ER 12.3 Man With No Name

Previously on ER: Morris announced “officer on deck” to the residents and reminded them that he’s the “chief” to which Abby responded “yeah, Chief Pain-in-the-Ass”; Ray welcomed new nurse Inez to County; Pratt yelled at Mister from the Color Purple that he doesn’t need anything from him and to not come back; Gallant told Neela he couldn’t leave without seeing her and then they got it on; Sam told Luka she needs to think things out by herself and that she’s looking at apartments and he replied “So that’s it? We don’t talk about this?”; Luka explained to Abby that Sam was moving out and when she asked why, he said that he had a feeling it’s a communication problem.

Close up of an un-smoked but burned to the filter cigarette in an ash tray and a man’s hand on the chair’s arm next to it. In the background, we are told that we are watching the Sunrise Movie on WMAQ TV, Chicago’s Channel 5. The film is High Plains Drifter, starring Clint Eastwood whose character is “Man With No Name”, hence this episode’s title. Gee, I wonder if this title will be significant to Luka, who we see is asleep in the chair. He wakes up when he hears the door open. It’s a Spanish-speaking woman who is upset to find Luka still there. He says “Good morning, Zoila”. She thought he would be at work, and he says he is running late. She says Samantha told her to come the first Thursday of every month. Luka tells her she doesn’t have to clean and that Samantha doesn’t live there anymore. He starts to pick up fast food boxes and empty beer bottles and tells her he’ll have Sam call her. She brings him a stack of mail that had been in the lobby and puts it on the dining table, which is completely cluttered. The whole place is a mess. She points out the dishes to him and tells him if he doesn’t clean them, he’ll get cucarachas. Luka sort of rolls his eyes and exasperatedly wipes his hand across his brow, because he’s obviously heard that song and is hoping to hell she doesn’t start singing.

Some kid dressed like the red Power Ranger is cartwheeling through the hallway pretending to shoot his play gun as Weaver (yay Weaver! I had almost forgotten what she looked like) comes walking up with a couple of suits. Morris and a girl who I think is a med student come chasing after the kid. As he tries to catch the kid, he calls out to Weaver, who interrupts and tells him it’s not a good time. He and the med student keep running after the kid as Weaver and the suits walk towards Admit. She is explaining to them that “the problem is that if they need to be admitted to the hospital, that goes up to 19 hours”. Female suit thinks there is room for improvement, and Weaver says “that is where Caduceus Systematics comes in to the picture”. Morris and the med student have caught the kid and Morris yells to Weaver “Houston, we have a problem”. Weaver excuses herself from the suits to go over to Morris. She tells him to keep it down, she has Grant Officers with her. She’s not too happy that he disrupted her ass-kissing. He looks over at the suits and says “Grant Officers? Ka-ching!” I happen to work as a Grant Officer, and I would so not give a grant to an institution that had an idiot like this as one of its leaders, and where they only see dollar signs when they see you. Now don’t get me wrong, I do want some serious ass-kissing done, like Weaver was in the process of doing. Weaver tells him they are considering funding a pilot study at County. Morris dismissively congratulates her, and pointing to a gathering of nurses in one of the trauma rooms asks what they are going to do about the “new nurse czar, Eve something or other”. Weaver responds “Peyton” and tells him that she met with the Emergency Services Committee and they all loved her. Morris wants to know if it is her job to slow the floor down to a crawl to which Abby, who had been standing nearby snarks “I thought that was your job”. Morris says his point is that all the nurses are in there and they are just yakking away. Abby responds that they are entitled to have a staff meeting, and Morris bitches not without his say so. Weaver huffs and stares at him, and he blusters “WE say so” pointing back and forth between Weaver and himself. She cocks her head and continues to stare and he backs down, rolling his eyes and saying as he walks away, “not unless Dr. Weaver says so”. I love Weaver. Weaver says “exactly”, then asks Abby who the Attending is. Abby replies that it’s supposed to be Susan, and Weaver says “yeah, well, that’s not going to happen”. Abby asks her if it’s true then, that she’s leaving for a tenured position. Weaver says not yet, that she’s just interviewing. So that’s it? That’s all we get about what happened to Susan Lewis? That sucks. The producers of this show must have been really pissed at Sherry Stringfield for up and quitting yet again. Maybe she left them in the lurch. I’m still going to miss her. And her hair. Weaver asks if Luka is coming in, and Abby says he’s running a little late. How does Abby know that? Did Luka call in or something? Either that or there is actually continuity on this show because way back when Abby used to have a habit of covering for Luka in situations like this. The suits call for Weaver and she tells Abby to “hold down the fort”. Morris wants to know when the last time anyone saw a nurse was. Pratt walks up as Abby tells Morris that Malik did an EKG for her six minutes ago. Pratt tells Morris to “let them have their powwow”, which is apparently a word Spellchecker recognizes. Morris says “Chief say powwow over”. Shut up, Morris! Last week you bitched at Abby saying she was making fun of someone with Native American heritage because she called you “Chief Pain-in-the-Ass”, which you are, but now you can say this? We haven’t even hit credits yet and I already want to strangle you. Pratt and Abby laugh a little and Pratt says “guess he hasn’t met the new Nurse Manager yet”, as they follow Morris to get a view of the action.

Morris bursts into the trauma room as the nurses are listening to … Sally Solomon, from Third Rock from the Sun! I love her! I guess she’s this Eve Peyton that Weaver was referring to, but she’ll always be Sally to me. Anyway, Morris goes up to Sam and tells he needs her to step out. She’s all “what?” Sally’s trying to ignore them and keep going, as Sam tells Morris to “shut up”. I’m with you on that, Sam. Morris looks at her like how dare you and tells her he needs a nurse. Sally steps in and says “Sorry. Dr. … Morris is it?” Morris starts stuttering and through the window we see Abby and Pratt watching. Morris says he has a patient with an abscess tooth who needs IV penicillin. The nurses all stare at him and Sally sort of sarcastically says “You need one of us to administer IV antibiotics for you?” and Morris says “that’s what nurses do”. Sally continues saying that she’s sorry, but she wasn’t aware of literature supporting the use of IV antibiotics in dental infections. Morris responds “literature?” like he’s never heard the word. Sally says that as far as she knows, oral antibiotics are still the standard for care, and she’s right. My husband’s a dentist. Morris says “yeah, I know that”, to which Sally replies “oh good, than maybe you can educate the nurses about inferior alveolar dental blocks”. The nurses are all amusedly looking back and forth between Morris and Sally. Morris is all “what?” Hee. I like Sally already.

