Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing St. Elsewhere, a medical show which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988. The show can be found on Daily Motion.
This week, it’s a dark night in Boston.
Episode 4.20 “Come Home, Oh Sapien”
(Dir by Allan Arkush, originally aired on March 5th, 1986)
This is one of those episodes that takes place over the course of just one night.
Artist Alex Corey (Jeff Allin) has been commissioned to brighten up St. Eligius’s lobby. Mostly, he just wanders around and gets on everyone’s nerves. Seeing as quirky characters usually suffer a terrible death on this show, I spent the episode expecting Alex to have an aneurysm or to fall down the stairs, but it didn’t happen.
Elliott takes care of a patient who was suffering from pneumonia, and he also learns that his ex-girlfriend, Marcy, has gotten married without telling anyone ahead of time and is now living in Zurich. Marcy’s mother, Nurse Rosenthal, assures Elliott that Marcy has spent zero time pining for him.
Ehrlich is upset about his OB/GYN rotation and misses working with Dr. Craig. Having had a fight with Ellen, Craig is spending the night at the hospital and observes Ehrlich performing a C-section. Afterwards, Craig tells Ehrlich that he’s becoming a fine doctor.
Carol Novino has dinner with Dr. Westphall and his family and, in a truly cringeworthy scene, dances with Westphall’s daughter in the kitchen. When Westphall and Novino meet up at the hospital the next morning, they share a kiss. ACK! Seriously, the only thing more depressing than having dinner with Westphall is dating him.
Finally, speaking of depressing, Chandler spends the night working at the crisis hotline. It’s all part of Westphall’s community service program. (Previously, Chandler worked at the women’s health clinic, but since it was bombed, Westphall has decided that it doesn’t count. Like, seriously? Westphall’s a jerk.) Chandler spends the night talking to a neglected teenage girl and promising her that life gets better. At the end of Chandler’s shift, the girl calls one more time, thanks Chandler for his help, and then shoots herself. Roll the end credits.
WOW! What a depressing ending. Seriously, St. Elsewhere, would it kill you to end on a happy note for once? Then again, the whole community service thing is Westphall’s idea, so I guess it makes sense that it would lead to Chandler first nearly getting blown up and then being scarred for life. Here’s my question: Why isn’t Westphall the one working the crisis hotline? Why isn’t he off doing community service? What the hell, Westphall!?
I will say that it was nice to see that, even if I don’t quite buy Ellen kicking Dr. Craig out of the house (surely, if that was going to happen, it would have already happened by now), I was glad that Ehrlich finally got some positive reinforcement. Now, if Elliott could just get some for once.
Times are dark in Boston.
