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Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 18:17:13 -0500
>From: BevSouth@aol.com
To: dfcarter@umich.edu
Subject: HOPE: Ep Sum 3-20-95 1/2

What follows is a summary of the March 20th episode of Chicago Hope. One
caveat: I realize that it's long, as some of the others have been, but one of
the unique and delightful quirks of Chicago Hope is the actual dialogue and
interaction among the characters. Unlike some other television dramas, I do
not believe one could write an episode summary of Chicago Hope by simply
relating events and occurrences; rather, the words and actions of the people
themselves, along with the story, drive this program.


CHICAGO HOPE, Season 1, Episode 1.19, "Internal Affairs"
Teleplay by David E. Kelley
Story by David E. Kelley and Wayne W. Grody, M.D., Pd.D.
Directed by Michael Dinner
Original air date, March 20, 1995

PRELUDE: CUTTING EDGE MEDICINE.
Drs. Billy Kronk and Dennis Hancock are having a beer at the local watering
hole when the topic of Dr. Jeffrey Geiger comes up. Hancock is under the
impression that Kronk doesn't particularly like Geiger, but Kronk says he
does, he just thinks "the man is mentally ill." Looking ahead on the road,
both doctors abruptly realize that they're approaching the scene of a serious
car wreck; one vehicle is on fire and a man is trapped inside another.
Stopping the vehicle, Billy gets out and trots over to the trapped man, as
Hancock arrives behind him, finding one victim already on a stretcher, dead.
Quickly evaluating the man in the car, Kronk asks the paramedics for the
victim's vital signs and learns that among other things, the man's leg is
trapped. Kronk finds a pulse, but the trapped man has asymmetric pulses, a
crushed chest and no blood pressure; on top of that, Kronk thinks he's
transsected his aorta. The victim will die if they can't get him out
immediately, but the police and paramedics tell Kronk it will take time --
the one thing this man doesn't have. Billy has a solution: amputate the man's
trapped leg. At first Hancock can't believe what Billy is planning; when
Billy explains the situation and his reasoning, Hancock, standing in the door
of the car, wavers. Billy asks the medics to make a tight tourniquet on the
victim's leg and grabs a chain saw from a nearby fireman, directing everyone
to move out and demanding the ambulance to move closer in. A disgusted
policeman, Officer Plum, tries to stop Kronk. Billy orders him to move out of
the way, and Hancock, finally giving Kronk his tacit support, does the same.
Billy revs up the chain saw, steps in, and starts cutting as blood flies over
his face, neck and chest.

PLOT ONE: KICKIN' ASS AND TAKIN' NAMES
Billy arrives at Chicago Hope with the accident victim and his amputated leg.
Other members of the hospital staff take the patient to surgery, as Billy
hands the leg off to Dr. Danny Nyland. Geiger is ready and waiting for the
victim in the OR. The leg is probably too crushed for reattachment, but Billy
asks Nyland to put it on ice anyway and to have a vascular specialist
available.

Turning to head for his patient's surgery, Billy runs into Officer Plum, who
arrests him for suspicion of drunk driving. Kronk is amazed: "What? Are you
out of your puny little mind?" Officer Plum smells alcohol on Billy's breath
and wants Billy to come to the station house for a breathalyser test. "The
only reason I didn't take you down before is because you were saving that
guy." As the cop drags him away, Billy turns to Nyland, "Danny, call the
Eel."

In surgery, Geiger is operating on the amputee, Hancock standing by. Dr.
Phillip Watters, scrubbed and ready, enters the OR and when he asks Geiger if
he needs any help, Geiger answers that he'd had to put a graft in the
patient's aorta. Incredulous at Billy's chain saw technique, Jeffrey
comments, "Lucky man, Mr. Whoever." Watters answers, "Mr. Sagonner." Jeffrey
repeats the name:"Sagonner," with a flash of recognition. Watters continues,
"He's not going to feel so lucky in the morning. You see, he's a football
player, the Bears' 3rd round draft pick. He's in town for rookie camp. He's
the kicker." It's all Jeffrey can do not to burst out laughing at the irony
of his patient's situation.

