Recap / ERS 1 E 14 Long Days Journey

Season 1, Episode 14:

Long Day's Journey

When I'm on, you call me, not someone else. It's not personal, it's professional.

A woman, Ms. Horne, is wheeled into the ER suffering from hematoma and unexplained bruises ostensibly caused by falling off a ladder at home. After Doug and Benton stabilize her condition, Doug questions her children, Mandy and David, over the matter. Doug, initially believing their father is an abuser, attempts to get some information out of them before David lets slip that Mandy beat their mother. She snaps at him, threatening to kill him before realizing she's implicated herself as Doug looks on in shock.

Carter arrives for his shift and discovers, much to his chagrin, that Deb has already completed all of the charts he was supposed to work on, but she excuses it by saying that she's trying to make a good impression because everyone already respects Carter's work. Susan is also running charts to Mark, and she complains about still having him check her work due to the Vennerbeck case. When he asks when her review board meeting is for the matter, she pointedly tells him not to show up.

The day continues as Doug diagnoses a child named Zack with a broken leg (and gets exasperated when he's told that Taglieri is the only doctor available to help, prompting him to call another doctor to perform x-rays instead), while Mark is distracted by a pregnant patient who may have eclampsia. Their attention is diverted when a woman is wheeled in, having attempted suicide by overdosing, as her friend and the woman's child walk in behind them, horrified by the situation. Despite their efforts, the mother dies on the table, while the friend who called in pointedly ignores questions about what drugs the mother was taking. Doug is left holding the woman's child, and the friend is led away for questioning, while Susan shares a brief moment with Doug as they look at the child...

Benton asks Haleh for help find a part-time nurse who will help look after his mother after she wandered off alone. Haleh refers him to Jeanie Boulet, a part-time physical therapist who agrees to take on the role after Benton agrees to drum up a sizable chunk of money to secure her services.

While Doug and Benton diagnose and treat a pair of patients wheeled in with injuries sustained during a fire, Carter and Deb diagnose an "Uncle Ed" who is revealed to be dead after being in a vehicle since morning (and whose family are oblivious to the situation), while Susan asks Jerry for a smoke before the board review begins. Afterwards, Carol and Haleh have a brief conversation about the mother who overdosed and left her child behind, with Haleh commenting that Carol must have remembered her own attempted overdose. Carol comments that the situation was different — she didn't have a child, and didn't leave a last note behind.

The review board hearing begins with the group questioning Susan and Dr. Kayson over their handling of the matter. When asked by the board why Kayson wasn't informed by Susan about Mr. Vennerbeck's back pain, she tells them that it was written on his chart and that Kayson signed off on it. Kayson attempts to pawn the blame off on her again, but notably gets called out by the board, who tells him that it's his job to help resident doctors, and given how Susan now understands the severity of the issue, she was not at fault. The matter is concluded and Susan is exonerated from any wrong-doing, while Morgenstern gives her a wink and Kayson fumes...

Doug discovers that Zack has a tumor in his leg, which is likely the cause of his leg injury. Afterwards, he attempts to tell Zack's mother and uncle about the issue and tries to get them to break the news to Zack, but they find themselves unable to do so, leading him to step in. Thanks to Doug's professionalism, he's able to reassure Zack and get him to do a biopsy.

In a nearby thoroughfare, Benton meets with Jackie and explains the situation with getting Jeanie Boulet to take care of their mother three times a week. Jackie is understandably angered over the situation and expresses doubt that Benton will either be around enough or have the money to pay for Boulet's help, but Benton counters that the option is letting Jackie and Walt move Mae into a nursing home and take her house for themselves — and use Mae's savings to pay for the nursing home. Jackie counters that she doesn't care about the house, and the issue is irrelevant — Mae paid for Benton's costs for medical school, and in two years, he will make more money than both her and Walt combined. When Benton's attention is distracted by work, Jackie storms off, leaving him at a loss for words...

Benton arrives back at County and complains to Doug that he missed grand rounds, noting that he won't have many more opportunities for leeway, particularly if he wants to make Chief down the line. Doug tells him that it could be worse — Ms. Horne has died from her injuries, and her daughter is responsible; Kyle had to get a biopsy after being told he has cancer; another with cystic fibrosis; he's still sore over Linda telling him he's not the marrying type; and his apartment is freezing. He goes outside to shoot some hoops at the parking lot basketball court, but runs into a kid named Jake, who tells him that his mother is coming to pick him up. As they play a friendly game, Jake tells him that his mother, Diane, works in the hospital's Risk Management Division. Soon after, Diane arrives to pick her son up — but when Doug tries to flirt with her, she curtly shuts him down, saying that he broke the heart of a friend of hers in the same office, before leaving...

Later, Doug diagnoses Terry, a patient wheeled in after ostensibly being beaten, while dealing with a form of pneumonia. After questioning Terry's best friend, a woman who admits that Terry is underage and living on the streets, Doug gets back the test results and realizes Terry most likely has AIDS. Despite his attempt to get him to take treatment, Terry refuses, claiming that he wants to stay on the streets and his parents threw him out of the house. Left with few options, Doug gives him a drug to treat the pneumonia, condoms and a pair of phone numbers for treatment centers before both he leaves.

