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Code Black: Life and Limb (2016)
I enjoyed this great episode
Just wanted to share some of my thoughts on this episode:
The drop-in that Ethan was going to be around for at least two years was nice. Too bad that kind of expository line is verboten when it comes to Neal and Christa's whereabouts.
I'm missing Malaya and Angus moments. When will they get to work/commiserate over life together?
"Millennial out" might be the best mic drop exit line ever.
Now that the interns are settling in, I like them more and more. The initial exposition for them (and Ethan) was a little shaky, but the rough waters are smoothing out.
The way that Leann and Ethan's working relationship is developing feels really organic. I look forward to both their collaborations and their squabbles equally.
......
This was a really good episode and I enjoyed it. I hope this is an indication of what we will see more of in Code Black season 2.
Code Black: First Date (2016)
WOW...The ending! What a cliffhanger!
Aside from Tina, a 5-year-old named Trevor Randall is brought in with his parents - he was found at the bottom of a swimming pool. This is Neal and Malaya's case. Trevor is alive but unresponsive. They don't know how long his brain was deprived of oxygen. There may be brain damage but they won't know until Trevor wakes up...if he wakes up.
Trevor's father is convinced that the gardener is the one that left the pool gate unlocked, but Danielle confides to Neal that the latch has needed replacing and they haven't done it. More importantly, she's the one who went for a swim after work and may have left the didn't check that the gate wasn't just closed, but locked. Being that the dad wants to have the gardener arrested Danielle tells her husband. He is furious when he learns the truth, and as they wait to see if Trevor will wake up, he can't forgive her - and she can't forgive herself. Finally, Neal steps in to get Trevor's dad to forgive Danielle. He reminds the father that his wife is the only one who can begin to understand what he's going through and that just like he'd never deliberately hurt his wife, she'd never deliberately hurt their son. In other words, sometimes accidents happen.
The good news is that Trevor does wake up, and he doesn't have any brain damage. Because the husband was able to forgive his wife for this, it won't be sitting between them. As the saying goes, all's well that ends well!
In the middle of Trevor's case, Malaya has a "good Samaritan" with a fractured wrist who gets way too familiar with her. She looks uncomfortable with it, but there's no time to register it because 5-year-old Trevor codes. She rushes to take him to center stage. All we know is...This guy is creepy!
Angus is given a patient by Mama – a man who passed out in a supermarket and only speaks Chinese. Angus, having just learned that despite Mike's historic dislike of Los Angeles he's applied for the open surgical attending spot happily invites Mike to shadow him. Unfortunately, the translator sent speaks Cantonese and the patient speaks Mandarin! The most she can tell him is something about "intermittent blindness." Great.
Mike figures out that the man is trying to say that he has ringing in his ears, but aside from teasing Angus about looking like a young Orson Wells he seems willing to let Angus take the lead...until he's not. This is where the issues between Angus and Mike slowly begin to appear.
Mike challenges Angus' judgment but Angus isn't having it.
Angus: "I'm sorry, Mike. This is my patient and I have to go with my gut!"
Angus comes back to administer the TPA to discover that "Dr. Leighton" had ordered a CTA. Angus is furious...until the patient starts rapidly deteriorating. It looks like Mike was right. Angus starts to panic, but Mike is calm and talking him through it. He's completely backing Angus up and encouraging him. Right after stabilizing the patient Leanne comes by. Mike makes it look like Angus made the call on the carotid artery dissection and Daddy praises Angus.
At the end of the episode, Mike and Angus have a real heart to heart about Mike taking the position. Angus shares his fears with Mike about things becoming "like high school all over again" - and just when he is starting to gain confidence in himself and his abilities. It's a wonderfully written and acted scene. You feel how vulnerable Angus is, and you see how much it's hurting Mike to see his brother in pain, knowing he can't change anything. Things are what they are. Mike isn't trying to be better than Angus, it's just like Angus said, things tend to come easily to him. What Mike says to Angus, though, is powerful. Great writing.