Weaver is outside in the ambulance bay with the suits when she notices Luka walking in. And how could she not notice him? He’s looking hot. He’s got that haircut again that he was sporting in the first episode, and he’s got on shades. Yum. Weaver asks a paramedic to give the suits a tour of the rig as she excuses herself to go talk to Luka. She tells him his shift started 40 minutes ago, and he sarcastically says “Morning, Kerry” as he tries to walk by. She grabs his arm and walks him away as she tells him there was no Attending on the floor. He tells her that they seem to have a shortage, to which she bitches that he shouldn’t make her come looking for him. He takes off his sunglasses, rubs his eyes and tiredly asks her if they can talk about it later. She starts to say “okay, no, I need to know that …” as we hear screaming in the background. She and Luka turn to look in the direction where the shouts are coming and see people running away. The screaming is agonizing. A man who is completely burned all over his body comes running towards them and falls. He looks like the stuff we used to dredge out of the bottom of the fryer at the funnel cake place where I used to work. Yuck. They run over to him and Kerry shouts for a gurney as we go into the opening credits.

Pratt, Morris and Abby are walking down the hall and she asks sarcastically “so, did you straighten those nurses out, Chief?” and he responds that they are autonomous professionals and are allowed to have a meeting. Abby and Pratt smirk, and Pratt says “spanked you raw, huh?” Pratt, please don’t give me images of that, I need to sleep tonight. Morris says it was all a blur.

Luka and Kerry bring in Crispy. He is saying something but it is incoherent. Pratt wants to know if they need a hand, but Weaver asks him to check on the suits because they were a little freaked out. Yeah, I would think so. I hope I never see anything like that on one of my site visits. Worst thing I’ve seen were a few Mercedes in employee parking spaces at a supposedly cash strapped community development organization. Weaver sees Sam and calls her over. Sam smiles and quietly says hey to Luka and he doesn’t respond but gives the bullet and steals glances at her. As they move the gurney into the trauma room, Sam looks worriedly at Luka.

Frank is biting on a video cassette as Neela takes a picture of him. Uh, okay. Morris wants to know what’s up with the Polaroid and Neela says she is sending Michael a care package. It took me a minute before I remembered that Michael is Gallant’s first name. Pratt says “to Iraq?” Uh, yeah Pratt. Last time I checked that’s where the war was. Neela wants to send pictures of everyone and asks him if there is anything he wants to send. Pratt says sure, but asks what. Neela replies to send him something he might miss, something he can’t get there. Frank holds up the video and Morris thinks a movie is a good idea. Frank tells him “it ain’t Disney”. Pratt’s all you are not sending him porn. Frank says “just a little three-way, nothing dirty”. Does Mrs. Frank go for that sort of thing? And just the thought of Frank being one of the three … ewww. Neela grabs the video and hands it to Frank telling him she is not sending it because Gallant will get in trouble and she’ll get arrested. Frank assures her that he buried it in the middle of some nature show about snow leopards. He tells her that he’s been to war, he knows how horny a guy can get. Again, Frank, ewww. Neela’s heard enough too.

Continuity alert - Pratt goes up to his Volunteen from last season and gives him money to go on an errand. Volunteen complains that he just got back from getting Neela’s camera. Pratt starts to explain what he wants when Olivia from Ceasefire comes up. Pratt tells Volunteen to stock a cart while he puts his arm around Olivia and they walk down the hall. He thought they were getting together later, but she said she had a case upstairs of an eleven year old recovering from a stab wound that missed her heart by an inch. Pratt wants to know if the kid’s okay, and Olivia says that the girl said she made one mistake, “she should have stabbed the bitch first”. Pratt remarks that aren’t kids cute at that age. Olivia asks Pratt if he has anything for her, to which he responds that he always has something for her. How many times am I going to have to go “ewww” before the first commercial break? She means work. Pratt tells her no GSW’s yet, but it’s still early. Olivia tells Pratt she saw Mister and that he told her he stopped by the hospital last week. She asks how it went. Pratt says it was quick and that they really don’t have anything to talk about. Olivia tells him she’ll see him later, they kiss and she walks away.

Inez is taking off Crispy’s boots. Weaver is listening to his chest. The lungs are wet. Luka pissily says he needs the line, and Sam tells him she’s working on it. Inez is speaking Spanish to Crispy and trying to find out his name. He keeps shrieking “ayudeme!”, which I think means “help me”. Sally walks in. Luka wants morphine and fluids and again reminds Sam that they need access. Sam says she knows. Inez says Crispy has no ID and doesn’t know what happened. Sally tells Inez to worry about the ID after she has Crispy on a monitor, started a foley and documented renal function. Luka glances at Sally. Sam finally gets the line in. Weaver says Crispy’s feet and perineum are free of burns. Sally is standing in the doorway with her hands behind her back inspecting the situation, like she’s Colonel Klink. She then asks Sam what she’s doing. Sam says she’s hanging saline. Sally wants to know why. Sam’s confused and says that the fluid requirements are 4 cc’s per kilo. Sally replies “good. So you’re familiar with the Parkland formula?” Sam says “yeah”. Sally then tells Sam that if she is then she knows that lactated ringers is the preferred crystalloid. Luka jumps to Sam’s defense by saying “excuse me?” Sally then introduces herself to Luka, but of course pronounces Kovac wrong. He snottily corrects her, as Weaver shoots a look at him. Sam says that the sats are down to 78. Luka tells Sally that it’s a bad time to start “pimping” the nursing staff. I was hoping he just used the wrong word, but since Abby’s the only one who ever corrects his English and she’s not in this scene, I guess it’s what he meant to say. Considering the getup Neela is in later this episode, maybe pimping is the right word. Sally retorts that these are usually the best times to learn. Sam snarks “didn’t Yoda say that?”, which would be funny if Sally were only 2 ft. tall, had long pointy ears and was made out of latex. Luka asks for suction at the exact moment that Sally starts handing it to him. Weaver, hands the case over to Luka and tells Sally to come with her and she’ll introduce her to the “bean counters”. As they start to walk out and without missing a beat a disembodied hand passes Weaver her crutch. Luka glares at them as they leave.

A female patient testily asks “did you call that woman?” as Abby is wrapping her wrist. Abby tells her yes, her daughter is on her way. Abby stops Neela as she walks by, telling her that she may want to check on Penny. Neela says “Penny Nicholson?” Abby nods and says “if at first you don’t succeed?” That was a weird little scene. Obviously some of it ended up on the cutting room floor.

Neela goes to the Curtain Area where there is a guy in a body leotard sitting on the bed. The med student from the first scene is listening to his back, so I guess this must be Penny. The leotard looks like it has the human anatomy on it. Should I call him Leo or Tard? He bitches to Penny “that would be my kidney”. Okay, Tard it is. Neela introduces herself and asks “Mr. …?” and Penny responds “Trimbody”, which is of course his “stage name”, to which Neela deadpans “how apt”. He does elementary school presentations like the “Respiratory Rhumba, Hi Gene, Goodbye B.O., The Heart is a Lonely Beater”. Neela stops him and tells him they get it. Tard slipped on some Jello in a cafeteria right in the middle of his musical number “Ova Here, Ova There”. Neela tells Penny to check the spleen. They make Tard lie down. Penny starts to check his right side, and Neela grabs her hands and nonchalantly moves them to the left. Tard gets pissy and says “she was about to feel my liver, wasn’t she?” Then he goes on about whether he should draw her a picture, and oh, wait, he already has. Shut up, you Tard! What an asshole. Neela tries to explain that Penny is a med student while Tard yells that painted on him he’s got the entire human anatomy. Neela stops him and says that actually it’s not. Tard stares at her and Neela, looking down, tells him “you have no genitalia”. Of course, the camera has to pan down for the obligatory crotch shot, before panning back up to a pissed off Tard. Then back to Neela, who is still staring at the area and finally looks back up. I love Neela.