At the station house, Billy passes the breathalyser test, to Alan Birch's
relief. Even so, Billy wants to challenge Plum, approaching him with, "You
know what?" Alan wraps his arms around Billy and forces him out of the
station house saying, "Billy, your lips do not move in here. Let's be gone.
Officer Plum will never know 'what'."

Phillip and Alan want to know how many beers Hancock and Billy'd had. Dennis
tells them they split a pitcher -- two beers each, tops. Alan reveals that
the district attorney is evidently investigating, but he's sure nothing will
come of it. When Phillip asks Dennis if, in his own mind, Billy was justified
in using the chain saw, Dennis wavers again, "The guy had minutes to live,
his pressure was ..." Phillip just wants a yes or no answer; Dennis answers,
"Yes," even then seeming to falter. Dennis will need to tell that to the
district attorney, and Dennis agrees, still somewhat hesitant, "Okay. Okay.
He was justified. It needed to be done." Phillip finally asks the important
question, "Why didn't you think to do it? Would you have made the same
choice?"

Following Sagonner's surgery, Hancock stops in to visit him. Sagonner, not
knowing all the circumstances, complains that his leg and foot hurt. It's up
to Hancock to break the news that they'd had to amputate his leg, just above
the knee, in order to free him from the wreckage, and that he is experiencing
phantom pain. Dazed, John finally lifts the bed sheet to see what remains of
his leg. Hancock tries to explain that it was the only way to save him.

Kronk, Hancock and Alan meet with the district attorney, who grills Kronk
about the incident and whether he'd tried to examine other possibilities.
Billy is hostile, and the district attorney makes it clear that his attitude
isn't helping. Hancock interrupts her, "I think the hostility is well
motivated; we didn't have to go to Mr. Sagonner's rescue, but we did. And
because we did, Mr. Sagonner is still alive. If this man didn't pick up that
chain saw, Mr. John Sagonner would be dead now. How do you think it feels
having to account for ourselves to the district attorney?" Protesting that
she also has a job to do, Dennis asks, "Yeah? And what is it? To make sure
the next time we see an accident we just keep driving by? If that's it
mission accomplished."

Later, a cheerful Billy tells Dennis that the district attorney won't be
filing any charges. Dennis doesn't seem to be quite as thrilled with the
news, and when Billy asks him if there's is a problem, Dennis tells him, "You
were a little quick to pick up that saw, Billy. I'm not saying you didn't
make the right call. But you could've looked for a knife to cut to the bone
first, could have minimized infection, certainly would've made it easier for
ortho to close the wound." Billy is offended, reminding Dennis that he'd had
maybe two minutes to free John Sagonner. Dennis seems to agree, in a way,
telling Billy that he's sure Billy did the right thing, but, "You just seemed
to be having too much fun."

Passing by John's room, Billy finds him doing arm pushups between two chairs,
already training. Kronk tries to stop John (after all, he just had his aorta
repaired), but John insists that his heart is fine. John learns that Kronk is
the one who cut off his leg, tells him he'd rather have died, and punches
Kronk in the nose. Hopping around on one leg, John wants to fight "the big
man with the chain saw. I'll take you on one leg. Big man with the power
tools." Orderlies finally arrive and fight John back into bed while Kronk
checks his nose: "Son of a bitch reminds me of me."

The next day, Billy checks on John, who tells Billy that he wants the foot,
but Billy doesn't understand why. John explains, "Money. Look, I'm not proud,
I've gotta make a living, which I thought I'd be doing kicking field goals,
only now I won't. At least until I make a comeback with that prosthetic
thing." One of the tabloids has offered John $100,000 to pose with the foot,
smiling nostalgically and remembering the 52-yard field goal he'd kicked in
the Cotton Bowl. John knows it's sick but it pays the bills. And they want
Kronk, "Doc Hacksaw," in the picture. When Billy hesitates, John is offended,
"What? You can cut my leg off but you can't pose for a lousy snapshot?"
Leaving the room, Billy tells John maybe he'll do it, as John calls after
him, "Hey, doc, just wear your blue doctor suit. They say the white one don't
photograph good."

