November 28, 2006: There's Something in the Stars
The smudged faces in the opening of this episode were semi-freaky, but I couldn't believe someone could actually be seeing that. Face Blindness. Can you imagine being one of the two percent of the population who has this?
I like the tests Holland gives her patients. They let you in on the examination process.
Rebecca Ellis (
Jessica Hecht) struck a chord with me, since she's returning to Hanson's office for the second time after he repaired an aneurysm once before. Part of me kept seeing Carol's girlfriend Susan from
Friends, but this character seems weathered, tired, scared of finding out there's something else wrong with her brain. "I have very steady hands, that's all you need to care about," says Hanson. His bits of charm interspersed with intense patient exams definitely work for me. I'm a fan.
I'm not sure what the meaning of Dr. Flores' talkative moment with Rebecca was, but maybe just a simple way to introduce him a little more. He seems quirky but witty, too.
"Odds are fear expressed numerically," Hanson says to Seger about Rebecca's case. He's "looking out the window" and going ahead with the surgery, even though it's a lot more dangerous than the first, and the risks are astronomical. I don't know if I'd still be standing after hearing I had a one-in-five chance of surviving. But she only takes a few seconds before agreeing to it.
I love Holland's persistent nature to go beyond the books. She's always trying to circle around the issue and find a better solution. I think she's just as hopeful as Seger in some cases, and Hanson takes it all in stride - like a wise, aged frog swimming among eager tadpoles. And just when you think he's softening a bit, he shifts back into technical gear: "She's dead before we even begin." Well, then. Thank you, Dr. Hanson, but no one wants to hear that about a relative going into surgery.
Seger's getting funnier, too. I liked his little exchange with Holland about her face-blindness patient. Meanwhile, he's inching closer to Hanson. "It's not confidence I lack, it's arrogance," he spits out in the scrub room. Do I see a thicker skin than I thought he had?
Talk about thick skin. Flores' sarcasm seems unwelcomed by Rebecca's brother, but I certainly liked it. And his teaming up with Seger to lay down the law to, well, the lawyer, was a great moment.
I liked the romantic connection between Holland and her patient better than Seger's fling last week. But I'm wondering if we're going to go through numerous flings too quickly, turning a neurology clinic into a dating den with a revolving door that makes us dizzy. Seems like this one might stick around, though, and if we're going to have sex mixed into this show, an actual relationship might help digest it better.
I do applaud the randomness of this show, though, like Rebecca's brother taking his aggressions out on a piano oddly placed in the clinic's corridor. An unexpected scene, but appropriate all the same.
My favorite statement of the night: "A face can launch a thousand ships. There's a reason the brain has a part just to remember it." I really don't have much more to say about it. It just stayed with me and made me think about all the faces I've seen and everyone who's seen mine, too.
I'm not sure if I liked the idea of Rebecca being the face of everyone Holland's patient sees as he leaves the hospital. It's a little creepy as she lies dead on the operating table. That giant digital clock was ticking like a bomb and, with two minutes remaining, they performed a miracle.
Again, the medical story lines of this show are intriguing to me, and I feel the writers are stretching their arms and going for extremes. I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying the show.
Remember to tune in at a special time next Tuesday at 9 pm/ET.