Abby is at Admit when Neela asks “ready?” Abby looks up and Neela snaps her picture, but Abby manages to block the shot with her hand, which annoys Neela. Abby wants to know what it’s for. Neela says Michael’s care package. She again explains how she’s taking photos of everyone and anything anyone wants to send. She tells Abby that Frank is sending porn, to which Abby replies “ah, the gift that keeps on giving”. Abby wants to know what Neela is sending. Neela hems and haws that she made him a mix CD and hands it to Abby. Abby reads off the title “Weekend in New England” and then her eyes widen incredulously and she says emphatically “Mandy”. I don’t know why, but her delivery of that line made me laugh. Neela tells her that Michael has a weak spot for Barry Manilow. Gallant has just slipped about a million points in my estimation. I can possibly understand Copacabana, but that’s about it. Neela starts babbling about totally inane stuff she can send him like a Cubs program or a menu from Gibson’s or some pressed flowers, but then stops when she sees Abby is just staring at her. Abby hands her back the CD and tells her “you’ll figure it out”. Neela gives Abby the photo and walking away tells her to sign it. Abby looks at the photo and under her breath says “the lighting in here is brutal”, which is a total shout out to everyone on the ER boards who has been complaining about this show’s lighting for the past three years. Abby crumples up the picture and throws it away.

A cop who came in behind Crispy when he was first rolled into the ER is asking Inez if she got any information on family or address. Inez says Crispy was in a lot of pain. They are wheeling Crispy towards the elevators and the cop says he’ll go with them in case he wakes up. Luka is following behind. He spots Sam going into the drug lock-up. Luka gives some last minute instructions on Crispy and takes off his yellow trauma gown and throws it in the trash.

Luka goes into the drug lock-up. Sam says “nice way to start the day, huh?” Luka agrees. He asks her about her new place. She says it’s okay and that they are getting used to it. He reaches in his pocket and pulls out some mail and hands it to her. She thanks him and asks if he is going to take Alex to some soccer game on Saturday. Luka looks a little confused, then asked her if she still wants him to. She starts to say yeah as he says he wasn’t sure she would want him to, they are talking over each other. She tells him she thinks he should. He smiles at her. She then says she thinks it would be good for everybody. He says okay. He touches her arm and starts to say “I was thinking …”. She pulls her arm away and they each back up. He then quietly tells her he’s been thinking that they let things get away from them and they don’t have to leave it like that. The look on Sam’s face says that she doesn’t want to hurt him but … and she says “Luka”, but he continues that a lot happened fast … too fast, and that they should maybe take their time and make sure of what they are doing. Sam looks away. Luka then says “I don’t want this to be one more thing I messed up”. I think this statement is very telling. IMO, this discussion is more about Luka not wanting to have another failed relationship and be alone again then it is about Sam. Sam sort of shakes her head at him and tells him that they’re pretending and she doesn’t want to pretend anymore. Luka stares at her as Abby walks in looking for Sam. She looks back and forth between Luka and Sam, realizing that she interrupted something. Sam walks out. Abby turns around to follow her, but looks at Luka first before leaving. Luka purses his lips and looks down. Then he turns around and punches the door to the lock-up. He walks out, but doesn’t see Abby, who witnessed it, in the hall. She watches him, concerned.

Abby and Inez are trying to treat a drunken teenager. Abby asks him how much he took. He keeps trying to get up from the bed as they attempt to restrain him. Inez asks how old he is and the kid says 16. This kid has got to be the world’s worst actor. And he keeps doing this high pitched giggling. It’s annoying. Inez tells him it’s pretty stupid. He replies that he got 2200 on his SAT’s, which unless it’s changed since I took them, that’s numerically impossible. Abby just glares at him as he tells them that they work for the County, so who’s stupid? She rips off her gloves and tells Inez to give him two liters of saline, send off a BAL, and don’t light a match around the little genius. The kid starts giggling again, points at his crotch and says “that’s why they call me the ‘whiz kid’”, as his pants start to get wet. I hope that they rigged up some sort of special effect thing and that this kid did not really wet himself, because that’s disgusting. Actually, this whole scene is disgusting. The kid is whooping and clapping his hands like he just won an Olympic medal for urinating. Abby tells Inez to “go with God” and walks away. He keeps pointing at it, so of course the camera has to pan down again for yet another gratuitous crotch shot. This scene is just to remind us that the writers have the same mental age as this kid with all this toilet humor. Inez holds up a catheter and shows it to the kid, whose name is Erik. Well, that explains all the peeing. Isn’t that Abby’s brother’s name and weren’t we subjected to the lovely images of him pissing on a tree at Gamma’s funeral a couple of years ago? Thanks so much for the memories. Drunk kid wants to know what it’s for and Inez flicks it with her finger and deadpans “I’m going to need you to remove your pants”. I love Inez.

Abby hands Luka some papers and tells him that the labs are back on his UTI, which I hope is a patient and not referring to Luka having any problems with his equipment. Abby pushes her hair out of her eyes, because again her hair is terrible this week and asks how the burn guy is, and Luka says he’s in ICU. She asks if they have any leads and Luka responds that the cops are working on it. She can’t believe that Crispy just walked in like that and Luka shrugs and supposes he has a high tolerance for pain, which has got to be the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard. Abby looks at Luka like she wants to say something but just tells him to let her know if he hears anything. The way she’s looking at him and acting, she obviously wants him to talk to her about what happened earlier, but doesn’t want to come out and ask him about it. Sam and the paramedics are bringing in a kid who has a head trauma from an accident and hit a woman on skates with his motorized scooter. They say the woman is coming in behind them, and Abby walks over and says she’ll take her. That leaves Luka with Sam.

Sam is trying to get Robbie the scooter kid to squeeze her hand. Luka says that maybe Pratt should take this one, but Chuny tells him he’s in exam 2 with a patient having a seizure. Sam says “I guess it’s you and me” and Luka glances at her and unhappily says “yeah”.

