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Carter is on a flight to Africa. He is sitting with someone and he
tells the man that his journey started yesterday from Chicago. He
asks Carter if he is going to the Congo on business. Carter tells
him that he is a doctor and is heading to Kisangani. A man named
Charles meets Dr. Carter at the airport. Dr. Carter tells Charles
that he could use a shower and Charles tells him that his next flight
will only be three hours. The flight is on a small plane full of
prosthetics. Carter asks Charles if Dr. Kovac is still there. He
doesn't know who Carter is referring to until Carter describes some of
Luka's characteristics. "All the ladies like Luka very much", is
the man's reply. He is at the clinic in Matenda, a very dangerous
place. Carter then takes a Jeep ride through the rain and arrives
at a clinic. He sees a lot of sick children and patients. A
voice from behind says, "Welcome to Kisangani, Doctor".
 Carter
wakes from sleep. He is introduced to
Angelique Chada. She is the onsite NGO
physician. Carter asks about Dr. Kovac
and she tells him that he is still in Matenda.
Charles told her that he doesn't speak French,
so she tells him that she will get someone to
translate. She goes over some of the
common illness with him and tells him how to
treat them. She tells him that 75% of
the children there don't make it to their
second birthday. She introduces Carter
to Gillian, who can speak French and English.
They speak about Carter in French, so he is
unsure what they are saying. There are
four doctors total. They have 200
patients and five nurses. The Admitting
area is packed full. Carter starts
checking out the patients. Kids with
simple malaria don't get beds. Carter
checks on a little boy named Saidi who has
trouble with urination, fever and a cough.
His bladder is huge. Gillian examines
him and he has polio. The father begins
to cry. Carter goes to the cafeteria and
tries to eat. Gillian joins him there.
Carter learns that Gillian is from Montreal
and she has been there for ten days and she
has been there before. Angelique
also joins them and they speak more about
Carter in French. Carter tells them that
he is from Chicago and they begin discussing
Luka. Angelique asks what Luka is like
back at home and Gillian tells them that she
had better get back to work and excuses
herself. Angelique tells Carter that
Luka has gone to Matenda with an immunization
team to a vaccination clinic. He has
been gone longer than the three days that was
expected. Carter continues to check on
patients. One man has his wife with him
and she is already dead. She has been
very ill he tells them. She has had AIDS
for many months.
Day Six - Kisangani
  Carter
continues to do his rounds. The power
goes out he learns that there is only one
power line and the Mai Mai cut it down every
couple of weeks. He likes how busy it
is, but no healthcare system to worry about.
Kovac returns with several injured people.
There are four critical Mai Mai men and Carter
assist a young one who had a "bee" fly in to
him. He was shot and is bleeding out.
He was shot in the armpit and the bullet went
to his abdomen and then to his thigh.
Angelique is able to locate the bullet and
sees that a lot of damage has been done.
She gives up on the boy, which Carter finds
hard to do. She is worried about wasting
the light source from the generator to work on
him. Carter continues to want to help
this boy and Angelique agrees to give him a
chance, while she and Luka work on the others.
The lights flicker and Gillian explains "the
roll". They roll the last of the fluid
tank to use every drop of fuel for the
generator. Carter has done a lot of
repairs on the boy. Gillian assists him
and the lights go out and they tell him that
they are out of time. They use lanterns
and Carter continues to work on saving him.
Luka watches on as he struggles and as Carter
massages the heart by hand. Angelique
tells Carter to let him be and the boy dies.
The boy's brother has watched Carter try to
save him.
Carter finds Luka in an
area of the hospital smoking. Carter is
surprised that Luka smokes. Luka asks
him when he got there and Carter tells him six
days ago. Carter asks Luka how much
longer he plans on staying there? He
tells Carter that he has to go back to the
clinic tomorrow to see patients that he left
there. He only came back for supplies.
Gillian comes in and tells Luka, "Welcome
back". Thank you", he replies. She
starts to pour drinks and tells Carter that
she thought he would be upset about the boy.
Carter takes a drink with the rest of them.
She puts the liquor in her bag and gets up.
She tells them that she is going to bed and is
hoping that one of them will join her.
Carter assures Luka that nothing has happened
between the two of them after he asks about
Abby. Luka decides to go with Gillian
then. "See you in the morning", he tells
Carter.
Day Ten - Kisangani
Carter continues to do his
rounds. A girl that he has been treating
has malaria and it has worsened. Two new
doctors from America have arrived. They
are Dr. Thorpe and Dr. O'Brien.
Angelique asks Carter what he is doing
tomorrow? She wants to know if he wants
to get together an immunization team to go
with him to Matenda to drop off a new shipment
of vaccines. Carter seems excited about
going. She tells him that he will have
to find a nurse who is willing to go with him
and looks toward Gillian.
Day Eleven - On the road
to Matenda
On their
way in to the town, Carter sees first hand the
condition of the people. He is disgusted
by the dead bodies everywhere and sees the
villages that have been burned and the people
that were left homeless. Patrique, the
driver, tells Carter that he grew up near
there. He tells Carter that they were
very happy and that it was beautiful.
Luka is there to meet them. He is happy
to see Gillian with them. Carter helps
Luka give the immunizations to the children.
Carter tries to speak French to one of the
little girls and she laughs at him.
Gillian tells him that his French is terrible.
Carter hears a boy with a bad cough. He
asks Gillian to ask the father how long the
boy has been coughing. Carter learns
that the boy has whooping cough. Carter
is upset that they do not have the proper
medication to help the boy. Luka tries
to put things in perspective for Carter.