Apparently Billy has decided to go through with the photo session. John holds
up a prosthetic  leg, while Billy hoists a chain saw for the photographer.
Walking by, Dennis stops in amazement, "You've got to be kidding?" He and
Billy leave John's room, where Dennis asks Billy what he's doing. Billy
explains that he agreed to the photos to help John make some money, and that
he didn't make a cent, but Hancock snorts in disgust. Irritated, Billy
reminds Dennis that he saved a kid's life, and that's what matters. Billy is
what matters to Dennis: "You got something goin' on inside, man. The
fighting, the chain saw, since you came to this hospital ..." Billy denies
that anything is wrong, while Dennis wonders out loud if Billy has some sort
of conformity crisis, telling him, "Look, if you don't want to fit in, fine."
Kronk grows even more annoyed, telling his friend, "Why don't you borrow
Kadalski's guitar and sing to me." With Hancock's final words, "You don't
need to run around proving you don't fit in," still hanging in the air,
Hancock turns and leaves, then Billy gets on the elevator with the chain saw,
startling a technician.

PLOT TWO: SEIZE THE DAY!
While Billy is being dragged away by Officer Plum, paramedics brings another
patient to the trauma center, a young woman complaining of chest pains,
headache and high blood pressure. Nyland, realizing the patient is his former
girlfriend, Allison, takes her to the cardiac examining area, promising to
take good care of her.

In the CCU following tests, Danny and Jeffrey Geiger talk to Allison, who
insists that she feels fine. A former nurse, she knows that hospitals want to
keep their beds filled, but still calls Danny "sweetheart." Geiger reminds
her that, "It is not normal to have chest pains and hypertension on a weekly
basis. That we don't know what your ailment is does not mean you're not
sick." 
Danny leans in and kisses her lightly, again assuring her that he'll take
good care of her, then she reaches up and kisses him full on the lips.

Leaving Allison's room, Geiger asks, "What's with the kiss?" Danny admits
that he and Allison used to be a couple. Geiger isn't completely surprised:
"Right, your little nurse fetish. Schedule an MRI. With these symptoms who
knows what she's got. Could be intercranial lesions, something renal, even a
primary cardiac abnormality. She take drugs?" When Danny says she doesn't
take drugs that he knows of, Geiger raises his voice: "Well, ask the
question. Do a toxicity test and stop kissing her. She's a patient now."

All the test results are in, but Nyland can't believe Geiger's diagnosis --
in fact he thinks "it's a little bit from Mars." An orderly returns Allison
to her room while the two doctors argue. Geiger thinks she has
pheochromocytoma, a tumor that secretes adrenalin, also known as epinephrine,
causing the severe headaches and the high blood pressure. Unfortunately,
though such tumors are typically found in the adrenal glands, they can't be
sure since her X-rays don't show anything. Her catheritization did reveal
that the epinephrine levels in her right renal vein are double those in the
left. Recognizing the fear on her face, Nyland assures Allison that he will
personally review the test results. After Geiger leaves her room, Allison
reflects that as a nurse she'd always wondered what it would be like to be on
the other side; she certainly knows now. Once again Danny promises to take
care of her; she tells him, "You always did," kissing him again. As they
part, Maggie stomps into Allison's room, asking "Everything okay here? Pillow
need fluffing?" Sensing the tension in the room, Allison asks if she's
missing something. Danny answers, "No, Nurse Atkisson is one of our more
thorough nurses. She's just ever diligent."

Danny returns to Allison's room to confirm Geiger's diagnosis, telling her
that her only option is surgery to remove the entire right adrenal gland.
Nyland will do the procedure, along with Geiger. Allison seems resigned,
telling Nyland, "I guess I'll have to trust you. You're the doctor." Nyland
does the procedure, assisted by Geiger, but after surgery, Allison suffers
another attack of chest pains. Danny attends her with assuring words again,
"Okay, honey, I've got you. Lie calm, I've got you."