They are in Trauma Yellow and Luka is asking for a trauma panel, C-spine, chest and pelvis. Sam wants to know if he wants a head and facial CT, but he replies to wait until after the plain films. He asks for a Yankauer, which the ever helpful Google explains is a pediatric suction tube. Robbie wants his mom and Sam says she’s on her way. Luka tells him he’s lost a couple of teeth and reminds him that he has to wear a helmet, and he says he will. Sally walks in and asks if they need anything. Sam says they are probably just going to tube him and then send him to CT. Sally says she’ll call for a vent, but Luka stops her saying that they may not need one. Sam’s surprised that he’s not going to tube Robbie. Luka pissily replies that he doesn’t know yet, and Sam stares at him and then she and Sally exchange looks. Sally explains to Luka that she has three nurses for the traumas, but can float a fourth if he wants, Luka nods at her and she leaves. Robbie starts gargling blood which is such a lovely sound and Luka says there is a lot of bleeding from the nasopharnyx and he can’t see the source, and Sam’s all “uh huh” and tells him that Robbie’s getting wheezy. NOW Luka says that Robbie will need help breathing. Sam tells him that was all she was saying. Pratt walks in with Penny. Pratt says he’s going in with Abby on the diffuse abdominal pain, but Luka tells him to show Penny how to secure an airway. Pratt’s taken aback “Really?” Luka says yeah and that he’ll be next door. Pratt calls out a couple of orders, while Sam shakes her head as she shoots looks at Luka in the other room.

Inez is calling out the sats as Abby says that the pupils are equal and reactive. A really tall guy is standing behind Abby. Luka asks what happened and tall guy tells them that they were rollerblading down by the lake and that she got dizzy and rammed into a kid on a scooter. Camera pulls back and we see that he is on rollerblades. And it’s Skipper, Miranda’s young boyfriend from the first season of Sex and the City. The patient says she didn’t have breakfast. She’s played by Ross’ ex-wife Carol’s lesbian lover Susan from Friends, and boy, I obviously spend way too much time watching television. Her name is Stephanie, which is just as well, because I would get too confused if I called her Susan, because it would just remind me how much I miss Sherry Stringfield. And her hair. Skipper has a cut on his hand because he tried to catch Stephanie. Luka asks him why he is wearing the rollerblades in there, but Skipper says they left their shoes at the rental place. Abby puts some gauze on his hand and tells Luka that Stephanie has good breath sounds bilaterally. Luka asks her if she’s ever had seizures or heart problems, but she says she’s healthy. Abby wants to know if she is on any medications, but she says just multivitamins. Luka asks if she’s ever been anemic, but she says no. Abby lifts up Stephanie’s shirt, and wants Luka to take a look. There’s a blistered mark all the way across her stomach and what looks like it could be tire tracks. Ouch. Inez asks if it’s a burn and Abby says probably from the tailpipe. Luka wants a belly CT, ultrasound, two units of O-neg and to call surgery and book an OR. He tells Skipper that she’s losing blood somewhere. Stephanie says she wasn’t cut, but Luka tells her it’s internal. Morris walks in to check on them and Abby tells him that Skipper needs his hand looked at. Morris tells Skipper to come with him, and Skipper assures Stephanie that he’ll be back. Morris asks him how he likes the rollerblades and wants to know if they hurt his knees. Yes, now’s is definitely the time for small talk, Morris. Inez is on the phone as Abby is getting ready to do the ultrasound. She asks Abby what Morris does. Abby says he’s Chief Resident. Inez says “no, seriously”. Hee. Again, I love Inez. Abby just sort of shrugs.

Pratt is trying to intubate Robbie, but there’s a lot of blood and the cords are swollen. Penny wants to know what will happen if he can’t get through. He says to go on to Plan B, and asks Sam to set up the fiberoptic. Penny wants to know how long the paralytics will last, and Pratt tells her to look it up because she’ll remember it better. Continuity alert – exact same line Neela used to Clemons the intern last week. Sam goes into Trauma Green because she needs to find the light source for the fiberoptic.

She asks if the lightsource is in there and Abby tells her she saw it in Exam 3. Luka asks how it’s going in there and Sam shrugs and says “it’s going”, then walks out. Luka stares after her. Abby is looking at Stephanie’s x-rays and says there is no hemothorax, which for those of you who haven’t kept up on the jargon on this show is a collection of blood in the space between the chest wall and the lung. Steph asks if that’s good, Abby says it is but it doesn’t explain the blood loss. Dubenko walks in and announces “I’m here”. Luka tells him blunt abdomen, severe anemia, FAST is negative. Dubenko asks about her blood pressure, Abby replies that it hasn’t dropped yet, she’s tachy but maintaining a systolic of 110, as I once again thank the technology that invented Closed Captioning. Dubenko presses on Steph’s belly and asks if she feels any pain, which she doesn’t. Dubenko asks for an “extra red top”, and Inez hands him a vial of blood. Dubenko takes it to the microscope, and has his back to them. Luka says that there is obviously an occult bleeding source, which makes me wonder if that means she was bitten by a vampire, but apparently occult bleeding in this sense means gastrointestinal bleeding that is not visible to the patient or physician. Dubenko goes on a quiet tirade directed at Luka about how this would normally be the part where they would argue over whether Luka was hasty in calling him down to the ER, then Dubenko would question how accurate Luka’s assessment was and they would then “play mind games in a futile attempt to one-up each other”. Both Luka and Abby shoot looks at Dubenko. As if to himself, Dubenko goes on about how he is not in the mood today, and why, he doesn’t know. Could be a lack of sleep or stress or that “maybe you people have just worn me out”. He then turns around and asks Abby what she sees. She once again pushes her hair out of her eyes and looks through the microscope. Luka glares at Dubenko. Abby dejectedly says microcytic hypochromic anemia. Dubenko asks if it is an acute condition and then he and Abby simultaneously say “no”. Abby walks back over to stand next to Luka and Dubenko goes on that it is a “chronic condition the differential of which includes …” and Luka fills in iron deficiency and some other jargon. Dubenko snottily asks if any of those are surgical. Luka and Abby just look at him. Then he asks “anyone? Anyone? Bueller?”, except not. Dubenko asks “anybody? New nurse?”, but Inez just looks at him, too. I have to transcribe this next part verbatim because Dubenko gets really bitchy and says “next time please consider the innate skills and abilities that I suspect lead us all to be doctors. Dust them off and put them to use before you summon me”. Then almost patronizingly he says to Steph “good luck, dear” and walks out. What a prick. Abby says to Luka “was it something you said?”, he looks at her and grits his teeth.

Pratt sticks the fiberoptic scope down Robbie’s throat. Sally bursts in with Mrs. Beckwith, Robbie’s mom, who wants to know if he’s in a coma. Pratt assures her he is just sedated. Mrs. Beckwith goes on about how she told him to be careful and wear a helmet. Pratt asks for suction and Sally questions whether Luka has been in there. Penny says he left to go next door. Sally wants to know if he’s coming back. Sam says she’ll go update him, and hands over the suction to Penny.

Luka is asking Steph some questions as Sam enters and says his name. He asks what she wants and she tells him he might want to look in next door. He curtly tells her “not right now”, which makes Abby, who is standing behind him looking at the x-rays, turn around, raise her eyebrows up to practically the back of her head and look back and forth between them. Sam’s annoyed that Luka is being dismissive, but bites her tongue and goes back into Trauma Yellow. Steph seems to be getting worse, and Abby comes over and says she needs some blood. Luka asks Steph if there is any other medical history that they should know about. She says nothing important, except that she tested positive for BRCA-one last year. Inez wants to know what that is and Abby explains that it’s a genetic mutation that indicates an increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer. Steph corrects her to say she has an 85% chance, but doesn’t have cancer yet. Yikes, that sucks. Neither Malik nor Abby can get an IV. Luka’s going to put in a central line.

