Recap / ERS 1 E 08 Nine And A Half Hours

Season 1, Episode 08:

9 1/2 Hours

You have a cold heart, Pete. You don't let anyone in... just like your dad.

Doug has been pressed into service to help run the ER after Mark calls in on a sick day.

While Doug struggles to keep up with an ever-growing stack of reports and papers at the front desk, Susan attempts to call an auto dealership to get an ignition switch due to Chloe stealing it. Elsewhere, Dr. Cvetic snaps at Jerry for not filling out a patient chart before storming off. Benton is also anxiously awaiting the results of the Starzl Fellowship winner's announcement alongside Langworthy, and Carol meets a patient named Jamie who was raped by a friend of her boyfriend, while several patients flow in as the morning shift starts.

Exasperated, Doug calls Mark's house for help... and hears Mark and Jen having sex.

Carter complains to Susan that Benton never calls him for any important surgeries... before a patient who passed out at school is wheeled in, and Benton barks for his help. Together with Haleh, Susan and Nurse Lily Mariye, the group transfers the patient to an operating table. Carter points out several facets of the patient's condition the others didn't notice before the latter begins to display signs of arrhythmia. Despite attempts to shock his heart, the patient remains unresponsive, forcing Benton to go in manually into the patient's heart with a catheter in order to drain the heart "sinus" and restore its normal rhythm. Susan and Carter look on breathlessly as Benton, aided by Haleh and Connie, is able to stabilize the patient.

At Mark's house, he and Jen breathlessly collapse from exhaustion, and they discuss Jen's recent success at her new job. She mentions that the employees at the law firm she's working at treat her more respectfully after seeing her high-quality from work, and then mentions that she still needs to get someone named "Craig" to look over a legal brief she's written. She comments that she understands how committed he is to his job before they embrace again...

Carol speaks with Jamie in one of the exam rooms. When Jamie attempts to claim it's her fault for being raped, Carol tells her not to believe that, and that she will help her get through the experience. Despite her reassurance, Jamie is doubtful that anything will change.

Meanwhile, Haleh brings Slice, the youth criminal who was enrolled in a community service program, to Benton to work under him. Benton sets him to work cleaning the fridge in the staff lounge while he deals with a gunshot victim, but he's soon distracted by the arrival of his mother, Mae, wheeled in by his brother-in-law Walter and aided by Carter. Mae has been brought to County due to a foot injury, but Carter also learns that she has suffered due to a prior stroke. Despite Benton's attempts to drive Carter off, Mae takes to him and jokingly asks the young doctor to attend a dinner on Christmas Eve.

Benton is later disheartened, but accepting, when he learns that Langworthy got the Starzl Fellowship instead of him. Some time later, he examines charts when she approaches him and calls him out for avoiding her. Benton reluctantly congratulates her, and claims that he wasn't interested in it anyway due to not having enough experience. Langworthy then suggests a different reason for him avoiding her — that he's jealous of a woman winning the fellowship, and that he wants to sleep with her to make him feel better about himself. Benton unequivocally tells her that he's not interested before walking off, leaving her nonplussed.

Carol and Lydia take samples from Jamie to verify her account of being raped — only to discover that there were two other types of pubic hair in the samples. When confronted, Jamie admits she was drunk, and that she doesn't remember anything after taking a drink with her boyfriend's friend and two other males, then breaks down, leading Carol to comfort her. Sometime later, Carol brings a cop to the exam room so Jamie can make a statement, but she discovers that the teen has fled from the hospital. Despite her efforts, Carol is unable to locate her...

Late in the day, two cases divide the attention of the staff - a young patient (being treated by Doug) who becomes unable to breathe and passes out, and an elderly crash victim. While Doug works on stabilizing the boy, Benton (aided by Chuny and Carter) stabilize the crash victim. Feeling he has something to prove, Benton takes over Doug's procedure and intubates the boy, which restores his normal breathing rhythem. Soon after, Doug confronts Benton and calls him out for taking over the procedure, reasoning that Benton is so bothered by not getting the fellowship that he's making himself look more important for everyone else's benefit.

