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From jenlcb@aol.comSun Oct  1 18:48:03 1995
Date: 30 SEP 1995 14:29:46 -0400 
From: JenLCB 
Newsgroups: alt.tv.chicago-hope
Subject: "Growth Pains" Summary 

This summary was written by Jennifer Beatty and edited by Yolette
Nicholson.  We share responsibility on any typographical, spelling, or
grammatical errors, but the opinions expressed are the writer's alone.

CHICAGO HOPE, EPISODE 1.17
"Growth Pains"
Air date: 2/27/95 
Written by David E. Kelley
Directed by Thomas Schlamme 

INTRODUCTION:
 Dr. Billy Kronk enters the E.R., exchanging greetings with other
personnel.  He finds Louis Bagley, an odd-looking man with hair thinning
beyond his young age, sitting on a bed, appearing to be choking on
something.  Kronk asks Nurse Maggie Atkisson what the problem is, and she
tells him Mr. Bagley is suffering from abdominal pains.  
 "I think he swallowed something," she assesses.  
 Mr. Bagley denies having swallowed anything, but Maggie mutters, "I still
think he did." 
 Kronk gives her a look and thanks her.
 Suddenly, Bagley begins to convulse, his hand to his throat.  As Kronk
and Maggie work to help Mr. Bagley, paramedics bring another patient to
the next cubicle.  Dr. Danny Nyland attends him, and Kronk hears his
stunned, "My God!"  
 In disbelief, Nyland asks the patient, Dalton Robertson, "You're not
feeling any pain?"
 "You want me to scream?" Mr. Robertson asks sarcastically. "I'll scream
then!"  
 Over the scream, in the next cubicle, Kronk uses a forceps to pull out a
small hairball.     
 "Have you been eating hair?" he asks Mr. Bagley.
 But Nyland's loud demands to page Dr. Shutt distract Kronk and he walks
over to check out Mr. Robertson's situation.  He is stunned to see a man
in his forties with a large steel rod sticking through his head, one end
through his cheek, the other through the top of his head.  
 "Wow," Kronk breathes. ''Are you in any pain?''
 "Get it OUT," Mr. Robertson demands.

ACT ONE

 As Mr. Bagley is being wheeled to his room, chief O.R. nurse Camille
Shutt accidentally bumps into him.  She apologizes with a warm smile, and
walks away.  But Bagley seems smitten and stares after her as she leaves.

* * *

 Dr. Aaron Shutt stares at Mr. Robertson in the E.R. in thinly disguised
horror.  Weakly, he stammers, "Uh, Mister . . ." he glances at Nyland, who
tells him the patient's name.  " . . . Mr. Robertson, uh, we're
going--I-I-I'm going to have to. . . um, remove that rod from your head." 

 To Nyland he asks, "Any idea how . . . any idea how it got there?"  
 Nyland tells him that Mr. Robertson works at a dry cleaners, and that a
steam explosion had caused it.  
 "Ah," Shutt says.  "Oh, OK, um . . .we're gonna have to, uh, get you up
to, uh, O.R. Three . . . and uh . . . I'm going to, uh . . . remove the,
uh . . . hard body."
 Just then, psychiatrist Dr. Kadalski arrives in answer to his page. 
Seeing Robertson, both hands shoot to his temples in sympathy pain. "Hoh! 
Gee!  This is not psychiatric!"  
 Kronk soothes him as he leads him away.  
 "Did you see . . .?" Kadalski asks him weakly, pointing behind him. 
 Unfazed, Kronk answers, "Yeah, I've seen it, Kadalski, let's go. I want
you to take a look at this X-ray."
 Kronk explains to him that the obstruction he sees is human hair and
suggests the two of them have a conversation.

* * *

 On her way to the elevator, Dr. Geri Infante explains to Dr. Jeffrey
Geiger that Shutt needs her in the Robertson procedure.  As she enters an
elevator, she pulls his arm, and with a quick glance to the side to see if
anyone is watching, she kisses him. The elevator doors close, bump them,
and spring back open.  Pulling away, Infante wipes her lips and cheekily
tells him goodbye as the elevator doors close again.  Geiger is left to
wonder at this, looking down at the floor with a contemplative scowl.

