The price of milk was WHAT?
Apr. 28th, 2024 03:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessCardiac Arrest
2.06 The Critical Hour
I thought this would be the season finale, as the first series was only six episodes long, so despite the catharsis of the final scene, I was a bit puzzled as to why so many storylines were left dangling. Turns out the second series is longer (there are only 27 episodes in total, and they’re 30 minutes long so far.) Anyway, the surgeon with the Jag got slightly humanised, for he seemed to care as much about his patient, a child in a road traffic accident, as his car and the car that had hurt the child in this episode. Still, he didn’t come off well in comparison with Mr Docherty, who came in cycling, while he followed the ambulance in his Jag and parked it in an emergency space, partly because he knew the case was rugent. Ah well, his car would get towed for that.
Docherty proved his value by being able to drill into the patient’s skull (some truly squicky moments this episode) because he hadn’t overspecialised. Dr Jag of the new school of consultant surgeons did not like Scissors showing an interest in Docherty’s work as well as his. He was grumbling that the hospital wouldn’t run to a neurosurgery department.
Thing is, under its current evil hospital manager, it was pushing Docherty out, (although I snorted at the adjective when he talked about preparing to take early retirement.) Dr Jag also had a scene where he bonded a bit with the sister’s son – despite the class divide of a rugger player deigning to play football (my beef was that this was indoors in a corridor) – and tried to push that he was the boy’s father. The sister said no in a way that suggested he was, but like, what’s he going to do? Force a paternity test (did they have reliable ones then?) Pay maintenance? He seems to just like the idea rather than being up for the responsibility. So, I can get why that and whatever went down after the kid was conceived are making her act like this.
The evil hospital manager had another concern that I’ll come to, but was more interested in (a) booking a five star hotel for the first conference he’d be holding, and (b) filming a PR video. This would involve some of the regular cast fake acting, but when we saw the final video put together, it was almost cartoonish, with the evil hospital manager cosplaying being a consultant, surgeon and medic and getting all the lines, when we knew he was actually all about undermining the good doctors and patient care for the bottom line/wrong priorities.
Raj was a prat for most of the episode, except in one scene with a patient with a nasty looking fracture. The patient disclosed he was HIV positive, that male nurse looked disgusted (dude, it’s the 90s), and Raj reprimanded him and calmly did a thing to realign the bones, although he took his glove off to suck at a cut he’d got (maybe he should have double gloved or something – I don’t know what the protocol was.) Anyway, good on non-judgmental Raj for treating the patient like anybody else (if that was the protocol.)
BAD SCRIPTWRITER on following it up with the next scene. We had previously learned that closeted James had had a thing with the main guy shooting the PR video, but was acting like he didn’t know him, turning him down for a date that night, saying he didn’t feel well. (Backed up by previous behaviour.) Turned out that in the scene after the HIV positive patient, he was checking the back of his throat. Whatever do you think he was worried about? BAD SCRIPTWRITER.
James arranged to see Yates, and quite coolly admitted to being bisexual (I tend to think he’s more gay from what we’ve seen on the show so far) and that it had been years since he was tested for HIV. He was about to get tested for it and AIDS now… I would quibble that how James acted in that scene did not correspond at all with the persona he’s been putting on for all the show’s run, but if you were going to trust in a senior doctor’s confidentiality, Yates would be one of them.
Very little Andrew and the posh newbie this episode. But Andrew did have time to confide in his ex that his wife had put the stop on their sex life because of her ‘handicapped sister’. Poor Mrs Andrew, she’s as broadly drawn as Raj’s mum.
But the actual throughline of the episode was Claire. Despite being warned and, indeed, threatened not to, she was refusing to cover up and pass over the fatal lack of ENT cover. Evil hospital manager and her slimy boss, Turner, tried the ‘it’ll ruin your career’ card, and she didn’t care. So she released the story to the local press and cared even less about her work, refusing to answer the beeper (Yates had to cover for her and tried to get her to take sick leave, she refused) and pushing Scissors away every time he tried to talk to her about what was going on with her. The last time, he got out of their bed, she hurled one last insult at him, and he was off driving fast to rock music (not drunk, just upset and possibly sleep deprived.) Next thing we know, he was coming to upside down in the car (clearly they didn’t have enough budget to show the accident a la Casualty). He shouted at the paramedics that he was in a bad way and his body was shutting down if they didn’t do what he said.
Weirdly, the next morning, Claire knew nothing of this, as she was hauled in front of the evil hospital manager again. He couldn’t sack her for the whistleblowing, BUT he could suspend her for not repaying the hospital for that milk (37p for a pint in those days. BRAINSCRAMBLING in 2024.) Just as she was putting her things away in the car, who did she see but the widow of the haemophiliac patient? (They had set up that she was coming to see the manager about compensation after recognising that Claire’s story was about her husband, but fancy that!) She was more than kind, and Claire (CLAIRE!) broke down, repeating how sorry she was.
So, as ever, wildly uneven and sometimes very clearly the work of an inexperienced scriptwriter (sorry, Jed Mercurio, but that’s what you were).
