Dr. Hook (Andrew McCarthy) does see the ghost girl in the elevator shaft, stunned by this he loses the grip of a doll that was once in her possession. Sally convinces Hook to recover the doll so that she can beckon the appearance of Mary, the ghost haunting the halls of Kingdom Hospital. He decides to get Sally (after some persuasion on Sally's part) back into the hospital by using Novacaine to pretend a stroke. Dr. Stegman (Bruce Davison, playing truly a repellent creep) will be facing a malpractice suit for his role in the brain damage of a little girl (Mona, played by Emily Tennant, a tragic sight to behold, and reminder that neurosurgeons are prone to mistakes) who rocks back and forth and is non-responsive to her mother. We really get our first glimpse at the evil presence (with sharp vampire teeth) of the hospital, Paul (Kett Turton), who warns the bedridden Peter (Jack Coleman) not to interfere when ghost girl Mary (Jodelle Ferland) pleas for his help. Earlier, Sally also had an ominous experience with Paul who was on the other side of a door. A new character is introduced, convict Rolf Pederson (the menacing looking Jim Shield) who overdosed on strychnine provided by his loony girlfriend so he could be taken out of prison, ambulanced to Kingdom Hospital (this ambulance drive is bizarre, featuring the paramedic driver almost wrecking the vehicle on more than one occasion, prone to take his eyes off the road, especially when "Na Na Na Na" song starts playing aloud for no apparent reason). You have to wonder what will happen if Pederson somehow gets free in the hospital, the repercussions that could result. I have to say that this particular chapter of "Kingdom Hospital", "Goodbye Kiss" rather annoyed me. There is a musical number where members of the hospital staff break out in song to "Na Na Na Na" along with Pederson that I thought was surreal enough, at first, but as it continues I found it rather tiresome. It felt like a desperate attempt by teleplay writer Stephen King to work in some comedy relief because of the dark subject matter being introduced. I guess if it works for Buffy The Vampire Slayer..
The heated confrontation between Mona's mother and Stegman is really intense as both prepare for a courtroom battle that will certainly have both sides taking their gloves off for a bare-knuckle encounter. An obnoxious constant is Stegman's repetitive references to Boston General, absolutely anguished that he is relegated to some Hick Maine Hospital, and why is established by Mona's mother (it seems that the only hospital which would accept Stegman, because of another past surgical mishap that garnered him a tainted reputation, is Kingdom Hospital) during their vitriolic exchange. Stegman's use of housework as a possibility for Mona, once an A-student before the removal of brain tissue due to what was supposed to be a normal procedure involving Cyst, is truly sickening, this attempt to console a devastated mother having to feed her child with such methods (he's simply not the humanistic, comforting doctor a grieving parent needs to deliver words of consolation, that's for sure) backfires in his unpleasant face. Stegman, if not already presented, is truly a repulsive character.
The heated confrontation between Mona's mother and Stegman is really intense as both prepare for a courtroom battle that will certainly have both sides taking their gloves off for a bare-knuckle encounter. An obnoxious constant is Stegman's repetitive references to Boston General, absolutely anguished that he is relegated to some Hick Maine Hospital, and why is established by Mona's mother (it seems that the only hospital which would accept Stegman, because of another past surgical mishap that garnered him a tainted reputation, is Kingdom Hospital) during their vitriolic exchange. Stegman's use of housework as a possibility for Mona, once an A-student before the removal of brain tissue due to what was supposed to be a normal procedure involving Cyst, is truly sickening, this attempt to console a devastated mother having to feed her child with such methods (he's simply not the humanistic, comforting doctor a grieving parent needs to deliver words of consolation, that's for sure) backfires in his unpleasant face. Stegman, if not already presented, is truly a repulsive character.