"We vaccinated two hundred kids today," Luka
tells him. "When was the last time you saved
two hundred lives in one afternoon?", he
asks Carter.
That night, a little
singing and dancing wakes Carter up. He
hears Willie Nelson playing on a record, that
Charles must have brought with him.
Carter sees Luka and Gillian dancing and he
bows toward them. As he bows, an
explosion goes off directly behind him.
Everyone begins to scramble and take cover.
A scream is let out and it is a young girl
named Chance. Carter has her in his arm
and in the clinic. The foot is gone and
they are going to have to operate below the
knee. The mother is screaming and
upsetting. Luka tells someone to get the
poor mother out of there. The girl is
now unconscious and Luka begins sawing her
leg. Someone comes in and tells them
that the fighters are getting closer.
Most of the others leave Luka, Carter and
Gillian working on the girl. They finish
up and they take off with her running into the
woods to hide from the soldiers. We look
at Carter's face and he is full of fear.
Luka is not phased at all.
 Night
has passed and all seems calm. Carter
tells Luka that the girl's pulse is strong
when asked. Gillian is a sleep on Luka's
lap. Luka tells Carter that if there
isn't any infection in four days he will
revise it and clean the flap and says that it
"should make a nice seat for a prosthetic", he
finishes. "That was impressive,"
Carter tells him. He then tells him, "Looked
like you did it before." "I have," Luka
replies. They begin
discussing the fight. Luka goes on to
say, "In the beginning there's always a
lot of national pride and patriotic speeches,
but after a few weeks it becomes this--nothing
but death and sadness. These people just want
what everyone else wants. Their kids to have
something to eat, to grow up laughing and
happy. They don't care where the border is, or
who is president. They just want this to
stop." Carter doesn't see it that way.
Luka goes on to say, "You're an American,
Carter. You believe that if people
are given a chance to convert to democracy the
world will be a better place."
Carter replies, "What's the
alternative? Military
dictatorship?" Luka explains, "You
fight wars from the sky, with bombs and missiles. Then
your planes land back on their aircraft
carriers and the pilots watch Drew Carey on
satellite TV." Carter doesn't like
the conversation and Luka sees that he has hit
a nerve. "American soldiers died in Iraq",
Carter quickly states. Luka replies,
"Yeah, but your children don't starve to death
as your men fight. Your women aren't raped."
Luka goes on to tell Carter about the war and
the loss of his family in Croatia. "I
couldn't remember why it was all so important,
what difference did it all make. My children
were dead." Carter is left
speechless. They pass several bodies on
their way back to the clinic. One of the
soldiers is still alive. The food and
some supplies are gone. They begin
assisting the patients.
Day Thirteen - Matenda
 The
boy with whooping cough is not improving.
Chance's leg is looking good. The
soldier is wanting to leave. He is
worried that the Mai Mai soldiers are going to
come there. The road to Kisangani is
open and Angelique wants them to leave.
Luka does not want to leave the patients.
Luka wants Carter to take Gillian back with
him, but she does not want to go. A
truck full of soldiers arrive. They tell
the soldiers that they are with Alliance de Medecines
Internationale. Luka tells them that
they are doctors. They see that they had
the soldier with them and they get out their
guns. They take the soldier and put a
gun to his head. The rest of them kneel
on the ground and Carter has a gun put to his
forehead. The soldier learns that Carter
tried to save the other soldier's brother.
"Hello," the young soldier speaks to Carter.
"Hi," Carter replies as the gun is still
pressed to his forehead. They remove the
gun and head over to the injured soldier and
shoot him twice in the chest. A third
shot is fired and they leave.
Time has passed and Carter
watches as Gillian kisses Luka goodbye.
She gets into the vehicle crying. Carter asks,
"What should I tell Weaver?"
Luka replies, "Whatever you
want". Carter then
asks, "Should I tell her you're coming back?"
Luka replies, "I don't know".
Carter tells him not do anything stupid.
"Like what?" Luka asks. Carter
replies, "Like get yourself
killed". The vehicle drives off and
Luka goes to check on Chance.
Carter arrives home from
Africa and heads to Abby's apartment. He
goes inside and sits down beside her as she is
lying asleep in her bed. He gently
kisses her on her forehead.
(This episode continues in Season Ten's
"Now What?)
Reviewed
by Tony Conner on October 13, 2003
NBC Review
DR. CARTER RISKS LIFE IN
AFRICA WHEN HE VOLUNTEERS TO SERVE VICTIMS OF
CONGOLESE CIVIL WAR -- In a change-of-pace
episode, a sweat-soaked Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle)
finally arrives in the war-torn Congo as part of
a voluntary medical program and he finds
primitive Third-World facilities, a few heroic
staffers and woeful patients overflowing the
tiny hospital while a bloody civil war threatens
to engulf them all. Carter ventures deeper into
the jungle to reunite with Dr. Kovac (Goran
Visnjic) as they risk their lives manning a
crude outpost used for a vaccination campaign --
and soon find themselves in the withering line
of fire between the warring tribes.
TV Guide Review
 May
15, 2003: Kisangani: The ninth season ends
with two of County's doctors under fire and in
over their heads. After weeks of professional
and personal setbacks, Carter leaves the ER —
and Abby — behind to join the equally troubled
Kovac on a relief mission in war-torn Africa.
But upon arrival, the hellish conditions, lack
of supplies and rampant disease soon have him
clamoring for the comforts (and even the chaos)
of Chicago. In time, these unlikely allies
realize they are exactly where they're needed
most, especially after a skirmish between local
rebels and the African government's Army
triggers the docs' bloody battle to save a child
caught in the crossfire.
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