The Knick Episode 2.05 Whiplash

In front of an audience of medical men in the surgical theater, Thackery conducts a test on a patient, Sidney Carton. Using an electrode attached to a transformer, Thackery showcases how Carton's body responds when electrical currents touch various parts of his brain. He then attaches the electrode to a rheoscope, which detects currents of brain activity. Thackery discloses to the audience that Carton is a morphine addict. A nurse proceeds to inject Sidney with morphine, and Thackery gently prods the brain with the electrode to discover the area that the drug stimulates. After a few tries, the rheoscope signals that Thackery has located the stimulated area-"X marks the spot."

When Harriet tries to advise a girl at the Sisters of Mercy Boarding House on menstrual pain, a nun interrupts and tells all the women in residence that they are not allowed to speak with Harriet.

Hoping to learn of a procedure to treat his mother, Bertie meets with Algernon and asks if he knows of any experimental operations for laryngeal cancer. Algernon tells Bertie of a paper by Pierre Curie, and says he can translate it from French if Bertie locates a copy. Bertie gets Genevieve to assist him in breaking into Dr. Wadsworth's office in search of Curie's paper. They find it, along with a Polish paper on adrenaline.

At the Knick, Henry receives a phone call alerting him to an explosion that has caused major casualties among the workers digging the subway tunnels. Incoming patients quickly swamp the Knick. After a long day coordinating the hospital's response, Henry instructs Barrow not to charge the subway company a cent for the services.

When Thackery goes to check on Abby, she asks that he not use any drugs while he's in her home. He sleeps at her house, and gives her a kiss as he leaves for work the next morning.

Henry meets with his father and declares that their fleet of ships is in a sorry state of affairs. He suggests they sell at auction and use the money to invest in new technologies, but Captain Robertson refuses to consider the idea.

At the Knick, Henry finds Lucy reading a medical text in the surgical theater. She is more welcoming toward his attempts at seduction. Later, the two have a romantic dinner, where they flirtatiously discuss female anatomy.

Henry learns that the subway company will not be held legally responsible for the explosion, but the investors will have to pay off the residents of Park Avenue, whose homes were damaged. They will each have to contribute a third of a $1 million penalty.

Cornelia meets with Detective Satterlee. She shows him the partially destroyed second-class ticket that she discovered during her search of the deceased Inspector Speight's home. Detective Satterlee reveals that he found a notebook on Speight's body. Cornelia looks through it and finds a note: "Pasteurella pestis"--bubonic plaque.

During a dinner at the Chickering home, Genevieve meets Bertie's parents and tells them that she is Jewish. Genevieve and Mrs. Chickering sit together companionably after the meal, and Genevieve comforts the dying woman about the Chickering family's future.

Barrow pays off his debt to Ping Wu in full. The two men strike another deal: Ping Wu will release Junia from his service for the price of $2,000.

Believing he has located the source of addiction, Thackery operates on Carton, cutting out a portion of the man's brain, and leaving him in a conscious vegetative state.

Gallinger begins performing vasectomies on boys who have been institutionalized at the "Idiot House" on Randall's island.