ER: "Fear of Flying" Summary/Review
William Kucharski
While reading article <55ulm5$s...@herald.concentric.net>, I noticed that
sco...@cris.com (Scott Hollifield) said the following:
>hospital. Despite Mark's concern for her, Susan insists on
>taking the chopper back herself to make the pick-up, and
>does so with no significant problems.
But Susan does KISS MARK ON THE CHEEK when she leaves! How did you miss that?
>ICU where baby Megan is being held. He leans over her and
>begins to whisper the Lord's Prayer, but finds that he
>can't remember all the words.
Not the Lord's Prayer; that's
Our Father
Who art In Heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be Done
On Earth as it is in Heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
Amen.
Benton was reciting the 23rd Psalm:
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul;
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
If I remember correctly, this was prominent in the first season as having been
something Benton's mother taught him.
>deservingly bumpy road. The scene at the end with Peter
>unsuccessfully reciting the Lord's Prayer was terrific, as a
>reminder that Peter is a quietly spiritual person at heart, and
>as notice that he's been quietly, unnoticeably, losing touch
>with that spiritual side.
See above regarding the prayer.
> -I think a major element to the Mark/Susan dynamic this
> week was Susan placing herself in a precarious situation
> -- testing her fear of flying -- and Mark, for the first
> real time, feeling genuine personal feelings for her
> well-being because of it. Check out how he watches as
> her helicopter flies away.
An additional factor is that SUSAN JUST KISSED HIM...
--
| William Kucharski | Opinions expressed herein
| Internet: kuch...@netcom.com | are MINE alone, NOT those of
| Ham: N0OKQ | of NETCOM.
| President, "Just the Ten of Us" Fan Club | "Dittos from Louisville, CO"
Scott Hollifield
E.R., Season 3, Episode 6, "Fear of Flying"
Written by: Lance Gentile
Directed by: Christopher Chulack
PLOT ONE: FAMILY PRACTICE
Mark and Susan are on "flight rotation", which is essentially
chopper detail. It's Susan's first time in the copter, and
her natural fear of flying makes her predictably skittish.
Their trip takes them out to the sticks, where they attend
to the victims of a van/truck collision. The driver of the
truck is dead, but the family in the van are all still alive.
The father and ten-year-old son are taken to County in the
chopper by Mark and Susan, where efforts are undertaken to
save their lives. Zach Herlihy has to undergo surgery due
to complications (see PLOT THREE), but makes it out; father
David, who is a pediatrician, suffers from flashes of amnesia
as a result of his concussion, but appears to be on the road
to regaining his full memory. A little later, Susan gets
word that they have to go back to the scene and retrieve the
mother and baby, who were originally slated for another
hospital. Despite Mark's concern for her, Susan insists on
taking the chopper back herself to make the pick-up, and
does so with no significant problems. Mark's attention to
Susan also manifests in the form of a casual stare, which is
met with Susan's "What?"; later, Susan staring at Mark also
draws the same reaction from him.
PLOT TWO: CRECHE AND BURN
Carter and Gant assist Abby Keaton and Peter Benton in
operating on infant Megan Herlihy. Benton is still riding
Gant in the OR, and gripes that Gant missed a discovery
due to an incomplete evaluation of the baby (despite Doug's
defense of Gant). Things are looking okay for the tiny
patient at first, and Keaton, who has to go scrub in on
another operation, leaves the remainder of Megan's operation
with Benton; she warns him to close up the operation and do
nothing else. While closing up, though, Peter spies some
extraneous matter on the baby's liver, and tries to clean
it off before finishing; this results in an ooze of blood,
rupturing the baby's liver. Gant suggests retrieving Keaton
pronto, but Benton stubbornly tries to fix his mistake,
only permitting Keaton to be called when it's more than clear
that he's in over his head. Keaton rushes in and barely
manages to help stabilize Megan's condition in time, although
there's still a real chance the baby could die. Keaton
lays into Benton heavily, accusing him of not knowing
anything about pediatric surgury. "You arrogantly and
blindly think you have all the answers," she says testily,
despite Benton's defense that he was merely following
procedure. "There is no procedure," replies Keaton.
Entering an elevator, Benton brushes off Gant's well-meant
words of sympathy, causing Dennis to bristle. "You're a real
prick, you know that?" Benton stands quietly by as Abby
explains Megan's condition to the Herlihys, without mentioning
the fact that a doctor screwed up. Later, Peter walks into
ICU where baby Megan is being held. He leans over her and
begins to whisper the Lord's Prayer, but finds that he
can't remember all the words.
PLOT THREE: HELP ME, RHONDA
The nurses are none-too-pleased to hear that they'll be getting
a "floater" from upstairs to replace Haleh (who's on vacation),
and even less pleased to find that she's a floor nurse.