Nyland, reviewing Allison's test results with Geiger, knows there's a
problem, but Geiger wonders if it could have been triggered by the procedure
itself. Pathology had found no evidence of a tumor in the gland they took
out, and another test just showed that Allison is still putting out
epinephrine metabolites. Geiger is stunned when Danny says, "The tumor is
still in her. It must be in the left gland," even though the right gland's
epinephrine levels were elevated, not the left. Danny finally accuses Jeffrey
of removing the wrong gland, but Geiger answers that he was just assisting.
Nyland won't back down: "Yeah, but you took it out and you said it was the
right gland and you were so proud of your diagnosis, so why don't you take
responsibility for your diagnosis, doctor?" Geiger won't hear of it,
answering, "It was your operation. It's your malpractice, not mine."

Geiger and Nyland have to tell Allison that she needs another operation to
remove the left gland. Incredulous, Allison says flatly, "You took out the
wrong gland." She reminds Danny of his promise to take care of her, which he
reiterates. When Geiger leaves the room, head down, Danny promises, "We're
going to fix you, Allie. I will." Her only question now is when will she have
the operation.

After Geiger leaves Allison's room, Alan Birch stops him in the hallway,
getting right up in his face: "Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean
you have to take out her other gland?" Geiger, immobile, calmly says, "Please
get out of my eyeline," and tries to get by Alan, who won't let him pass.
"I'll ask you once more nicely. Please get out of my eyeline." Alan refuses
to budge, wondering out loud, "How can a person live without either adrenal
gland? This is not a healthy way to live." Finally, Geiger feints left, then
ducks and sprints to the right, around Alan, who can only look around
helplessly to "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head."

Danny has also left Allison's room, and she is now alone. Grabbing her
handbag from the nightstand, she pulls out a vial and a needle, fills the
hypodermic, wipes her leg with an alcohol swab and jabs herself on the
sterilized spot with the needle.

That afternoon, Geiger and Nyland enter Allison's room, where Geiger says,
"See up there in the corner? There's a camera. It records things that go on
in the CCU. It's installed for the patient's protection. We got some
interesting footage today." Danny goes for her handbag as she tries to stop
him, but he finds a vial of epinephrine in her purse. Geiger walks to the
head of her bed, leaning over the pillow right near her face: "That's why the
tumor didn't show up on X-rays. You don't have a tumor. You're a wacko."

PLOT THREE: A REAL NO-BRAINER (sorry; I couldn't resist).
Stephen and Barbara Tomilson, friends of the Shutts, are with Aaron and
Camille in Aaron's office. Stephen has Parkinson's disease, and his health
has declined to the point where he's in a wheelchair pretty much all the
time. His speech is degenerating, along with pretty much everything else.
Reluctantly, Stephen tells Aaron that he wants a fetal tissue transplant, an
extreme measure, although he knows the risks. Aaron will have to run some
tests and gather the fetal tissue, but he won't be able to get any tissue --
Stephen also suffers from hypertension, which disqualifies him as a suitable
candidate for a transplant, but they've procured their own donor fetus.
Barbara reveals that she is pregnant. Stunned, Camille tells them it's
illegal, but they have a court order. The judge ruled that the NIH guidelines
were in violation of precedent law, so they can legally use Barbara's fetal
tissue for the transplant, and they want to. Camille is paralyzed, and Aaron
can only answer, "Uh huh."

Camille and Barbara are in Barbara's room, and while she unpacks, she tells
Camille that she feels like a criminal and asks Camille, "Why are you making
me feel like one?" Camille is wondering, if her friend had planned on
aborting from the beginning, why they waited, since Barbara is nearly three
months pregnant, but Barbara explains that it takes time to get a court
order. Barbara, with tears in her eyes, can only say, "I am doing everything
I can to give Stephen a chance. Our kids need ... " The sentence is left
unfinished, and Camille fills the gap, "Hey, you don't have to make any
apologies. Certainly not to me."