* * *

 As Shutt removes the last piece of broken skull from Mr. Robertson's
head, he sighs, "OK."  
 Nyland is incredulous. "OK?  Whaddya mean OK?  Now what?"
 Shutt attempts to appear in control, saying, "Try to . . . pull it out. 
Same way it went in."  He looks to the doctor to his left for
confirmation, and this man looks to the doctor to his left.  Shutt looks
again at Nyland, who turns and looks at Infante behind him.  Then the
entire scrub team looks at Shutt, who defensively says, "That's the way
this is done . . . OK?"

* * *

 Geiger enters the cardiac unit where Dr. Phillip Watters is attending to
Alan Birch's baby, Alicia, who is in cardiac arrest.  Birch enters and
desperately tries to approach the baby, but Geiger pushes him back
outside, where he waits, his expression a mixture of horror, terror and
helplessness.

* * *
 
 "It's called tricotillomania," Dr. Raymond Kadalski, a psychiatrist,
explains to Mr. Bagley in his room.  But Bagley refuses to admit he has a
problem. 
 ''I don't want to talk to you!'' he protests.
 ''Well, you're gonna have to talk to me, sir,'' Kronk says as he enters.
Kronk tells him that he's going to need abdominal surgery, but Bagley
doesn't want to hear it. He pulls the IV needle from his arm and gets up,
saying he wants to check out. Kronk tries to stop him.  
 ''I don't give you consent,'' Bagley howls, then stops abruptly when he
sees Camille standing in the doorway, carrying a vase of flowers.  He
stares at her as though she were a long-lost friend.
 Camille laughs nervously as Mr. Bagley stares at her.
 "What?" she asks. 
 "Judy Garland,'' he breathes.  ''You've come back!''

* * *

 Shutt gently removes the rod from Roberston's skull.  As Infante
irrigates the wound, Shutt marvels that the steel rod totally missed the
man's optic nerve and sagittal sinus, calling it a miracle.

* * *

 Birch demands to know what is wrong with his daughter.  Geiger complies,
and tells him Alicia is suffering from congestive heart failure.  
 Birch struggles with tears as he tries to remain calm. ''Is she gonna
live?''
 Geiger explains to him that he's going to have to patch the heart and
that surgery on an infant won't be easy.
 "I won't lie to ya.  But I'm gonna take care of it, Alan," he tells him
gently, his hand on Birch's shoulder.  "That's a promise from me to you. 
That's a promise."  
 Birch wipes his eyes bravely, then asks,  "Can I see her?"  
 Geiger takes him to see Alicia, but stays by the door, watching silently.
 Birch leans over the side of crib, trying to be strong for her, telling
her she'll be just fine.  
 "Not to worry . . ." he tells her.

* * *

ACT TWO

 In recovery, Shutt tells Mr. Robertson he seems to have suffered no
cognitive disability as a result of the accident, but he will need to
perform more tests. 
 "When can I go back to work?" Robertson asks.  
 His wife Eleanor chuckles softly,  "You just had a *thing* stuck in your
head!"
 Shutt emphatically reiterates the need for more tests, but Robertson
insists, "I'll get better if I can get back."  His wife and Shutt both
nod, smiling mildly, but both deeply concerned.

* * *

 In surgery, Geiger tells Watters, who is assisting, that Alicia has more
than the one hole the prenatal echocardiogram had shown.  Watters glances
up at Birch, who is watching from the observation room above their heads. 
Geiger turns to offer a concerned look as well, which alerts Birch that
there is something wrong.  He puts his hands over his face, then stands
there with his hands together in front of him, as though praying.
 Grad enters the Observation room to offer support.  She tells him she
doesn't think it's doing him any good to watch the procedure.
 "Well, it's . . . uh . . . I had no plans," Birch mumbles distractedly. 
 He continues to watch for a moment, then remarks, "So . . . he's not
singing."  
 Grad is confused, and Birch explains that Geiger always sings during
surgery, but this time he is not singing.  
 Grad assures him, "Well, he's good . . . ."
 "Yeah, he . . . he is," Birch says, as though trying to convince himself.
 "He's the best . . . So not to worry.  'Cause he's the best . . ."

