Daily Updates

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!!!!
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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