Mike: "You don't know how good you are, do you?"
Angus: "Are you kidding me? I screw up in there all the time."
Mike: "...That's not what I'm talking about. I mean good. Okay. Look, everything you need to know to be a doctor, you can learn except for what you were born with. (He puts his hand briefly over Angus's heart) You are good, man. Good. Okay?"
I really like the way Code Black has approached this sibling relationship between Angus and Mike. So often sibling rivalry is done where one sibling is a total jerk and the other is the one suffering under it. In the story being told here it has these two men who genuinely love each other - and like each other - while still having some real issues between them.
There is also Kelly Rockman, and I really enjoyed her story. I am loving how Christa and Neal developed the relationship that they have.
The kicker with this episode is Leanne contemplating leaving Angels Memorial. This is crazy, right? Angels is the only place she knows. If she leaves, the hospital won't be the same!
...
Leanne: "Sorry I canceled, but I brought in the new attending today, and I needed to hang around and watch him."
Paul Weatherly: "You needed to, or you wanted to?"
Leanne: "What's the difference?"
Paul Weatherly: "Well, the difference is the very reason you're here, isn't it?"
Leanne: "Let me ask you something. Will therapy make me feel any better?"
Paul Weatherly: "Not if it's working. Let me ask you something. Are you really ready to walk away from a job that is your whole life?"
Leanne: "That's the very reason I'm here."
...
This ending really comes as a slap in the face to viewers, and each of us knows why, but the end result is something even more interesting.
Code Black: The Fifth Stage (2016)
Leanne Reaches the Fifth Stage of Grief--Acceptance
Leanne makes some huge strides in #1.14 when she confronts the man responsible for her families death. Leanne's pain is her albatross. It is something that she has dealt with every day since she lost her family. She has grown so much over the span of the season but in this episode...in this episode...it's a whole other level. It is beautiful and heartbreaking. It left me in tears when she explained to the man responsible that she "forgives them," which means that she is trying her hardest to heal and move forward. Not forget. But continue living. Knowing that they were important to her. She did not do it for the man responsible...she did it for herself. To set herself free from the shackles of her grief. Nothing is more beautiful than seeing these events unfold. Seeing her grow. Seeing her gain some closure. It is the least that she deserves.
Code Black: Blood Sport (2016)
To Recap...
Angus's need for his helping aide has gotten out of hand on this episode of "Code Black". And apparently, his need for even more drugs has led to him making several critical mistakes.
Initially Heather had been the one to give Angus's his first taste of Adderall when she lent him some of her own pills, but she had later compounded what could been a simply mistake by secretly using Dr. Campbell's prescription pad to write themselves up additional scripts for that pill. And lately, Angus's demand for even more has made Heather finally question helping him out.
She had given fifty pills and he had managed to go through them as if they had been candy. So not only are the drugs harming Angus's already fragile relationship with Mario, but it resulted in an increased dependency on the drug. And Heather's only response had been to lower his dosage until she could hopefully wean him off.
But, Angus had still been on a drug edge when he gotten drafted into being the emergency on-call first response at a political debate.
And he had still been there when the bomb had gone off. The bomb had subsequently caused mass injuries and the candidates running for president as well as their families had received first care. So Angus had been put in charge of Senator Stringer's family and he made the critical mistake of starting CPR on the Senator's wife even though she had a machine to pump her heart for her.
Therefore, Angus had caused several ruptures and had nearly broken the Senator's wife's chest cavity. And it would have been for nothing. Her skin had still been warm and there was literally no way for her heart to stop beating.
Yet, Angus refused to see what he had done wrong and actually had the nerve to continue denying this drug problem even as Mario had finally put a name to it. So Mario had then tried to be a good friend and cover for Angus. And he had been making excuses to Mike of all people though Angus had also been smug when he said if he had kill someone then there was nothing anyone could do about it.