* * *

 Bagley tells Camille that the spirit of Judy Garland lives in her.  "I
don't know if it's psychic or if it's intuitive, but at least part of you
*is* Dorothy Gale!"
 "Dorothy Gale is a fictitious character, *played* by Judy Garland,"
Camille points out gently.
 "What, do you think I'm crazy?" Bagley asks scornfully.
 "You pull out your hair and you eat it" Kronk reminds Bagley.
 Sounding quite articulate, yet slightly manic, Bagley explains:
 "Dorothy Gale, *though* *fictitious,* was a . . .*persona*.  That persona
lived through Judy Garland, and I *believe* she lives through you."
 "Buddy, she is not Judy Garland," Kronk tells the man, "and you are not a
cat.  Hairballs can kill you  . . . If I don't cut it out, you're never
gonna get back to Kansas."
 But Bagley refuses to grant consent to the surgery.  
 "I think you're just a surgeon who probably got a new scalpel for
Christmas," Bagley shoots back, causing Camille to look away to hide a
smile.   ''I don't believe a *hairball* is grounds for surgery!''
  All the while, Kadalski has been silently watching, weighing the
situation.  As Bagley vociferously refuses to give consent, he gently
observes, "You're touching your hair . . ."

* * *

 Shutt wheels Mr. Robertson to his hospital room from X-Ray.  As they
enter the room, they hear a cheerful, "Surprise!"
 A group of friends from Mr. Robertson's dry cleaners fill the room,
carrying flowers and balloons. Shutt tells the group that this is more
excitement than Robertson is ready for. But Robertson has only one thing
on his mind.  "Who's running the shop?" he asks brusquely.
 Robertson stands up, gets into bed, and demands that they all leave
because he needs his rest.  No one knows how to react to this, and Eleanor
tries to smooth it over, telling them they can all come back later. 
 Robertson calls back one man, Walt, and tells him that he wants him to
fire Sandra, Eve and Marcia.  Walt protests that these women have worked
for Robertson for twelve years, and Robertson argues that he can no longer
tolerate their incompetence.  It has kept the cleaners from expanding.  He
tells Walt that when you run a business, you can't always do the popular
thing.

* * *

 As Birch continues to watch the operation, "Just My Imagination" plays on
the speakers.  The Temptations sing "To have a girl like her is truly a
dream come true.  Out of all the fellas in the world, she belongs to me. 
But it was just my imagination running away with me . . ." 

* * *

 Kadalski asks Camille to dress as Dorothy Gale from "The Wizard of Oz,"
in order to gain Mr. Bagley's trust enough to give consent to surgery.
Camille balks at making a fool of herself. As they walk down the hall to
the main desk, they see Kronk, sitting on a stool eating a hamburger and
drinking a Coke.  
 "Help me out here," Camille beseeches him.
 "Sure," Kronk agrees, his mouth full, "Camille, this is Dr. Wacko."
 Kadalski tries to make her see the logic of this attempt, and they both
turn to Kronk for support.
 Kronk swallows and says, "All I know is the guy has got a bowel
obstruction that's gonna kill him.  Be Dorothy.  Be a flying monkey.  Be
Glinda, come down in a bubble, I don't care.  Someone's gotta convince
this kook to let me operate."
 Camille knows she is beaten, and with a final look at Kadalski, she walks
away.  Kadalski turns to Kronk, gives him a thumbs up and whispers,
"Thanks!"  
 They both turn and watch Camille, as though wondering just what she'll
look like in blue and white gingham.

