"If we're lucky."
Well, it’s not every day that you get to see both maggots and a visibly erect penis in the same episode. Luckily, it was not at the same time.
Yeah, there were some wild cases in this hour. And that’s before you include the superglued eyelashes (seriously, why would you ever try that???), a nun with gonorrhea in her eye, or the whole broccoli down the throat.
There was a lot happening this episode, and a lot of it was fairly lighthearted. Santos in particular had several one liners that made me laugh. I continue to cautiously watch her actions with Kylie (the lingering shot on her arm as they drew blood convinced me that this will be a medical issue instead of anything in her home life), but for now I’m enjoying her banter with everyone.
And the fact that she willingly passed up a trauma case. That, more than anything else, speaks to the growth she’s had since the first season.
Javadi is also getting a little bit of spark to her. It’s easy to forget that, yes, she is a genius. Even if she’s still not really sure about her future in medicine, she knows her stuff. It was fun to see her go toe to toe with Ogilvie and hold her own, if only for everyone else’s expressions. I hope the season ends with Javadi confirming that this is a path that she wants to take because she loves it as opposed to any expectations from her mother.
I did start to sympathize with Joy a little. She is still way too disengaged and lacking in any character traits beyond “disinterested snarker” but if I was stuck with Ogilvie for long periods of time, I might be tempted to check out too. Especially if he spent the whole time trying to show off how brilliant he was. He barely gave her any time to answer any questions that were tossed her way.
Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games. A rather upsetting part of the episode involved Whitaker telling a woman repeatedly that her husband had died. These scenes didn’t tug on my heartstrings as much as they made me want to shake him, though. You’re not supposed to orient dementia patients like that. Instead, you’re supposed to meet them where they are. Whitaker just repeatedly traumatized her, and I hated watching it.
A lot.
The editing of the episode as a whole also felt incredibly choppy. We don’t often have a dedicated A-plot, but it felt like we kept jumping to the same few patients over and over like Groundhog Day. Part of this is just due to the real time nature of the show, but it feels like it has been handled a lot better in the past.
I still don’t like Dr. Al. In fact, I might just like her less now, mainly because of two things. The first is her use of AI (and yes, it does make me both laugh and roll my eyes that her name looks like AI depending on what font you use). When she showed off her app to Whitaker and the med students, she didn’t even bother to ask what they thought the diagnosis was. All she cared about was their opinion of her app. There were no questions about the patient at all whatsoever.
You would think that a doctor would care about that more than an app, but apparently not. It also didn’t help that there was a major mix up in what medication the patient took, which was something that Whitaker caught. And sure, maybe Dr. Al would have too if she had been actually reading through it instead of scrolling, but the fact that it took an outsider to spot it did not feel good. Neither did her immediate response that gen AI was 98% accurate and that this was a minor mistake. It’s not a minor mistake! At all!
And yes, I can absolutely see the appeal. Like Ogilvie and Javadi both said, charting takes a ton of time. I remember my mom sitting for hours with her own “homework” when she worked in the medical field. Having it generated for you in seconds would be amazing. But it still didn’t feel like it was portrayed as their amazing tool. It felt more like a walking liability.
Which maybe also ties into the second reason I’m continuing to sour on her. Dr. Al is very risk averse. Every time, she advocates for the safest or most consistent methodology, even if it is far more invasive or would take more time to complete. Whether it’s wanting the ortho department to handle the shoulder dislocation, wanting to put a catheter in Baby Jane, or wanting to intubate the broccoli guy, she will avoid risk at all costs.
It’s a marked contrast with Robby, who, of course, is an ER Cowboy. And this probably shouldn’t bother me. It’s not a bad thing to want to pursue the safest course of action! Obviously! Especially when you’re dealing with people’s lives. But it’s continuously presented as being far too rigid to actually survive the realities of the ER and to be the wrong choice.
