Date of airing: July 12, 2011 (Global)
Audience viewership information: 1.481 million viewers
Before the excitement could roll over the viewers and make something truly great of this episode, the story had to be prepared first, the characters had to be put into position, and the drama needed to unfold first. And part of that story wasn’t even prepared in this episode, it was mentioned in the previous hour, when Vans was having his fixer-upper days, fixing the CT scanner with parts from a copy machine (which is still a trick I cannot imagine actually works), continuing the background story of the base having a CT scanner that does not work, and doctors moaning about a non-working CT scanner and the urgent need to get a new one delivered to the base, because it’s the thing that is needed the most (instead of Canadian comfort food).
The broken CT scanner was still an issue during this hour of COMBAT HOSPITAL, and that means Colonel Marks and his right-hand man Graham had to pack out their mean-boys guns and tell their overweight and unshaven delivery tech guy what it’s like to not have a CT scanner. The doctors, nurses, and officers still did not get a CT scanner by the end of the episode, but the entire thing is proof that the writers of this show cared about the little and mundane things and that character arcs don’t have to be the only stories carried from one episode to the next. And with a broken CT scanner (or one that works with spare parts from a copy machine, which means the scanner won’t always work or is not guaranteed to work in the next episode), the characters certainly have their work cut out for them, even if the writers have not managed so far to make the broken CT scanner count. There hasn’t been a scene in which the doctors needed to find out what’s broken inside a patient’s head, although this episode made some work at putting the broken CT scanner and a patient shortly before a mental breakdown together, at least when it comes to the theme of the episode.
 |
| Smoking is not allowed on this base. |
Lieutenant Christian Bettany was the prime patient of this hour, and this time around, the writers were putting themselves out of the medical field and into the field of psychiatry, which hasn’t found a lot of attention on television. Bettany happened to be an interesting character, thanks to the breakdown that was clearly ahead for him, and even though his story was somewhat concluded (by sending him home and into therapy, jumping over the moment of him having to deal with the notion of going home, which could have been great drama), it was also something of an open-ended storyline, as it was not clear whether or not Bettany would find peace and quiet and some sleep with the decisions Major Pederson and Colonel Marks have made. Besides that, the writers shipped around some of the cliches of such a story by not having Bettany be an obvious mental patient – it was clear that the man had some problems he needed to take care of, but he was still clear enough to conveniently overhear a problem Marks and Graham were talking about, so that Bettany could chime in with a resolution and lead to the best scene of the episode. Who knows, maybe in the head space of this amateur TV reviewer, by helping out Graham and Marks, Bettany undertook his first step toward therapy and becoming a healthy and sane person again, ready to do his job in a few months again.
Meanwhile, with Simon off-base and in a flying potato, and Rebecca back at the base having to do his job (as well as hers), COMBAT HOSPITAL took to task the merging of two different storylines, writing itself into a situation that had those two stories happen simultaneously, with the episode cutting back and forth between Rebecca’s operation at the base and Simon’s surgery in the helicopter. It was some exciting and tense stuff, which I would have loved to see not getting interrupted by another one of Pederson and Bettany’s “therapy sessions.” It was a scene that showcased what COMBAT HOSPITAL could be if it were to focus on those kinds of tense moments a little more often. Characters out of their comfort zones having to perform extraordinary duties (Rebecca being a neurosurgeon for an evening, and Simon being a medevac for one round trip), and realizing that things are much harder on the other side of life – fun stuff for a TV drama.
That brings me to think that there is a great idea behind the show using one of ER’s stories: Let the doctors swap roles for a day, so they can get the experience in all of the fields of their work. When nurses and doctors have to ride along with paramedics and emergency doctors taking on surgical cases, you can only learn from your mistakes and make better choices the next time. Especially when it’s all about saving lives. Besides that, the story put Rebecca and Simon front and center, and with it the renewed potential of the two getting together romantically at one point. He was impressed by her work by the end of the episode, and she was annoyed by his absence – so annoyed that she may have had a few uncertain feelings for and about Simon at that point, and those kinds of feelings usually lead to something more. As if the writers prepared the field for yet another story in an upcoming episode.
 |
| Simon has the best time on his life operating in a flying potato. |
Colonel Marks did one of his “rebuking and complimenting Rebecca on her job” again. At first, he was berating her for not telling earlier where Simon went, almost giving her the fear of being reprimanded in an official manner, just to finish his remark with a “You were quite brilliant today.” I sense a pattern, and I love that pattern. Again, Marks is the stern and stoic commander of this part of the base, and he never forgets to also compliment his underlings, to tell them that they are doing a great job, because that is what all of them need to hear every once in a while.
By the way, might something be going on between Pederson and Marks? Their conversations have been all business in this episode, yet sometimes I got the feeling that something is happening between the two. But maybe that’s just how officers in the military converse with one another when they have known and worked alongside each other for a long time. I wouldn’t mind for the writers to get into that a little more, especially after this episode. Marks looked like he needed a therapy session of his own, and having a little glass of vodka with the base’s psychiatrist may be a good way to not only serve that storyline, but also bring some quick romance into the show. Everyone needs some love, even when stationed in the middle of a war zone.