* * *

 In Shutt's office, Eleanor tells him that her husband's personality has
changed since the accident.  Shutt tries to dismiss this as emotional
stress and trauma.  But she says this is not the way he deals with stress
and trauma. 
 "We're talking about different things," she tells Shutt.  "I'm not saying
that my husband had a cathartic revelation, or that he *decided* to change
. . . He *is* changed.  He's another person."  
 Shutt tells her that he has been a neurosurgeon for fifteen years, and
that Robertson is his first patient with "a steel rod in his brain."  He
tells her he will look at the X-Rays again, and run more tests, but he
helplessly admits that he simply does not know what to do if she is right.

* * *

 Outside recovery, Birch looks through the window at his baby.  Geiger
approaches him and tells him there were actually *four* holes in the
baby's heart, not just one.  He tells him he is sure he's got her
completely repaired, but that she is still in critical condition.  All
they can do now is wait.

* * *

 Later, Camille stoically teeters down the hall in ruby slippers toward
Louis Bagley's room, as various personnel watch in amused disbelief.  In
his room, she sings "Over the Rainbow" to canned piano accompaniment.
 Outside the room, chief of staff Dr. Phillip Watters asks Kadalski, ''You
feel this is apprpriate?'' 
 Kadalski admits that this therapy is "unorthodox, but potentially
fruitful."  
 "David Stadson from psychiatry is incensed, '' Watters says. ''He's
called a board meeting, I think to have you thrown out."
 Kadalski demands to know why Stadson wants him thrown out. 
 Mildly Watters answers him, "Well, he maybe thinks you're *too*
fruitful."
 "This is a complicated situation, Phillip.  The answers aren't always
found in conventional treatment," Kadalski protests.
 "I think they're objecting to your finding them in Oz."
 Kadalski firmly states that he stands by his decision.

* * *

 That night in Geiger's office, Infante asks him if Alicia is going to be
make it.  Geiger is distractedly looking through various textbooks and
medical journals, as though searching for the answer to a question that
has been eluding him.  He tells her he doesn't know, and asks her absently
how her day was, whether the steel rod had come out all right.  
 "Yeah, fixed his face too," she answers.  "Amputated a coupla toes off an
octogenarian, other than that, pretty slow."
 Geiger heads toward the door, saying he wants to check on Alicia one more
time, but Infante stops him.  
 "You've been to the ICU three times, and you are now going home,"  she
tells him firmly.
 She gets his coat and tucks his arms into the sleeves as if he were a
small boy.  "Whaddya say?" she asks.  " 'My name is Jeffrey Geiger.  I
devoted a full day to saving people, and even perhaps the world, I am now
eating supper.' "  Geiger scowls at her.
 She smiles at him, wheedling. "And if you're good, I'll take you to see
Ben E. King on Thursday.  He's in town."
 "Ben E. King?  He's not dead?"
 "Not yet," she answers.
 He smiles.  She has broken through.  "I love Ben E. King."   
 "I know you do," she smiles, and kisses him lightly, then more deeply.
 Birch enters the office, sees them, and backpedals out.

* * *

ACT THREE

 In the hall later that day, Camille tells Kadalski she will not defend
him to the Executive Committee.  She complains that she has been
humiliated, and that he never would have asked a surgeon to dress as
Dorothy Gale.  
 "I happen to love the outfit," Kadalski counters, stating that he would
dress as Dorothy Gale himself if he thought it would help. 
 "This isn't funny," Camille fumes.
 "Do you see me laughing?" Kadalski asks.  "They're trying to get rid of
me here, and nobody's backing me up."
 Camille tells him she will continue to help Bagley, but she can't defend
Kadalski because she wouldn't know what to say.

* * *

 Geiger runs into the pediatric ICU.  Kronk tells him Alicia has been
bradycardiac for ten minutes, that her pacemaker won't capture, and that
her lungs are wet.  Birch desperately points out to Geiger that Alicia is
blue.
 "Yes, I can see that," Geiger says. He backs Birch away from the bed,
speaking quickly but calmly.  "Now listen to what I'm about to tell you.
Notice that I'm speaking in a calm voice, which suggests that I'm calm,
which suggests that you should be calm."  
 He tells Birch that Alicia's sutures are swelling, which is causing a
problem with the electric conductions, and that her pacing wires have
become dislodged, so he has to go back in.  
 Birch is terrified, and begins breathing very deeply to calm himself.

