Recap / ERS 1 E 04 Hit And Run

Season 1, Episode 04:

Directed by Mimi Leder

Written by Paul Manning

Hit and Run

We can't save them all, Carter.

Carter is roused out of bed by Benton as another busy day begins at the hospital. As Benton outlines the patients Carter will see, he is soon distracted when Doug brings up a Dr. Sarah Langworthy, who is in competition with Benton over a prestigious medical fellowship.

Benton and Langworthy butt heads as they fill out reports, but they are soon distracted when Malicki arrives and reveals that a trauma patient is arriving — a teen involved in a car accident. Despite their best efforts, the teen is pronounced dead on arrival, and Benton and Langworthy's efforts aren't enough to resuscitate him.

Doug and Mark have a conversation about the former's family taking off to Detroit for five days for a job interview. While Mark tends to a patient who is belching excessively and complaining of short breath, Doug meets with a mother who claims her son, Ozzy, is having hearing problems, only for it to be revealed that the mother is schizophrenic and why her son can't her the same voices. Dr. Cvetic arrives from the Psychology Unit and diagnoses that the mother is delusional because she's off her medicine, and recommends that the boy be sent away from her care. Soon after, the mother has a schizophrenic episode, causing Ozzy to run away as they move her out of the ER ward.

Carter becomes distraught upon seeing the teenager die from his injuries, despite Haveh telling him that the hospital can't save everyone. It's later compounded by Benton and Langworthy getting into friction over Carter's responsibilities. Carter later identifies the identity of the teenager through a high-school yearbook, but when the parents of the victim are called in and Dr. Langworthy breaks the news to them, they tell her that the victim isn't their son. As the parents express relief that their child wasn't hurt, Carter reels in shock.

Benton himself is later distracted when Walter Robbins, the husband of Benton's sister, Jackie Robbins, arrives and thanks him for keeping Benton's mother (who is normally under Jackie's care) company while the couple goes out to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. His distraction leads to him misdiagnosing an elderly woman complaining of stomach pain after Lewis asks him about it, and she's forced to call Morgenstern when the woman's appendix becomes inflammed, requiring immediate surgery.

As the evening looms, a married man is brought in still handcuffed to his mistress, while his wife arrives soon after and begins to search the hospital for him. The wife eventually finds her husband and rails at the staff and the mistress (revealed to be her secretary) for trying to keep his infidelity a secret from her.

At the same time, Carol finds Ozzy in one of the patient rooms and brings him to the front desk to have Jerry look out for him, but the child runs away again soon after. Carol later sees Doug and rails at him for telling Ozzy that his mother would be able to stay with him, when he knew that she would most likely be sent away to a psych ward. Dr. Taglieri later finds the boy and brings him back to Doug and Carol, who are forced to admit the truth that they are sending Ozzy to a social home and that he won't be able to see his mother for a long time.

Carter later identifies the right parents of the teenage victim and breaks the bad news to them, while Morgentern removes the woman's appendix and apologies to Benton (who he'd previously railed at for misdiagnosing her) via giving him the chance to take on an operation alongside him. After Benton leaves the hospital, though, he sees Walter, who tells Benton he didn't show up to aid his mother and the couple's wedding anniversary has been ruined.

The day ends with Jerry leaving after his shift... only to find Carter sitting alone outside. Carter tells him that he's not sure he wants to pursue a life in medicine, but as he mulls his options, his attention is diverted when he sees a car driving recklessly, dodging traffic and screeching to a halt in front of the hospital. A man jumps out of the vehicle and tells Carter that his wife is about to give birth, and Jerry runs to get help. Carter takes charge and helps the mother deliver the baby just as Haleh and the other nurses arrive. Carter gives the child to her mother as the nurses stabilize her.

Newly bolstered by his act of heroism, Carter pumps his fists in triumph as the mother is wheeled into the hospital.

In an attempt to win Carol back, Doug goes to her home to bring flowers... but opens the door to find Tag, who expresses shock at his appearance. Disheartened by the situation, Doug leaves as Carol sees and follows him. He blusters through an excuse about his car having broke down, but as he jogs back to a nearby subway, Carol arrives and confronts him, telling him that he was a fool for believing he was still in love with her. She walks off in anger as Doug tries to apologize, to no avail...

Tropes:

• Blatant Lies: When he realizes that Carol is with Tag in her apartment, he hastily leaves the scene while making up an excuse about waiting for a tow truck and the flowers (which he brought for her) being intended for the date he was going to see. Seeing right through this, Carol chases him to a nearby subway station and gives him a speech about trying to win her back.
• Book Ends: The episode opens with Carter seeing a patient die in front of him, and ends with him delivering a child just as he contemplates quitting the medical profession.
• Brick Joke: When Carol leaves Ozzy (the young boy) at the front desk with the intent of staying put, desk clerk Jerry shows him a picture of a diseased gall bladder. When Tag locates him (after he ran away) later in the episode, Ozzy asks where the gall bladder is on an x-ray of a patient. Tag says that it's not there, leading Ozzy to claim that it "must have been diseased".
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Mark encounters a former patient who rushes into the ER on the one year anniversary of the doctor saving his life from a medical issue. The patient hugs, and lifts Mark off the floor, while loudly and happily proclaiming it to be "Dr. Greene Day" and giving him a cooler full of pork ribs. Mark, for his part, is first shocked and confused, but hides the fact this man was one of easily a dozen or more patients he encountered and whose lives he tries to save on a daily basis.
• Butt-Monkey: In-universe, Cvetic claims this is his weekly misfortune, being routinely spat on, mocked, thrown up on or urinated on by other patients.
• Captain Obvious: When Cvetic is bit on the hand by the schizophrenic.
  Doug: You should get someone to look at your hand.
  Cvetic: (bandaging his own wound, sarcastically) Thank you, Doctor.
• Chekhov's Gun: The older female patient who has defibrilator problems and the motorized wheelchair moving on its own are all revealed to have been impacted by the cellphone being used by Harry, who is constantly using it to make calls throughout the episode.
• Continuity Nod: In the opening, Carter asks if Benton "concurs with his recommendation", referring to a situation in the previous episode where they had a similar conversation while diagnosing a patient with heart problems, and getting into friction when a senior resident agreed with Carter's diagnosis over Benton's.
• Dr. Jerk: Dr. Langworthy is repeatedly and knowingly dismissive of Benton, starting with her dismissing him as he tries to talk to her (and ordering a fan he'd just had moved to cool off moved back), then follows up with trying to hijack Carter's responsibilities from Benton, the doctor who's explicitly overseeing his assessment.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Carter sees a motorized wheelchair moving on its own, long before it's revealed that Harry's (the patient who works as a salesman) cell phone is playing havoc with the medical equipment.
  • Doug and Mark play a game of mock-football while the former summarizes what circumstances it would have to take to have Mark cheat on his wife, with the latter claiming that if — and only if — she were having an affair with someone else, he would only entertain the possibility. Towards the end of the season, this exact scenario happens.
• Friend to All Children: Subverted. After several episodes setting Doug up as this, the plot takes a hard right and has him lie to a child about his schizophrenic mother, causing the child to run away and get lost in the hospital and causing Carol to give him a What the Hell, Hero? moment. He's forced to admit the truth to the child (that he's being sent to a group home, and she's being sent to a psych ward) by the end of the episode.
• Funny Background Event: As the staff remove the clothes of the heart attack patient wheeled in still handcuffed to his mistress, Lydia can be seen in the background holding up the man's leather pants (which have had the center removed) up in front of her face while looking in shock.
• Funny Schizophrenia: The mother who brings her child in, complaining that he has hearing problems. It's eventually revealed that the boy can hear just fine, but the mother is hearing voices in her head (like her dead mother, ex-husband and others) that she expresses annoyance about. This is Played for Laughs when she begins having a conversation with a non-existent person as Doug and Carol look on.
• The Glomp: The husband of the patient who has severe gas problems latches on to Mark while thanking him for his help. Later on, a different patient does the same thing to him in appreciation for saving his life a year earlier.
• Heroic BSoD: Carter goes into one of these after seeing someone die in front of him. This, coupled with the messup informing the parents of the teen about his death, leads him to claim that he's going to quit, but he quickly snaps out of it by the end of the episode after helping deliver the baby in the car.
• Irony: Dr. Cvetic claims that any patient who shows any signs of schizophrenia should be "placed in restraints and muzzled". This occurs just a few episodes before it's revealed that Cvetic himself has mental issues, causing him to flee through traffic in a daze.
• Ironic Echo: Only two episodes prior, Doug showed up at Carol's apartment with flowers and the two had a tentative chat. This time, he does the same thing, only to interrupt her evening with her boyfriend and for her to be furious with him.
• Male Gaze: Used when Jerry stares at the mistress of the heart attack victim, who is trotting down the hallway with her (shower curtain) dress slipping down her back.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Carter gets this after he monumentally screws up a dead patient ID, leading the wrong parents to come in to identify their child. After correcting the error, he begins to muse aloud about quitting the medical profession... only to be swayed back moments later after he personally helps deliver a child and realizes the good he can do.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Carol gives Doug one for showing up at midnight at her apartment and trying to make amends with her, after she's started a new relationship with Tag.
• The Rival: Dr. Langworthy, who gets into competition with Benton over a medical fellowship being offered by the hospital.
• Running Gag: For the fourth (and final) time in a row this season, the episode begins with a doctor (this time, Carter) being woken up by Benton at the beginning of his shift.
• Special Guest: Ving Rhames, as Walter Robbins, the husband of Benton's sister, Jackie.
• Tempting Fate: Mark refuses to entertain the notion of cheating on Jen, claiming that there's no way she would cheat on him...
• Thong of Shielding: Invoked with the mistress of the heart attack patient, who is seen walking away with her shower curtain dress falling down as Jerry stares at her.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Carol calls out Doug for lying to Ozzy about his mother being able to stay with him, when he knew that she would most likely be sent away to a psych ward.
  • Morgenstern also calls out Benton for misdiagnosing the elderly patient's stomach problems, leading them to perform an emergency surgery to remove her appendix.
  • Benton gets it again when Walter rails at him for leading him and Jackie to miss their wedding anniversary.
• Working with the Ex: Doug and Taglieri, briefly, as they diagnose a teen with a hand injury. Notably, Tag doesn't have any ill will towards Doug, and even thanks him for taking "such good care" of Carol. This stops when Doug turns up at Carol's apartment, only to find Tag zipping his pants and telling her who's at the door with audible disgust in his voice.

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