Meeting with Stephen, Aaron tells him that all the tests have been done and
the tissue match looks good. It will take a day to harvest the fetus but he's
ready. Stephen asks how the transplant actually works, and Aaron outlines the
process, "We inject the fetal brain cells directly into your brain and then
the new cells start producing dopamine which is the chemical that controls
motor control."

Philip, entering the men's room, hears Alan singing "Raindrops Keep Falling
On My Head." Opening a stall door, he finds Alan sitting on the throne, fully
clothed, head laying on the TP dispenser, singing. Alan looks up, "I sing it
when I feel stress, all right? When it becomes acute I do it in here because
the acoustics are better, so don't look at me with incredulity because all
that's important is that I remain functional." Phillip asks Alan why he's
under so much stress, and Alan rants and raves over the various goings-on at
Chicago Hope, one of which is the fetal tissue transplant, the first time
Phillip's heard of it.

An enraged Watters faces Aaron in his office, yelling, "You're not going to
do this ... It's against the law!" Aaron points out that they have a court
order, but Phillip insists that there's a difference between using a fetus
and harvesting one, that this is obscene. Despite Aaron's argument, Phillip
refuses to permit Aaron to go through with the procedure.

Aaron has to tell Stephen and Barbara that Phillip has refused permission for
the procedure. There is still a chance that the Internal Review Board will
grant permission in tomorrow's meeting, but Aaron reminds them that what they
are doing violates almost every rule of fetal tissue transplant, an already
controversial issue. Even the court order, where a judge has made an
exception and overruled all the guidelines, cannot force a hospital to go
through with it. Aaron will know after the IRB meeting, and if they say yes,
he will be ready to go.

Leaving Stephen and Barbara, Camille and Aaron walk together through the
hallways, and Camille tells him that if the IRB approves the procedure, she
doesn't want to be in on the transplant. When Aaron asks if there's any
particular reason, she reluctantly explains that she'd seen the ultrasound,
leaving unspoken words hanging in the air. 

In the Internal Review Board meeting, Aaron is telling his peers that Stephen
cannot get any other fetus, and that no one will even put him on a list.
Though Phillip insists that isn't the point, Aaron counters that, "He could
die from this disease, that's very much the point." With a court order, all
the NIH guidelines have been overcome, but Phillip feels that by doing the
procedure, Chicago Hope would be rewarding someone for having an abortion,

which is immoral. Aaron claims that neither the hospital nor the doctors
should be occupied in setting moral policy, finally charging that Phillip, as
Chief of Staff, is imposing his Catholic beliefs upon the staff. Despite
Phillip's denial, Aaron brings up Phillip's actions with the anencephalic
baby. Enraged, Phillip answers back, "And as a doctor you always come down on
the side of 'do the procedure.' Do the procedure. Justified the suspended
animation last week, didn't you Aaron? 'Do the procedure.' Patient's dead!
Maybe I've got a moral problem with that." Once again, Aaron and Phillip
nearly come to blows, Phillip daring Aaron to take a swing at him, when Diane
Grad insists on speaking her mind -- they're not dealing with a normal
situation, but one in which a patient has no other means of finding help, and
in which a court order would permit them to go forward with the transplant
and still not risk their grants and funding. Diane reminds everyone that as a
researcher, she'd be the last person to risk the hospital's credibility, but
that Stephen's health has to take precedent over Phillip's moral or ethical
integrity, especially in light of the aberrational nature of this particular
situation. "Our reputation will survive," she says. "Without this transplant,
Stephen Tomilson won't." As Aaron smugly listens, Phillip, defeated, yells,
"Fine. Blood's on your hands, not mine." He leaves, slamming the door behind
him.