* * *

 In Radiology, Shutt tells Robertson that some of the connections between
the ventromedial hypothalamus and the front of his brain have been
destroyed.  Eleanor asks him if this is what has been making her husband
foul-mouthed and "nasty."  Robertson denies being nasty, saying, "It's
called wising up."
 Shutt interrupts their arguing to tell him that people with tumors in
this region "often display a loss of social skills."
 Robertson laughs rudely.  
 "You're saying that I have the kind of injury that makes me forget to use
a napkin?"
 "It might make you forget to be courteous.  Like you're forgetting right
now," Shutt tells him.
 Robertson is taken aback.  "That can happen?  You can have an injury to
your personality?"  He turns to Nyland for confirmation.
 Nyland, who wasn't expecting to be involved, hesitates, then answers, "Um
. . .Yeah?"

 In the hall, Shutt says sarcastically, "Thank you very much for that
unflinching confirmation."
 "I'm sorry," Nyland returns, "I never heard of this, a
personality-ectomy?"
 Shutt reminds him of Phineas Gage.
 As they near the elevator, Camille steps out, again in the blue and white
gingham.  
 "Don't even say it," she warns through clenched teeth.  
 "Honey, you look . . . great!" Shutt calls after her.
 Nyland gives her a leering grin, looking her up and down.  "You really
do," he says.
 Shutt notices his look.
 "What are you lookin' at?" he demands.
 Nyland shrugs and says, "Well, that was an unflinching confirmation."  

* * *

 In the O.R., Geiger fires Alicia's pacemaker, and it takes.

* * *

 In the conference room, Dr. Stadson accuses Kadalski of being an
embarrassment to the hospital.  Watters asks him not to make it personal,
but Stadson argues that it is.  Kadalski perpetrates the stereotype of a
bumbling psychiatrist "with his very being," Stadson says.
 Dr. Halpern scornfully makes reference to Kadalski singing "High Hopes"
to a paralyzed boy.
 "And I believe that boy walks today,"  Kadalski replies.
 Dr. Diane Grad cuts in, asking how Kadalski's "individual practice bears
against the practice of psychiatry in general."
 "He personifies the ugly caricature of the therapist quack," Stadson
answers. "He prances around with platitudes like 'get in touch with your
feelings,' and 'I'm sensing hostility.'  Frankly, we're sick of it."
 Watters asks Kadalski for his response.  
 "First off," he begins, "I'll try to make my comments unclinical so as
not to unnecessarily perpetuate any negative stereotypes victimizing our
beleaguered profession."  
 He turns to Stadson.  
 "You flaccid little man.
  "How's that?" he continues. "Nothing touchy-feely there, was there,
fathead?  You're sick of psychiatrists being maligned?  I'm sick of
thin-skinned brooding little eggshell-heads carrying around the complex,
'Oooh, treat us nice!  Treat us like the other doctors, we're real
doctors, too, be nice!'  Grow up!  You're in the business of mental
health, at least summon up the fortitude to be an adult, you whiny little
roach."  
 He turns back to an amused Watters.  "Let me know when I've prevailed,
I'll stop."
 "I think you should, perhaps, keep going," Watters says. 
 Kadalski continues, "no two cases are alike 'cause no two minds are
alike."  Much of it is anecdotal, he says.  
 "Malpractice would be more along the lines of forming a medical opinion
without even interviewing the patient, which is exactly what you two
arrogant farts have done in condemning me. 'Oooh, don't make fun of the
psychiatrist, we bruise, let us be.'  *You* bruise.  The good ones don't. 
It's waffling little gnats like you who give the profession its limp
reputation."
 Stadson merely looks up after this long speech and states, "This is not
the way a psychiatrist should talk."