A patient is wheeled in after suffering from a heart attack, and Susan goes to treat him — only to discover that it's Kayson, who is fearful that he's going to die. Susan tells him she'll do everything she can to treat him, and her skills are put to the test when a cardiologist, Dr, Steinman, arrives and attempts to prescribe an angioplasty, which Kayson doesn't want. Susan finally stands up for herself and threatens to pull Steinman before a review board if he goes ahead with the procedure, leading him to leave in anger — and a grateful Kayson to acknowledge that she's finally learned to be assertive...

Later on that night, Tag and Carol are having sex in the hotel room he rented when he realizes he left a bag full of massage oils at the ER's admissions desk, prompting the mood to be ruined. Back at the hospital's basketball court, Doug is resting on the ground when Mark arrives and asks if he's okay. After briefly discussing the number of patients Doug sees per year, Mark tells him there's more work to do, and Doug's mood is lifted before he heads back inside...

Tropes:

• Artistic License – Medicine: Even for 1995, it's highly unlikely that characters would be allowed to smoke inside a hospital, even if it's justified by being the waiting room outside the board review hearing.
• Big Good: True to his word (and befitting this status), Morgenstern defends Susan's actions at the review board meeting as he said he would, while another character (Benton) comments briefly about letting Morgenstern down by not making it to grand rounds.
• Brick Joke: The deceased Uncle Ed is wheeled in with severe rigor mortis, prompting Benton to tell Carter to throw a sheet over him. Midway through the episode, his body is shown being wheeled back — still locked in place, but now with a sheet draped over his torso.
• Broken Aesop: Susan's Character Development is seemingly motivated by her taking charge and threatening a doctor with a review hearing when he tries to prescribe an angioplasty Kayson doesn't want to have done. This is showcased as evidence of her finally "standing up for herself" — but the entire crux of the Vennerbeck case was that she was already outspoken and attempted to bring up her concerns to Kayson multiple times, and he had it in for her, to such an extent that he tried to insult her during a board review meeting. Notably, Dr. Steinman (the cardiologist who runs into friction with her) disappears completely after this episode.
• Butt-Monkey: Doug gets into friction with Taglieri (who browbeats him over not respecting the chain of command), loses — or is about to lose — several patients under his care, admits that he's feeling down over Linda's comments towards him, and the one time he tries to flirt with a fellow employee, she shuts him down, noting that his reputation as The Casanova precedes him.
• Cant Get Away With Nothing: It's implied that neither Carol nor Tag have had much luck with getting alone time, as they're either stuck at her place (with her mother) or his place (with an impatient dog), motivating their decision to spend a romantic weekend away together at a hotel.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Kayson, distraught over losing the review board hearing, suffers from a minor heart attack — which leads Susan to take carriage of his case and protect him when a cardiologist tries to prescribe a procedure he doesn't want.
• Children Are Innocent: Seen several times throughout the episode, including Zack (who has to be coached through a biopsy), Ms. Horne's son and the teenage patient who thanks Willy (the smoke inhalation victim).
• Continuity Nod:
  • Haleh tells Susan that if she wants a smoke, she can get one from Lydia's stash at the front desk... meaning that Lydia wasn't able to meet her pledge to quit smoking in "Happy New Year".
  • Tag mentions that he's having problems getting time to spend alone with Carol, as they've had to deal with her mother (as evidenced when Doug tried visiting her place in "Hit and Run").
  • Susan is still angry over Mark's lecture towards her (and his co-signing her charts) during the previous episode, which leads her to tell him not to attend the board review hearing.
  • Carol also gets briefly saddened after Haleh brings up her attempted overdose from the pilot episode, noting that it must have been difficult to treat a patient who did the exact same thing — and had a child, to boot.
• Contrived Coincidence: Susan just happens to be on call when Kayson is wheeled in suffering from heart problems, meaning she's in a position to intervene (and finally assert herself) when a cardiologist prescribes a procedure Kayson doesn't want to have done.
• Death as Comedy: "Uncle Ed's" family are not only not surprised when they find out he's dead (having driven around with his corpse for most of the day), but they are set on leaving his body at the ER while they finish their planned trip! His corpse is even the focus of a Brick Joke midway through the episode.
• Driven to Suicide: The female patient who OD'd and left her infant child (and a suicide note) behind, prompting Carol and Haleh to have a brief conversation over the matter (and Carol's own suicide attempt).
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Deb mentions that she has a photographic memory, which enables her to spot the thread regarding a patient's nut allergy, but the ability never comes again in the series, even in cases where such a trait might be useful.
  • In her introductory conversation, Jeanie tells Benton that she's taking nursing classes, but later episodes will have her work towards becoming a physician's assistant instead.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The episode takes place over the course of a single day.
• Family Versus Career: Briefly, as Benton and Jackie argue about the former's devotion to work and how it results in havoc with his personal life.
• Female Gaze: A rare instance of this being invoked, as Carol stares as Tag stands up in the buff and goes looking around for his bag.