Nurse Rhonda Sterling arrives with an attitude that's equally
ungracious and clueless. Not one for orientation, she cuts
Carol off in mid-instruction and grabs a patient case. Carol
has to remind her more than once to retrieve a syringe of
potassium (which Carol also has to tell her is under "P" in the
med room). Rhonda calls a doctor after one unsuccessful attempt
at landing an IV, even though Carol tells her that the ER nurses
try several times before bothering a doctor; apparently that's
not the way they do it up in "med-surg". During treatment of
Zach Herlihy in the ER, Rhonda is flustered and generally unable
to cope with the speed of the procedures. She screws up majorly
when asked for saline; instead, she hands the doctors the
potassium, which is injected into Zach. Luckily, it wasn't a
fatal amount, but Carol is unforgiving. She takes Rhonda off
of active status, assigning her supply-stock duty for the rest
of the day, and later tells her, "I can't have you work here
again." Rhonda takes this reprobation sullenly but silently.
MISCELLANEOUS THREADS:
An old man named Patrick Brazil, a "no-coder", is admitted by
his longtime caregiver. The woman tells Jeanie and Maggie that
"Mr. B", as she affectionately calls him, wishes to be
cryogenically frozen so that he can be with his wife, who was
frozen eight years earlier. Mr. B does finally indeed pass
away, and hile waiting on a representative from "California
Cryogenics" to arrive, Jeanie is obligated to keep his body
cold, which necessitates the retrieval of a large number of
ice cubes. Finally, Hubert Skinner, the flashily-dressed
cryogenics "doctor" arrives to take Mr. Brazil's body,
and since he carries proper identification, does so, despite
Jeanie's suspicions about his credentials.
Carol is still struggling in pre-med physics, and her lab
partner, high school student William Lipton is tutoring
her in "string theory", among other things, with limited
success. Doug drops by to find the two at Doc Magoo's,
and while he claims to have been pretty good at the subject,
he also has trouble comprehending William's physics lingo.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Fear of Flying" doesn't have much to do with flying, but
it does speak a little to the subject of fear -- namely, how some
people need some more of it.
Given the episode's status as the "ER" kick-off of
November sweeps (and NBC's melodramatic promotion of it), I was
expecting a fairly simplistic action-oriented story like "Hell
and High Water", which posted a big sweeps ratings win this time
last year. Instead, fortunately, what we got was closer to
"Love's Labor Lost", an unusually intense focus on a single case
(in this instance, a family) that allows the viewer to become
more emotionally involved with the plight of the people on the
table, and those who are caring for them. "Fear of Flying" was
about basically about the Herlihy family, and how they were
ministered by the ER doctors, and the latter half of it also
qualifies, surprisingly, as an extraordinary Peter Benton
story. That plus the level of involvement in the Herlihy
family's story was what made this episode for me, just as much
of the impact in "Love's Labor Lost" came from us getting to know
Sean and Jodi O'Brien.
Because of the title of the episode and the fact that
Susan's fear of flying was brought up conspicuously last
week, I dreaded seeing a concentration on Susan, at a crucial
moment, valiantly overcoming this phobia which has never
been a part of her character before now. Lance Gentile wisely
ducks this trap by having the story pay little more than lip
service to Susan's problem with flying; she gets in there and
does the job with only mild trepidations expressed at the
beginning of the show. No, her and Mark's story, such as it
was, was comprised of good old Greene-Lewis teamwork,
accentuated by a pair of longing stares which are obvious
concessions to the proto-romance emerging this season. The
Herlihys' story left no room for Weaver or Anspaugh, so Mark
was free to work without distraction, and so his screen time
was mostly dramatic medical performance, effective but
generally unnoteworthy.
Sometimes I get the impression that this show has two
wings, with Mark, Susan and Doug on one end, and Benton, Carter,
Dennis and Keaton working on the other. Thus the thing I think
I liked best about this episode was that, during the first
half anyway, there were a lot of ensemble moments with the
entire staff pitching in, which is an increasing rarity. Bits
like Doug and Dennis working on the same patient were nice (and
Doug's quick defense of Dennis was an improvement on Doug's
casual indifference to Maggie Doyle several weeks ago). By the
end of the show, the two halves had separated again, but by this
point, Peter has already done the damage. As an ultimate rule
man, Peter forgets that the pediatric surgery field dispenses
with a few of them. The thing that I appreciated about this
scene was that I felt put in the place of Peter; when he
instinctively tried to clean up his work, I, like Peter, had
momentarily forgotten that this was a direct disregard of
Keaton's very specific orders, because he so casually ignored
them, and because we know Peter so well. As a result, the
rebuke from the normally compassionate Keaton came as a double
slap. If this was a typical drama of cliches, we'd see Peter
connecting with little kids and juggling babies like tenpins
by now, but the writers have made it clear that even if
Peter is to overcome this current challenge, it's going to be a
deservingly bumpy road. The scene at the end with Peter
unsuccessfully reciting the Lord's Prayer was terrific, as a
reminder that Peter is a quietly spiritual person at heart, and
as notice that he's been quietly, unnoticeably, losing touch
with that spiritual side.
The story of Nurse Rhonda Sterling was interesting if
only because it spotlighted how unique and capable you really
have to be to cope with working in the ER. It also showed
Carol as a real take-charge hardcase, as befits her station.
What I was looking for was a little more closure from Rhonda's
side. I don't know if she's due to recur again (nor do I know
how that could happen), but her presence as the outsider
screw-up left me with a muted feeling of unresolved issues,
like when there's a disaster any time the cops on "NYPD Blue"
let someone other than a main character head up a case.