* * *

 The next day, Geiger is finishing up another procedure in the O.R.  A
nurse informs him that Birch is outside waiting to see him.  Geiger tells
him that Alicia's heart is pumping fine, that all she has is a small
effusion, which should resolve itself.  Birch tells him he wants the case
reassigned to another doctor.  
 Geiger is taken aback, but realizes he cannot reason with Birch at this
point.  "You want another doctor?  Get yourself another doctor."  
 He starts to walk away, but Birch isn't finished making his point.
 "Problem with you is, you're *happy.*  That's the problem with you,"
Birch accuses.
 "I beg your pardon?"
 "Infante.  She's knocked you off your game,"  Birch says bitterly.  He
goes on to say that Geiger has always been angry, and has channeled that
anger into his work.  
 "That's what makes you brilliant," Birch says.  "You told me one of the
reasons you sing in the room is to fight off the rage.  Well, you haven't
been singing in the O.R., Jeffrey."
 "When things are deadly serious, I usually don't sing, Alan," Geiger
responds, intensely quiet.  "That was me concentrating in there. 
Concentrating, on your daughter."
 Birch is in denial.  "I don't think so.  The old Jeffrey Geiger would
have fixed Alicia, simple."
 Geiger approaches Birch, scowling at the floor, but still deadly calm.  
"With all due respect to your emotional predicament, the old Jeffrey
Geiger is about to emerge and step on your head."
 Birch restates that he wants another doctor, wheels around and passes
Infante, who has been standing at the door, listening.  As he passes her,
he mutters, "You're ruining him."
 Infante walks toward Geiger with a little shrug directed behind her, and
soothes, "His child's in critical condition.  He's upset.  Let him be."
 "Geri, don't handle me, OK?"  Geiger snaps.
 ''I'm not trying to do that,'' she says.
 ''Yeah, right,'' Geiger says and leaves.
 
* * *

 Bagley and Camille (still dressed as Dorothy) are laughing in his room. 
She admits she pretended to be Dorothy as a little girl, so when he had
called her Judy Garland, "it was a little spooky."  Gently, she asks him
why he loves the movie so much.
 He becomes very nervous, fiddling with his hair surreptitiously.  
 He tries to explain that it was a classic, that he used to watch it every
year with his family.  
 Camille gently prompts, "Tell me about your family."
 He brushes off her question, and begins to talk more about the movie.  He
gets up and walks to the window, sadly singing "Over the Rainbow" to
himself.  Kadalski listens outside the room, contemplating his next step
in Bagley's treatment.

* * *

ACT FOUR

 Shutt is in Robertson's room, telling him he'd like to run another MRI to
discover the problem with his personality change.  Robertson, who is
calculating the day's receipts in bed, denies having a problem.  He points
out that his business has already done better in one day.  He says that
being "Mr. Teddy Bear" hasn't gotten him anywhere, and adds, "Fear is a
much better motivator than kindness." 
 Eleanor reminds him, "Honey.  It's a *dry cleaners*.  And we were
*happy*."
 "Yeah, well, now it's time to get some respect, right?"  He looks to
Shutt for approval. Shutt does not provide it.

 Back in his room, Bagley and Camille are singing, "It really was not
miracle, what happened was just this . . . ."  They argue good-naturedly
about the order of the words, and suddenly Camille gets serious, asking
him about his family.  She tells him that he has mentioned his parents
fought a lot and hit him, and that every time she brings this up, he
launches into another game about "The Wizard of Oz."  
 Bagley feels betrayed, asking her if she's wired for sound.  She tells
him she is not, and asks him why his fixation on "The Wizard of Oz."
 Kadalski enters as he explains that as children, they all gathered around
the television to watch the movie, and eat popcorn.  "And it would all
stop," he says.
 Kadalski enters the room and prods him gently.  "The fighting?  The
abuse? For two hours you were a happy family.  And it was magic.  That
*movie* worked  magic."
 Bagley gives him a look and asks, "They pay you a lot for that kind of
psychobabble?"
 Kadalski, who has just been accused of this at the Executive Committee,
hides his hurt and answers him lightly, "Not too much, but I . . . I've
made some savvy investments, and I'm financially secure."
 Feeling ganged up on, Bagley asks them to leave.  
 Camille soothes him, saying that he is "a pretty smart guy" and should
realize the operation is necessary.  "Let us help you, Louis."