As the day draws to a close, Mark and Jen tidy themselves up before Rachel gets home, with Jen accepting a call from her workplace and rebuffing Mark's overtures. At the hospital, Doug is also introduced to a new nurse's aide, who introduces herself as Bogdanilivestsky Romansky. Doug takes to calling her "Bob", a nickname she is amused by. Benton also goes to visit Walt at work, and apologizes for his behaviour towards him and their mother earlier in the day, claiming that he "doesn't like to lose" and was distracted by the loss of the Fellowship. Carol leaves for work for the day, but finds Jamie standing and smoking a cigarette across the street. Upon questioning, Jamie admits that her boyfriend doesn't believe she was raped and doesn't want her to come back home.

Carol convinces Jamie to press charges against the men who raped her, and escorts her back into the hospital to give a statement to the police...

Tropes:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Cvetic (who is undergoing Sanity Slippage himself) nearly bursts out laughing when he orders two officers to restrain a patient named Randall and have him committed to an institution for 72 hours.
• Anywhere but Their Lips: Where Mark and Jen are first seen — she pops her head out from under the covers as the phone rings, with a very happy look on her face as Mark's head pops out from the opposite side of the covers.
• Armor-Piercing Response: When Doug confronts Benton over his handling of the young patient, the former tells him he's not the only one who can decide the fate of a patient:
  Doug: So you're the only person who can keep him alive?
• Audience Surrogate: Carter, though this is subverted when he tries to point out several possible scenarios for the condition of the patient who collapsed at school (in a book), only for Benton to tell him to "put the damn book down" before he tries a risky procedure.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In the previous episode, Doug encouraged Mark to stay home with Jen, and congratulated him despite his attempts to downplay the situation. This time around, Doug is left flustered and overworked when Mark takes the entire day off to spend in bed with Jen.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Mark takes a sick day to ostensibly go at it like rabbits with Jen, though they keep getting interrupted by Doug, who continuously calls in a panic after the stress of running the ER gets to him.
• Caught with Your Pants Down: Doug gets an earful of Mark and Jen having sex at home after he tries to rouse the former to come back to the ER to help him manage operations.
• False Reassurance: Discussed when Carol treats Jamie.
  Carol: It's okay. You're going to be safe here.
  Jamie: Is it?
• Family Versus Career: Invoked, as Benton pawns off the responsibility of his mother's well-being to Carter while he handles more patients (even expressly remarking that he "doesn't have time" for it). At the end of the episode, Walt (his sister's husband) points out that he's just as stubborn as his father (who managed an auto shop, which Walt now runs).
• Foreshadowing:
  • Jen mentions a co-worker named "Craig" who is proofreading her work at her new legal job, while she's in bed with Mark...
    • Not only that, she rebuffs Mark's advances while on the phone with him.
  • Mae Benton also suggests that Carter is part of a lineage of rich white people who once owned slaves...
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Cvetic is prone to this, in tandem with his Sanity Slippage, as he repeatedly snaps at everyone around him, and very nearly threatens to beat up Jerry.
• Hope Spot: Jen and Mark's marriage is shown to be at their happiest point since being first seen in the pilot episode, with both parties commenting on how they want to spend more time with one another...
• Hypocrite: Jen repeatedly tells Mark to avoid answering phone calls from County, reasoning that their time together (if only for a day) is more important. However, when her co-worker calls to give her some information regarding a legal brief she wrote, she immediately jumps up and answers, then rebuffs Mark's attempts at getting her to hang up the call.
  • She also displays some jealousy over Mark's friendship with Susan, even though she herself has a friend of the opposite gender. And a year later, we learn it was much more than that.
• Idiot Ball: Cvetic commits a man who is drunk and acting belligerent to a 72-hour psychiatric stay, causing Susan to call him out afterwards in response.