And, here's the thing, Angus has killed once before. Remember he had denied care to Malaya's stalker and had also stopped the man from treating himself. Which is how that person eventually bled out in the hospital's parking lot. So that was probably what he was talking about when he said there was nothing anyone could do about it, but it had sounded odd to both Mario and Malaya. And they in turn were left feeling guilty when the Senator's wife died because it made them wonder if Angus's mistake had killed her. But Mario's breaking point came when word around the hospital had reached him and he found out that Heather had been abusing Dr. Campbell's prescription pad.
Mario had confronted her after he heard that and he demanded to know if she was the one that had gotten Angus hooked. And Heather didn't deny it. If anything she tried to make it as if it was no big deal that her career was imploding and that the same could happy to Angus.
Yet Mario had decided to be the responsible one and he took his concerns to Mike. Even admitting that he hadn't said anything before because he hadn't wanted Angus to get into trouble. And that the only reason he was saying something was because he knew he had stop Angus from potentially hurting someone.
And so Mike had told Angus to take a break which included throwing his brother out of theatre.
Though Heather manage to just escape criminal charges and had even convinced Dr. Campbell into taking her case to the review board instead because she has pictures. As it turns out Campbell should never have slept with Heather much less allow her to take photos of them in bed. And she was willing to use those photos as evidence that the Chief of Surgery manipulated her into a sexual relationship. So Heather did manage to save her career.
And as for Angus, Mike eventually talked to him about why he had taken those pills and everything had been about the man who shall not be named. Angus apparently thought about him every time he came to work so took those pills to just forget. When what he really needed was therapy.
So Mike told him that he should talk about it. And offered to support his brother while he finally tries to figure everything out.
But it had not been a great day at the hospital. The Senator's wife had been one of many that had died and the bomb wasn't even a bomb. It had simply been a gas leak from a rusty valve. So it didn't matter who you were going to vote for – everyone had lost someone.
And Christa had lost a patient when Neil chose to take Grace's patient to surgery on her own. Thus it got her to thinking and she realized that incident hadn't been the first time she was made feel like a second choice with him. And therefore she ended their relationship after their long day on shift.
While it seems the only person that came out looking good had been Rorish who managed to find the money to continue paying her nursing staff.
In conclusion...this was definitely a strong episode. It might not have been all we wanted in a finale, but it was still far above average. I was impressed!
Code Black: The Devil's Workshop (2017)
Be still, my heart...
I am at a loss for words after this episode of Code Black. This series has muscled through every episode, only to grow stronger and stronger. Season 2 had a great run, with some significant episodes like "Demons and Angels," "Hero Complex," "Ave Maria," "Exodus," and "Unfinished Business." We can add this episode to the list.
The most heart-wrenching highlight of this episode was the loss of Dr. Pinkney. She will be missed. The way it was played out made it all the more heartbreaking for us all. Will and Mario took the loss of Heather rather hard, as we all did. The playing of Caitlin Canty's rendition of "Stand By Me" made it all the more difficult to watch.
Speaking of "Stand By Me," the father-daughter dance also brought tears to my eyes. It was so beautiful to see.
All in all, Code Black managed to finish the season in a BIG way! This is no doubt one of the best episodes of the series and certainly won't be the last of the best.
Code Black: Ave Maria (2016)
This episode of Code Black was beautiful...and intense
When Campbell's daughter arrives at Angels Memorial, it's an eye-opening experience for the whole crew in this week's episode of 'Code Black.'
Season 2 of CBS's Code Black has not generally painted Dr. Will Campbell in a flattering light. As the new head of both the ER and OR, Campbell has ruled with a seemingly permanent angry face and started a rivalry with Col. Ethan Willis. But in "Ave Maria," fans finally get to see the other side of Campbell, and it works for him and for the show.
But first "Ave Maria" opens with Dr. Rollie Guthrie officially being told he's got Parkinson's Disease. Of course, he continues to be as obstinate as he's been all season, and refuses to tell Campbell about his condition. "It hasn't progressed to the point where my damn life is over," he snaps.
