Code Black 1 x 16 “Hail Mary” Live Recap!

Code Black 1 x 16 “Hail Mary” is the follow-up to that intense two-parter!  Did you miss it?  You can read the review here.

Code Black 1 x 16 – We’re in!

22 year female – Lizzy Barnett (Kati Salowsky) is brought in by her husband James (Jesse Rath).  She’s having trouble breathing because of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and  has had two lung transplants in the part.  She’s the patient of Dr. Mario Savetti (Benjamin Hollingsworth) with Dr. Rollie Guthrie ( William Allen Young) attending.  They have to insert yet another chest tube. Lizzy wants James to call someone, but he keeps saying she’s going to be fine and won’t do it.  What’s that about?

She hired a cryogenics company to freeze her body if she dies?  What?

Dr. Malaya Pineda (Melanie Chandra) is having her first day back after the horrific ordeal she had.  Dr. Angus Leighton (Harry Ford) sees her first,  but it’s a surprise to all – including herself.  She tells Angus she wasn’t even sure that she was!  The second Dr. Leighton, Mike (Tommy Dewey) is the second to see her.  After saying how glad he is to see Malaya, Mike takes Angus with him on rounds.  He’s concerned about how Angus is with seeing Malaya.

Mike:  Remember what I said, you gotta keep it together.

Mike is the only person who knows that Angus actually refused to help Malaya’s attacker, and in fact, held Gordon down so that he would bleed out faster!  There’s some sibling friction going on here.  Mike’s a great big brother, but still, now he’s officially Angus’s supervisor – and he’s there to keep reminding Angus of something he’s trying to forget!

Mike and Angus go to deal with Pete Delaney (Beau Bridges)and his adult daughter Mia (Emily Bridges).  They are supposed to be going to a Valentine’s day dinner honoring New York Giants Pro Bowl wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., only Dad’s got severe stomach pain – as in he doubled over when it was time to leave.  Dad was invited to this dinner by Odell because he is Odell’s high school football coach.  Pete tells Mia that he was only invited as “a prop.”  Mike hands him over to Angus, who orders a scan of Pete’s distended stomach.

Dr. Christa Lorenson (Bonnie Somerville) comes in to tell her official H.R. knows all about it boyfriend and attending, Dr. Neal Hudson (Razza Jaffrey) there’s someone in the waiting room asking for him.  Neal is super nervous when he hears that Dr. Grace Adams (Meagan Good) is back in town and asking for him.   When Grace sees Neal she’s all She is not the same person anymore, but she’s not s at Neal.  Christa is all is all over that!  Neal though just looks mad!

Grace spent the last year with “Operation Hope” in Haiti .  She’s come back with a little girl back named Roseline (Haley Brooke Walker) on a tourist Visa because the child has a tumor on her spine that needs to be removed.   Neal’s not enthused about this being able to happen, noting only the chief of surgery, Dr. Will Campbell (Boris Kodjoe) can help, and we all know what a gem he is.

As soon as Christa and Neal are alone she wants to know who Grace is to him.  Neal is like, she’s just a doctor that used to work at Angels   No mention that it’s his ex-girlfriend!  At least Neal doesn’t seem happy Grace is back.

Commercial

We’re back!

Dr. Leanne “Daddy” Rorish ( Marcia Gay Harden) walks into the break room where head nurse Jesse “Mama” Sallander (Luis Guzmán) is having breakfast.  She shuts him down about the fact that she’s wearing actual clothes instead of scrubs, but admits she’s uncomfortable with the whole hospital administrator thing.  Mama reminds her she’s a doctor no matter what she wears.

This Lizzy girl is all about cryogenics, and is trying to convince her husband James to call the company.  Mario wants to know what this thing is all about.  They freeze her brain and vital organs when she dies in the hopes to be brought back to life at a later date.  She wants to be allowed to die to preserve her brain.  James thinks this is a bunch of nonsense (all those who agree with him say “aye!”)  Mario keeps it diplomatic, which I am very impressed with!  Mario is growing up fast from the poor-boy brat he was when the show started!