Luckily, Peter screwed up later on to provide some balance,
and Rhonda's mistake was an effectively dramatic use of tension.
I can't give the same admittedly faint praise to the
subplot involving Jeanie and the man who'd left instructions
to cryogenically freeze him. Even if this were a funny story
(and it wasn't), I dislike plot threads where the identity of
the doctor is completely interchangeable with any other
member of the cast. The entire structure of the story, which,
near as I can see, was only meant to build up to the
dubious visual gag of a dead man covered in a pile of ice
cubes, did nothing for me, and while I suppose it's kind of
goofily romantic for an old couple to be together in
cryogenics, I found it of especially questionable propriety to have
this follow up last week's story of Jeanie and another old couple,
which was everything this one was not.
Some assorted comments:
-Jerry's interest in football gambling was typically cute
if empty. Stick with the kangaroos, Jerry. (What was
up with Randi calling him "Bubba", though?)
-One interesting trivia note is that young Zach Herlihy
was played by two different actors, twins Joshua and
Jonathan Patterson. I've heard of infant twins and
triplets being in demand for stuff like this, but
this was the first time I've seen that gambit used for
a character as old as Zach.
-I think a major element to the Mark/Susan dynamic this
week was Susan placing herself in a precarious situation
-- testing her fear of flying -- and Mark, for the first
real time, feeling genuine personal feelings for her
well-being because of it. Check out how he watches as
her helicopter flies away.
-More evidence that Gant is the anti-Carter, at least
when it comes to standing up to Benton. "You're a
real prick, you know that?" Someone's been needing
to say it for a long time now.
-I've heard various rumors about Carter having a
"surprising relationship" with someone soon. Naturally,
I DON'T WANT TO KNOW about this before the episode airs,
but some folks who've speculated that Carter may have
a thing for Abby Keaton might feel validated by a couple
of scenes this week, where Carter practically gushes
all over her in sheer admiration. Then again, you people
thought Kerry and Mark were going to get together last
year, and her "surprising relationship" turned out to be
an African guy we saw for two minutes. :-)
-This was the first time this season that I've noticed that
the nurses aren't wearing the cranberry-colored scrubs
they fought so hard for last year. They're wearing some
weird pink-looking things now. I wonder whose idea that
was?
-Since Laura Innes is a member of the main cast now, I
was a little disappointed that no one even said where
she was, but I guess even folks like Susan Lewis get
a week off.
-Line of the week-
Mark: "Does that say 'chickenbelt'?"
Randi: (reading) "'Conjunctivitis.'"
-Line of the week (runner-up)-
Doug (to crying baby): "Are you hurt or are you just
mad at the world?"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Hollifield ** sco...@cris.com ** http://www.cris.com/~scotth
Scott Hollifield
Okay, here's the official Mistake Count for this week's
summary/review. :-)
>Despite Mark's concern for her, Susan insists on
>taking the chopper back herself to make the pick-up, and
>does so with no significant problems.
Believe it or not, I actually blinked and missed the part where Susan
kisses Mark on the cheek. I've already gotten several e-mails about
this, so I guess I'll have to check it out.
>He leans over her and
>begins to whisper the Lord's Prayer, but finds that he
>can't remember all the words.
Benton tries to recite the 23rd Psalm, not the Lord's Prayer.
Goodness, how embarrassing.
> -Since Laura Innes is a member of the main cast now, I
> was a little disappointed that no one even said where
> she was, but I guess even folks like Susan Lewis get
> a week off.
This is not a mistake, just a poorly worded sentence. :-)
WebfootVA
In article <55ve8o$1...@herald.concentric.net>, sco...@cris.com (Scott
Hollifield) wrote:
> Okay, here's the official Mistake Count for this week's
> summary/review. :-)
>
Scott, can I point out another "mistake"? Abby Keaton actually left
Meghan's surgery to attend to Zach--Carter came in to get her, remember?
I love your reviews though. I read them eagerly every week.
Also, how's this for a wild theory. Everyone is speculating on who
Carter's surprising relationship is going to turn out to be. While I
think it may well be Abby Keaton (especially after last night), I had one
other thought. I think baby Meghan may die or at least be permanently
incpacitated by Benton's screw-up. Remember the father is a
pediatrician. So the family may bring suit against the hospital. Maybe
Carter and the one of the lawyers have a fling. That could be
"surprising".
--
"My Favorite Teams are the Oregon Ducks and whoever is playing the Huskies!"
Teddy Bear
> The father and ten-year-old son are taken to County in the
> chopper by Mark and Susan....
Wasn't the boy seven years old?
Jozette
tmw
Scott Hollifield wrote:
> Given the episode's status as the "ER" kick-off of
> November sweeps (and NBC's melodramatic promotion of it), I was
> expecting a fairly simplistic action-oriented story like "Hell
> and High Water", which posted a big sweeps ratings win this time
> last year. Instead, fortunately, what we got was closer to
> "Love's Labor Lost", an unusually intense focus on a single case
> (in this instance, a family) that allows the viewer to become
> more emotionally involved with the plight of the people on the
> table, and those who are caring for them.
