S04.E07: Keep The Faith

[Lady Calypso]

Quote

When protestors descend on a funeral for a dear member of the night shift family, multiple veterans are injured and brought to San Antonio Memorial for treatment. A high profile politician from Drew's (Brendan Fehr) past triggers flashbacks to his time in Iraq. Jordan (Jill Flint), Scott (Scott Wolf), and TC (Eoin Macken) disagree on how to best provide care for the politician. Paul (Robert Bailey Jr.) and Shannon (Tanaya Beatty) must improvise while tending to Doug (gust star Dan Lauria, "Royal Pains"), a former POW. Cain (guest star Mark Consuelos) and Drew treat a fearless photographer.

[statsgirl]

I thought this was so cool.   It was written by and acted by vets so there was a sense of how they really feel.  I'd rather watch this than a dozen fakey NCIS episodes. 

I also appreciated Jill's speech about how just because she's not wearing a uniform doesn't mean she didn't serve.

Doug, the guy with the shrapnel in his head, was played by Dan Lauria who served with the Marines in Viet Nam.  The actors playing Lt Powers, Sgt Mercado, Ananya and the protest leader were also all real vets.  And all the POWs of course.

I still think Scott should have okay'd the surgery on Doug sooner, it's regular practice.   They need a psychiatrist on this show.

I especially loved how they handled the anger and disdain of TC and Drew for someone who is faking.

[Emily Thrace]

Yeah this was a legit great episode. I usually don't expect much from this show but this was great even by much higher standards

Brendan Fehr was the best part of the episode and I think even the show has figured out that he's their strongest link.

I had forgotten how much I didn't miss Scott and TC's pissing matches. Can they just get locked in an elevator or some other trope and come out friends or something?

[saber5055]

I didn't bother to watch since I'm so not about anything to do with TC, but reading here, it seems I made a mistake. I'll have to catch this ep online.

[dargosmydaddy]

I dunno, it had good intentions but typical "meh" Night Shift execution... I agreed with Jordyn that the ramifications for the hospital of blowing the whistle on the senator could be disastrous, but I don't know if blackmailing him was the best solution, either. Surely there's a good chance of someone else discovering his lies down the road (particularly if he becomes governor), which could lead to the photographer woman losing her job, either because the senator erroneously blames TC and Drew for leaking the story or because he himself is ousted and no longer has a staff.

And I loved seeing Dan Lauria, but I'm not sure I got the ending of Doug's story... He just left without the surgery? Ditto-ing statsgirl's comment about needing a psychiatrist on staff... I'm not sure why one wasn't called when Doug had his flip-out and they locked him in the room.

I was kind of glad Lauria and Mark Consuelos didn't share a scene... the Pitch mourning would have been off the charts...

[Ohwell]

I forgot this was even on last night.

[thuganomics85]

Had no idea that Wes Chatham (undercover FBI agent in the anti-gay group) served in the military before he went into acting.  Interesting.  It was great seeing him here: he's freaking awesome as Amos in The Expanse.

Pretty good episode.  The involvement of real life military members in all of the aspects (also had no clue Timothy Busfield served) lent more of an authentic feel to it, and it thankfully tone down most of the petty, soapy drama.  The closet they got to was another "classic" T.C./Scott pissing match, but even then, that was about the best way to treat their patient, and not something silly.  Dan Lauria was fantastic as always, and the most I liked Paul and Shannon in quite some time.  I did roll my eyes over how they had to make Kenny look like an idiot when it was revealed that the protestor was an agent: especially since it seem like it was mainly just there to make Cain look good... again.

Brendan Fehr was great in all of his scenes, but in real life, couldn't he get into major trouble for throwing the first punch?  I certainly have no sympathy for the guy, but legally, couldn't he be sued for it?  Because I feel like that has happened in the past.  Also, I was a bit confused with the big reveal about Xavier.  So, he basically did join the military, but he didn't go the Ranger school he claimed he did?  I was a bit confused with the military lingo and explanation, so I wasn't sure how he got away with it for as long as he did.