Robbie’s sats are dropping. Sally wants to know if Luka said when he would be coming in. Sam replies that Luka didn’t say much. Pratt can’t tube Robbie and Penny wants to know if they should crike him. Sally says he’s too young, that it’s not indicated in kids under 12 and goes into Trauma Green.

Luka is starting to put in the central line when Sally tells him that Pratt needs a more experience physician to help him get the fiberoptic. Luka says that Pratt is very experienced with airways and he’ll get it. Abby again moves her hair, which would seem to defeat the purpose of the sterile gloves that she has on now, but whatever. She’s asking Steph if she ingested anything unusual as Sally tells Luka that Pratt needs him in there. Abby looks up at Sally. Luka is getting ticked and tells Sally that Steph is decompensating and Sally just as surly replies that the kid is hypoxic. I guess since Luka missed out on having a pissing contest with Dubenko, he’s going to get one with Sally. Abby looks back at Steph and tells her that to fix it, they have to know what it is. Stephanie says she didn’t take anything. Sally is pleading with Luka that there should be an Attending in there. Luka abruptly tells her he’ll be in there as soon as he can. Sally backs down and says okay. She asks Malik where the difficult airway box is and he points to it. Abby wants to know if Steph works with pottery or stained glass. Sally grabs the box and starts to walk out when Luka shortly says “excuse me, Miss Peyton”, to which Sally replies gruffly “I have a PhD, so if you’d like to get formal call me doctor”. Luka glares after her and tells Inez to open the crash cart. Stephanie wants to tell Abby something, but hesitates. Abby asks her what it is, and Steph admits that she’s been going to Mexico for treatments to prevent cancer, but says it was natural medicine to boost her immune system. Abby looks up at Luka and says lead poisoning and tells Inez to send a level. Abby wants to know why Steph didn’t say something sooner. Steph was afraid it would affect her insurance coverage.

Luka goes into Trauma Yellow. Pratt and Sam are standing watching as Sally shows them how to perform a Laryngeal mask airway. She gets Robbie tubed and snottily tells Luka that he might want to educate the residents about using the LMA as a rescue device in “can’t intubate, can’t ventilate” patients. Sam says the sats are coming up as Mrs. Beckwith thanks Sally. Sally walks out telling Luka he can take it from here, she’s going “to find a bedpan that needs emptying”. Luka stares after Sally knowing that he has just been nurse-slapped.

Sally pushes the board up and out of the way as Sam tells her she didn’t know they had LMA’s on the floor. Sally responds that they’d been on order since July and had arrived the previous Friday. She tells Sam that as part of her orientation she went item by item through the supply list. Sam scoffs that it sounds like something Weaver would make her do and Sally corrects her that she did it on her own, because Sally’s character is obviously the recycling of Season 2’s Kerry Weaver, obnoxious new Chief Resident. Sam raises her eyebrows and looks at her chart. Sally asks if there is a history between Sam and Luka. Sam tells her it’s nothing to worry about. Sally says it’s a nurse-doctor issue and who’ll worry about if she doesn’t. Sam replies that it’s a personal thing and it won’t come up again. Since she said this out loud, it now will most assuredly come up again. Sally walks away as Pratt comes up and asks Sam if Robbie is in CT. She says he’s with his mom. Pratt asks when they got the LMA’s and Sam tells him last Friday. Pratt hopes he “didn’t blow it”. Sam tells him “Kovac shouldn’t have left you”, but Pratt replies that he told him he had it, although I don’t remember him saying that. Volunteen comes up carrying a pizza. Must not have called Domino’s because it seemed like forever ago that I recapped Pratt sending him for it. Pratt says “let’s go find Neela”. Malik walks up to Sam and says “if I wasn’t a feminist, I’d call that new manager a bitch”. Again, I am with the Malik love. Inez thinks Sally is all up in her stuff, and makes her write everything down, which since they are dealing with people’s lives, I would think that was a good thing. Malik wants to know if they are being evaluated. Sam says she guesses so. Frank tells them to “beware the Blood Countess”, and they all turn around to look at him. A little trivia, this is a reference to a 17th century Hungarian countess who was supposedly a vampire and some believe was the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Oh, and shut up, Frank!

Neela can’t believe Pratt wants to send a pizza to Iraq. Well, I doubt there are any Papa John’s in Baghdad, Neela. Pratt tries to explain that it’s a deep dish and Gallant loves it. Pratt rationalizes that they were going to pack it in dry ice, but Neela enlightens him that it will take a week to get there. Pratt’s surprised. Did he think Fed Ex delivers overnight there? Volunteen says he could look into flash-freezing, but Pratt tells Neela to just take the picture. He and Volunteen hold up the pizza. Neela tells them to say cheese and they respond “cheddar”. Neela walks out and Pratt starts asking Volunteen what he was thinking, a pizza wouldn’t make it to Iraq. Frank interrupts to tell Pratt that Robbie’s heart rate dropped up in CT. Pratt rushes out.

Morris is stitching Skipper’s hand. Skipper wants to know how she is. Morris asks him how “deep into this thing” he is. Skipper’s like “what?”, then says they only met a few nights before, at a “J speed-date”, but they really hit it off. Morris doesn’t know what that is, so Skipper explains that it’s for Jewish singles, and that you go around to each table, chatting for a few minutes with each person to see who responds to whom. Morris says “oh”, and then starts chanting in Hebrew. Skipper stares at him and asks if he’s Jewish. Morris says no, he had a crush on a Semitic girl once. Skipper’s a little offended because it was a holy prayer that Morris just said. Morris, not getting it, just says how he spent a lot of time at synagogue, guessing that you could say he was “stalking her”. For the love of God, what else are the writers going to do to make me despise Morris? Because, really, they don’t have to work this hard. He then says “those rabbis, man, they hit hard”. Skipper’s not paying attention, because he’s thinking about Steph and tells Morris that he thinks he really likes her. He cries out in pain because Morris hurt him, yelling “ahhh!” To which Morris responds, “oy”.

