves the lounge just in time to see Morgan and her mother leaving. His hear is now short and he gives Pratt a long and cold look.

Romy and her mother come down with the baby and Romy’s mother goes to Chen to thank her for what she did. She waves goodbye to them.

Luka is cashing the check he got from Matilda as Pratt comes home to find Leon sitting at the counter. His friends gave him an X-box when they heard he got fired. Pratt is not impressed and gets upset with Leon, telling him that it’s probably stolen.

Carter arrives at Abby’s apartment and finds her sitting on the stairs leading up to the door having a cigarette. He says that she never called back after he left a message and he wants to know how everything went with Eric. She tells him they both left but she doesn’t want to talk about it since it’s ruining her perfect smoke. He looks a bit disappointed and he apologises. She says she’s done with the both of them, she doesn’t want to worry about it anymore. She gets up and calls out: “Cancel Christmas”, before she goes in and leaves the door open behind her.

Reviewed by Funbol on March 27, 2004

NBC Review

WILL ABBY GET DRAGGED THROUGH THE MUD IN FAMILY TUG-OF-WAR? OSCAR WINNER SALLY FIELD RETURNS TO GUEST-STAR -- Abby (Maura Tierney) is heartbroken when her troubled mother (Oscar-winning guest star Sally Field, "Norma Rae") interferes with the treatment of her bi-polar brother (guest star Thomas Everett Scott, "Philly") at a psychiatric hospital while Dr. Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) treats a frightened young girl (as Morgan, guest star TBA) who is injured in an auto accident and tries to hides a terrible secret. Elsewhere: a dissolute Dr. Kovac (Goran Visnjic) forms an unlikely bond with a lonely elderly woman (as Matilda, guest star TBA) who offers him a tidy "tip"; Dr. Chen (Ming-Na) is flooded with teary memories when a baby is abandoned inside the E.R.; and Pratt takes matters into his own hands when his luckless brother Leon (guest star Marcello Thedford) is fired from his menial job. Noah Wyle, Alex Kingston, Sherry Stringfield and Sharif Atkins also star. TV-14

TV Guide Review

December 5, 2002: Next of Kin: Harkins faces a tough call while treating a troubled teen involved in a car crash with her dad; Abby races to stop Maggie from taking manic-depressive Eric out of treatment; and Kovac hits a new low when an elderly woman tips him for his medical services. Meanwhile, an abandoned baby dredges up painful memories for Chen; and Pratt goes to bat for Leon after he's fired for stealing from his job.