I agree wholeheartedly that FoF was hugely reminiscent of LLL. I can't
think of another ER episode than those two that I had trouble watching.
Like I did with LLL the first time I saw it, I muted the TV, closed my
eyes and fidgeted. I simply couldn't watch and I simply couldn't *not*
watch.
> Because of the title of the episode and the fact that
> Susan's fear of flying was brought up conspicuously last
> week, I dreaded seeing a concentration on Susan, at a crucial
> moment, valiantly overcoming this phobia which has never
> been a part of her character before now. Lance Gentile wisely
> ducks this trap by having the story pay little more than lip
> service to Susan's problem with flying; she gets in there and
> does the job with only mild trepidations expressed at the
> beginning of the show. No, her and Mark's story, such as it
> was, was comprised of good old Greene-Lewis teamwork,
> accentuated by a pair of longing stares which are obvious
> concessions to the proto-romance emerging this season.
I liked Susan more in this episode than I have in a long time.
Scott, you really hit the nail on the head with this paragraph. You
expressed my thoughts of this episode entirely. I like Peter, I always
have and always will. I'm not blind to his faults but I don't vilify him
like some people do. He absolutely needed to see how fallible his
rigidity can be. He absolutely needed to be chewed out by Abby Keaton.
He absolutely needed for her to say "If that baby dies, it is your
fault" because up to this point her assurances that kids weren't simply
little adults wasn't sinking into his head. He deserved what happened,
but I find no glee in the fact that it did. It was awful to watch the
operation spiral out of control. It was also awful to watch Abby Keaton,
who I always got the impression really respected Peter and was rooting
for him, to lose some of the respect she had for him.
The (almost) reciting of the 23rd Psalm was great. It was quite poignant
and very telling of the things that are going wrong with Peter. I'm also
glad Gant had the balls to call Peter a prick, although nothing Gant
called him could possibly be worse than the things he was probably
calling himself. Peter is such a perfectionist that this mess up will
cause him to whip himself for a long time.
tmw
Nancy Dooley
In article <01bbcd4d$af96eba0$0406...@default.texas.net> "Teddy Bear" <te...@texas.net> writes:
>From: "Teddy Bear" <te...@texas.net>
>Subject: Re: "Fear of Flying" Summary/Review
>Date: 8 Nov 1996 08:20:10 GMT
>> The father and ten-year-old son are taken to County in the
>> chopper by Mark and Susan....
>Wasn't the boy seven years old?
>Jozette
Susan thought he was "about 8." Did we hear his age? If Scott says so, he's
probably right. ;-)
Nancy Dooley
"Celebrate our State." Iowa's Sesquicentennial year, 1846-1996.
Tirya
Scott Hollifield (sco...@cris.com) wrote:
: E.R., Season 3, Episode 6, "Fear of Flying"
: Later, Peter walks into
: ICU where baby Megan is being held. He leans over her and
: begins to whisper the Lord's Prayer, but finds that he
: can't remember all the words.
It was Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd."
A beautifully symbolic indication of just how far Benton has strayed from
the human side of medicine in pursuit of technical brilliance.
: Some assorted comments:
: -Jerry's interest in football gambling was typically cute
: if empty. Stick with the kangaroos, Jerry. (What was
: up with Randi calling him "Bubba", though?)
We got a great laugh out of that, because Sundays at our house are always
filled with the "who's got which numbers?" questions. :) Possible Bubba
ref: Dick Butkus? ::shrug::
Speaking of sports, I wish they'd lose all the White Sox paraphernalia.
Baseball season is OVER, NBC... time to move on to the Bulls or Bears (or
'Hawk)! :)
: -Line of the week-
: Mark: "Does that say 'chickenbelt'?"
: Randi: (reading) "'Conjunctivitis.'"
: -Line of the week (runner-up)-
: Doug (to crying baby): "Are you hurt or are you just
: mad at the world?"
Susan's description of the helicopter: "A giant baked potato with a frat
beanie on top!"
Tirya
--
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Tirya | Help, Mr. Wizard! |
| ti...@wwa.com | I don't want to BE an |
| http://www.wwa.com/~tirya | administrative assistant anymore! |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Ken Stitzel
Scott Hollifield (sco...@cris.com) wrote:
Another excellent review!!! Thanks Scott. It's cool to come in on
Friday morning and find your review waiting. (OK, so there were
a few glitches. As Benton found out, nobody's perfect.)
Comments on the plot:
: PLOT ONE: FAMILY PRACTICE
: Mark's attention to
: Susan also manifests in the form of a casual stare, which is
: met with Susan's "What?"; later, Susan staring at Mark also
: draws the same reaction from him.
And of course there was the little peck on the cheek which
others have pointed out so I won't--BUT HOW COULD YOU MISS THE
KISS???? Well, it wasn't much of a kiss, I guess. Maybe we'll
find out how much or how little it meant next week....
: PLOT TWO: CRECHE AND BURN
I thought of this plot as being THE MIGHTY BENTON FALLS....
...
: Later, Peter walks into ICU where baby Megan is being held.
: He leans over her and begins to whisper the Lord's Prayer,
: but finds that he can't remember all the words.
