Before I begin, I must apologize for a big oversight that I have made regarding the spelling of Lauren Holly's character's name. I had been spelling her surname Hamlin, when in fact it should be spelled Hanlon. So if you look back at previous episodes and see me referring to Hamlin, that is supposed to be Hanlon. Thanks to the fan who informed me of my error, and I apologize for any confusion this caused.
Alright, so, this week's episode. A transplant arrives at the hospital (which is supposed to be a heart and lungs) and Alberghetti informs a boy named Walter that he will be receiving his transplant. She takes him to the OR and opens him up in preparation for the surgery. However, when the transplant organs are brought into the OR and opened, the box turns out to hold only a liver and not the necessarily heart and lungs. Eventually, we find out that another hospital received the heart and lungs and threw them out. Alberghetti is forced to admit that the boy does not have much time to live, and unless he gets new organs within the next day or so he will die. Alberghetti, determined to at least prolong the life of her patient, checks on the internet and finds out that a man in Sri Lanka has developed a procedure that should be able to buy the boy a year until new organs become available. Of course, this procedure has never been done except by one surgeon in Sri Lanka, and it hasn't even been recorded in any medical journals or articles. Geiger finally agrees to try it, as does the mother, and they decide to fly in the doctor to perform it. However, it turns out that he has another identical operation booked for that evening, and cannot be flown in. Finally, they decide to hook up televisions and perform the operation together, with the Sri Lankan doctor guiding them as he operates.
Meanwhile, Geiger is helping Alicia prepare for her Thanksgiving pageant. She is playing a turkey and Geiger continually tells her that she is singing off-key or that she needs to dance while she sings. Later Alicia asks if Geiger is disappointed in her because she's just a turkey, but he says that he's proud of her and the reason for his pushing her to do more things is because his mother found fault in everything he did. He tells her that whenever he pushes her, she should say "Shut up Grandma!". The pageant is on the same night as the exciting operation.
Aaron is not pleased with the idea of performing the surgery by cameras as he feels that it is a liability for the hospital and will reduce the hospital's reputation. He suggests that Geiger just wants to do it because he'll be the first person performing it in North America, but Geiger informs him politely that in fact Alberghetti will be performing the operation. Later on, Gina argues with Aaron, saying: "This is an important procedure.", to which Aaron replies: "Oh, of course it is, it's on television." Which is nice, Chicago Hope poking a little fun at itself.
So, they prepare for surgery. It turns out the Sri Lankan doctor doesn't speak English so an interpreter is needed. Alberghetti asks Geiger to assist in the OR but Geiger says he can't because he's going to Alicia's pageant. Alberghetti begins. The other doctor's first words to her are: "Pay attention, keep pace". While the operation is going on, the boy's mother pleas with Geiger to perform the operation, but Geiger adamantly refuses because of Alicia's pageant. Finally, though, he gives in, realizing that the situation really is life or death. He does, however, get Aaron to take Alicia to her pageant. However, when Geiger arrives in the OR, the television screens stop working and a soccer game appears in place of the other doctor. When the screens finally begin to work again, the patient in Sri Lanka dies, and the other surgeon runs out of the operating room. When they find him again and get him on the phone, the phone goes dead. Geiger says they should try reading the web pages, but another patient miraculously comes into the ER. Jeremy and Jack take him, and before they begin working on him, the wife holds their hands and begins praying. She forgets part of the prayer, and, much to Jeremy's surprise, Jack finishes it for her. The man does die, however, and his heart and lungs eventually get transplanted into Walter, who will probably survive.
Meanwhile, Aaron has taped Alicia's procedure and Geiger watches it when he leaves the OR. The one other minor detail was that Jack and Jeremy went out on a date that, according to Jeremy, was a "date from hell". After Jack's sensitive nature with the praying wife, however, Jeremy might change her mind; we'll see what happens.
I'll start with Alicia's pageant. Although I still think that this character is not played particularly well, Alicia didn't annoy me as much in this episode as she did in "Y' Gotta Have Heart", so perhaps her character will improve with time. I did not, however, enjoy that Geiger opted to attend the surgery rather than watch Alicia's pageant. I really thought that Geiger wasn't going to give in, and in doing so, would show that he really has changed since the beginning of the series. At least Geiger's reasons for assisting in the OR weren't professional but rather out of compassion for the patient. Anyway, I loved Aaron after the pageant when he congratulated Alicia on her performance. It's nice to see Aaron interacting well with children since that practically never happens.
Now, onto the main plot of the show. As usual, the doctors at Chicago Hope hospital are on the cutting edge of medicine - yet another unusual and unheard of procedure was about to be performed. This time, though, it didn't work. Of course, a donor arrives at the hospital just in time to save the patient's life. This, I thought, was quite ridiculous. It's just really unrealistic that the donor arrives just on time when people usually have to wait so long to receive donor organs. For once, I would like to see the doctors failing at a radical procedure and actually have the patient die; it would just be more true to life.
Also, there is the issue of the Sri Lankan doctor. One fan contacted me, saying how racist she found the CH doctors to be, and I'm sure that a lot of other people share this opinion. I, too, found that the doctors were rather ignorant towards the Sri Lankan doctor, considering they were so skeptical about his abilities and his attitude. Also, the Sri Lankan doctor was portrayed as being cold and, well, weird. I don't know if the writer's were really being discriminatory or whether they were just trying to create more reasons for Alberghetti to be nervous while performing the surgery; but if the latter is true, the writer's need to be much more careful, because this is the kind of thing that makes people develop stereotypes without justification and based on television. I must say I was shocked when Geiger called the man a "crazy Sri Lankan bastard", but then again, most things that Geiger says are inappropriate and rude, so anything he says should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
So anyway, Chicago Hope has turned out yet another rather controversial episode. All-in-all, it was alright, certainly not one of the best, but okay. There were some funny parts and I can't wait to see what happens between Hanlon and McNeil.
