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From: rika1@mindspring.com (Rika) Subject: PC: Update, Tuesday, 10/21/97 Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 17:08:28 GMT X-Server-Date: 25 Oct 1997 17:09:45 GMT PORT CHARLES UPDATE Tuesday, October 21, 1997 TODAY'S STORYLINES: It's Insufferable Surgeon Day!!!! ------------------- Today's show is motivated primarily by the actions of two arrogant, infuriating surgeons - Boardman and Devlin. Could someone please tell me again why the interns are all so excited to be surgeons and spend the rest of their lives associating with jerks like these two? (Except for Chris, of course - *that* makes perfect sense. He's just seeking out his own kind.) * In Which Boardman Makes Everyone Miserable * In Which Devlin Makes Everyone Miserable IN WHICH BOARDMAN MAKES EVERYONE MISERABLE ------------------------------------------ Ellen approaches Karen and Matt and shows them Boardman's new surgical rotation schedule. Karen and Matt's names - big surprise here - are conspicuous in their absence. Karen is on suspension and Boardman won't let Matt in the OR. Karen, who apparently doesn't have to reorganize the supply closet today, heads off to the Recovery Room. Joe finds her there. She tells him she's off the surgical rotation. Karen then tells Joe about Matt's exclusion from the rotation. Joe is incensed - this is discrimination. Ellen arrives just in time to overhear them, and she tells them to "stop gossiping and get a life." (Ah, but apparently eavesdropping on private conversations in a bar constitutes having a life. Sure. Whatever.) She agrees that it's unfair to Matt, but maybe not to the patients. What if Matt had a muscle spasm in the middle of a craniotomy? What if he didn't have the stamina for a lengthy operation? Karen and Joe think she's dealing too much in "what ifs"; Ellen responds that in a perfect world Matt would get his chance, but this isn't a perfect world. When we return to them, Ellen is gone and Matt has arrived. They discuss Boardman's attitude towards Matt. He says his spasms can be controlled with medication, and with the right equipment he can reach anywhere he needs to. But the important thing is that surgery is a mind game. It takes guts and arrogance to do the job. He's fascinated with the human body, and with the idea of finding ways to fix things that go wrong. Joe tells a story about a woman with a prosthetic lower leg who wanted to be a paramedic. The other paramedics supported her and helped her to get the job. Maybe the interns can do the same thing for Matt. Matt is touched and a little bit embarrassed - he even blushes (and he sure looked cute when he blushed). Joe calls Burgess to ask her advice, and she tells Joe that it can't hurt to try an interns' petition on Matt's behalf. Matt returns to the hospital. Joe and Karen, suddenly alone at the table, are a bit awkward with one another. Joe tells Karen that if she needs to talk about anything, he's there for her. Back at the ER, Boardman is working on a victim of an auto accident and yells that he needs assistance; Matt offers to help. Boardman responds, "Not you," and sends Matt off to stitch up someone with a head laceration. IN WHICH DEVLIN MAKES EVERYONE MISERABLE ---------------------------------------- Julie finds Eve and Bennett together in the OCR. Bennett starts to try to explain away what Julie saw, but she stops him - "I know what I saw: you, kissing my half-naked roommate." (Yeah, Julie, that sums it rather succinctly.) Scott's arrival breaks up this cheery little gathering. He can tell he's interrupting something, but Eve is probably glad for the reprieve. She and Scott leave Julie and Bennett alone. Julie confronts Bennett about the affair. Eve told her about her affair with a married man (back before she knew Bennett was Julie's father); the man's line was, "My wife just doesn't understand me." So, Julie asks, Mom didn't understand you? What more did she need to do? She tolerated Bennett's crazy schedule, she built her life around him. Bennett blames it on Buddy's death - it was a terrible time in the marriage because they each blamed the other for his death. He tells Julie he feels terrible about it - and she shouldn't judge what she doesn't understand. (Ah, so now his DAUGHTER just doesn't understand him either. Okey dokey.) Bennett tells Julie his version of his involvement with Eve. He was alone in Minnesota, mourning Buddy. Teaching was an escape from despair, and Eve was the best student he'd ever encountered. He tells Julie that Eve pursued him. Bennett claims