This was an interesting tie-in to previous flashes of Benton's
religious upbringing. (And an interesting touch given Eriq La
Salle's churchgoing but very un-Benton-like personality.) I
think it was on the Christmas episode last year that Benton
was shown alone in a room reciting the Christmas story from
the Bible.
Comments on Scott's comments:
: Instead, fortunately, what we got was closer to
: "Love's Labor Lost", an unusually intense focus on a single case
: (in this instance, a family) that allows the viewer to become
: more emotionally involved with the plight of the people on the
: table, and those who are caring for them.
Agreed, but if all ER episodes were this intense, my wife and
I wouldn't be able to watch. Having young children does that
to you....
: The scene at the end with Peter
: unsuccessfully reciting the Lord's Prayer was terrific, as a
: reminder that Peter is a quietly spiritual person at heart, and
: as notice that he's been quietly, unnoticeably, losing touch
: with that spiritual side.
Aye. Again, this was an excellent touch by the writers. (In
fact, Peter's recitation of the Christmas story was a little
ironic last year, given his affair with a married woman.)
: The story of Nurse Rhonda Sterling was interesting if
: only because it spotlighted how unique and capable you really
: have to be to cope with working in the ER. It also showed
: Carol as a real take-charge hardcase, as befits her station....
: Luckily, Peter screwed up later on to provide some balance,
: and Rhonda's mistake was an effectively dramatic use of tension.
Not sure what they were trying to prove with this, but you're
probably right--especially in the theme of screw-ups and how
THE ER WAS VERY NEARLY AS DEADLY TO THE ACCIDENT VICTIMS AS
WAS THE ACCIDENT ITSELF!!! (The nurse injecting the potassium
into the boy, Peter damaging the infant's liver.) The Fear of
Flying could well have been the family's fear of flying into
more danger at the hands of the doctors, had they but known....
: I can't give the same admittedly faint praise to the
: subplot involving Jeanie and the man who'd left instructions
: to cryogenically freeze him.
I think it was meant as a bit of semi-comic relief to the
intensity of the other story. I know because this plot was one
in which my wife and I weren't tempted to cry or faint.
: -I think a major element to the Mark/Susan dynamic this
: week was Susan placing herself in a precarious situation
: -- testing her fear of flying -- and Mark, for the first
: real time, feeling genuine personal feelings for her
: well-being because of it. Check out how he watches as
: her helicopter flies away.
Or was it because she just KISSED HIM? (Sorry, Scott, just had
to tease you.)
: -More evidence that Gant is the anti-Carter, at least
: when it comes to standing up to Benton. "You're a
: real prick, you know that?" Someone's been needing
: to say it for a long time now.
This line made me whoop! "Finally, somebody said it!" I shouted.
Three cheers for Gant and his boldness. The only problem is that
Benton's discovery of the extent of his own arrogance may come at
the terrible cost of the life on an infant human being and all her
loss to the world and her family would represent.
: -Line of the week (runner-up)-
: Doug (to crying baby): "Are you hurt or are you just
: mad at the world?"
This is a line most parents learn. Doug's character does pretty
well for not being a parent--er, wait, I guess he is, sort of!
Wow. What a start for sweeps! Hope I can take the rest of the month...
--
Ken Stitzel (k...@fc.hp.com)
Learning Products Engineer (tech writer with functional enhancements)
Hewlett-Packard Company (a pretty cool company to work for)
Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
(Opinions stated herein are provided without warranty and are not
representative of official or unofficial HP policy on nerve-wracking
ER episodes ;-)
Debra Fran Baker
>ICU where baby Megan is being held. He leans over her and
>begins to whisper the Lord's Prayer, but finds that he
>can't remember all the words.
Not the Lord's Prayer - it was a translation of the 23rd Psalm.
--
One sharp pepper is better than a basketful of melons.
-- Tractate Megillah 7A
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Debra Fran Baker dfb...@panix.com
Cate Sheller
Great summary/review as usual, Scott. I've enjoyed your writing for
over a year now, and have finally decided to de-cloak myself and join
the discussion.
Scott Hollifield wrote:
> PLOT THREE: HELP ME, RHONDA
> not the way they do it up in "med-surg". During treatment of
> Zach Herlihy in the ER, Rhonda is flustered and generally unable
> to cope with the speed of the procedures. She screws up majorly
> when asked for saline; instead, she hands the doctors the
> potassium, which is injected into Zach. Luckily, it wasn't a
> fatal amount, but Carol is unforgiving. She takes Rhonda off
> of active status, assigning her supply-stock duty for the rest
> of the day, and later tells her, "I can't have you work here
> again." Rhonda takes this reprobation sullenly but silently.
I watched ER with a veteran RN, who has worked all over various
hospitals and is now in home health -- she anticipated the mistake
as soon as she saw Rhonda put the potassium in her pocket -- "she's
going to mix up her meds!" -- a detail I missed, but for that.
I wondered what was the point of this little sub-plot -- to dis
floor nurses? My RN buddy said she should never have been placed
in that situation, should never have even been in the room. She
said Rhonda was obviously not ACLS certified, or she would have
been familiar with the crash cart, 'cause they're all set up the
same.