While this is going on, the rest of the team is greeting Kathy Byrne (Marlee Matlin) and her translator after their vehicle rolled into the Los Angeles River. Kathy, like the actress who plays her, is deaf and it takes our heroes a bit to catch on. It's Dr. Elliot Dixon who finally clues in and uncovers that whatever's wrong with the translator started before the accident.
We circle back to Campbell's story when there's a thirteen-year-old girl named Emily who arrives minutes later having had a seizure due to spina bifida, but no one else knows who her father is. It's Dr. Heather Pinkney who has to tell Campbell that his daughter is in the ER. He rushes down and jumps right into her treatment with Rollie, even as everyone else doesn't think Rollie and his unsteady hands should handle her.
Once everyone is stabilized, Dr. Malaya Pineda finds herself apologizing for calling out Guthrie, even though she had a fair concern. Guthrie may actually be more of a pain in the behind than Campbell at this point. And Willis is faced with the opportunity to re-deploy with a new unit, but he'd have to leave in a week.
Elliot and Dr. Mario Savetti try to keep Kathy relaxed while Willis and Dr. Leanne Rorish approach her translator about his Stage Four tumor that he hasn't told her about. Before they can really get into the subject Kathy is wheeled into the room and the subject gets ducked again.
When Emily comes to she asks if her father is upset with her. It's clear that they don't have a great relationship, and it won't get better as he presses her for what he doesn't know about her health. Now she needs surgery that she doesn't want, and he's not happy when Rorish orders him to walk away.
Perhaps because he's tetchy, Campbell decides now would be a good time to confront her about Guthrie and suspend Malaya for not coming forward sooner, and furthermore breaks policy by making himself Emily's surgeon. And then is a bit of a jerk to Heather by reminding her that they were never dating back in Season 1. You know, when she tried to blackmail him.
We need Willis to slap him into place, but Willis is treating his commanding officer. So Rorish takes the complaint downhill to Jesse Sallander who reminds her that "I'm not a doctor's assistant, I'm a nurse." Yeowch.
News of Malaya's suspension has trickled down to Savetti and Dr. Angus Leighton, the latter of whom believes they should stand up for their friend. Unsurprisingly, Savetti has the other point of view and wants to protect their careers. That same friend versus career dilemma unfolds upstairs as Kathy finds out about her translator's tumor and freezes him out.
Still, she's nowhere near as angry as Rorish, who mistakenly believes that Campbell fired Guthrie. He lets her yell before he reveals: "I didn't fire him. He quit."
Savetti gets into a fight with Willis' boss when he thinks there's something suspicious going on with the other man's medication usage, which does not go over well with Willis. "I know addiction when I see it," Savetti insists just before the general crashes from an overdose. And the translator takes a turn for the worse as well, but both are able to be pulled back.
Elsewhere in the hospital, Campbell calls in a pediatric neurosurgeon to take over Emily's surgery and surprises Heather by asking her to scrub in as well, saying that he needs people he can trust. Rorish joins him in the OR gallery and finds out Emily's history. "She wants to be a normal kid," she says. "Means she's going to make mistakes." But a teary-eyed Campbell doesn't want to hear that because mistakes mean that she could end up back in the hospital. He finally admits that Rorish was right when she told him previously that Angels would humble him.
As Kathy and her translator mend fences, Jesse tries to take the bullet for Malaya after the fact and only manages to get himself fired, while Willis confronts his boss with the fact that his offer of re- deployment was a sham to get his way in the door for more medication. And Campbell spends some quality time with his daughter before the episode closes with Willis telling Rorish that he's staying at Angels. At this rate, he might be the only one.
"Ave Maria" certainly gives fans of Code Black plenty to chew on. The big question is whether or not we'll see Guthrie, Jesse, and Malaya in the next episode or beyond.
In conclusion...this episode was rather great. I am pleasantly surprised!
Code Black: Vertigo (2017)
"Vertigo" leaves you saying OMG!
CBS's Code Black climbs to new heights with "Vertigo." All that I can say after seeing this episode is...OMG. It's hard to believe that Season 2 of CBS' Code Black nears its ending so shortly, but at least it's using its final few episodes to go big or go home. "Vertigo" puts yet another unique challenge in front of the staff and populates itself with some welcome familiar faces.