Camille returns to Barbara's room to tell her that Aaron will be doing the
transplant for Stephen. In the meantime, Barbara has learned that Camille
refuses to participate. Camille can't believe that Barbara expects her to be
involved, although Barbara believes she gave Camille a way out earlier,
wishing she'd taken it then, "instead of waiting to blind side me." Barbara
reminds Camille that she'd been there for her, which Camille acknowledges --
and that Barbara got her through it. Barbara asks Camille if she's over it;
Camille tells her no, even though her life has gone on, and most days she
doesn't even think about it. Barbara asks Camille if she regrets it,
confessing her fear that she won't be able to get over what she's about to
do, but Camille comforts her, telling her that she will. Crying openly,
Barbara tells Camille that she has to remind herself not to get attached: "I
can't bear to think of it as a he or a she, it has to be an it. That's the
only way I can get through this. I'm at three months, Camille .... I can feel
it. Stephen can't even put his hands on my stomach. It has to be an it. It
has to be an it."

Barbara is on her way to surgery, Camille walking alongside the gurney,
holding her hand, when Aaron stops to wish Barbara good luck. As the gurney
rolls away, Camille tells Barbara she'll be there in a moment, to Aaron's
surprise, who thought that Camille was against the whole procedure. She
admits that she is, but that she needs to be at Barbara's side, because
Barbara can't go through this alone. Even though Stephen will be with her,
Camille thinks Barbara will need more than that. Hearing Camille say this,
Aaron asks, "You needed more, didn't you? From me?" Despite Camille's
assurances that he was great, ".... you don't know what it's like to have a
life grow inside of you. And trust me you couldn't know what it's like to be
up in those stirrups while some doctor .... there are certainly experiences
the male species is spared. She needs me holding her hand." Aaron
acknowledges that it was "a very painful experience for both of us. Now, I'm
worried that if you go into that room, it's going to bring up all kinds of
things that ... Can you do this?" Camille answers, "Umm hmm. She needs me
there, I know that. And as for things coming up, we both wanted to pretend it
didn't happen. We never really talked or ... maybe we need things to come
up." Aaron nods his head imperceptibly as Camille walks away, towards
Barbara's abortion.

FINALE: DENIAL IS NOT A RIVER IN EGYPT.
Danny, sitting on Allison's bed, asks her, "What if we had taken out the
second adrenal gland? Do you know how sick you would've become?" Allison
answers, "I can see how much you care. I know you never stopped loving me,
Danny." When Danny tells her that she has a psychological disorder called
Munchausen's syndrome, a disorder that causes people to fake their symptoms
in order to get attention, she insists that she's better now and won't do it
again. But Danny knows Allison is a sick young woman: "You're not better.
You're very, very sick, mentally sick. You knew exactly what you were doing
didn't you. You knew that we would think tumor. You knew the epinephrine
would send us scurrying." Allison persists, "I won't do it anymore. I'm
better just being with you again. I won't do it anymore. Just hold me, Danny.
Hold me." He allows her to put her arms around him, and sits, a reluctant yet
temporary prisoner.

In the bar, Watters is playing a video game. Diane Grad approaches him, to
Phillip's surprise: "What are you doing here?" Diane reminds him, "It's not
boys' night out. We were all invited. I can go get a beer just like anybody
else." When Phillips asks if she's spying on him, she answers, "I wasn't
trying to undermine you, Phillip. I do hope you know that." Phillip is still
upset, but less so than when he left the IRB meeting: "A hospital can have a
conscience. This crap about us being neutral robots, no emotions, no morals,
it's a lot of crap. A hospital should have a conscience." Diane tells him she
thinks this one does. He asks if he can buy her a beer, and she accepts.

At the bar, Danny is tortured, thinking he should have known what Allison was
doing. Geiger knows that she fooled everyone, "She's a nurse, she has medical
know-how. And she's sick. Very sick. But a good kisser." Kronk arrives and
says to Dennis, "Umm, I've been thinking about stuff and you might be right.
I'm sorry." Geiger immediately wants to know, "Sorry about what?" Dennis puts
him off, "Nothing." Geiger is insistent, "What nothing? He says sorry, I got
a right to know. Sorry about what?" Finally, Billy asks about Alan, since he
was going to meet everyone there. Geiger says he told Alan, "unless I said
the Dugout. Maybe I told him the Puddle, no, I said the Puddle ....." We last
see Alan at the Dugout, sitting alone at a large table covered with frosted
mugs, a full pitcher of beer at his elbow.

