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Pulse Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
8 Episodes 2017 - 2017
Episode 1
Episode #1.1
Frankie Bell is a young high flier whose dreams come crashing down around her when she learns her kidneys have failed. Without medical intervention, she will die. Eight years later, Frankie is now in her second year as a practising doctor, starting her first day in a Renal rotation. The stakes are high: Frankie wants to earn a permanent spot in Renal, caring for patients suffering the same way she did, and working under Renal boss, Chad Berger, the very doctor who saved her life. But Renal is fiercely competitive - only the strongest survive, so she must protect the secret of her transplant at all costs. Frankie's best friend, Lou Tannis, wants to be a surgeon, but is confronting the limitations in her own cutthroat field. Lou needs support if she is to one day break into the boy's club of surgical training teams. Is her fling with hotshot surgeon Rowan Mitri helping or hindering her progress? Female surgeon, Maggie Cutter, is Lou's hardest taskmaster. But can she be brought round? Will she become the mentor Lou needs? Meanwhile, Frankie and Lou's housemate Tabb is starting his first day as an intern, terrified that he won't stand up to the pressures, particularly when faced with his prickly, wounded-warzone cardio registrar Eli Nader, who cuts him no slack. Frankie has a win in diagnosing the mystery behind Zoe's symptoms: Zoe needs a new heart. But Frankie is soon in strife again, after sending Shawn home without his life-saving dialysis. Of all people, Frankie should have known how critical it was and looked out for him, but instead couldn't confront her past. Finding her courage, she goes above and beyond to get Shawn back into dialysis in time to get him a transplant. Zoe isn't so lucky - the donor heart is allocated to someone else, leaving her close to death. Berger warns Frankie that she is identifying too closely with her patients and that it's blinding her to the realities of medicine: she won't be able to save them all. He feels conflicted by the need to treat her as a doctor, but also as his patient. But after her dramatic first days Frankie is more determined than ever to make it in renal, to pay back the second chance she was given.
Episode 2
Episode #1.2
Frankie comforts a nervous Zoe in the lead up to her heart transplant, while also dealing with rebellious teen Kelly, who had a kidney transplant but has been lying about taking her medication. Tabb takes on Samoan outlier patient Abe, but after connecting with him on a deep level, Tabb loses him and questions his own ability as a doctor. Zoe goes in for her heart transplant. But tensions rise in the theatre as personal politics interfere. Lou calls stop, claiming to have seen Mitri miss a stitch, but he doesn't listen, closing Zoe up. Frankie saves Kelly's life, and finally gets through to the frightened teenager: this second chance at life is precious, and neither of them can afford to forget that. In an intimate moment, Berger reveals he has his own health issues. As they share a bottle of wine, Frankie is faced with the question: will she be able to save the man who saved her?
Episode 3
Episode #1.3
When a heart transplant patient dies, Frankie fears the surgeons will close ranks to cover up a medical error. Lou realises she and best friend Frankie may be on different sides. Under Eli's tutelage Tabb struggles to prove his ability as a doctor when the two are pulled into an emergency code on heart transplant patient, Zoe. Having taken a close interest in Zoe, Frankie is stunned when she doesn't survive. A meeting is called to establish whether there was a preventable error, but Mitri and the others involved in the operation close ranks, pressuring Lou to keep her mouth shut. After Frankie helps Berger deliver a renal patient's baby, he asks her not to reveal he has a brain tumour; they are now the keepers of each other's secrets. But this isn't the only secret Frankie is being asked to keep: Lou admits she saw Mitri miss a stitch and was forced to ignore it. Was it his arrogance that killed Zoe? And what will Frankie do with this new revelation?
Episode 4
Episode #1.4
Worried about his failing health, Frankie Bell urges her boss Chad Berger to undergo surgery on his brain tumour, but he refuses, not wanting to be seen as ill; and nor is he willing to give up work. Frankie is instructed by Dr Steele to take on the role of running a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) into heart transplant patient Zoe's death. But her friend Lou Tanner sees this as misconduct - Frankie is biased, and has betrayed Lou's confidence by urging her to speak out against Dr Mitri - an act that would no doubt cost Lou her job. Heart patient Chrissy is brought in after much suffering from her ICD - a device implanted in her heart to shock her back to life each time she arrests. The pain is traumatizing, and Eli fights for Chrissy's right to turn off the implant and choose her time to die. But the Head of Medicine, and her consulting specialist, Dr Steele, steps in to dissuade her. Mitri gives Lou a ride home from the pub, hoping to convince her to stay quiet in the RCA. But it ends badly for them both.
