ER: "Last Call" Summary/Review
Scott Hollifield
E.R., Season 3, Episode 4, "Last Call"
Teleplay by: Samantha Howard Corbin
Story by: Samantha Howard Corbin and Carol Flint
Directed by: Rob Holcomb
PLOT ONE: PERSONAL HISTORY
Doug's latest female "acquaintance" tries to stagger out of his
apartment at four in the morning, but she's clearly in no condition
to drive. Since she won't take a cab, Doug drives her home. On the
way, though, disaster hits: the woman has a seizure, right there in
Doug's car. Doug speeds her to the ER, where the doctors have to
put her in a coma in last-ditch attempt to save her life (which
eventually fails). Since Doug didn't even know her name, there's no
personal history to go by, although Doug eventually finds her ID and
discovers that her name was Nadine Wilks. Disturbed by the fact that
Nadine tested positive for cocaine, Mark requires that Doug submit a
urine sample, which comes back negative, although Doug doesn't get
his blood-alcohol level tested. These suspicions nearly drive the
already-defensive Doug crazy. He reacts hostilely when Kerry insists
on watching him operate, and blows his top again when Carol has him
taken off the case of a teenage girl who's nervous about getting a
pelvic exam. The police arrive and question Doug about his
involvement with Nadine, particularly dealing with drugs. Doug
denies taking anything, or giving Nadine anything. He has it out with
Mark: "You can't be my friend and be my boss. You chose to be my
boss." Later that day, he receives a visit from Nadine's sister
Claire, who says regretfully that Nadine "died as she lived".
Nadine was epileptic, although she didn't let that stop her from
drinking. Doug doesn't let on that he was Nadine's companion, but
Claire says, "She could always find the guys to help her sink a
little lower," words which don't fail to impress upon Doug. After
his shift, Doug shows up at the train station where Carol catches
her ride home, apparently hoping for some supportive talk. Carol
isn't interested in participating in this tired routine anymore,
though. "I'm just not playing. You're on your own," she says
before leaving him alone in the station. Doug returns home to his
apartment, and as the telephone messages on his answering machine
are played (several from female consorts), he finds Nadine's epilepsy
bracelet in his bathroom. He then walks over to the answering
machine and erases all of his messages.
PLOT TWO: DEAR ABBY
Carter almost forgot that he has a presentation to assist Dr. Benton
with this morning; it's his job to run the slide projector. The
only problem is that the slides were destroyed when Carter's
apartment building burned down. Carter is too late to explain to
Benton about the slides before the presentation begins, and an
embarrassed Benton is left standing in a room full of people,
including Anspaugh and Abby Keaton, with a blank projection screen
next to him. Keaton, anyway, isn't too put out; she compliments
Carter later for freeing up some time for her to get some work done.
She tells both Benton and Carter to meet a teenage patient named
Laura-Lee, who needs a colostomy. Laura-Lee is a tough case; in
need of a colostomy, she's ready to bolt from the hospital fifteen
minutes before the operation. Benton fails to calm her down, but
Carter grabs her attention by insulting her school's ball team.
This impresses Dr. Keaton, who invites Carter to scrub in on
surgery. Later, Abby tries to get Peter to talk to Laura-Lee's
mom, who's emotionally wound-up. Benton awkwardly recommends the
hospital psychiatrist, but Abby jumps in and calms the mother's
fears with some impromptu counseling. Later, Abby gently chides
Peter, saying that he needs to work on showing some heart. When
he apologizes, she replies, "Don't be sorry. Learn."
PLOT THREE: RELUCTANT DANCER
Jeanie is having trouble with nausea, and tells Dr. D'Angelo over
the phone that she thinks her HIV "cocktail" treatment may be
causing it. She gamely works her shift, though, and treats a
welder who busted his ankle on the job, and was saved by much worse
thanks to his fellow worker Mickey. It's Mickey whom all the
nurses have their eye on, though; with his handsome cowboy
looks, Mickey's presence causes the nurses to draw straws (or
tongue depressors) on who gets to actually assist in the treatment,
even though it's even not Mickey who's being treated. Nurse
Wendy Goldman wins this honor, but Mickey shows an interest in
Jeanie, and when the nurses goad him into showing some dance
steps there in the ER, Mickey insists on a dance with Jeanie,
who, for her part, seems to really enjoy herself, smiling widely
if only for a minute. After the dancing is over, Mickey asks
Jeanie out to dinner, but despite his friendly approach, Jeanie
sadly turns him down.
MISCELLANEOUS THREADS:
Carter complains that he's "living out of [his] suitcase" since
his apartment burned down, but he earns few sympathy points since
he's living a posh temporary existence at his parents' house.
When Dennis Gant hears that Carter is looking for an apartment,
he mentions that there's an extra bed at his place, and offers
to let Carter move in. Carter accepts.
The doctors are beginning a new "pilot study", approved by Dr.
Anspaugh, in which the attendings are divided up exclusively
between medical and surgical cases. Naturally, Kerry likes the
idea and Mark doesn't. Mark is stuck with the medical side
for the day, and leads new intern Maggie Doyle around during his
shift.
When "E. Ray" Bozeman advertises the yoga class he teaches weekly
at Malcolm X Community College, Maggie mentions that she went
there for pre-med, and defends the school's program when Jerry and
the others snicker. Carol, however, is intrigued, and tears a
page about the school's pre-med curriculum out of the program.
That day, she meets her mother at Doc Magoo's for dinner. Helen
criticizes Carol for trying to live a "doctor's wife's lifestyle"
by buying a house despite the fact that her hospital romances
(Ross and Taglieri) didn't work out. Nonetheless, Helen is
willing to help Carol out on the bills -- in a kind of "rent"-
type situation.