Barbara is in the operating room, ready to abort her fetus, with Stephen and
Camille on either side of her. The attending physician tells Barbara that
she'll hear the vacuum operating and that she'll feel a lot of pressure. The
procedure has begun.

The following day, as Aaron transplants the fetal tissue from Barbara's womb
into Stephen's brain, Camille and Barbara watch from the theater. They don't
seem capable of speaking, only watching, their hands clasped together
tightly, trying not to feel -- anything.


RANDOM THOUGHTS & OBSERVATIONS:

An excellent episode, second only to "Quarantine," with three strong
plotlines and not one, but three secondary subplots (Kronk's nonconformity,
Alan's loneliness and stress, and Phillip's morality). And again one thread
runs through the entire episode: for me, it was denial -- Allison's denial
that she's a sick young woman; John Sagonner's denial that he is now an
amputee and will never kick again; Kronk's denial that he's "got something
going on inside"; and the Tomilson's belief that they can carry out their
plans with a minimum of negative emotion (at least, I thought that was
implied throughout their story line).

We're given two very strong viewpoints on the fetal tissue transplant issue,
but once again Kelley leaves it in our hands to decide for ourselves how we
feel about the issue in general.

We've also got ourselves a mystery! There has  been a lot of speculation as
to what happened to Camille: did she have an abortion? A miscarriage? What?
When? Where was Aaron? And most importantly, why? There are clues: Camille's
obvious reluctance to be involved in the transplant or the abortion in any
way; the conversation between Camille and Barbara and Barbara's questions to
Camille -- "Do you regret it?" and "Are you over it?" -- as well as Camille's
words to Barbara, "You get over it; you just do."

Delicious irony in the interaction between Officer Plum and Billy Kronk: the
cop would let Billy, smelling of beer, amputate a man's leg with a chain saw,
but then arrests him for suspicion of drunk driving.

I knew Allison was up to something and that she was really playing on Danny's
sympathy for her in an effort to regain his affections, but the needle in the
leg really caught me by surprise. At first I wondered if Danny had ignored
Geiger's instructions to run a toxicity test, which would have meant that she
could have been taking narcotics, but the epinephrine soon became evident.
Also, magnificent and subtle camera work (and editing) with the overhead shot
turning to black and white (also used in the photo shoot with John Sagonner
and Billy Kronk; very clever).

I liked the fact that Geiger referred to Nyland's injured hand -- "First
procedure since your fingers healed." The continuity was welcome.

Sometimes Hancock seems very sure of himself on any given matter to begin
with, but his certainty seems to waver later on. Here he vacillated over his
decision to back Billy, but this trait has also been evident in other
episodes, IMHO.

I like to figure out if the music that Geiger plays in the operating room
bears any relation to the story line. Here, we had him operating to the tune
of "The Way You Do the Things You Do" while operating on Allison; well, she
certainly does certain things a certain way -- like manipulate, lie, etc. And
Geiger was operating on Sagonner while listening to "Give Me Money," which
Sagonner won't have much of any more.

The interaction between Nyland and Geiger during their argument over who
performed the procedure and removed the wrong gland was interesting; each one
was trying to cover his own ass. Is this a commentary on medical care in
general?

I thought Geiger looked ashamed twice, both in the scene Allison when he and
Nyland had to tell her that she needed another operation, and immediately
after that when he met Alan in the hallway.

We saw Geiger make an athletic move -- feint, duck and run -- although he
told Phillip (in the boxing gym) that he's not athletic. Of course, we know
better (that Mandy Patinkin is much more athletically inclined and built that
Geiger appears to be).

Wonderful Pythonesque scene with Sagonner trying to vent his wrath on Billy,
hopping around on one leg. ("Come back and fight you coward! It's only a
flesh wound!")

Lastly, I felt that Barbara was using her friendship with Camille to
blackmail her into (1) not condemning her and/or giving her implied approval
to the Tomilson's plans, and (2) being present for the abortion. Just based
on my personal experience, if you're going to be there for someone, you don't
throw it back up in their faces at some later point hoping to get what you
need and/or want (although I recognize that Barbara seemed to be caught, at
least in her own heart and her own mind, between a rock and a hard place).

