Season 1, Episode 12:
Happy New Year
The episode begins with Carter, who is off-shift, barrelling into County and telling Mark and Lydia that he's discovered a man lying on the street suffering from gunshot wounds. Rustling up other staff members, a group quickly runs down the road to the victim's aid.
Mark, Carol, Carter and a group of other nurses arrive at the victim's location, where he's laying on the top of a vehicle and groaning in pain. Together, they manage to bundle the victim onto a stretcher and rush him back to the hospital.
Back inside the front lobby, Mark orders Bob to call the police and tell them the victim is a "gang-banger", while the staff begin to bring blood bags into the OR and Connie calls for Benton. A bloodied handgun is also recovered from the victim. Mark invites Carter to perform his first intubation, and with support from Mark and Carol, the young student correctly intubates the patient. Afterwards, Benton arrives and the group rush to transport the patient to an OR to close up his wounds. When Carter asks to come along with them, Benton shuts him down, reasoning that saving the man's life by notifying the staff was enough.
New Year's 1995 has arrived, and the staff are each dealing with their own resolutions. Lydia has quit smoking, and deals with withdrawal symptoms as Bob tries to motivate her. Carter also tells Lydia that he's sick of doing "scout work," and wants to get more hands-on with patient procedures. Dr. Hicks and Mark run through a listing of current patients admitted to the hospital on the holiday, while Doug and Carol deal with a pair of children who injured each other with paintguns, prompting their mother to go from calm to screaming in an instant after they start fighting in the exam rooms.
Officer Grabatsky arrives with a colleague, carrying an older man whose legs were frozen to the ground underneath the L Track in the city's downtown core. The man throws a racial slur at Hicks, who comments that "1995 is going to be just like 1994." Susan also tries to get the help of Dr. Kayson regarding a patient named Ms. Davies, but he refuses to help, running off to a surgery while the patient pesters her. Later, she manages to get him to sign a release form for Ms. Davies, but he antagonizes her and says she should have come to him hours before, despite her saying she tried.
Susan and Kayson's conversation is interrupted by Chloe, who abruptly tells Susan that she's going to move to Texas with her boyfriend. Completely confused, Susan takes Chloe out to lunch after and they discuss the latter's plans, especially in light of the latter's pregnancy. Susan asks Chloe to stay in Chicago, but Chloe is adamant that her boyfriend, Ronnie, will get work at his uncle's oil refinery, and that they'll figure out the details of housing arrangements when they arrive. She also tells Susan that she's dead-set on having the baby, and wants to love it just as much as she wants others to love it...
Benton heads out for a break and meets with his sister, Jackie, who is married to Walter Robbins. They have a discussion about their mother, establishing that she's had a stroke and needs constant care. Like before, Benton complains that he's too busy with work to deal with her, even underplaying how frail his mother's condition is. Jackie suggests that they put her in a nursing home, but Benton rejects it out of hand, trying to reason that letting their neighbor look after her will be better. Jackie tells him that it's out of his hands now, and that she'll look after it...
The staff deal with a pair of firefighters who were injured in a blaze — one badly enough to require significant recovery time in the hospital's burn unit, and the other dealing with emotional trauma from the incident. Mark, Haleh and Nurse Shirley stabilize the burn victim, while Carol tries to console the fellow firefighter who is distraught.
Carter, who's concerned over Benton's dismissive treatment of him, looks to Mark for answers, but the latter simply tells him that Benton's behavior isn't too different from other second-year residents, and to "suck it up". However, Carter gets a chance to prove himself soon after, when Carol tells him she needs help transporting a trauma victim that will be arriving imminently via helicopter. Carter, along with Benton, rush to the roof and transport the patient, who is suffering from blunt trauma to the abdomen, back down to one of the exam rooms. Using his knowledge of the intubation earlier, Carter expertly intubates the patient, then recites a correct breakdown of the patient's condition and treatment taken so far when Morgenstern arrives. Benton and Mark are impressed with his performance, and as a "reward", Benton allows Carter to scrub in during a gall bladder removal procedure being helmed by Morgenstern later that evening.
Susan diagnoses a "Mr. Vennerbeck", who is complaining of minor chest pain, but whose EKG readings all generally look clear. Susan manages to find and speak with Dr. Kayson, who presumes that the patient's problems are minor and signs off on the necessary paperwork to discharge him. Afterwards, Vennerbeck calls out Susan for making him wait for hours before signing him out, causing him to miss appointments in the process, but Dr. Hicks speaks with her after, telling her she shouldn't look for approval from every patient who walks through the hospital's doors.