T.C. named-dropped Annie and him "trying to get a hold of her", so I'm guessing they're going to find out soon what happened.

[dargosmydaddy]

7 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Also, I was a bit confused with the big reveal about Xavier.  So, he basically did join the military, but he didn't go the Ranger school he claimed he did?  I was a bit confused with the military lingo and explanation, so I wasn't sure how he got away with it for as long as he did.

I think that was it, yeah. I also got the impression that he embellished his role/ made himself out to be a hero (possibly in the firefight that Drew kept flashing back to), but I missed a few minutes of the episode, so I could be wrong. You'd think in today's age it would be easy to check up on such things (and if TC and Drew were smart, they could have anonymously dropped a hint with a reporter in a few weeks and let the story break without their involvement rather than blackmailing the guy), but The Night Shift seems to exist in its own reality, so whatever...

[CoderLady]

I do wish TC would face more real life consequences than he does here, because his constantly arrogant reckless bullshit is ridiculous. Won't happen though -- this show is firmly into adolescent soap opera territory despite their really stellar commitment to highlighting veterans' issues.

I think I'll forever give them a pass for having brought Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden on as guests in an earlier season: that was inspiring. So I just roll my eyes when I watch this show and get some quiet enjoyment over predicting every plot twist real time, and congratulate myself when I'm frequently right. For me good intentions and addressing something important make up for a lot of crap. No more Syria, though, please.

[statsgirl]

3 hours ago, dargosmydaddy said:

I think that was it, yeah. I also got the impression that he embellished his role/ made himself out to be a hero (possibly in the firefight that Drew kept flashing back to), but I missed a few minutes of the episode, so I could be wrong. You'd think in today's age it would be easy to check up on such things (and if TC and Drew were smart, they could have anonymously dropped a hint with a reporter in a few weeks and let the story break without their involvement rather than blackmailing the guy), but The Night Shift seems to exist in its own reality, so whatever...

It was two fold:

For Drew, it was the fact that he was supposed to be backup for Drew's squad but arrived unnecessarily late which lea to Drew's friend dying.  And then Xavier keeps blowing up his role every time he talks about the fight, acting like he's the big hero when in Drew's eyes he was a failure.  (As a side note we learned that it was his friend's death that  caused Drew to become a doctor because a burr hole would have saved him.)

For T.C. , it was because the guy was lying about being a Ranger.

Since the episode was written by vets, I get that for people who risk their lives and and suffer the consequences of being at war, those who lie about what they have done is infuriating.

The problem with just revealing that Xavier was a fraud is that he would have lost his influence and probably Senate seat.  For all that he was a jerk, he was helping fund VA hospitals.  If he were exposed and out, the vets would lose out.

[Xantar]

So there's a not-Westboro Baptist group protesting a military funeral and there's no police or other security presence to make sure they keep their distance? I could swear that was standard in the real events. Either that or I missed all the brawls that were breaking out at military funerals 

[starri]

11 hours ago, statsgirl said:

For Drew, it was the fact that he was supposed to be backup for Drew's squad but arrived unnecessarily late which lea to Drew's friend dying.

Friend or boyfriend?  I thought they left that kind of ambiguous.

I was expecting to roll my eyes a lot, but this ended up being one of the show's strongest episodes.  Brendan Fehr was, as per normal, pretty great, but I was also impressed with Jill Flint.  She's not a great actress, but she's come a long, long way.

I may have gotten choked up when Doug went met with all the other former POWs, especially since they were obviously actual POWs.  Although I don't think I've ever seen Dan Lauria give a bad performance, so I was predisposed to like his plot.

