Robert Maxwell | Through the Shattered Lens

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 Hulu and, for purchase, on Prime!

This week, season two comes to an end.

Episode 2.22 “Hello, Goodbye”

(Dir by Linda Day, originally aired on May 16th, 1984)

Due to St. Eligius being structurally unsound, the first floor is temporarily closed. The ER, which was the busiest part of the hospital, is no longer operative and Shirley Daniels is assigned to redirect any and all ambulances to Boston General. As Joan explains it, either the first or the third floor had to be closed so that a team of engineers could strengthen the building. The third floor is surgery, where all the money is made. And so, it’s the ER that closes. Joan, meanwhile, is designated as the scapegoat for all of the recent problems at St. Eligius. She loses her job with the mayor’s office.

Fresh from interviewing a nervous Dr. Elliott Axelrod (Stephen Furst) for a position as a resident, Dr. Auschlander collapses. Dr. Westphall fears that his old friend is going to die but finally, Auschlander wakes up and says that he’s not done fighting yet. Neither is St. Eligius.

Luther finds a stuffed Cheshire cat for a young heart patient. Dr. Craig finally starts to forgive his drug addict son, Stephen (Scott Paulin). And Dr. Morrison takes his son on a walking tour of Boston and meets a college student named Clancy (a young Helen Hunt). Even though Clancy label Morrison a “boomer,” she still spends the night with him. Morrison finally takes off his wedding ring and appears ready to try to move on with his life.

The second season ends on a melancholy note. Apparently, the show’s producers weren’t sure whether or not St. Elsewhere was going to be renewed for a third season and this episode was designed to work as both a season and a series finale. Very few of the regular characters appear and the episode is dominated by Westphall and Morrison, both of whom tend to be rather somber. In other words, this is a depressing episode but it’s not an episode without hope. Auschlander does wake up. Morrison does pursue a tentative relationship with Clancy. Even with the hospital temporarily shut down, life goes on. Unlike Wendy Armstrong, nobody gives up. It’s sad but at least there’s a chance that things could get better.

Both this episode and the second season overall were a roller coaster, deftly mixing drama and comedy and giving the show’s ensemble cast a chance to shine. Next week, we start season three!

Financial scandals are nothing new.

Long before the financial crisis of 2007 and the Great Recession that followed, 1992 saw the collapse of several economic institutions. That was the year that the European Stock Market crashed and it was revealed that the powerful Bank of Credit and Commerce International was a massive money laundering scheme. Following the mysterious death of British tycoon Robert Maxwell, it was discovered that he had been propping his companies up by stealing from other people’s pensions. In the United States, the House banking scandal revealed that hundreds of Congresspeople were being allowed to bounce checks without being penalized by the House bank.

Be Quick or Be Dead, the first single to be released off of Iron Maiden’s Fear of the Dark, was inspired by these scandals. If there was ever any doubt, the video, which specifically calls out both BCCI and the Federal Reserve, left no doubt that the members of Iron Maiden were as pissed off as everyone else in the world.

Be Quick or Be Dead peaked at number 2 on the UK charts. It may be best remembered for the cover of its single, which featured Ed getting vengeance on a suit-wearing banker who bore a resemblance to Robert Maxwell.