After work, Peter visits a bustling Caribbean restaurant which
is owned by his old friend Carla, with whom he was reunited with
recently at his family's Fourth of July picnic. Carla is proud
of her establishment, having built it up from a greasy spoon
though hard work. Peter's mind seems to be elsewhere, though.
"You must have a taste in your mouth for something, to come
all this way out here," remarks Carla.
Carter receives a postcard from the vacationing Susan (mailed
from O'Hare, Carter notes with a chuckle). Mark didn't get
one, however.
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The attention on Doug's self-destructive lifestyle attains
center-stage this week after bubbling behind the scenes for the first
three weeks of the season.
Doug Ross may be one of television's most troubled characters.
He has a history of alchoholism and womanizing that goes back years
before the start of the series, and fortunately, the show is treating
these problems as more than mere bad-boy trappings; they're part of
a deeper, emotional disease that's been plaguing Doug most of his
life. Some folks have compared Doug to "L.A. Law"'s Arnie Becker,
who was also prolific in the lady-killing department, but (generally)
unlike that show, "ER" is succeeding at blowing open the myth of
the "functioning" playboy by showing the true toll of such behavior:
recklessness, emotional numbness, association with the wrong people,
and (as we saw tonight) actual physical danger. The scene that
raises the implications of Doug participating in his partner's
cocaine habit was especially effective because we've seen nothing
lately to even contradict the notion that Doug might have slid into
drug use while we weren't looking. He's been a shell of a human
being so far this season, showing only a whimper of life in the form
of the occasional sarcastic rejoinder, and meanwhile, his soul is
being eaten away. Also striking was how the events of last season
were built on; Doug still harbors a grudge against his friend Mark
for pulling rank, as he did before (recall his memorable, vitrolic
"speech" from "The Secret Sharer"). The end of this episode saw
Doug trying to make a last, fruitless attempt to grasp the support
of his old reliable enabler, Carol, who, happy in her new lifestyle,
doesn't need him anymore, and is frankly tired of putting up with
his never-changing ways. I'll be quite interested to see how
this plays out. The show is to be lauded for taking the bold step
of turning its resident relatively-happy-go-lucky hunk star and
turning him into this empty husk of a man, and Doug's story this
week made for the most compelling character drama I can recall on
this show in recent memory.
The Benton/Keaton plot this week was pretty much
color-by-numbers, although it is refreshing to see Benton trip
up in someone else's eyes, instead of being tripped up by his
subordinates (Carter) all the time. This is another one I'll be
keeping a special eye on, because turning Benton into a caring,
compassionate practitioner of the touchy-feely Abby Keaton style
is going to take more than a "learn one, see one, do one"
approach. Something is going to have to happen to make Benton
see the light. Peter is also a character who's personality, like
Doug's, has been allowed to degrade over the course of the last year,
but for him, at least, it looks like the writers may have plans
in store for a little redemption. Hopefully it'll be done
believably. Peter's visit to Carla was a little puzzling, though.
Like her appearance in the season premiere, it was pretty much to
show Peter interested, albeit detachedly, in resuming a relationship
with an old flame (and a cute bit of sexed-up symbolism in making
Carla a purveyer of spicy cooking). Where this will lead is anyone's
guess; hopefully there's more of an idea here than just supplying
Peter with another romantic interest plot device.
Speaking of romance, could it be in the cards for Jeanie?
I don't know of Brian Wimmer (who played this week's dancing welder)
is due for more appearances, but I'll say one thing: for a
character who's had it so rough virtually from the moment she
appeared on the show, it sure was nice to see her experience at
least a brief moment of happiness this week. Hopefully she'll
realize that such happiness is what's really important, and I have
a hunch that, barring a miracle cure, this is the aspect of Jeanie's
character that the writers are going to try to hit this season.
Some assorted comments:
-- Looks like I got nailed this week by missing the clues
in last week's show pointing toward a potential interest
by Carol in going to med school (which many others picked
up on). This week, Carol actually rips out a page that
says "pre-med" and shoves it in my face. :-) Okay, I get
the hint.
-- I'm glad we're seeing more of Rose Gregorio as Carol's
mom, and particularly liked the brusque scene between
her and Doug. (Remember when she shut the door in Doug's
face way back in the early first season?) With her
proposing to actually live with Carol, we should be seeing
even more of her.
-- Somehow, you guys also all knew that Carter would be
moving in with Dennis Gant. I guess that's what I get
for not reading the spoilers. :-)
-- I did get one thing right: Mark's relationship with
Susan was indeed put on hold this week while she's gone
to Maui. The postcard mailed from the airport was a cute
touch.
-- I think both Dennis and Maggie are settling in nicely
in their roles as sometimes-seen, usually-decorative
recurring supporting characters. Maggie especially sort
of appeals to me because she's not ashamed of her
unpretentious upbringings, like the community college.
Maybe she and Carol will become good friends after all.
-- More nice Kerry moments this week: her gentle
defense of Doug's lifestyle ("I don't think it's any of
our business") and her smiling approvingly as Jeanie
dances with Mickey.
-- Line of the week:
"You'd rather owe [money to] strangers than your
own mother?" -- Carol's mom
"Yeah!" -- Carol
(I had this conversation with MY mom just
last month.)
-- Line of the week (runner-up):
"For a scut zombie, you're looking very crisp." --
Carol, referring to Carter's overstarched apparel
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Scott Hollifield ** sco...@cris.com ** http://www.cris.com/~scotth
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Scott Hollifield ** sco...@cris.com ** http://www.cris.com/~scotth