The broccoli patient is worth digging a little deeper into, though, because it painted Dr. Al in a particularly snarky light when maybe it wasn’t fully warranted. Dr. Al offered to take point on the patient because Robby was busy with someone else. He agreed. But then he circled around to that room and ended up completely taking over the patient care.
Her line about how she didn’t want him to get her sued as she left was snarky, and she kind of abandoned the patient, but if I was in her situation, I would be a little annoyed too at being completely undermined.
Although I really can’t understand why someone who was so worried about being sued would fully support AI integration. That just seems silly.
We also didn’t learn why she completely froze while examining Baby Jane. I’m still very curious about that. She got very, very still. I wonder if it’s something medical?
I do laugh whenever she pops up directly in Robby’s space, though. He can barely turn around without literally running into her. And I did like how she corrected her initial response to Mel and circled back around to make sure that she was okay regarding her deposition.
It feels like they’ve heightened Mel’s neurodivergent traits this season. Or maybe just the more stereotypical ones, like stimming. She’s had a stressful two hours, and that was before she got pushed and hit her head. I should have known that guy was a jerk the second he dismissed renaissance faires as weird and nerdy.
It did lead to my favorite scene, though, where Mel and Langdon got to actually sit and talk for a few minutes. They’re absolutely my favorite dynamic on the show, and I’ve been looking forward to this conversation since Langdon first got caught with drugs.
He painted himself in a softer light than he did with Louie. He didn’t mention to Mel that he stole drugs, just that he was an addict, which is a little interesting. I don’t think that it would have changed her reaction, but it might be something to keep an eye on going forward. Mostly, I just loved how protective he was of her. The callback to the ER being bright and noisy was excellent.
Now I need him and Santos to actually be in a room together where they can talk.
Random Thoughts
Robby is making bad decisions with case manager Noelle. Loved Dana’s look over her glasses at her.
Out of curiosity, I looked up some of the studies that Dr. Al referenced. Most of the ones that I could find in my very quick search were from ten years ago, but they existed.
I miss Kiara. Don’t know how I feel about the new social worker, Dylan, yet.
Still don’t feel great about Louie’s life expectancy. Not at all.
Huckleberry is a very cute nickname.
~~~~
An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.
There was a lot happening this episode, and a lot of it was fairly lighthearted. Santos in particular had several one liners that made me laugh. I continue to cautiously watch her actions with Kylie (the lingering shot on her arm as they drew blood convinced me that this will be a medical issue instead of anything in her home life), but for now I’m enjoying her banter with everyone.
And the fact that she willingly passed up a trauma case. That, more than anything else, speaks to the growth she’s had since the first season.
Javadi is also getting a little bit of spark to her. It’s easy to forget that, yes, she is a genius. Even if she’s still not really sure about her future in medicine, she knows her stuff. It was fun to see her go toe to toe with Ogilvie and hold her own, if only for everyone else’s expressions. I hope the season ends with Javadi confirming that this is a path that she wants to take because she loves it as opposed to any expectations from her mother.
I did start to sympathize with Joy a little. She is still way too disengaged and lacking in any character traits beyond “disinterested snarker” but if I was stuck with Ogilvie for long periods of time, I might be tempted to check out too. Especially if he spent the whole time trying to show off how brilliant he was. He barely gave her any time to answer any questions that were tossed her way.
Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games. A rather upsetting part of the episode involved Whitaker telling a woman repeatedly that her husband had died. These scenes didn’t tug on my heartstrings as much as they made me want to shake him, though. You’re not supposed to orient dementia patients like that. Instead, you’re supposed to meet them where they are. Whitaker just repeatedly traumatized her, and I hated watching it.
A lot.
The editing of the episode as a whole also felt incredibly choppy. We don’t often have a dedicated A-plot, but it felt like we kept jumping to the same few patients over and over like Groundhog Day. Part of this is just due to the real time nature of the show, but it feels like it has been handled a lot better in the past.