"Vertigo" kicks off as Campbell sends Willis to the site of a construction accident and Savetti decides to tag along to help save two brothers who are pinned under equipment forty stories in the air at opposite ends. It's a tough ask...especially for Mario, who's just completed back-to-back shifts at Angels Memorial, but if anybody can make the impossible happen, it's these guys.
That leaves Leanne and company short-handed at the hospital again as they treat an assortment of patients. They include a colleague's wife Judith Blackwell (Roxanne Hart). Her daughter Lily is played by Susie Abromeit.
Meanwhile, Angus and Elliot help a high school teacher (John Billingsley) and two of his students who were exposed to pepper spray. The accusations start flying fast and furious as to who's responsible, and then the teacher's condition worsens.
Up in the air, one of the brothers loses consciousness and there is an increased need to get him off the crane. Right then, Willis makes the drastic decision to amputate the man's arm. This doesn't go over well with Savetti, who starts to freak out at the worst possible time and then falls off the crane himself. It only lasts just a few minutes but that's enough to give us all a legitimate scare to go with the real cringing that comes with seeing an arm being sawn off.
Leanne looks at Judith's X-rays and sees a spiral fracture that never quite healed; she suspects domestic abuse. Naturally, Judith continues to insist that nothing's wrong, even as Noa confronts her with her history of being in a half-dozen different emergency rooms. And obviously, Judith's husband does not take kindly to Leanne wanting to dig deeper into her situation. But Leanne Rorish doesn't care whether he likes it or not.
Lily is less defensive, telling the doctors that her father is "so controlling, you have no idea." But before she can actually get into details, Dad is there to tell her to stop talking and she leaves, with Leanne and Noa wondering what she was going to say. They take their suspicions to Campbell, who doesn't want to pull the trigger too soon, especially since he let the orthopedist operate on his own daughter. But the latter interrupts their meeting to tell them that Dr. Blackwell has had a stroke. Maybe it was karma? Or maybe someone hit him instead?
If you've noticed we haven't mentioned Jesse, he's here to once again stand in as a father figure, this time for the one student who's having remorse over being responsible for the pepper spray prank. "You're a nurse, not a shrink," she snarks at him but Jesse has taken enough sass from residents, doctors, and other patients. He tells Emily to decide who she wants to be.
Willis and Savetti get back to the hospital, where Savetti is still out of it, so Willis orders him to step away from their patients. Mario walks off to brood as Lily returns and wonders what happened to either of her parents. In reality, they're upstairs because Campbell has footage from the hospital's security cameras of Lily being the abuser. "You don't understand," Judith insists. "She doesn't mean to hurt us." But she's being hauled off screaming by officers in the hallway.
Morning comes and the two brothers begin their recovery, physically and emotionally, with a little nudge from Willis. It doesn't matter that one of them is now missing a limb. "We can work this out together," the other one says, which makes up on the cosmic scoreboard for the downer that is the elder abuse storyline.
It's time to circle back to the high school storyline, where the teacher and the student have a chat of their own. Emily denies that she knows who broke out the pepper spray but that's an obvious bluff, and her teacher surprises her by demonstrating that he understands more about her than she believes. That olive branch is enough to get her to confess her guilt. "You made a mistake. We all do," he replies and quotes her book report on Great Expectations. Medicine and Charles Dickens references - this is a full-service show.
While Angus realizes to his horror that he's not going out for coffee with Dr. Pruitt (from "Exodus") but on a hike and he is not a hiker, Willis gives career advice to Savetti. "You're so close to being great," he says. "Just try to be less stupid." That's a T-shirt saying if there ever was one.
And Rollie pops in for the last few minutes to remind the audience that he's doing just fine before Ariel (Emily Alyn Lind) shows up to kick off the storyline that's going to be in the next episode. This was the cherry on the ice cream sundae, which makes this episode so extraordinary.