The evening rotation continues with more patients being sent in, including a pair of pregnant women arguing over naming their respective children the same, an elderly couple wheeled in with carbon monoxide poisoning, and a young mother who is high on drugs that gives premature birth in the hospital corridor as Mark and Susan try to move her. Doug, Carol and Carter help provide oxygen to the elderly couple, while Mark, Hicks and Susan help prematurely deliver the mother's baby as she screams for them to stop. The baby is delivered successfully and all seems calm... until Lydia rushes in and tells Susan that Mr. Vennerbeck has been wheeled back in, now unresponsive.
Susan rushes back to Mr. Vennerbeck, while his wife repeatedly asks Susan why she discharged him. Arriving on the scene, Dr. Kayson also glares at Susan before aiding to try and resuscitate him, revealing he has a likely heart murmur. Kayson tells her she's off the case before he storms out to take Vennerbeck to surgery...
Carter is brought to the operating theater and learns the basics of scrubbing in, but he doesn't get to observe directly on Benton and Morgenstern's surgery long before he unintentionally contaminates himself by touching Benton's shoulder. Morgenstern has Nurse Shirley roughly drag Carter out of the operating theater, but the student does redeem himself soon after Morgenstern quizzes him from afar on anatomical parts of the body, which he correctly answers much to Benton's chagrin.
Later that night, Doug and Linda are having noisy sex in her apartment. As they finish, Doug makes a joke about forgetting her name, and she comments that he probably doesn't remember the name of every woman he slept with. She then proceeds to point out that one day, he'll forget her name, despite his claim otherwise. When he brings up the case of the elderly couple who had carbon monoxide inhalation, he comments that they were married for 48 years, and muses aloud whether both he and Linda could accomplish the same thing. Linda then says that both of them are with each other because of a lack of committment — and for Doug, he doesn't want to be responsible for a family — at least, not yet.
At the hospital cafeteria, Mark makes scrambled eggs for himself and Susan while they discuss their day. Susan explains what Chloe is doing with her life, and says maybe Chloe should have an abortion because she doesn't take the thought of having a child seriously. She is then called away by Kayson, who angrily tells her that Mr. Vennerbeck is dead, and that he wants a full case review, reasoning that she didn't present him with all the facts, despite her insistence otherwise.
Susan is shocked and confused as he storms out, while another patient is wheeled in and her help is requested...
Tropes:
- Action Prologue: The episode begins with Carter booking it through the streets, rousing the staff to aid a gunshot victim, stabilizing his condition (and teaching Carter valuable experience about intubation in the process) and moving him to the OR, all in one sequence.
- Anywhere but Their Lips: Subverted; it looks as though Linda is doing this... but then she remembers that she has to go to work, and pops back out from under the covers, much to Doug's chagrin.
- As You Know: Carter, being the Audience Surrogate, gets a number of these moments as the staff teach him the do's-and-don'ts of certain procedures, including intubation and proper OR sanitation.
- Big Eater: Having just finished lunch, Chloe then proceeds to ask for, and takes, the sandwiches on Susan's tray before heading out.
- But Now I Must Go: Chloe up-and-decides to go to Texas with her boyfriend, reasoning that she will be able to provide for her child better when down there. When the problems of this plan are pointed out by Susan, Chloe pointedly ignores or downplays her concerns.
- Character Development: Carter finally gets a chance to prove his skills in a more pronounced setting, both by taking charge intubating a patient (with Benton and Mark's approval) and being present for an operation Benton and Morgenstern are helming — and (largely) passes with flying colors.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- Jackie Robbins, who was namechecked in "Hit and Run", finally appears and has a conversation with Benton about their mother.
- Mr. Vennerbeck is discharged midway through the episode... then shows up again later, suffering from an undiagnosed heart murmur and setting off a plotline that will continue through the next two episodes.
- Chekhov's Skill: In the opening sequence, Mark teaches Carter how to intubate a patient. Carter later gets a chance to prove how well he's understood the procedure when he effectively takes charge of intubating the trauma patient who arrives by helicopter, while Mark and Benton look on admiringly.
- Continuity Nod: As the episode begins, Bob and Lydia are seen taking down the strings of Christmas lights still set up from the staff's Christmas celebration a week earlier.
- Dare to Be Badass: Much like Benton in the pilot episode, Carter feels a need to prove himself and requests something more than "scout work", requesting that Benton let him scrub in on a procedure. Bemused by Carter's boldness, Benton gives him a chance later on.
- Death Glare: Kayson shoots one at Susan prior to working on Mr. Vennerbeck, who's been wheeled back in after being discharged earlier in the day.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Benton gets this in the form of his own mother, who he is weak towards and will do anything to ensure she gets constant care. Despite that, he refuses to believe she's in frail condition (despite the fact that she's had a stroke]], and rationalizes that she doesn't need to go into a nursing home...
