Anyway, the episode begins with a crowded, as always, ER. In comes a male patient, who has a terrible cough and is requesting treatment. After a long wait, finally Wilkes takes him for examination and, upon checking him out, decides that the man, Mr. Carroll, needs a chest x-ray, and sends him for one. Upon looking over the x-rays and speaking with another CH doctor who treated Carroll previously, Wilkes determines that the man has tuberculosis and a very serious strain at that. Mr. Carroll is also a train operator and throughout the episode, Geiger, who, as we know, has a profound interest in trains, comes to talk to him and, in a way, worship the man. Anyway, since Carroll's TB is so serious, Watters comes to the conclusion that the man needs to have part of his lung removed using an operation that has been abandoned for several decades. Wilkes hears this and suggests that they call on Dr. Odelia Wilkes, who happens to be Keith's estranged aunt, who is also one of the best doctors who still knows how to perform the lobectomy. So, Watters calls her and she flies to CH. As soon as she arrives, the tension between her and her nephew is obvious. As time goes by, we find out that Keith's mother died of diabetes when he was young and Keith called Odelia for help on the night that she died, but Odelia refused to answer the call.
So, Odelia goes in to perform the operation, with Geiger assisting, and as she's finishing, she and Geiger have a tiff over how to close up the lung, and Geiger finally wins out over her. Later on, though, Odelia has to go back in because of complications and it becomes apparent that Geiger was wrong and should have allowed Odelia to do as she planned.
Also, Keith, who was exposed to the TB, is tested and tests positive, so he has to start a course of experimental drugs which make him quite sick. At the end of the episode, Odelia goes to visit him and she tries to explain why she ignored his plea for help the night of his mother's death. At the end of their conversation, it seems as though they may be able to develop a more friendly relationship.
Gina takes a patient whose twin sister recently died of leukemia and who appears to feel very guilty about the incident and her failed relationship with her sister. Throughout the course of the episode, the woman displays many different symptoms, such as walking into walls and seizures, but Gina can't seem to pinpoint exactly what's wrong with the woman. All the while, the woman's husband grows less and less confident with Gina's treatment. Eventually, after consulting Aaron numerous times, Gina comes to a conclusion; the woman also has cancer, but it can be treated. After the husband initially tries to take his wife from the hospital because he does not trust Gina, Gina eventually convinces him to allow her to stay to receive the treatment she needs.
Finally, Alberghetti has been asked to be the keynote speaker at a dinner, and she cannot think of a topic. Meanwhile, both Alberghetti and Hanlon are familiar with Odelia Wilkes and feel completely inspired by her. So, they ask her out to dinner and listen to her stories of the difficulties she had being the first female doctor in her field. Alberghetti decides that Odelia is a great person to centre her speech around, and at the end of the episode, we hear the first words of it, which is inspiring as well as a tribute to doctors like Odelia.
Anyway, I actually liked this episode a lot better than I've liked some of the other recent CH eppys. I really enjoyed Geiger interacting with Mr. Carroll; it was funny as well as touching. Another interesting thing about this episode is that we get to witness two sides of Geiger - both the emotional side who cares about Mr. Carroll (and trains), and the overbearing, chauvinist side, that believes that men make better doctors than women. I enjoyed that. I also adored the interactions between Odelia and Keith - Keith is actually an interesting character, but so often his plot lines are very superficial and uninvolved. I love it when we get to learn a little more about who he is, and when we get to see the emotional side that he has. By the way, don't CH fans really miss Raymond, Keith's son? Raymond was so cute, and a great actor, which led to really nice scenes between him and Keith.
Anyway, I didn't particularly enjoy Gina's storyline, but it was along the same vein as the "letting go" theme of the episode, so at least that's something. All-in-all, this episode was a huge improvement from the past two or three episode, although still not up to the high quality that CH has displayed in the past. As a little aside, I recently re-watched the first two episodes of this season, and found that they were quite good, so there is definitely, in my opinion, still hope for Chicago Hope this season.