Grace, Leanne and Neal have a talk with Dr. Campbell about the surgery.  He’s as awful as expected.  At one point he even asks “who is she?”  Like, if she were a celebrity – or attached to a celebrity he’d be down for it.  Since she’s a nobody, it’s a no go.  He gives a bunch of legitimate regulations that would have to be taken care of first, belittling even Leanne in the process.  Once he’s gone, Leanne calls him “an arrogant *ss” but also admits he’s right about the rules.  Neal says if  Roseline were “hit by a bus” they’d bypass all those rules.  Not helpful, Neal!

Christa & Malaya get a walk-in patient named Katie ( the fabulous Annie Wersching!).  She’s a new single mom who gave birth via C-section a few weeks ago.  Christa says it’s normal to feel run down as a new mom, but Katie is complaining of shortness of breath, and she’s a marathon runner.  She’d been running three miles a day two weeks before giving birth! Yeah, no, she shouldn’t have shortness of breath!  Christa and Malaya agree to run some tests, but they’ve got to find something to do with that adorable baby because she has no one with her.  Christa says they can hold the baby and hands it over to a surprised Mama!  Guess he’s now got babysitting added to his head nurse list of assignments!

Lizzy’s not doing well!  She wants to go, but James begs her to fight.  She agrees for another intervention.

Angus comes running across the E.R. when coach Pete’s monitors go off.  Things have gotten worse.  The daughter’s frantic and he’s passed out! Angus says Pete’s stomach is now “rock hard” and that he’s become septic! Mike arrives and asks about the results of some tests, but Angus hasn’t run it yet.  Mike’s mad, but there’s no time for that.  He’s got to got to center stage!

Meanwhile Grace calls Neal over for a conversation about  Roseline.  She wants Neal to push to get it done. It leads to an uncomfortable conversation.   

Grace: Come on, we’ve never let anything stop us before.

Neal:   Grace, there is no us

Bam!  Neal was mad when she left to go to Haiti, and she’s surprised he’s still mad.  He’s annoyed that she thinks they could start back up again.  Actually, it’s that he’s moved on.   So, yeah, don’t try that, “I know you better than anyone else” crap, chick!  Neal let’s her know, no, she does not!

Commercial

We’re Back!

Leanne, for lack of a better team, is roaming center stage.  She just can’t let go!  First she’s talking to Angus like she’s his teacher, then she’s looking in on Mario and Rollie with Lizzie.  She suggests a way to help Lizzie breath without having to put her into a coma. (very helpful!).    When she hears Angus and Mike arguing over coach Pete and Angus starts floundering she steps in again.  Mike doesn’t like it.  When Leanne keeps talking to Angus like she’s his teacher/mentor/one in charge – critiquing Angus’s work after the patient has been stabilized  – Mike calls aside for a chat.

Mike’s points are totally valid.  Leanne interfering like that does undermine his authority.  However, Leanne’s point is valid as well:

Leanne: Do you have authority over your brother?

Mike admits it could be a problem – but it’s his problem.  He reminds Leanne that if anyone had interfered in the middle of a case she was doing with student the way she just did with him, she wouldn’t have put up with it.   The issue he has with his brother is part of adjusting to this new job – just like she’s adjusting to hers.  Fair enough, but I think we’ll be hearing about this problem between Angus and Mike again later down the line.

It turns out that Lizzy only agreed to Leanne’s idea to buy her enough time for the cryogenics company to get there.  James  is devastated because it means she’s giving up fighting.   She wants him to believe in what she’s doing, and he just can’t. She gives this whole speech about how fifty years ago no one could have imagined smartphones etc and that fifty years from now they wake her up and  they’ll be together again.  I’m sorry, but she’s bought into a cult.  Besides, as James points out, he’ll be 75 years old!

A big surprise is Dr. Heather Pinkley (Jillian Murray ) has a side job…working for the cryogenics company.  She and Mario butt heads about it.  Apparently Campbell isn’t thrilled that this is how she uses her days off, but Heather has two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars in student loan debt!  This company pays 30 grand for her to prepare dead bodies for freezing.   Does she believe in the concept, absolutely not, but 30 grand is 30 grand.  Mario’s not impressed.  It seems his sense of ethics has become higher than hers….

