A police-involved shootout spills over into Angels Memorial Hospital in an up and down episode of Code Black.
"I didn't sign up for this," Dr. Noa Kean says in the opening of this episode of CBS' Code Black, and that basically sums up the entirety of "Sleight of Hand." Action begins as Noa and Dr. Ethan Willis is on-board an ambulance responding to a police-involved shooting, and have to do all they can for the wounded officers.
Once they return to Angels Memorial Hospital they have to face the fact that one of the officers still has an explosive bullet in her leg that could hurt more than her. That presents a tough choice for Dr. Will Campbell who naturally butts heads with Willis. But as Willis doesn't technically work for Campbell, he can't stop the other man from attempting to save the patient.
Code Black does a fine job of demonstrating that every little thing matters, like several other police officers helping to carry the patient because the wheels of the bed are causing it to vibrate. Willis has to operate outside of the ER and when the bullet moves and severs the femoral artery, it's Dr. Leanne Rorish and Jesse Sallender who disobey his orders not to come in there. Rebellion for everyone!
The bullet eventually comes out and the team is able to save their patient in time to reunite her with her fellow officer and secret boyfriend, which is our feel-good moment of the episode.
Meanwhile, we get returning patients in the form of the guy who thought his anatomy was a good place to put an engagement ring and his new fiancée, Julia arrives with lupus and a marijuana-smoking brother, and, finally, a magician named Johnny Prentiss comes to the ER and needs a hand.
The latter becomes the patient of Dr. Rollie Guthrie and Dr. Mario Savetti, who quickly warn him that he may have cancer. Johnny is relaxed about the whole thing and that's good because the biopsy results actually come back much better. He gives a little hope back to Noa just before she has to call the wife of another police officer who wasn't so lucky.
And it's Dr. Angus Leighton who gets the lupus case, which he can relate to given his own recent struggle at the intersection of family and medicine. He's happy to see Julia make up with her brother, Tim, but then Dr. Heather Pinkney has to crash the moment by revealing that Julia has an embolism and needs immediate surgery. Man, Heather, why are you always kind of a buzzkill? Especially when Julia dies on the operating table this subplot comes crashing right down. Then there's the aftermath of Julia's death. You can sort of guess where it's going, especially when she and her brother start talking about if she can trust him with her son, but that doesn't make it any less difficult when Heather has to break the bad news and Tim sees his sister's official declaration that she's leaving him custody. Julia's speech to her brother, which was recorded before surgery, brought me to tears (as I am sure did for many others too.)
"Sleight of Hand" ends with Willis, Rorish, and Jesse smoking cigars to note a job well done just before Campbell shows up. Luckily for everyone he chooses to join the party. Maybe his little trip on the Russian submarine changed him a bit.
It would've been interesting if Code Black had continued to explore Angus's perspective on the case given what just happened with Mike Leighton, but instead, the story ultimately ends up being more focused on Heather. It's a missed opportunity but at the same time, again forgivable since Heather hasn't really had as much screen time in Season 2 compared to some of the other main cast members.
The one bit of "Sleight of Hand" to keep an eye on is Noa. The three residents introduced at the start of the season have all become bigger parts of the show as time goes on. The first was poor Charlotte as she didn't make it past the Halloween episode; now it's Noa having to face the fact that patients die. It's important to see these characters grow and learn on the job and not just be the interchangeable new people who run around every week. So now the question is when will it be Elliot's turn to move forward? We'll have to wait and see.
"I didn't sign up for this," Dr. Noa Kean says in the opening of this episode of CBS' Code Black, and that basically sums up the entirety of "Sleight of Hand." Action begins as Noa and Dr. Ethan Willis is on-board an ambulance responding to a police-involved shooting, and have to do all they can for the wounded officers.
Once they return to Angels Memorial Hospital they have to face the fact that one of the officers still has an explosive bullet in her leg that could hurt more than her. That presents a tough choice for Dr. Will Campbell who naturally butts heads with Willis. But as Willis doesn't technically work for Campbell, he can't stop the other man from attempting to save the patient.
Code Black does a fine job of demonstrating that every little thing matters, like several other police officers helping to carry the patient because the wheels of the bed are causing it to vibrate. Willis has to operate outside of the ER and when the bullet moves and severs the femoral artery, it's Dr. Leanne Rorish and Jesse Sallender who disobey his orders not to come in there. Rebellion for everyone!
The bullet eventually comes out and the team is able to save their patient in time to reunite her with her fellow officer and secret boyfriend, which is our feel-good moment of the episode.
Meanwhile, we get returning patients in the form of the guy who thought his anatomy was a good place to put an engagement ring and his new fiancée, Julia arrives with lupus and a marijuana-smoking brother, and, finally, a magician named Johnny Prentiss comes to the ER and needs a hand.
The latter becomes the patient of Dr. Rollie Guthrie and Dr. Mario Savetti, who quickly warn him that he may have cancer. Johnny is relaxed about the whole thing and that's good because the biopsy results actually come back much better. He gives a little hope back to Noa just before she has to call the wife of another police officer who wasn't so lucky.
And it's Dr. Angus Leighton who gets the lupus case, which he can relate to given his own recent struggle at the intersection of family and medicine. He's happy to see Julia make up with her brother, Tim, but then Dr. Heather Pinkney has to crash the moment by revealing that Julia has an embolism and needs immediate surgery. Man, Heather, why are you always kind of a buzzkill? Especially when Julia dies on the operating table this subplot comes crashing right down. Then there's the aftermath of Julia's death. You can sort of guess where it's going, especially when she and her brother start talking about if she can trust him with her son, but that doesn't make it any less difficult when Heather has to break the bad news and Tim sees his sister's official declaration that she's leaving him custody. Julia's speech to her brother, which was recorded before surgery, brought me to tears (as I am sure did for many others too.)
"Sleight of Hand" ends with Willis, Rorish, and Jesse smoking cigars to note a job well done just before Campbell shows up. Luckily for everyone he chooses to join the party. Maybe his little trip on the Russian submarine changed him a bit.
It would've been interesting if Code Black had continued to explore Angus's perspective on the case given what just happened with Mike Leighton, but instead, the story ultimately ends up being more focused on Heather. It's a missed opportunity but at the same time, again forgivable since Heather hasn't really had as much screen time in Season 2 compared to some of the other main cast members.
The one bit of "Sleight of Hand" to keep an eye on is Noa. The three residents introduced at the start of the season have all become bigger parts of the show as time goes on. The first was poor Charlotte as she didn't make it past the Halloween episode; now it's Noa having to face the fact that patients die. It's important to see these characters grow and learn on the job and not just be the interchangeable new people who run around every week. So now the question is when will it be Elliot's turn to move forward? We'll have to wait and see.