2.06 The Critical Hour
I thought this would be the season finale, as the first series was only six episodes long, so despite the catharsis of the final scene, I was a bit puzzled as to why so many storylines were left dangling. Turns out the second series is longer (there are only 27 episodes in total, and they’re 30 minutes long so far.) Anyway, the surgeon with the Jag got slightly humanised, for he seemed to care as much about his patient, a child in a road traffic accident, as his car and the car that had hurt the child in this episode. Still, he didn’t come off well in comparison with Mr Docherty, who came in cycling, while he followed the ambulance in his Jag and parked it in an emergency space, partly because he knew the case was rugent. Ah well, his car would get towed for that.
Docherty proved his value by being able to drill into the patient’s skull (some truly squicky moments this episode) because he hadn’t overspecialised. Dr Jag of the new school of consultant surgeons did not like Scissors showing an interest in Docherty’s work as well as his. He was grumbling that the hospital wouldn’t run to a neurosurgery department.
Thing is, under its current evil hospital manager, it was pushing Docherty out, (although I snorted at the adjective when he talked about preparing to take early retirement.) Dr Jag also had a scene where he bonded a bit with the sister’s son – despite the class divide of a rugger player deigning to play football (my beef was that this was indoors in a corridor) – and tried to push that he was the boy’s father. The sister said no in a way that suggested he was, but like, what’s he going to do? Force a paternity test (did they have reliable ones then?) Pay maintenance? He seems to just like the idea rather than being up for the responsibility. So, I can get why that and whatever went down after the kid was conceived are making her act like this.
The evil hospital manager had another concern that I’ll come to, but was more interested in (a) booking a five star hotel for the first conference he’d be holding, and (b) filming a PR video. This would involve some of the regular cast fake acting, but when we saw the final video put together, it was almost cartoonish, with the evil hospital manager cosplaying being a consultant, surgeon and medic and getting all the lines, when we knew he was actually all about undermining the good doctors and patient care for the bottom line/wrong priorities.
Raj was a prat for most of the episode, except in one scene with a patient with a nasty looking fracture. The patient disclosed he was HIV positive, that male nurse looked disgusted (dude, it’s the 90s), and Raj reprimanded him and calmly did a thing to realign the bones, although he took his glove off to suck at a cut he’d got (maybe he should have double gloved or something – I don’t know what the protocol was.) Anyway, good on non-judgmental Raj for treating the patient like anybody else (if that was the protocol.)
BAD SCRIPTWRITER on following it up with the next scene. We had previously learned that closeted James had had a thing with the main guy shooting the PR video, but was acting like he didn’t know him, turning him down for a date that night, saying he didn’t feel well. (Backed up by previous behaviour.) Turned out that in the scene after the HIV positive patient, he was checking the back of his throat. Whatever do you think he was worried about? BAD SCRIPTWRITER.
James arranged to see Yates, and quite coolly admitted to being bisexual (I tend to think he’s more gay from what we’ve seen on the show so far) and that it had been years since he was tested for HIV. He was about to get tested for it and AIDS now… I would quibble that how James acted in that scene did not correspond at all with the persona he’s been putting on for all the show’s run, but if you were going to trust in a senior doctor’s confidentiality, Yates would be one of them.
Very little Andrew and the posh newbie this episode. But Andrew did have time to confide in his ex that his wife had put the stop on their sex life because of her ‘handicapped sister’. Poor Mrs Andrew, she’s as broadly drawn as Raj’s mum.
But the actual throughline of the episode was Claire. Despite being warned and, indeed, threatened not to, she was refusing to cover up and pass over the fatal lack of ENT cover. Evil hospital manager and her slimy boss, Turner, tried the ‘it’ll ruin your career’ card, and she didn’t care. So she released the story to the local press and cared even less about her work, refusing to answer the beeper (Yates had to cover for her and tried to get her to take sick leave, she refused) and pushing Scissors away every time he tried to talk to her about what was going on with her. The last time, he got out of their bed, she hurled one last insult at him, and he was off driving fast to rock music (not drunk, just upset and possibly sleep deprived.) Next thing we know, he was coming to upside down in the car (clearly they didn’t have enough budget to show the accident a la Casualty). He shouted at the paramedics that he was in a bad way and his body was shutting down if they didn’t do what he said.
Weirdly, the next morning, Claire knew nothing of this, as she was hauled in front of the evil hospital manager again. He couldn’t sack her for the whistleblowing, BUT he could suspend her for not repaying the hospital for that milk (37p for a pint in those days. BRAINSCRAMBLING in 2024.) Just as she was putting her things away in the car, who did she see but the widow of the haemophiliac patient? (They had set up that she was coming to see the manager about compensation after recognising that Claire’s story was about her husband, but fancy that!) She was more than kind, and Claire (CLAIRE!) broke down, repeating how sorry she was.
So, as ever, wildly uneven and sometimes very clearly the work of an inexperienced scriptwriter (sorry, Jed Mercurio, but that’s what you were).