his wife wouldn't have cared about his having an affair at the time, because she didn't care about *him* then. He was full of darkness, and Eve helped him through. Julie asks why he didn't go to a shrink instead of having an affair. (Good question, but we all know the answer - that wasn't quite the sort of "therapy" Bennett had in mind on those cold winter nights.) He assures her that he's regretted it ever since and it will never happen again. "Unless," Julie retorts, "You decide you need more *help*." (She shoots, she scores!!!) He admits that he's not perfect. He tries to be, he pretends to be, but sometimes he gets tired. He hopes that some day she will find a way to forgive him. "Don't hold your breath," she advises, leaving the room. Out in the lobby with Scott, Eve is annoyed - she told him she'd call when she got his test results, so why can't he be patient? Scott can tell something is wrong with Eve - he asks if Devlin has been bothering her. "His breathing bothers me," she shoots back. She tells Scott about Julie finding her kissing Bennett in the OCR. She assures Scott that she didn't want it to happen. Scott figures that's what she gets for getting involved with someone like Bennett. She admits that she makes mistakes - "I associate with you, don't I?" Scott objects to being in Bennett's category: "I'm not some kind of jerk running around hitting on young interns." Eve asks the obvious question: "Well, what kind of jerk are you?" (Your updater's hand shoots up. May I answer this one? PLEASE???) Well, he replies, not the kind to get mixed up with someone like Devlin. (Agreed - he and Bennett wouldn't be a particularly cute couple.) Eve turns the tables - so, have all of *his* partners been perfect? Scott admits he's had some nutty ones. This predictably brings Lucy to Eve's mind. Oh, Scott assures her, Lucy is normal compared to one whose "fangs came out at happy hour." But he plunged his "big silver stake" through her heart. (Katherine Bell, perhaps?) Eve chides him: "A gentleman doesn't stab and tell." Scott sums up his relationships - some laughs, some fun, a little sex. So, what did Devlin have to offer? Eve shakes her head. "A lady never tells either." Did she love him? Eve protests (a bit too much, methinks), "Oh, come on, do I look stupid?" She was "on the learning curve of life," and now she thinks nuns have the right idea. Devlin hurt her a lot, though she saw through him eventually. And now Julie hates her, but Bennett will probably find a way to "wiggle off the hook" with Julie. Her beeper goes off - it's Jake. Scott's blood tested positive for drugs. She assures him that lots of things can cause a false positive: cold pills, even poppyseed muffins. Scott insists that's not it, not with the hallucinations he had. Eve worries that he has an aneurism, but Scott rejects that idea. Eve goes back to the OCR and tries to apologize to Julie. She suggests that maybe Julie's parents just didn't get along. Oh, yeah, Julie shoots back, you'd *like* to believe that. She accuses Eve of throwing herself at Bennett. Julie's beeper goes off - the ER needs help with victims of a highway accident. Down in the ER, Frank and other EMT's bring in an accident victim. (NOTE - I've always found it strange that we haven't seen Frank *being* an EMT that often. It's a perfect way to get him into the hospital and mixing with the various doctors and nurses. This was good.) Julie and Eve arrive and they are assigned to work together on the patient. They agree they can work together, but Julie has to get in another little dig: "I can work with anyone, even a slut like you." Elsewhere in the hospital, Bennett and Scott see each other. Bennett snipes, "I see you can walk a straight line today." When challenged by Scott, he remarks that "the effects of the drugs seem to have worn off." Scott says he was sick, but he doesn't have to explain "to a bum like you." Bennett tells him he's too old to be messing with drugs - it's not good behavior for a responsible parent. Scott makes the obvious "pot and kettle" connection - who is Bennett to talk about fatherhood when he runs around hitting on interns. Bennett remarks that Scott is "Eve's protector now." No, Scott corrects him, I'm her friend. Bennett advises him to reconsider that, because "she doesn't come cheap." Scott starts to walk away, and then turns back and punches Bennett in the jaw. Bennett falls to the floor, stunned, while Scott stands over him smiling and asks, "How did you like that, big mouth?" What a nice way to end the show! ---------------- by Rika, Tuesday updater