• Innocuously Important Episode: This episode introduces the character of Nurse Lily Jarvik (played by Lily Mariye), who, by the time of the series finale, becomes one of only four characters to appear in all 15 seasons of the show, as well as introduces "Bob", the nurse's assistant who will become much important later on. Additionally, this episode sets up the presence of "Craig", one of Jen's co-workers at her job who appears to be helping her edit some legal documents...
• In the Blood: Walt Benton points out that Peter is much like his father:
  Walt: You have a cold heart, Pete. You don't let anyone in... just like your dad. Wouldn't worry about it, though... you're basically a good guy.
• It Came from the Fridge: Based on the brief glimpses seen in the staff fridge, most of the food is uncovered, stale, rotten or all three combined. Benton is suitably disgusted when he goes looking for the salad he placed in it.
  Benton (to Slice): Look for mold, or anything that can crawl out on its own.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Susan calls out Cvetic for continually referring to Jerry as a "desk clerk", even when corrected several times.
• It's All About Me:
  • Benton's behavior, in tandem with Sore Loser, suggests that he's compensating on losing the fellowship by making himself out to be more important around the hospital. Doug and Walter call him out on this.
  • Invoked by Langworthy, who claims that Benton is jealous of her getting the Starzl Fellowship and wants to sleep with her.
• It's All My Fault: Benton tells Doug that he feels he made a fool of himself in the Starzl Fellowship interview in front of Morgenstern, which cost him the opportunity. In response, Doug tells him he's more than just one incident.
  Doug: You lost a fellowship.... and you saved two lives in five minutes. Not a bad day.
• Jerk: Jamie's boyfriend refuses to let her come back home, claiming she was lying about being gang-raped by his friends.
• Just Friends: Discussed when Mark and Jen are taking a bubble bath together:
  Mark: I don't think about anyone else.
  Jen: Susan Lewis?
  Mark: We're just friends.
• Match Cut: When Doug (complaining about the pace of trying to run the ER) asks out loud if Mark is a "machine", the scene cuts to him falling off the bed at home, asking to take a break after having sex with Jen.
• Modesty Bedsheet: Jen is seen wearing one while in bed with Mark.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Benton is keenly aware that Mark never calls in sick, and realizes it's because he's spending time at home with Jen.
    Benton: Must be pneumonia.
  • Conversely, Benton himself gets flustered and distracted when Walter brings his mother in to help fix a foot injury. He orders Carter to help her, and notably doesn't raise his voice at him like every other appearance on the show so far, suggesting that her presence is bothering him.
• Rape as Drama: Carol treats a patient, Jamie, who was raped by one of her boyfriend's acquaintances. Leter, it's revealed that Jamie was gang-raped and is refusing to press charges, prompting Carol to step in and help her.
• Remember the New Guy?: Nurse Lily is introduced having a degree of familiarity with Carol and Benton, despite not appearing in any episode before this and no one ever referring to her by name.
• Sanity Slippage: Cvetic continues to slip further and further into paranoia, snapping at doctors and refusing Susan's attempts to help him.
• Secretly Wealthy: Implied, as Mae Benton suggests that Carter is part of a lineage of wealthy homeowners that used to own slaves a century earlier.
• Ship Sinking: Peter makes it unequivocally clear to Langworthy that he has no interest in her, despite her attempt to get him to sleep with her.
  Benton: Not only do I not want to sleep with you, I've never even fantasized about it.
• Sore Loser: After learning that he didn't get the Starzl Fellowship, Benton takes out his anger by overcompensating, taking over Doug's procedure and avoiding Langworthy. It takes Doug pointing out that Benton is still a highly-capable doctor for him to get over the matter.
• Tagalong Kid: Against his wishes, Slice (Mookie James) becomes this to Benton.
• Unwanted Assistance: Despite Benton's attempts to get him to leave, Mae becomes amused by Carter's presence and invites him to a family dinner.
• You Are in Command Now: Doug is forced to step up and oversee operations in the ER after Mark takes a "sick day".

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