Christa and Malaya are giving their patient Katie her test results, but Malaya is spacing out…(It’s sadly a “normal” behavior for someone who’s been assaulted and traumatized the way she was.)  There was a small problem with a corner of Katie’s lung, but it’s minor and fixable.

Grace has somehow gotten an MRI done of Roseline’s spine. The tumor will eventually kill her, but Leanne’s hands are still tied.  Besides, they need a surgeon and an O.R. to actually do anything and for that they need Campbell – or, someone to go up against Campbell.

Leanne:  “Neal, has it ever occurred to you that you’ve run so far from your father, that you’ve run right past yourself.”

Coach Pete’s test results come back.  It’s prostate cancer that’s spread.  What’s sad is that he knew he had it a year ago.

Because he didn’t do anything, the cancer has spread.  Now they have to remove his entire large intestines!  It means huge quality of life changes: urinary tract infections and a colonoscopy bag.  His daughter’s upset but Pete is practically crying.  What about the chemo and radiation he’d been told about.  Mike’s got tears in his eyes as he tells Pete it’s too late for that now.  This is a major public service announcement, guys! Don’t wait!

Pete tells Mike and his daughter he won’t have the surgery.   Mia runs off in tears.  Mike shakes his head.  He tells Pete he’s “got a lot to live for, ” but he knows he can’t make Pete have the surgery.

Leanne’s talk does the trick.  Neal goes and convinces Dr. Ed Harbert (Jeff Hephner) to appoint him to Dr. Cole Guthrie’s old position – as a surgical attending for the E.R.  Unfortunately,  Campbell won’t budge about doing the surgery.

Malaya is having a hard time.  Christa gives her a sort of pep talk about how Malaya will come to realize how strong she is.  Somehow, I don’t think that helped.  However, Christa realizes they’ve misdiagnosed the patient because they didn’t factor in that Katie is a marathon runner.  The heart rate levels that are “normal” for the average person should be much lower for her.  Leaving Mama with the baby and a bottle the two rush to go see Katie.  They think she may have a blood clot in her lungs!

Mia’s gone and called Odell to come talk some sense into her dad.  His entrance makes quite a stir!

Campbell continues to be an arrogant bully and he won’t let Neal schedule an operating room to do the surgery.  Yes, he has the power to do that.  Grace says she’s sorry she made him change his career track for her, and he instantly corrects her.  This, was not for her.  It’s true, the change has been coming for a while.

The problem of getting Roseline into surgery becomes moot when she has a major seizure in the waiting room.  It’s not being hit by a bus, but now it’s a major emergency! That fixes the problems Dr. Campbell talked about in terms of her needing all that testing, prep, and clearance.  She’s going to center stage.

Commercial

We’re back!

Grace is doing badly, she could stroke out.  Leanne says the “protocol” is right for Neal to take the child upstairs for immediate surgery.

While Neal and Grace are scrubbing in she explains why she brought Roseline back for the surgery.  The girl reminds Grace of herself when she was a girl – super smart with a thirst for learning.  Aww, that’s sweet.  Stay away from Neal, please.

Lizzy dies, Mario has to make the call so that Heather can take away the body.  He calls it. James sobs and then promises Lizzy that he believes, he believes they’ll see each other again….  So, basically, all this does is freeze a person’s grief.  I can’t imagine living a life with idea that your significant other will someday be coming back.  How do you ever move forward in your own life?

Malaya and Christa talk with Mike about their patient. Mike calls Leanne in for a consult.  If they go one way the patient’s C-section could cause Katie to bleed out, but the other choice could definitively kill her.  Leanne leaves the choice of how to go to Mike, and he instructs Malaya and Christa to risk the bleed out but to give the patient both options. Yay! For now Mike and Leanne have an understanding!

It’s a tough time for Katie.  As a single mom who went through IVF to have this baby she really is alone.  Her mother had asked her what would happen to the baby if something happened to Katie.

Katie:     I thought she was just being unsupportive.  She thought what I was doing was selfish. And maybe it was.  But I wanted a second chapter.

Christa: We’re all entitled to that.

The love for her son gives Katie the determination to go for the choice “A.”