Luka and Chuny come off the elevator pulling Robbie on a gurney. Pratt comes up and Luka tells him there’s diffuse brain edema and that the CT showed a fracture. Mrs. Beckwith wants to know what it means. Pratt tells her Robbie is going to need surgery to fix the bones in his face. Luka wants Chuny to set up for a formal trach and explains to Mrs. Beckwith that they need to put a surgical airway in his neck. Luka and Pratt jargon over Robbie as the heavy handed music of suspense plays in the background. Sally comes in and hands Luka the CT report. She asks Mrs. Beckwith, whose name is Norma, if she needs anything. Norma wants to know if someone called her estranged husband. Sally says they did. Norma wants to know where the washroom is, and Sally asks Chuny to show her and she’ll take over. Guess she’s not done bitching at Luka. Luka is showing Pratt how to do the trach and Sally snottily says that she’s glad he found time to supervise his resident. Luka shoots her a “don’t even, bitch” look. Sally doesn’t take the hint though and tells him there was no excuse for what happened earlier. Luka responds that he was with another patient. Sally snidely tells him that Steph was less critical. Luka huffily says not by his assessment. Sally spitefully tells him his assessment was wrong. Luka glares at her while asking her to pass him an instrument. I really don’t think the patient on the table is getting the best of care while these two are too preoccupied with sniping at each other. Sally keeps on going that a kid with head trauma takes priority and then nastily says that he shouldn’t need a nurse to tell him that. Luka pissily retorts that she shouldn’t need a doctor to explain to HER that it isn’t always clear who the most critical is. Sally suggests that next time Luka should call in a second attending or get a more senior resident. Pratt finally gets involved by bitching that he’s an R-4 and he thought he had it. Sally comes up behind Luka and venomously spits out that perhaps they should talk in private about which nurses he is willing to work with and which ones he’s not, before walking out. Luka flares his nostrils very attractively. Pratt shakes his head. I’m glad this scene ended because I was having a hard time coming up with more adverbs that are synonymous with “bitchily”.

Abby and Neela walk back towards the hospital from Jumbo Mart. Neela grumbles that it’s hard to come up with the right things. Abby wants to know if people are sending loser presents. Neela complains about Pratt’s pizza idea and then holds up two giant lollypops that Chuny is sending, but she meant from her. Abby asks what her current plan is. Neela wrote him a poem and hands it to Abby. Abby wants to know if Neela really wants her to read it – she does. Abby sniffs it because of course it’s scented. She starts to read it, cocks her head and says “it rhymes”. Neela wants to know if it’s too high school and Abby says “yeah, it’s kind of cheesy”. No kidding. Neela thinks herself an idiot, but Abby assures her she’s not. Abby says “you’re his girlfriend, right?” Neela guesses so. Abby explains that a man at war has certain needs. Neela thinks Abby sounds like Frank, and Abby says “I get that a lot”. Hee. She tells Neela to meet her in the Family Room in ten minutes, and runs back towards Jumbo Mart.

Sally comes up to Luka in the hall. Luka puts his hand up and tells her he’s tired of fighting with her. Kristen Johnston is almost as tall as Goran Visnjic. That must be a welcome change for him. All of the other women on this show are about 5’3” and he must get a crick in his neck having to look down all the time. He tells her to give it a rest today. She starts to say something but he interrupts that it is his job to assess where he is needed. She understands that. He explains that he and Sam are a couple, then realizing he misspoke, corrects that it is not a problem. She says “alright then” and tells him that she normally tries to resolve internal issues calmly and civilly, which she’s sure he doesn’t believe given how she handled today. She promises him that from now on she’s going to focus her attention on determining how best the nurses should be utilized. He thinks that sounds good and they nod at each other.

Camera pans up a pair of female legs in fishnet stockings. Then a lab coat. And black bra and cleavage. It’s Neela, looking none too thrilled. Abby’s taking pictures of her with the Polaroid. She tells her to not be so serious and try to relax. She goes over and pushes Neela’s bra straps down her shoulders. This is so appropriate on hospital premises, during work hours. Especially in a room that has pictures of babies and cows and stuff on the walls. Abby tells her to have some fun. Neela says it feels too weird. Abby replies it’ll be fine. Abby’s chuckling and tells her to grab the lollypops. Neela asks her if she’s kidding. She’s not.

Power Ranger kid is running down the hallway again. He runs past Morris and Chuny, who ignore him. Morris is signing off on some charts. He hands them to her they both start to walk away. Morris hears Abby saying “you don’t need the bra, take it off”. Neela says no. Abby tells her to smile. Morris tries to look through the window, but the blinds are drawn. He grabs a nearby wheelchair to stand on, because it is always a good idea to stand on a moving object. Flashes are coming from behind the window and we hear Abby saying “okay smile”, as Morris climbs up to try and peek in over the shade.

Camera shot through Neela’s legs as Abby is crouched down taking pictures of her. Abby’s getting a little too into this. Neela wants to know if her legs look okay and Abby tells her yes and that she “has the gams of a patriot. Now make love to the camera”. She snaps some shots as we see Neela holding the lollypops in front of her breasts. This whole scene is absolutely ridiculous, childish, unnecessary, and I must admit, very funny.

Morris is still trying to look in as Power Ranger kid shoots something that hits him in the crotch. Naturally. Because two crotch shots per episode just aren’t enough. Morris falls off the wheelchair. Really couldn’t see that one coming, could you?

In a really weird edit, we cut immediately to Abby walking down the hall to get Steph, who is in a wheelchair. Abby wants to know where Skipper is. Apparently his name is Lou, and he went to get Steph some pizza and Snickers. Um, okay. Abby says he seems like a sweet guy. If he springs for a Diet Coke too, I would agree. Steph nods. Abby tells her that the lead levels came back critical and pushes her wheelchair to a bed in an exam room. Steph wants to know if it’s from her treatments and Abby thinks it’s probably from the herbs she’s taking. They are going to give Steph some injections and the anemia should resolve. Abby wants to know what Steph is doing about the BRCA. Steph’s confused. Abby helps her into bed and asks if she’d like to meet with an oncologist. Steph says no, she saw an oncologist when she first found out. Abby wants to know why she got tested. Steph says the doctor recommended it because of her mother. Abby asks if she’s positive too. Steph tells Abby that her mom beat cancer when she was little, but that it came back and she died right before Steph’s senior prom. She was only 44. Abby says she’s sorry. She wants to know if Steph’s oncologist mentioned anything about prophylactic surgery. Steph asks if she means about having her breasts removed, and Abby says yes, an oophorectomy. Steph replies that she would never do that and that was why she tried Mexico. Abby raises an eyebrow. Steph talks about how she wants to fall in love, have a child, a family, while there is still time. Abby tells her she might want to consider just the mastectomies and wait for the ovarian, but Steph retorts “JUST the mastectomies? What man would even want to look at me then?” Abby tries to reassure her by telling her that there have been a lot of advances in reconstructive surgery and she needs to protect herself. Abby is really pushing her hard. Steph pushes back asking Abby if she can promise that Steph’s giving up her breasts would protect her. Abby almost but not quite condescendingly tells her it would decrease her chance of getting cancer by 90%. Steph replies that she would lose months of her life to recovery with no guarantees. She goes on about how the clock is ticking and she’s not getting any younger. Abby grins and looks away and her face says that she clearly relates to this. Steph wants Abby to tell her “which poison to pick”, the cancer risk or the surgery. Abby can’t do that. But she says that maybe an oncologist could.

