For those of us who are fans of the obnoxious and yet hilariously entertaining Joe Cacaci, this episode was a real tragedy - because tonight, Joe jumped off the sixth floor roof of the hospital.
Before the episode begins, we are treated to "previously on Chicago Hope", in which we are shown a plethora of clips of people mistreating Cacaci. At the beginning of the episode, we see more of the same; Jack being not-so-friendly at the vending machine, and Aaron suggesting that perhaps he should be encouraging Joe to smoke since it will kill him. Shortly after his encounter with Aaron, Cacaci (who has cream filling on his lip), goes to the sixth floor roof, folds his glasses neatly in his pocked, and simply steps over the edge.
Next, we see him being rolled onto a stretcher outside the hospital (a part of the building which, as far as I know, we have never seen before) and he is taken into the ER. Although his body is, of course, badly mangled, Aaron eventually recognizes him and expresses shock at the revelation, as do the other doctors. Cacaci is taken to surgery, where all of our favorite surgeons (Aaron, Gina, Alberghetti, Philip, McNeil and Hamlin) take time out of their hectic schedules to perform at least a part of the operation. Aaron is most vigilant and demands that everything possible must be done to restore Cacaci's life.
Meanwhile, a detective comes into the hospital to investigate the possibility of a homicide, and in tow with him is Petina, Joe's fiancee, who says that Joe would never have committed suicide since he just proposed to her two days before. Throughout the episode, four of Cacaci's previous five wives arrive at the hospital and reveal that Joe was a caring, loving man and a sensitive romantic - of course, this greatly surprises the staff at Chicago Hope.
While the massive surgeries continue, Jack wonders why Cacaci isn't already dead, considering he fell six floors and landed on the sidewalk. But for some reason, he doesn't seem to be able to die. At one point in the surgery, Cacaci even wakes up and says "let me die", but Aaron refuses to listen, insisting that Cacaci uttered "let me fly", despite the fact that Jack, Gina and Alberghetti all agree that he requested death. Although Joe goes into cardiac arrest for a short time, with Aaron's persistence, he is revived. Jack has to amputate his leg, but later Joe comes out of surgery and his fiancee gets to visit him. She appears angry at him, however, since she now knows that everyone in the hospital hates the man that she found so endearing.
Throughout this, Aaron gets increasingly angry at McNeil for his "Cacaci should be dead dead dead" mentality and confronts Philip. Philip says McNeil is merely dealing with the fact that any of the doctors at Hope could have done what Cacaci did; the possibility of that scares him. Near the end of the show, we see Aaron rushing to Cacaci's room. Gina is already there and she reveals that Joe has breathed his last. In response, Aaron goes to see Geiger and the inference is that Aaron needs to know that no one important to him, such as Geiger, is going to kill themselves as Cacaci has done. At the very end, we see Aaron leaving the hospital, and walking past one solitary worker still trying to erase Cacaci's blood from the pavement.
As I mentioned before, I was a fan of Cacaci. In an episode a few seasons ago, he and Kate went to a "sensitivity seminar" together and he was magnificently humorous. I think this season he has been painted as a more bitter man, when in previous seasons he was merely annoying. And in my opinion, the other doctors have been meaner to him than usual as well. Anyway, I will miss the comic relief provided by Cacaci but I did enjoy the episode. I'm really beginning to like the segments with Hamlin - she is a great character who can be both funny and emotional and I think that with a little more character development, she'll be fantastic. I also like the fact that in the past few episodes we are seeing more sides of McNeil, giving Mark Harmon a better chance to show off what a good actor he can be.
As for the general plot, I think it will be interesting to see how the characters deal with Cacaci's suicide in the future and I will be sorely disappointed if everyone simply forgets that he ever existed by next week.
Finally, I must say that Mandy Patinkin is just fabulous. He never fails to make me laugh or feel or think. In this episode, Geiger was the gentle friend of Aaron as well as the matter-of-fact hospital head. And, as usual, Patinkin did a great job of portraying both of these states.
So, all in all, a good episode; hopefully future interesting plots will fill the void created by the loss of Cacaci. Oh, just as a little side point, this is one more old character who has been wiped from the cast…sad, isn't it?