Episode 5
Episode #1.5
When City West Public Hospital experiences an outbreak that targets the immune suppressed, Frankie Bell, along with other transplant patients, finds herself in danger. As patients fall like flies, Berger takes a protesting Frankie off potentially dangerous ward work to pursue the investigation into the outbreak with Eli. This infuriates the renal registrar, Tanya Kalchuri, who sees Frankie as a potential threat, and wanted this investigation for her own CV. Meanwhile, Dr Lou Tannis finds herself under pressure on two fronts: a teenage boy's mother refuses to allow her son the medical treatment he needs to deal with cancer; and her surgical bosses, Mitri and Cutter, want differing things from her regarding the RCA into the death of a patient. When this affects her ability to treat the teenage boy, Frankie and Eli both come to her aid. Meanwhile, Tabb is dealing with a commercial pilot with a drinking problem. Is it his duty is it to report this? Is it ever right to expose confidential patient details? When Berger learns Frankie has a fever, he forces her into a bed for treatment, putting her secret at risk of exposure. When she asks her rival, Tanya Kalchuri to take her place at a research presentation, Tanya is determined to find out why.
Episode 6
Episode #1.6
Tanya Kalchuri's clandestine digging into Frankie's medical records threatens her own career: she could be prosecuted for breach of ethics. Her boss, Dr Chad Berger, forces her to tell Frankie, who now must decide whether to report the misconduct or forgive Tanya her mistake. Dr Eli Nadar and Frankie come together when Eli asks her to admit Naza, a Kurdish woman he found being abused on the street, who is suffering multiple health problems. But when police arrive and reveal that Naza has an expired visa and is an illegal immigrant, she flees the hospital. Frankie and Eli are desperate to track her down in hopes of saving both her life and the life of her baby. But the incident brings Eli's past in war-torn Syria to the surface, putting his and Frankie's growing relationship in jeopardy. Will they be able to trust each other with their respective secrets and wounds? When Naza is re-admitted, Berger, who is fighting his own health battles, treats and saves the patient, but earns the wrath of Immigration officers.
Episode 7
Episode #1.7
Frankie Bell heads a team investigating the death of a transplant patient. Will it prove that Zoe's death was the result of a medical mistake? Will Claire see the truth revealed or will the medical staff involved in the operation back the surgeon, Rowan Mitri, when he denies that a mistake was made? Frankie wants her friend Lou to speak out, but will she when her own future as a surgeon is at stake? But she's under pressure both from Frankie and senior surgeon Maggie Cutter, who wants Mitri discredited for her own career reasons. The investigation is looming and Frankie is on the night shift from hell - left alone to deal with multiple critical patients at once. When she prioritises a woman with an aortic tear, another patient dies, leaving his brain-damaged son without a carer. His death causes Frankie to question herself and the consequences of making such huge decisions on the run. The RCA findings are presented and Lou finds the courage to speak up. But it's a whitewash and the cause of Zoe's death remains inconclusive, with the surgeon responsible, Rowan Mitri, apparently suffering no consequences. Frankie is beginning to realise that all doctors are fallible.
Episode 8
Episode #1.8
Berger's brain tumour is progressing, his symptoms growing more extreme, but he's determined to finish a complicated series of kidney transplants before dealing with his own medical options. Tabb's confidence is shaken when the brother of a deceased patient shows up with the same heart problem. Tabb is convinced he'll have to resign before he kills this brother too, until he surprises himself and Eli Nadar by diagnosing a rare disorder that saves the patient's life. Mitri still struggles with the weight of guilt over Zoe Mendosa's death, and under Lou's guidance he finally takes responsibility for the operation's outcome and finds the courage to apologise to her husband Sam. Meanwhile, Eli Nadar is concerned Berger's judgment is becoming impaired and urges Frankie to stop covering for him. But she's determined to help her mentor succeed with the complex domino of transplant surgeries he's planning and give Berger closure so he can deal with his own health. Berger is forced to reveal his brain tumour and resign from the hospital, leaving Frankie and Tanya to see the transplant surgeries through. But when one of the donors pulls out at the last minute, derailing all six of the surgeries, Berger steps in with a radical solution.