Minor points:

	How come Kronk hardly ever wears any hospital ID? I know he's a
nonconformist but ...

If the camera in CCU caught Allison the last time she shot herself up, how
did she have another episode after surgery without being caught on camera?

Why didn't Stephen know how the transplant worked? He knew all the risks and
what he had to do to get the tissue. The writers probably felt they to
explain it to us, the viewers.

How could Hancock have grabbed Kadalski's guitar? He's gone! Not at Chicago
Hope anymore!


DIALOGUE:

A brief rundown of what I felt were some of the best lines/dialogue of this
episode:

Kronk to Hancock: You heard about him eating one of Geri Infante's earrings?"
Hancock: "That really happened?" "Yes it did. Sucked it into his bowels.
Passed it on the throne doing the crossword puzzle." "Does she still wear
it?" Yes, she wears it, and not only does she still wear it, earring, she
think's it's become more valuable, like an antique or something." 

"There, you happy? Maybe you'd enjoy blowing into it now." "Hey, I had to
check, all right. You looked a little bit psycho with that chain saw." "He
saved a man's life." "Smelling like beer." "Because He just consumed a beer
moments prior to. He was not intoxicated, as your test confirms." "Fine, all
right, he can go." "You know what?" "Billy, your lips do not move in here.
Let's be gone. Officer Plum will never know 'what'." as Alan wraps his arms
around Billy from the back and forces him out.

Maggie, "I hate it when people milk their tumors."

Alan and Philip in the men's room:

Alan, "I sing it when I feel stress, all right? When it becomes acute I do
it in here because the acoustics are better, so don't look at me with
incredulity because all that's important is that I remain functional."
Phillips asks Alan why he's under so much stress, and Alan starts to rant,
"Oh, that's good, Phillip. Yeah, That knocked me out, you're really ... oh,
yeah. One of our doctors hacks off the leg of the Chicago Bears' place kicker
...."

Phillip, "Well it wasn't his kicking leg."

Alan, "You think that's funny? You get my memo?"

Phillip, "Yes, but this isn't a public area."

Alan, "Oh, that's cute. Yeah, that's ... yeah, I can't wait for the
pro-lifers to find out about Aaron's fetal tissue transplant. Your address
published Phillip? Because mine is. Yeah, no security gate here. No,
driveway's right open. Come on in!"

Phillip, "What fetal tissue transplant?"

Alan, "Oh you didn't hear? Well, maybe you couldn't over the din of the
chain saw. Pregnant couple comes in seeking abortion to use the fetus to cure
P's disease. Yeah, it happens, P. Well, it happens here tomorrow. [starting
to sing again, heading back into the stall] So I just did me some talking to
the sun, and I said I didn't like the way he got things done, sleeping on the
job ...."

Geigerisms:

Geiger to Kronk, grinning impishly, "With a chain saw?" Kronk, "Yeah, a chain
saw. How's he doing." Geiger, "Critical. I think he'll make it but he's
kicked his last field goal." Alan, "That isn't funny. I put out a memo
regarding coarse humor in public areas. Maybe you didn't get it?" Geiger,
"Yes, but I'd run out of toilet paper, I had to put your memo to emergency
use. Sharing that here was probably a violation of your directive wasn't it.
Sorry, I'm chagrined. Let's wipe the slate clean. You got another memo
handy?" Alan walks away in disgust, while Geiger goes in the other direction,
and Kronk, looking at Geiger walking off, says, "Not respect."

When Kronk arrives at the bar in the next-to-last scene and apologizes for
being late, Geiger answers, "Tell the truth, we were enjoying your absence."

Last but not least:

I WANT SOME OF THOSE CHICAGO HOPE PILLOWCASES!!!!
AND SURG GREENS, WORN BY GEIGER!!!!
AND A MASK, DEFINITELY A GEIGER MASK, DEFINITELY!!!

Beverly Blackwell
Toadmistress, Toad Council
"We Toady To the Stars"