I still don’t like Dr. Al. In fact, I might just like her less now, mainly because of two things. The first is her use of AI (and yes, it does make me both laugh and roll my eyes that her name looks like AI depending on what font you use). When she showed off her app to Whitaker and the med students, she didn’t even bother to ask what they thought the diagnosis was. All she cared about was their opinion of her app. There were no questions about the patient at all whatsoever.
You would think that a doctor would care about that more than an app, but apparently not. It also didn’t help that there was a major mix up in what medication the patient took, which was something that Whitaker caught. And sure, maybe Dr. Al would have too if she had been actually reading through it instead of scrolling, but the fact that it took an outsider to spot it did not feel good. Neither did her immediate response that gen AI was 98% accurate and that this was a minor mistake. It’s not a minor mistake! At all!
And yes, I can absolutely see the appeal. Like Ogilvie and Javadi both said, charting takes a ton of time. I remember my mom sitting for hours with her own “homework” when she worked in the medical field. Having it generated for you in seconds would be amazing. But it still didn’t feel like it was portrayed as their amazing tool. It felt more like a walking liability.
Which maybe also ties into the second reason I’m continuing to sour on her. Dr. Al is very risk averse. Every time, she advocates for the safest or most consistent methodology, even if it is far more invasive or would take more time to complete. Whether it’s wanting the ortho department to handle the shoulder dislocation, wanting to put a catheter in Baby Jane, or wanting to intubate the broccoli guy, she will avoid risk at all costs.
It’s a marked contrast with Robby, who, of course, is an ER Cowboy. And this probably shouldn’t bother me. It’s not a bad thing to want to pursue the safest course of action! Obviously! Especially when you’re dealing with people’s lives. But it’s continuously presented as being far too rigid to actually survive the realities of the ER and to be the wrong choice.
The broccoli patient is worth digging a little deeper into, though, because it painted Dr. Al in a particularly snarky light when maybe it wasn’t fully warranted. Dr. Al offered to take point on the patient because Robby was busy with someone else. He agreed. But then he circled around to that room and ended up completely taking over the patient care.
Her line about how she didn’t want him to get her sued as she left was snarky, and she kind of abandoned the patient, but if I was in her situation, I would be a little annoyed too at being completely undermined.
Although I really can’t understand why someone who was so worried about being sued would fully support AI integration. That just seems silly.
We also didn’t learn why she completely froze while examining Baby Jane. I’m still very curious about that. She got very, very still. I wonder if it’s something medical?
I do laugh whenever she pops up directly in Robby’s space, though. He can barely turn around without literally running into her. And I did like how she corrected her initial response to Mel and circled back around to make sure that she was okay regarding her deposition.
It feels like they’ve heightened Mel’s neurodivergent traits this season. Or maybe just the more stereotypical ones, like stimming. She’s had a stressful two hours, and that was before she got pushed and hit her head. I should have known that guy was a jerk the second he dismissed renaissance faires as weird and nerdy.
It did lead to my favorite scene, though, where Mel and Langdon got to actually sit and talk for a few minutes. They’re absolutely my favorite dynamic on the show, and I’ve been looking forward to this conversation since Langdon first got caught with drugs.
He painted himself in a softer light than he did with Louie. He didn’t mention to Mel that he stole drugs, just that he was an addict, which is a little interesting. I don’t think that it would have changed her reaction, but it might be something to keep an eye on going forward. Mostly, I just loved how protective he was of her. The callback to the ER being bright and noisy was excellent.
Now I need him and Santos to actually be in a room together where they can talk.
Random Thoughts
Robby is making bad decisions with case manager Noelle. Loved Dana’s look over her glasses at her.
Out of curiosity, I looked up some of the studies that Dr. Al referenced. Most of the ones that I could find in my very quick search were from ten years ago, but they existed.
I miss Kiara. Don’t know how I feel about the new social worker, Dylan, yet.
Still don’t feel great about Louie’s life expectancy. Not at all.
Huckleberry is a very cute nickname.
~~~~
An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.
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