All the talk about second chapters…it fits for both Christa and Malaya.  For Christa, she’s been living that second chapter.  I’m wondering if that baby sparks an interest in a third?  Malaya’s life has taking a turn where there’s her life before the sexual assault and attempted murder – and after.  However she is still in grief and trauma over what happened – which is normal. The idea that she’d just snap right back is unrealistic.

Coach Pete is going on and on about Odell’s high school days and not letting Odell get a word in edgewise.  His wife left him, he doesn’t want to be a burden to his daughter, so no, he’s not having the surgery.  Finally Odell gets a word in edgewise.

Odell:  “Never take your losses into the next game”

That’s what his coach taught him,  with this idea Odell convinces his coach to have the surgery he needs.

Angus and Malaya are having a private talk.  She tells him sometimes her hands don’t seem like her hands.  (They’re the hands that fought for her life…) Even as Angus is comforting her about feeling disassociated from her body and having flashbacks, he’s having his own flashbacks about not helping Gordon.  Dr. Guthrie  comes by just as Malaya gets paged.  He tells Angus that it’s easier to heal from something done to you than something you’ve done.  What does he know!?  Gordon’s body has been unclaimed at the morgue.  It’s been a month and that weekend Gordon will be buried. He suggests that Angus go to Gordon’s funeral, not for Gordon, but for himself.

Malaya, Christa and Mike are all gathered around to give Katie this drug that will hopefully break up the clot but not open up the c-section wounds.  Christa has Katie’s mom’s information, just in case.

Katie: God, I didn’t go through thirty rounds of IVF for my crazy mother raise him.

The injection works, but then she starts to bleed out around the c-section and starts crashing.  Mike is super calm (as usual.)   They just have to stabilize her until obstetrics can get there.

Upstairs Neal gets into trouble while doing the surgery and has Grace (who’s assisting) go get Campbell.

Commercial

We’re back!

Dr. Campbell arrives.  He is his usual horrible self and dismisses Neal from the room.

Malaya’s patient isn’t doing well.   All of the blood – especially the blood on her hands – starts to trigger her back to her assault.  She freaks out and starts backing away but Mike talks her through it and she’s able to come back and finish working with him and Christa on the patient.  Leanne has watched this entire process – but not stepped in.  She and Mike exchange a smile.  They’ve figured it out.  She is Mike’s backup – there for when he asks for it, not when she thinks he needs it.

This also seems to show Leanne something about how she’s going to do this job.  She goes to the locker room, changes out of regular clothes and puts on scrubs.   Just after she’s done this Dr. Harbert comes looking for her and he is mad!  Well…more annoyed than mad.  He doesn’t like feeling he’s been set up.  However…never mind all that.  What really struck me? Dr. Harbert and Leanne?  I saw a spark of something…did you see that?  I mean, he’s grieving, and she’s not really ready for anything either, but…wow.  I could totally see that!

As for Dr. Grace Adams, I like her – but she’d better keep her hands of Neal!  It’s sweet that she’s going to adopt Rosalie and  it’s a waterworks moment.  Neal sees it.  He doesn’t look to happy.  I don’t think he likes that Grace is sticking around.  This is concerning.  When it’s over, you don’t care so much.

Mario and Heather cross paths.  He’s leaving and she’s coming on shift.  She’s just finished working her other job and starts talking about how crazy it is that people belief in that nonsense.

Mario: We all have stuff we believe.  Heaven, after-life, reincarnation.  Everything someone believes in is going to sound crazy to someone else.

Heather gets flirtatious about how that’s some “deep” thinking, but Mario doesn’t bite.  I think one of the things Mario believes in…is monogamy.  Maybe he didn’t even realize it until this thing with Heather.  She keeps looking at him like she wants him back, but…I don’t think she really knows what she wants beyond another locker room romp.  There’s nothing wrong with that – unless the other person wants more….

Angus ends up going to that funeral – and Guthrie is there too! There’s a priest, a minster and a rabbi… since they don’t know what religion these unclaimed death were.  Guthrie tells Angus he’s not the only one who needs to get right with God.  The funeral begins with the priest saying, “Hail Mail, full of Grace….”  That actually sums up the entire episode! How cool is that!

Next week’s Code Black has…zombies?! It’s just people in costumes from a convention….so they say! See you next week!

Photo credit: Monty Brinton/CBS ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.