The only value I could see for the whole thing was as a counterpoint
to Benton's screw-up -- and for that, it added dramatic interest.
Consider:
1) When Rhonda screwed up, she not only owned up to it immediately,
but knew what to do to fix the situation. Before she screwed up,
she also admitted she didn't belong in the ER. When Benton screwed
up, he not only refused to admit it, he made a bad situation worse
before finally being forced to give up.
2) Rhonda was roundly chastised by the ER staff, and made to sort meds
for the rest of the day by Carol, who told her to never come back. Peter
got yelled at by Keaton, but she covered for him when they went to talk
to the baby's family. I wonder what the ramifications of this situation
will be -- the father being a pediatrician, will he figure out that a
surgeon screwed up, and sue the hospital, and/or Keaton and/or Benton?
Peter, with his history of insisting that others tell the truth and own
up to their failings -- will he do the same? Will Gant end up covering
for him, or will he blow the whistle?
My RN friend says we'll never know, next week's show will be about
something else. I hope not ...
Cate Sheller
cshe...@library.kirkwood.cc.ia.us
Scott Hollifield
nancy-...@uiowa.edu (Nancy Dooley) wrote:
: >> The father and ten-year-old son are taken to County in the
: >> chopper by Mark and Susan....
: >Wasn't the boy seven years old?
: >Jozette
: Susan thought he was "about 8." Did we hear his age? If Scott says so, he's
: probably right. ;-)
Geez, not lately. :-)
(And I think I was mistaken in this example anyway.)
Tim O'Brien
<snip>
> Later, Peter walks into
>ICU where baby Megan is being held. He leans over her and
>begins to whisper the Lord's Prayer, but finds that he
>can't remember all the words.
<another snip>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>Scott Hollifield ** sco...@cris.com ** http://www.cris.com/~scotth
Oh ouch!! Not at all the Lord's Prayer, Try Psalms 23. Your not Christian
(or at least practicing) are you Scott? If you were you would know that The
Lord's Prayer is the one that goes "Our Father, Who art in Heaven..."
Tim O'Brien
obr...@ucla.edu
***********************************************
****Check out my M*A*S*H Homepage at: ****
**** members.tripod.com/~obrien/index.htm****
***********************************************
Mike Wiltberger
Scott Hollifield wrote:
> ..snip..
> "Fear of Flying" doesn't have much to do with flying, but
> it does speak a little to the subject of fear -- namely, how some
> people need some more of it.
>
Great review as usual! I pulled the sentence above out because it
shows how clearly you can summerize an episode with one passage. The
title's connection to Benton was so obvious I missed. Thanks for
pointing it out to me.
Take Care,
Mike
______________________________________________________
|Michael Wiltberger | |
|Graduate Research Asst. | |
|University of Maryland | |
|Physics Dept | |
|AAV Williams Rm 3340 | |
|(301)405-7936 | |
|wilt...@avl.umd.edu | |
| | |
|_____________________________|_______________________|
ara...@po-box.mcgill.ca
Tirya wrote:
>
> : Later, Peter walks into
> : ICU where baby Megan is being held. He leans over her and
> : begins to whisper the Lord's Prayer, but finds that he
> : can't remember all the words.
>
>
> A beautifully symbolic indication of just how far Benton has strayed from
> the human side of medicine in pursuit of technical brilliance.
I thought that this was an amazingly poignant moment, and I ain't
religious. I just wonder what the writers were trying to convey
exactly? That to be a "good" doctors, you must have GOD; what Tirya
said about losing touch with the human side of medicine; or just
emphasizing Benton's messed up priorities.
> Speaking of sports, I wish they'd lose all the White Sox paraphernalia.
> Baseball season is OVER, NBC... time to move on to the Bulls or Bears (or
> 'Hawk)! :)
GO CUBS!!
James J. Davis
In article <55ulm5$s...@herald.concentric.net>,
:
:Doug drops by to find the two at Doc Magoo's,
:and while he claims to have been pretty good at the subject,
:he also has trouble comprehending William's physics lingo.
Interesting to see the scriptwriter working in 'Riemannian manifold', but
unfortunately no one told the actor how to pronounce it properly.
(Ree'-mahn-ian, not Rye-mann'-ian).
Brian and Shelly Fuller
I was wondering if anyonne would catch that "in-joke" when
Randi called Jerry "Bubba". I think that relates to an episode
of Nash Bridges that 'Randi' quest starred in a couple weeks
back. Don Johnsons' character calls everyone "bubba".
Scott Hollifield
k...@fc.hp.com (Ken Stitzel) wrote:
>And of course there was the little peck on the cheek which
>others have pointed out so I won't--BUT HOW COULD YOU MISS THE
>KISS????
I don't know! Maybe I blinked? :-)
>I think it was meant as a bit of semi-comic relief to the
>intensity of the other story. I know because this plot was one
>in which my wife and I weren't tempted to cry or faint.
"Semi-comic" is being kind, I think.
Rose Marie Holt
In article <560ph3$m...@nnrp1.news.primenet.com>, j...@primenet.com (James
J. Davis) wrote:
> In article <55ulm5$s...@herald.concentric.net>,
> :
> :Doug drops by to find the two at Doc Magoo's,
> :and while he claims to have been pretty good at the subject,
> :he also has trouble comprehending William's physics lingo.
