Vital Signs 

When June's granddaughter Samantha needs a donor organ, Peter and Neal stumble on the trail of illegal organ trade. Neal approaches Dr. Wayne Powell, the ringleader, posing as an '... See full summary »

Director:

Dennie Gordon

Writers:

Jeff Eastin (created by), Joan Binder Weiss (as Joan B. Weiss)

Stars:

Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay, Willie Garson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Matt Bomer	...	Neal Caffrey
Tim DeKay	...	Peter Burke
Willie Garson	...	Mozzie
Natalie Morales	...	Lauren Cruz (credit only)
Tiffani Thiessen	...	Elizabeth Burke
Kyle Secor	...	Dr. Wayne Powell
Sharif Atkins	...	Clinton Jones
Jennifer Ferrin	...	Melissa Cartwright
Diahann Carroll	...	June
Lyric Davis-Watson	...	Samantha
Flint Beverage	...	Cop #1
Patrick Duggan	...	Officer
Cindy Cheung	...	Registered Nurse
Michael Elian	...	Imposing Orderly
Jenny Sterlin	...	Doctor

Storyline

When June's granddaughter Samantha needs a donor organ, Peter and Neal stumble on the trail of illegal organ trade. Neal approaches Dr. Wayne Powell, the ringleader, posing as an 'approachable' doctor. That leaves only Peter to seduce his female cahoot. Finally an elaborate 'Indian' trap is set.

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Plot Keywords:

organ selling | worry | trick | strapped to a gurney | man wears an undershirt | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the commentary for the episode, Jeff Eastin (creator of the show) mentions there was a prank script sent to Willie Garson about Mozzie's fate in the clinic. In the prank script, Mozzie gets lobotomized and the end of the episode is Mozzie in a wheelchair while Neal and June cry in the background. Jeff Eastin says he never heard back from Willie, so he's not sure if he read it or just was going to accept it.

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Goofs

When the FBI team tries to fool Dr. Powell into thinking he has kidney failure, they fake medical symptoms to fool him, but he is a doctor; he could check his weight on any one of the numerous scales at his clinic, and he should definitely be able to tell the difference between skin irritation and rash from kidney failure. The food coloring trick is the least plausible as visible blood in the urine is the last stage of kidney failure; it doesn't just happen overnight, and Dr. Powell would have seen the other symptoms long before that one rather than all at once.

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Quotes

[In order to break into a hospital, Neal is pretending to be a doctor bringing in Mozzie, a mental patient]
Mozzie: I promise, I will never even think about going up in a tall building again. Oh God. Please don't let me die.
Neal Caffrey: Hi, I'm here to drop off a patient.
Mozzie: Fists with your toes.
Registered Nurse: Uh, mental health services doesn't have anyone scheduled to come in today.
Mozzie: Let's see you take this under advisement, Jerkweed!
Neal Caffrey: Right, they wouldn't have said anything. Um... this is a bit sensitive. The mayor asked for it to be ...
[...]

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Connections

References Die Hard (1988)

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Soundtracks

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
(uncredited)
Written by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster
Performed by Matt Bomer

User Reviews

This episode is not one of their best

I like this series mostly because of how Neal and Peter work together. This episode, however, lacks credibility. I was skeptical before even watching it because all the previews showed Neal being injected with something. You can't just knock Neal out every episode (remember he was unconscious 2 weeks ago as well). He's supposed to be a white collar felon, a really good one, and this just makes him look out of his element and weak.

Plus, I didn't buy the set up for this week's plot. It doesn't seem very realistic. It could have been a real case for all I know it just was not sold well.

In addition to that, the running story of the relationship between Peter and Neal has worked well and been consistent until now. This episode doesn't fit. It also didn't move along the bigger story with Kate, although there's no rule that they have to. I was disappointed that we didn't get more details about their hunt for the music box.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hindi

Release Date:

2 February 2010 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jeff Eastin & Warrior George Productions, Fox Television Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Color:

Color