• Foreshadowing: Doug and Carol share a brief moment when he holds the infant son of the woman who overdosed on drugs and both of them stare at each other.
• Idiot Ball: A couple, Mr. and Mrs. Chang, attempt to induce labor ten days early by having her drink herbal tea. Mark (correctly) states that this is a bad idea, as there's no proof it works and they're deliberately trying to move up the due date so that their child isn't born in the "Year of the Pig" (superstition over their child being lazy). Even more unbelievably, their OB arrives and doesn't see a problem with it, telling Mark they induce labor early all the time.
• I'll Kill You!: Mandy, the daughter of the patient shown in the opening, tells this to her brother after he inadvertantly lets slip that she beat their mother in a fit of rage.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Jackie once again calls out Benton for his It's All About Me tendencies, but he does point out that if Mae is sent to a nursing home, Jackie and Walt will be in a position to inherit her home and her savings, which they will use to fund the cost for the nursing home.
  • Tag calling Doug out on calling someone else to evaluate a patient, making it clear that they should remain professional no matter what personal animosity there is between them.
• Ladykiller in Love: Played with — he admits that Linda's comment about him not being the marrying type is bothering him, and the moment he tries to flirt with a woman with a child, she shuts him down, stating that he broke the heart of a friend of hers.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After spending several days browbeating Susan over the Vennerbeck case, Kayson not only gets called out by the review board, but suffers a heart attack related to the stress — leading to Susan being the one to save his life when he gets wheeled in.
• Married to the Job: Benton, yet again, to such an extent that Jackie storms off from their meeting and Doug admits that there are more things to life than just work.
• Modesty Bedsheet: Subverted, in what is likely the only instance in the series — Carol pulls the bedsheet up around her after she finishes having sex with Tag, while he stands up (averting a Sexy Discretion Shot) in the nude to rummage through his belongings for his weekend bag.
• Moment Killer: Tag and Carol's "second round" in the hotel room is ruined when he realizes that he left a bag full of "massage oils" at the ER's front desk.
• Nothing Personal: Taglieri tells Doug to respect the chain of command when the latter goes over his head to call another doctor, reasoning that it shouldn't be a personal matter (due to Tag's engagement to Carol), but a professional one.
• The Oner: As the camera cuts between a pair of patients wheeled in with injuries from smoke inhalation during a fire, their treatment by Doug and Benton, then transfer to an OR unit, while Carter is conscripted to help with an unrelated case and Susan asks Jerry for a smoke.
• Only in It for the Money: Jeanie agrees to help look after Benton's mother, then comments that she's not doing it for him.
  Jeanie: It's not a favor. I get paid.
• Remember the New Guy?: Dr. Steinman, a cardiologist who is apparently good friends with Kayson, and shows up solely to motivate Susan to assert herself in medical decisions.
• The Rival: Combined with Tagalong Kid, Deb is so determined to make a "good impression" that she fills out nearly all of Carter's paperwork for him, gets pawned off with him via Benton's orders, and reveals she has a photographic memory, which allows her to expertly diagnose a patient with a nut allergy (much to Carter's chagrin).
• Series Continuity Error: Susan mentions to Jerry that she doesn't smoke, but seven episodes prior (in "Another Perfect Day"), she can be seen smoking in the final scene when Carter visits her on the roof.
• Smoking Is Cool: Subverted; Susan is seen smoking only because of her nerves, while Kayson shows up to the review hearing and tries to light up a cigarette while his lighter refuses to work.
• Spotting the Thread: Both Benton and Doug figure out that the patient in the opening sequence (the mother who suffered hematoma after falling off a ladder) has injuries that don't match up, prompting the reveal of the abuse caused by her daughter.
  Benton: She fell off a ladder and got banged up? What did she do, bounce?
• Undignified Death: "Uncle Ed," the patient who was sitting in a vehicle for so long after expiring (much to the ignorance of his family) that rigor mortis sets in, causing him to be wheeled through the ER with his hands and legs still locked into a sitting person.
  Benton: Carter, get a sheet over him!
• Unwanted Assistance: Susan pointedly tells Mark not to show up to the review hearing for the Vennerbeck case after he tries to lend his support, reasoning that he's already done enough damage by talking about it with Morgenstern beforehand.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It's not addressed whether charges were filed against Mandy Horne, whose injuries to her mother eventually resulted in her death (as Doug admits to Benton towards the end of the episode).
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Tag calls out Doug for going above his head and calling in another doctor at a lower rank to diagnose Zack, commenting that Doug should keep his personal feelings out of medical cases.
  • When Benton tries to justify spending his own money to hire Jeanie to take care of Mae, and calls out Jackie for trying to put her in a retirement home, Jackie tells him in two years, the issue of money will be moot because Benton (as an established doctor) will be making more money than her and Walt combined, and criticizes his foolishness regarding their mother's health.
• You Did the Right Thing: The review board agrees with Susan's actions regarding the Vennerbeck case, and instead holds Kayson to task for not advising her on the correct procedure.

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