>
> Interesting to see the scriptwriter working in 'Riemannian manifold', but
> unfortunately no one told the actor how to pronounce it properly.
> (Ree'-mahn-ian, not Rye-mann'-ian).
Well, that is pretty realistic. The kid either learned it from his high
school physics teacher or sounded it out of the book. Frequently we do
not learn the proper pronunciation of these things until college, or even
grad school.
My pet peeve is that MDs pronounce it sontimeter (not the proper
centimeter) and Eye o d-eye-ne, instead of the proper Eye-o-deen.
-- Former chemist.
Frank McNeil
I appreciated the comments Cate Sheller made. I thought the Nurses
Screw up versus the Doctors screw up was neat because the Nurse that
did the deed could get fired, but the Doctor that did the deed won't.
I also thought it was good to show that Dr. Carter did follow orders
and that the head Nurse tried to get the Nurse she was responsible for
to work under supervision--but just gave up when the Nurse grabbed a
chart and did her thing. The moral of the story is to follow the
experienced person's rules until you understand more or less what is
going on. [I believe "7th Heaven" is the only other show on TV that
even comes close to detailing difficult points in a subtle way
(e.g., Showing the pastor bored to tears while his potential drug
using daughter talks on and on about her personal world).]
Time spent watching ER is time not wasted, because it gives us relevant
things to think about as it tries to paint a complete picture of an
issue. This episode reminded of the complexity that was in most of
the year 1 episodes.
[I've made comments below.]
Cate Sheller (cshe...@library.kirkwood.cc.ia.us) wrote:
: Great summary/review as usual, Scott. I've enjoyed your writing for
: over a year now, and have finally decided to de-cloak myself and join
: the discussion.
: Scott Hollifield wrote:
: > PLOT THREE: HELP ME, RHONDA
: > not the way they do it up in "med-surg". During treatment of
: > Zach Herlihy in the ER, Rhonda is flustered and generally unable
: > to cope with the speed of the procedures. She screws up majorly
: > when asked for saline; instead, she hands the doctors the
: > potassium, which is injected into Zach. Luckily, it wasn't a
: > fatal amount, but Carol is unforgiving. She takes Rhonda off
: > of active status, assigning her supply-stock duty for the rest
: > of the day, and later tells her, "I can't have you work here
: > again." Rhonda takes this reprobation sullenly but silently.
Carol isn't paid to be a teacher; the Doctor was. Benton is
just not compent. Did I miss something or was the thread that
he brushed of part of the patient's body?
: I watched ER with a veteran RN, who has worked all over various
: hospitals and is now in home health -- she anticipated the mistake
: as soon as she saw Rhonda put the potassium in her pocket -- "she's
: going to mix up her meds!" -- a detail I missed, but for that.
: I wondered what was the point of this little sub-plot -- to dis
: floor nurses? My RN buddy said she should never have been placed
: in that situation, should never have even been in the room. She
: said Rhonda was obviously not ACLS certified, or she would have
: been familiar with the crash cart, 'cause they're all set up the
: same.
: The only value I could see for the whole thing was as a counterpoint
: to Benton's screw-up -- and for that, it added dramatic interest.
: Consider:
I also thought it was Neat the way Dr. Carter patient was fixed
in such a simple way, because he followed orders; and that his
teacher didn't blame him for not doing the simple obvious (for her)
thing.
: 1) When Rhonda screwed up, she not only owned up to it immediately,
: but knew what to do to fix the situation. Before she screwed up,
: she also admitted she didn't belong in the ER. When Benton screwed
: up, he not only refused to admit it, he made a bad situation worse
: before finally being forced to give up.
: 2) Rhonda was roundly chastised by the ER staff, and made to sort meds
: for the rest of the day by Carol, who told her to never come back. Peter
: got yelled at by Keaton, but she covered for him when they went to talk
: to the baby's family. I wonder what the ramifications of this situation
: will be -- the father being a pediatrician, will he figure out that a
: surgeon screwed up, and sue the hospital, and/or Keaton and/or Benton?
: Peter, with his history of insisting that others tell the truth and own
: up to their failings -- will he do the same? Will Gant end up covering
: for him, or will he blow the whistle?
If I remember correctly, Benton killed a patient the first year and
the issue was never raised again--these things just hapen.
I thought "Rhonda" could have been pushed out of another floor simply
to get her out of the way--but for some reason they couldn't fire her.
[When she agreed she didn't belong in ER]
: My RN friend says we'll never know, next week's show will be about
: something else. I hope not ...
Probably depends on the writer. This episode was another work of
art!
frank
[President of the Carol Flint Fan club]
sch...@ibm.net
Scott Hollifield wrote:
>
> nancy-...@uiowa.edu (Nancy Dooley) wrote:
> : >> The father and ten-year-old son are taken to County in the
> : >> chopper by Mark and Susan....
>
> : >Wasn't the boy seven years old?
>
> : >Jozette
>
> : Susan thought he was "about 8." Did we hear his age? If Scott says so, he's
> : probably right. ;-)
>
> Geez, not lately. :-)
>
> (And I think I was mistaken in this example anyway.)