[TVForever]

The thing I hate the most about the TC/Scott "pissing matches"? The fact that Scott is always portrayed as the" uptight, stodgy" one trying to get in the way of the "valiant hero", TC. When in fact, Scott is usually being the grownup in the room to a petulant, childish TC. When Jordan reminded TC that Scott was in fact, looking out for the hospital ( and not just trying to piss on TC's parade), it seemed to be the first time the show has acknowledged this.

[statsgirl]

The set-up in this episode for the pissing match was really stupid.  Scott offered Xavier the best option, Xavier refused for a stupid reason (why would his polling numbers go down if he's in the hospital because he was defending a military funeral?) so T.C.offered him an alternative treatment which Xavier accepted.  It was up to Xavier to accept or reject the kind of treatment he wanted.

3 hours ago, starri said:

Friend or boyfriend?  I thought they left that kind of ambiguous.

Was it still "Don't ask, don't tell" in those days?  Even if it wasn't, ambiguous was a good way to go because even losing a good friend would have let to that reaction.

I definitely got something in my eyes when Doug met the other POWs.  And then I laughed when he said that day was going to be even better after h e had his surgery.

[starri]

On 8/12/2017 at 1:02 PM, statsgirl said:

Was it still "Don't ask, don't tell" in those days?  Even if it wasn't, ambiguous was a good way to go because even losing a good friend would have let to that reaction.

DADT was very much in effect.  It only finally went away in the fall of 2011.  

I think reading it as Drew losing a buddy is likely as reading it as Drew losing a boyfriend, but I guess I'm wondering if TPTB intended that kind of ambiguity.  

Josh Kelly is a very handsome man.  It's just a shame he was playing such a piece of garbage.  He was an actual Ranger before he started acting, and I have to wonder if that made playing the character a little uncomfortable.

[GalvDuck]

On 8/11/2017 at 4:59 PM, thuganomics85 said:

T.C. named-dropped Annie and him "trying to get a hold of her", so I'm guessing they're going to find out soon what happened.

Thank you.  I must have missed hearing her name mentioned.  I was just coming here to ask what ever became of that.  It's like they haven't touched on it at all.

[Brookside]

Was that doctor whose name I can't remember attending a memorial service or a cocktail party?  Plunging décolletage to show your respect? 

[Brookside]

Why didn't they have a wheelchair for the camera woman before they helped her to her feet?  Oh, right.

[juliet73]

On 8/11/2017 at 0:12 PM, dargosmydaddy said:

I dunno, it had good intentions but typical "meh" Night Shift execution... I agreed with Jordyn that the ramifications for the hospital of blowing the whistle on the senator could be disastrous, but I don't know if blackmailing him was the best solution, either. Surely there's a good chance of someone else discovering his lies down the road (particularly if he becomes governor), which could lead to the photographer woman losing her job, either because the senator erroneously blames TC and Drew for leaking the story or because he himself is ousted and no longer has a staff.

 

Agree!  This show needs better writing and needs to stop with all the doctors being able to solve their patient's life problems.  They are ER docs, not social workers, not Make A Wish Foundation, etc.  Fix them up and send upstairs or out the door and move on to the next one.  

There used to be a psychiatrist in S1 and it seemed like she was around all the time.  Then when the show returned for S2, she was gone and there was no mention of what happened to her.  I would think since they are now a VA hospital, a psychiatrist would be mandatory.  

I was bothered by the photographer having to explain to Drew what retinitis pigmentosa is.  I'm pretty sure EVERY doctor knows what it is and that there is no treatment.  For him to even suggest vitamins or some other BS treatment was ludicrous.  I don't know how much longer she's going to be able to do photography with her condition so Drew saving the day with bribing the senator to give her a job was kind of stupid.  

Is anyone else bothered by TC's huge elf like ears?

[Aliconehead]

Actually vitamin A does help slow the progression in some patients

[starri]

Also, stuff that you learn in medical school doesn't stick in your brain when you're out in practice. Especially when it's not something that's really all that relevant to your day to day job.