Luka walks up to a burly guy who is apparently Mr. Beckwith, Robbie’s dad. He puts his hand on Mr. Beckwith’s arm and is trying to lead him down the hall. Mr. Beckwith stares at Luka’s hand on his arm and is obviously deranged because he doesn’t want Luka touching him. Mr. Beckwith is bitching how he told his wife not to buy Robbie the scooter. Luka still has his hand on his arm and Beckwith keeps looking at it. Luka wants to take him into the Family Room to explain what is going on with Robbie. Beckwith throws Luka’s hand off (again, stupid man), and says he knows why they take people in there. Dude, I highly doubt that Luka wants to take pictures of you in fishnets, so chill, okay? Luka tries to calm him down and Beckwith yells that his boy is not dead. He starts running through the halls shouting for Robbie, as Luka tries to catch up with him. He bursts into Steph’s room and Abby and Steph stare at him. He runs out and keeps searching for Robbie, finally ending up in Trauma Yellow, where Inez and Mrs. Beckwith are with Robbie. He sees Robbie and looks like he is about to cry. Luka tells him there is swelling in Robbie’s brain, which they hope will go down soon and that they had to put an emergency airway in his neck. Beckwith is getting distraught. His wife starts saying how sorry she is. Beckwith turns to look at her and then starts to attack her, knocking her to the floor. Luka grabs him from behind and tries to subdue him as Inez runs out calling for security. Beckwith is really strong. He keeps trying to get Luka off of him, smashing him back into the walls. Oh, please don’t hurt the pretty! They lose their balance and fall to the floor, knocking over an instrument cart. Security comes in and grabs Beckwith. Luka is still laying on the floor with a cut over his left eye and his mouth bleeding. He sits up, spits out some blood and looks around with a look on his face like he really wishes he hadn’t gotten up today. Mrs. Beckwith is sobbing and Inez is trying to comfort her. Luka, still sitting on the floor, looks over at Robbie on the table and then looks down.

Kerry is taking care of the cut over Luka’s eye. He tells her that he didn’t want the floor to be without an Attending. She says her shift starts soon anyway. Luka’s surprised she is taking a shift, but she tells him that until they hire new faculty, it is just the two of them, plus the moonlighters. I got excited for a second thinking we were going to see Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard until I realized Weaver was referring to temp doctors. Which is a sort of continuity alert, because that is how Luka started out at the hospital six years ago. The cop who was with Crispy earlier comes up and tells Luka that Mrs. Beckwith doesn’t want to press charges, and asks if he does. He doesn’t, and says that Mr. Beckwith can go in and see his son when Mrs. Beckwith leaves the room. Luka asks how Crispy is doing. The cop says he’s hanging in there and that the guy is such a mess he can’t tell them his name. Pratt walks over and asks Luka how he’s doing. Luka replies “that floor came out of nowhere”. Hee. Pratt says he signed out to Morris, and Weaver and Luka look at him. Pratt says “he’s the mini Chief, right?” and Kerry tells him to go.

Pratt walks over to Neela at Admit and asks if she’s headed to the El, which she is. He tells her he’ll walk with her and then spots Frank eating a pizza. Pratt grumpily asks what he’s doing, and Frank said he found it in sutures wrapped in a death kit shroud. Yeah, that would make me hungry. Frank says it’s kind of soggy. Once again, shut up, Frank. Pratt bitches that the pizza was for Gallant. He was still going to send it? Even after Neela told him it would take a week? I’m sure Gallant would appreciate a nice case of food poisoning about now. Frank tells Pratt to try Lou Malnati’s, they overnight. What kind of tip would you give for delivery to Iraq? Pratt looks at Frank, then takes a piece of pizza. Morris comes up to Neela and tells her that he minored in photography so if she needs a hand with something. She rightfully tells him to shut up before I can. Pratt wants to know what Morris is talking about, and Neela says “nothing”. Morris tries a different tact and blusters that as Chief Resident he needs to know what Neela and Abby were doing in the Family Room on company time, and by know he means “see”. He sort of has a point. Neela comes up to him and hands him a picture and says “just because you’re so cute” and walks away. Morris smiles at her and turns the picture over to look at it and his face drops. Weaver reaches over to grab the picture and says “sebaceous cyst abscess”, and Frank informs us that it’s on somebody’s ass. Morris realizes it’s his fat guy in Curtain Two, and Frank helpfully says the guy is easily 400 pounds. Weaver tells Morris that it looks like it’s leaking and he might want to check it out. Both yuck and hee. Morris is totally grossed out.

Abby and Steph are in the elevator. Doesn’t Abby have any other patients? Wouldn’t she just call someone to take Steph up to oncology, which is where I guess they are going? Steph asks if she’ll have to sleep up there, but Abby assures her they have a bed for her on the third floor. Steph tells Abby that they both know that they are going to tell her that the safest thing to do would be for her to have the double mastectomy. Abby says she knows it’s a sacrifice but it’s not as though she’ll have to live without breasts forever. I know it’s Abby job to say this, but she's still not coming across as very sympathetic. She pushes Steph’s wheelchair off the elevator as Steph scoffs that it won’t be the same because it won’t feel like her body. Abby tells her that the things she wants she can’t have if she gets cancer. Steph asks that if Abby were her, would she do it? Abby thinks about this for a minute and tells Steph that “sometimes we want life to stay the same, but it doesn’t, it changes. And if I were you, I hope I would be brave enough to change”. This statement says a lot about how much Abby has grown over the past couple of years, because didn’t she tell Carter during the aborted proposal that she thought people never really could change? A nurse comes out of oncology, says hi to Abby and asks if this is Miss Lowenstein, then wheels Steph into Oncology. Abby tells Steph she’ll come see her tomorrow. Steph thanks her. Abby turns to go back to the elevator. Again, she’s playing with her hair because she just can’t seem to leave it alone this episode. And here is the reason why Abby brought Steph up to Oncology herself. As she is walking past the Oncology Lab, she spots Dubenko in a gown sitting on an exam table, with a doctor feeling his neck, as the piano and cello music of potentially fatal diseases plays in the background. Please don’t tell me Dubenko will lose the hair. Unlike Abby’s, I love his hair.