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> Scott Hollifield ** sco...@cris.com ** http://www.cris.com/~scotth
--
ara...@po-box.mcgill.ca
Dana Akanova wrote:
> >I appreciated the comments Cate Sheller made. I thought the Nurses
> >Screw up versus the Doctors screw up was neat because the Nurse that
> >did the deed could get fired, but the Doctor that did the deed won't.
>
> Actually, residiency programs _can_ fire a resident.
Yeah, what would a resident have to do to get fired?
Jonathan Roberts
Scott Hollifield mentioned:
> -This was the first time this season that I've noticed that
> the nurses aren't wearing the cranberry-colored scrubs
> they fought so hard for last year. They're wearing some
> weird pink-looking things now. I wonder whose idea that
> was?
I seem to recall reading, somewhere, that Ms. Margolies and possibly
some of the others didn't like the way they looked in the cranberry
scrubs, so they went back to the pink/peach ones.
Sorry, can't cite the source, but I'm reasonably sure that I'm not
imagining this...
--
Best,
Jon
jonathan roberts \ in days somehow distracted
guitar:synth:notes \ in nights of troubled sleep
the region of where \ these secrets long suppressed emerge
nart...@ix.netcom.com \ too difficult to keep
Andrej Bagon
Scott Hollifield wrote:
>
> Okay, here's the official Mistake Count for this week's
> summary/review. :-)
>
> >taking the chopper back herself to make the pick-up, and
> >does so with no significant problems.
>
> kisses Mark on the cheek. I've already gotten several e-mails about
> this, so I guess I'll have to check it out.
Wait a min. Don't you tape the episode? Just rewind and play it
again :-)
Andrej
--
Andrej Bagon
e-mail: andrej...@guest.arnes.si
Home Page: http://www2.arnes.si/guest/ssngtsc6/index.html
Ceon Ramon
In article <328685...@ix.netcom.com>,
Jonathan Roberts <nart...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>Scott Hollifield mentioned:
>
>> -This was the first time this season that I've noticed that
>> the nurses aren't wearing the cranberry-colored scrubs
>> they fought so hard for last year. They're wearing some
>> weird pink-looking things now. I wonder whose idea that
>> was?
>
>some of the others didn't like the way they looked in the cranberry
>scrubs, so they went back to the pink/peach ones.
>
>Sorry, can't cite the source, but I'm reasonably sure that I'm not
>imagining this...
In the magazine that five or six months ago featured Margulies,
Stringfield, and Reuben on the cover (can't remember the magazine; I
skimmed through it in the grocery store) Margulies said the decision was
made on the basis that the cranberry color didn't show the blood
effectively enough.
--Barbara
Lev Grossman
Actually, the boy's age is given twice during the episode: Susan estimates
it as 8 at the scene, and later someone else (back at the hospital) gives
it as 7. Heaven knows which is right.
Just one of those realistic little touches, I guess.
In article <328538...@ibm.net>, sch...@ibm.net wrote:
> Scott Hollifield wrote:
> >
> > nancy-...@uiowa.edu (Nancy Dooley) wrote:
> > : >> The father and ten-year-old son are taken to County in the
> > : >> chopper by Mark and Susan....
> >
> > : >Wasn't the boy seven years old?
> >
> > : >Jozette
> >
> > : Susan thought he was "about 8." Did we hear his age? If Scott says
so, he's
> > : probably right. ;-)
> >
> > Geez, not lately. :-)
> >
> > (And I think I was mistaken in this example anyway.)
> > I believe they did say the boy was 7 years old.
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Scott Hollifield ** sco...@cris.com ** http://www.cris.com/~scotth
>
> --
--
I may not know much about art, but I know what I hate.
- Montgomery Burns
Nancy A. Farkas
> I seem to recall reading, somewhere, that Ms. Margolies and possibly
> some of the others didn't like the way they looked in the cranberry
> scrubs, so they went back to the pink/peach ones.
>
> Sorry, can't cite the source, but I'm reasonably sure that I'm not
> imagining this...
>
> Best,
>
> Jon
>
>
If i remember correctly, Julianna Said that the producers thought the
blood didn't stand out enough with the darker scrubs, although, i don't
see how that matters.The nurses always wear those plastic gowns during
traumas, so i don't see why they would be getting blood on the scrubs.
Nancy
Scott Hollifield
Andrej Bagon <andrej...@guest.arnes.si> wrote:
>Scott Hollifield wrote:
>>
>> Okay, here's the official Mistake Count for this week's
>> summary/review. :-)
>>
>> >Despite Mark's concern for her, Susan insists on
>> >taking the chopper back herself to make the pick-up, and
>> >does so with no significant problems.
>>
>> Believe it or not, I actually blinked and missed the part where Susan
>> kisses Mark on the cheek. I've already gotten several e-mails about
>> this, so I guess I'll have to check it out.
>Wait a min. Don't you tape the episode? Just rewind and play it
>again :-)
I did that. :) Oh, there it is.
(However, I don't keep the tapes, so please, no one pester me for
copies.)
(As if no one does already.) :-)