* * *

 In the Pediatric ICU, Birch is talking to Alicia.  
 "Here I am.  Daddy's right here.  Can you see me, honey?"
 Geiger appears behind him and says quietly, "I see you . . . Honey."  
 He checks her heartbeat and tells Birch that she is doing well, though
she is not out of the woods yet.
 Birch apologizes for his outburst earlier, and assures Geiger he is glad
that he's been happy.  
 "I got rounds," Geiger says gently.  "Stay here and love your kid."

* * *

 In the O.R., Kronk is removing the hairball from Bagley's intestines, and
Nyland is assisting.  Kronk sings "Start the Car." (coincidentally, the
theme song to a movie called "Aspen Extreme," starring Peter Berg.)
 Nyland looks at Kronk and says, "Could you not sing?"
 "What, Geiger sings," Kronk protests.  "Nobody tells Geiger not to sing."
 "Yeah, but Geiger can sing.  You suck."
 Kronk looks to the nurse, who confirms, "You do."
 Kronk ignores them
 Meanwhile, in the Observation Room, Camille asks Kadalski what he plans
for the ongoing treatment of Bagley's illness.  Watters walks in, and
informs Kadalski that although he had fought hard for him, the Executive
Committee had voted to terminate his employment.  Kadalski assures him
that he has had no shortage of offers, and tells him, "Don't worry about
me."

* * *
 
 As Robertson checks out, Shutt wishes him and his wife luck.    
 Robertson looks happy and excited.  "New life, new me!"
 But Eleanor looks nervous and depressed.
 "Like he says . . . new life . . ." she echoes.

* * *

 Later that night, Birch is exhausted as he watches Alicia.  Watters
enters with a soft, "Hey."  He tells him that everyone says she looks
great.
 Birch smiles tremulously. 
          "One of the nurses, who, um . . . she didn't know the adoption
story?  She thought Alicia looked like me, and I thought . . . I dunno,
it's a little silly, but . . . maybe . . ."
          Watters tells him he can see it.
          Suddenly all the waiting and worrying and lack of rest gets to
Birch, and he begins to weep.  Watters gives his shoulder a paternal
squeeze.  
          Birch apologizes, but Watters tells him he doesn't have to be
sorry.   
          He pulls himself together enough to say with confidence, "She's
gonna be OK."
          "Oh . . . Yes, she is.  Oh, yes, she is," Watters says.
          Birch breaks down again, and Watters pulls his head to his chest
with his left hand, and embraces him.
* * *
          Ben E. King is singing "Stand By Me" in a nightclub as Infante
and Geiger dance.
          "You dance a little . . . rigid," Infante says.
          "That's the way I dance.  I'm a rigid dancer."
          "Can I ask you a small favor?"
          "Sure."
          "Can I lead?"
          Geiger responds gravely, "Geri?"
          "What?"
          "You've been doing *all* the leading."
          Infante is silent for a moment.
          "Well, can I ask you a bigger favor?" she asks.
          "What?"   
          "Could *you* lead?"
          Geiger looks at her seriously.
          "That could be a problem, too.  See, this is . . . I dunno, this
is new for me.  It's not that I haven't dated.  I went out on dates while
Laurie was . . . but I . . . um . . . This is different.  You're different
. . . Leading with you is different."
          "Well, how 'bout neither of us leading.  How 'bout we just . . .
hold onto each other and see if we can make it to the end of the song."
          "That I can do," Geiger responds.
          "Then if there's another song after this one . . . Great.  One
song at a time."
          Geiger is starting to feel a little freer.  "Who knows how many
songs there'll be?"
          "This could be the last," Infante says.
          "Or there could be more, we don't know," Geiger says.
          "We don't know."
          Geiger smiles, an enormous burden lifted from his shoulders.  He
kisses her.  
          "Thank you," he says.  
          They kiss again.  He kisses her cheek, nearing her ear, and she
shrinks back slightly.  "Stay away from my earring!"
          "You got it," he assures her, as he continues to tease, then
kisses her softly as the music fades.