- Foreshadowing: During Morgenstern and Benton's gall-bladder operation, they play a game of "guess the capital city". When Benton is stumped regarding the capital of Zaire, Carter mentions the correct answer, Kinshasa — a place he would later visit in the ninth-season finale.
- Headbutting Heroes: Carter runs into friction with Benton after requesting more hands-on surgical work. Benton gives him the opportunity to scrub in on a surgery in response to his boldness.
- Heroic BSoD: Susan lapses into one once Kayson accuses her of botching the Vennerbeck case, and implies that he's filing a formal report against her.
- Hope Spot: The entire opening sequence involves Carter (and eventually the rest of the staff) rushing to save a gang member who was critically injured by another group, and being whisked into surgery. When Carter asks in the next scene how the patient is doing, Benton nonchalantly tells him the patient died 10 minutes after getting him into the OR.
- Idiot Ball: After Susan repeatedly tries to get Kayson's help dealing with Mr. Vennerbeck, he largely ignores and downplays the latter's condition, reasoning that his symptoms aren't that bad... and then when he gets wheeled back in with a heart murmur, Kayson blames her for the latter eventually dying in surgery, completely ignoring his own complicitly in what happened.
- The Immodest Orgasm: During Doug and Linda's romp in bed.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: The young pregnant mother, brought in while under the influence of drugs, who is terrified when she learns her baby will be born prematurely, and is seen swearing and screaming as the baby is delivered amid a few tense moments. Luckily, the baby is delivered and is no worse for wear.
- Innocuously Important Episode: Not only does this episode introduce Mauve Shirt character Nurse Shirley, who will appear intermittently for the remainder of the series, but one of its shots during the opening sequence (the core group of ER personnel wheeling a gurney down a rain-soaked street) would become a mainstay of the main credits for the next 12 years.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When Jackie points out that neither she (nor Walt, or their children) want the responsibility of providing continuing care for their mother, Benton points out that she did the exact same thing for him when he was young and their mother was forced to go back to work in the wake of her husband's death.
- Married to the Job: Benton's absence from his ailing mother's life (in favor of his work) is addressed once again, this time by his sister, Jackie, when she brings up their mother's need for continuing care:Benton: I don't know "constant".Jackie: You wouldn't know "constant" because you're never around.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Susan gets this when she allows Mr. Vennerbeck to be discharged, then discovers that he has a heart murmur and died several hours later after he's rushed back into the ER.
- Never My Fault: Kayson is unwilling to admit any fault in the case of Mr. Vennerbeck, even refusing to admit that he didn't give Susan the time of day when she attempted to bring her concerns about the patient to him.
- New Meat: Carter brings this up, asking why Benton is having him running around doing "scout work" instead of scrubbing in on procedures. He gets his chance later to prove himself when Benton allows him to scrub in during an operation.
- Nothing Personal: Hicks tells Susan that she should stop looking for approval from all her patients, after the latter has finished apologizing to Mr. Vennerbeck.
- Really Gets Around:
- Doug, who gets called out by Linda as an individual who likely won't remember her name in the future, given how many women he's been with.
- Susan tells Mark that Chloe has this reputation, as she may have "diseases from sleeping with every guy in the corner".
- Remember the New Guy?: Nurse Shirley, a recurring character who has been present all this time in the hospital (and assists with Morgenstern on surgeries). Notably, she is one of only a few characters to appear throughout the entire series, showing up as late as Season 15's "The Beginning of the End".
- Rule of Symbolism: The episode juxtaposes two scenes with very similar setups — Linda telling Doug that he has a lack of responsibility and isn't ready to have children, partly due to his nature as The Casanova; and Susan telling Mark that Chloe should have an abortion because she isn't ready to take responsibility, given her background.
- Spotting the Thread: Linda points out that if Doug had wanted kids, he would have been married already, and is only with her because neither of them are "the marrying type". She then accurately points out that he has a fear of responsibility and doesn't want to commit to anything.
- Stern Teacher: Morgenstern's treatment of Carter in the operating theater (having Shirley physically drag him out after he's contaminated his glove) is meant to be "tough love," as he indicates that there's zero tolerance for contamination in a sensitive setting. However, he does allow Carter to redeem himself by quizzing him on what he's learned so far, showing that he's not completely unsympathetic.
- Tempting Fate: Despite Jackie's insistence that their mother should go into a nursing home, Benton is adamant that she remain where she is, to the point of claiming he'll be able to fund a caregiver (a nearby neighbor) himself. This will end up biting him hard later on down the line.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Jackie calls out Benton for trying to monopolize the care schedule for his mother, after he's already established that he's never been around when she needs him and has no apparent plan beyond hiring a neighbour across the street to look after her, with money he likely doesn't have.