Sam is standing in the ambulance bay. I’m liking Sam’s hair, too. She finally lost the curls, and the straight hair is much more becoming. Luka comes up and asks her if someone is picking her up. She says Erica is dropping Alex off. She tells him she heard he had a throw-down with a patient. He corrects her that it wasn’t a patient, it was Robbie’s father. Sam tells him that Robbie was having some purposeful movements, which really doesn’t sound good to me, but she says it hopefully. Luka says that’s more than he can say for himself today. He admits to Sam that he shouldn’t have left Robbie’s case, that it was the wrong thing to do for the wrong reason. I’m so glad he acknowledged this, because it really was unprofessional. Sam sweetly tells him they’ll figure it out. I actually liked Sam this episode, I don’t think she raised her voice once, which has to be a new record. Luka replies that they’ll start again tomorrow. Sally walks up behind them, but doesn’t intrude. Luka wants Sam to tell Alex that he’ll see him tomorrow for that soccer game. Sam nods and smiles and tells Luka that Alex will be happy. Luka nods and walks away. Sally walks up and Sam says “hey” and asks if she’s off. Sally says she was getting coffee because she has six more hours. She asks Sam to take a walk with her. Sam wants to know if there is something wrong, and Sally tilts her head in Luka’s direction and declares “you’re sleeping with him”. Sam replies that she was, but it’s over. Sally tells her it’s never over. Please God, let Sally be wrong about that, because I don’t think I could take a redux of that trainwreck. Sam furrows her brow and stares at Sally. Sally thinks it’s not appropriate for Sam and Luka to work together. Sam’s all “what?” Sally goes on that since she can’t control the doctors’ shifts, she’ll have to adjust Sam’s. She looked at the schedule and figured out that it would work if Sam worked Tuesday and Friday nights and picked up a third shift over the weekend. Sam is offended and complains that it is two less than she already has, which she can’t afford, and that she will never get to see Alex. Sally tells her she doing her a favor. Sam bitches that it doesn’t sound like it. Sally informs her she could do what any other manager would do and transfer her to ICU or Recovery or Geriatrics, or somewhere. Sam can’t believe Sally is threatening to transfer her, but Sally corrects her and says that she is giving her a choice. Sam emphatically states that she’s an ER nurse. Sally tells her to be there Friday at 8:00 pm, ready to work. I feel really badly for Sam, because this is very unfair. She wasn’t the one who had the problem, it was Luka. But I do understand that Sally has no control over Luka, but does over Sam. Sally still should have handled it differently and maybe talked to Kerry or had a sit down meeting with all involved.

Neela comes home, carrying Gallant’s care package. Oh, there’s Ray. Only 10 minutes left in the show and this is the first time we see him. I didn’t even realize he wasn’t in it, which just shows how much of an impression Shane West leaves. Neela asks him why he’s not at work, and he says he has 48 hours off. He grabs two beers from the fridge. Neela thinks one is for her, but Ray corrects her that he is having a “sleep over” and heads back towards his bedroom, where there is a girl wrapped in a sheet sitting on the bed. Neela purses her lips disapprovingly.

Abby enters Ike's and walks up to the bartender and says that she ordered a Caesar salad and a root beer. And to again prove that I have no life, I recognize the bartender as Sasha Mitchell, who used to play on Cody on the Patrick Duffy/Suzanne Somers classic sitcom, Step by Step, part of the TGIF ABC Friday line-up in the mid-90’s. Yes, I am pathetic. He’s huge now, and has obviously been working out, though his career hasn’t. He tells Abby it will be right out. When Cody walks away, he unblocks Abby’s view of Luka sitting on the other side of the bar. She smiles and walks over to him saying “hey sailor, new in town?” Luka smiles at her and tells her to have a seat. She says she has to get going, but stands there anyway. She tells him how she took Steph up to Oncology and how sad it was. Not looking at him, she wistfully relates how Steph told her how she’s at this point in her life where she’s worried that some of things she wants she’s never going to have, and she could never imagine feeling that way, and that it’s sad. Her expression as she is saying all of this is as if she is talking about herself. Luka watches her. What she said is so significant for both of these characters. Abby scratches her head, rests her chin in her hand and turns to look at Luka. Luka looks down for a second, then tilts his chin towards his beer and says “you must miss it”. Abby cocks an eyebrow. Luka goes on “drinking”. For a second I am shocked that he could be so insensitive, before I realize that he is smiling at her when he says it. Abby’s not offended, she chuckles and says “Wow. You’d be a terrible sponsor”. He smilingly tells her he could never give it up because he’d miss it too much, as he downs more of his beer. She suggests that he may want to suspend it for the evening. He asks her if she needs a ride home, and she chuckles and tells him “no, but you do”. Mock incredulously, he smiles and says “I do?” She tells him he does and that he’s not driving like this. He playfully says “I’m not” and she shakes her head smiling at him and he grins. It’s very cute. Goran Visnjic and Maura Tierney are clearly very comfortable working together and it really works for these characters.

The Fray's song Over My Head that was playing in the background at the bar scene is playing through Ray’s wall as we see Neela sitting on her bed writing something. All the Polaroids are spread out on her bed. The wall starts moving as we hear some very loud moaning coming from the other room. The banging knocks Neela’s stuffed ladybug off the shelf and she yells “Ray! I can’t concentrate!” and thumping stops. Neela goes back to writing, and it starts up again, louder than before. Neela rolls her eyes, then closes them as more stuff fall off the walls. Yeah, it’s sophomoric and been done before, but Parminder’s reactions really made me laugh.

Luka and Abby enter the bat cave (Luka’s apartment). He turns on the light, which actually seems to illuminate it a bit this time. Maybe he took my advice and got some 100 watt bulbs. Abby is carrying her bag of food. Luka tells her to help herself to something. She comments that it didn’t take him long to embrace the bachelor lifestyle. As he flops on the couch he says that it’s like riding a horse. She sits down next to him replying “or living in a barn”. Luka grabs a pack of cigarettes, takes one out and lights it. Then he puts them down on the side table. I’m surprised that he doesn’t offer one to Abby. Did she finally quit smoking? Luka tells her he “ can’t get him out of my head”. She asks who. He says “that guy”, meaning Crispy. Luka says “what a mess”. Abby watches him as he goes on “all melted flesh but even so, enough will to keep walking. Body ruined, but still, desperate to live”, and waves the hand with the cigarette. She replies that he’s alive. Luka turn on the TV. He wonders that if he were hurt like that, and then stops, puts the cigarette in the ashtray and rests his forehead on his fingertips. She asks “if you’d keep on walking?” He replies ruefully “If … if anyone would know who I was”. Abby looks at him for a second, and then assures him that she would. He doesn’t seem to acknowledge this, so I’m not sure if he heard her or if it registered what she said. Then after a beat she looks away and adds, “probably”. She looks back at him, then starts to pick up some of the trash around and tells him that he might want to think about getting a housekeeper, because it’s disgusting in there. She adds, “In a charming sort of way, of course”. If she thinks that mess is charming, she’d be absolutely bedazzled by my house. She pulls out a paper bag from her food bag and asks Luka if he wants a coffee. He doesn’t respond and she looks at the TV for a bit before saying that he probably doesn’t but she got him a black coffee. She looks over at him and realizes that he is asleep. She watches him for a second, then stands up. We hear her grab her food bag, and then she turns to look at him again, before walking towards the door. As she passes the TV, the camera stays on the screen and we see that it is again High Plains Drifter. Is this the Clint Eastwood channel? I highly doubt the same movie would be playing at both sunrise and sunset, unless it’s cable, which we know it’s not from the scene in the morning. On the TV, three men are asking Clint what happens after they do something. Clint replies “Then you live with it”. The camera then switches back to Luka and then focuses in on the burning cigarette. I was afraid for a second this meant that lovely Luka might become like Crispy, but this scene just shows that Luka is in the exact same position he was in when the show began. Again, another good scene. I like where they seem to be going with Luka and Abby. These two scenes and the one last week did a good job in both reconnecting these characters and telling us more about each of them.