END

**********************************************************
JEN'S RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
          Louis Bagley is in many ways a typical DEK* "wacko," in that he
seems to know himself, and speaks very articulately and lucidly.  If you
didn't know better, you would think he were mentally healthy.
          Nyland subtly demonstrates his womanizing nature when he bumps
into the candy striper's balloon after the "unflinching confirmation"
about Camille, turns, and gives her a look similar to the look he gave
Camille.
          To me, the theme of this episode is the dichotomy of
Helplessness and Empowerment.  Birch cannot help Alicia, but Geiger has
the power to save her.  When complications arise, Birch blames his hero,
even though he knows logically that it is not his fault.  He grasps at
straws in order to feel he has some control over his daughter's fate, and
he asks that another doctor be assigned to her case.
          Shutt feels powerless to save Robertson's personality, even
though he was able to save his life.  That the man did not suffer more
cognitive damage than he had, was deemed a "miracle" by Shutt, something
he would have no control over.  Even when he offered to try more tests to
determine a way to get Robertson's personality back, Robertson refused his
help, and Eleanor is helpless to convince him otherwise.
          Kronk is unable to help Bagley until he gives his consent to
surgery.  It is the memory of a children's movie, and of his happier
childhood memories, that have the power to change his mind.   
          Kadalski, even though his treatment of Bagley worked, is
helpless to save his own job, and Watters, despite his authority as Chief
of Staff, is unable to argue successfully in his favor.
          Infante treats Geiger as though he were a helpless child,
constantly mothering him, doing "all the leading."  Geiger debates
internally whether to submit to her maternal powers, or reject her, as he
has rejected everyone else since Laurie.  In retrospect, after having seen
the last two episodes of the first season, it is clear that Infante's
mothering nature appeals to Geiger, but ultimately costs them their
relationship.
          The episode is also about trust.  Camille, unlike Stadson and
Halpern, trusts Kadalski and Kronk's assessment that risking humiliation
and dressing as Dorothy will save Bagley's life, and in doing so, Camille
must earn the trust of Bagley for him to consent to surgery.  Birch has a
hard time trusting Geiger, when complications arise in Alicia's condition.
 Robertson wants Eleanor to trust that his personality change is for the
better.  
          Another recurring theme in DEK's works is that of Respect. 
Robertson wants it, so he goes from "Mr. Teddy Bear" to a foul-mouthed,
hard-edged businessman who fires his friends in order to profit.
          I have read comparisons between "Chicago Hope" and "M*A*S*H." 
Geiger is compared with Hawkeye and Birch is compared with Radar.  The
scenes between Geiger and Birch in this episode remind me of an episode of
"M*A*S*H" in which Hawkeye walks out of the O.R. because he is drunk. 
Radar, who worships Hawkeye like a hero, becomes very angry and
disillusioned, saying very hurtful things to him.  Similarly, Birch
becomes very angry with Geiger on a personal level, not just because his
daughter's life is at stake, but I think because he is disillusioned by
his hero.

*David E. Kelley, creator and executive producer

**********************************************************
YOLETTE'S RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS:

          Peter MacNicol in this episode demonstrated what I sincerely
believe should have been an Emmy award-winning performance.  The depth of
emotion, the fear, the panic, the confusion and hope that he communicated
to the audience was truly moving, as well as awe-inspiring.  After
watching this episode, I was stunned at by his sheer talent.
          This is also the first episode that we see Geiger truly unwind.
Dancing stiffly with Geri to Ben E. King with a big grin on his face and
exchanging silly banter, we'd never seen him happier. It was nice to see
the dimples.