The Night Shift Episode 1.02 Second Chances

There's no such thing as a typical shift at San Antonio Memorial Hospital as tonight's episode demonstrated. TC was pushed to the brink in more ways than one, Ragosa revealed what's been eating him up, a wedding party and a senior sex club both learned painful lessons while Topher and Jordan felt TC's pain personally, despite witnessing a medical miracle. Here are the details from this week's episode of The Night Shift:

Medical Report:

A middle-aged woman with a severely sprained ankle refuses to leave the ambulance until she's given pain meds and a wheelchair. After Ragosa tells the EMT to grab a wheelchair, the ambulance is T-boned by a runaway car. The bad news is that the woman sustained multiple fractures in the accident. The good news (for Ragosa at least)? Because she refused to leave the ambulance, she wasn't technically on hospital grounds when she was struck; she'll have to sue the city, not San Antonio Memorial.

Drew examines a boy named Anthony who has ostensibly suffered a broken arm from falling off his bike. But something doesn't add up: the boy is reluctant to speak and it appears that both he and his mother are hiding something. Drew asks Dr. Landry de la Cruz to give the boy a psychological exam. An X-ray reveals a history of fractures and healing; Landry suspects abuse, but needs time to run a background check on the boy's mother and family. Drew conveniently diagnoses a possible concussion to allow them to hold the boy for a few hours.

Landry is probing the boy further when suddenly the child starts speaking in a girl's voice that claims her name is Gracie and explains that she's a friend of Anthony's. The child has a multiple personality disorder that his mother has been covering up; she's got the scars to prove that she's the one who's been abused. Staging a scene to force Anthony's alter ego to emerge, Landry tells him his mother's being arrested. The boy goes ballistic, screaming and breaking objects around the room. Drew subdues him while Landry sedates the boy with a shot. Landry apologizes to the boy's mother but explains that they needed an event like this to admit him for treatment and to get him under the care of Child Protective Service. Anthony's mother sobs.

A stabbing victim is wheeled in, blood spurting from his neck. He tried to rob a liquor store and was stopped cold by the storeowner.

Police officer Nick Woods, a close Army buddy of TC and Topher, is inbound with a gunshot wound to the chest. Making matters worse, Nick's a heart transplant recipient - in fact he has TC's brother's heart. Nick received the heart after TC's brother Tad was killed in action in Afghanistan. Working urgently to open Nick's chest and get his heart restarted, TC also pages Dr. Flannery Mills, the heart surgeon who performed the original transplant. Before the heart specialist can get to work, Ragosa informs her she does not have surgery privileges at San Antonio. TC starts to go off on Ragosa, but Topher defuses the situation and implores Ragosa to get the hospital board to grant the necessary privileges.

Dr. Mills does her best, but Nick's heart is too damaged; she can give him a few weeks to live, but no more. He needs another donor heart, but it's unlikely he'd receive one in time.

A drug-addled man wanders into the ER, looking for whatever drugs he can wrangle. Topher's seen him before and quickly tells him he's not getting any pain meds and that he needs to get into a drug treatment program pronto.

Meanwhile, Krista gets pranked outside at the food trucks when she's duped into sitting on a chair covered in super glue. Laughing, she simply removes her scrub pants and proudly gyrates for the crowd. The levity is destroyed a moment later, when Topher's junkie comes crashing onto the food truck; he's hurled himself from several stories up. Now he's brain-dead and no longer breathing on his own.

Trauma Drama

TC's gambling habit seems as strong as ever. Topher spots him on the roof in the Tailgate inflatable pool, placing bookie bets left and right; he already owes Topher $800 from the last bets that went south.

We see a heartsick Drew at his notebook, reading email from his boyfriend, who's still deployed overseas. Drew quickly closes the laptop as other staffers approach.

TC struggles with the idea of losing his close friend Nick - a buddy whose life was saved because TC gave permission for his dying brother's heart to be transplanted to him. Sure that he could persuade the family of the brain-dead junkie to donate the heart directly for transplantation, TC runs afoul of hospital protocol - and Jordan's authority. Jordan pulls him aside for a little counseling, explaining that she understands TC's pain, but that it all has to happen in steps.

TC meets with the junkie jumper's parents, who agree to take their son off life support. As the team begins prepping his body for transplant, the junkie jumper miraculously begins breathing on his own - a spontaneous recovery. Apparently he's getting a second chance.

The jumper's recovery means that his cranial swelling must now be dealt with and in a profound irony, TC and Topher will be the surgeons to take care of it. The surgery is successful. The junkie's parents are overjoyed. TC has the unenviable job of telling Nick's wife that they can't save her husband. Later, Nick visits his brother's grave where Topher and Jordan join him to offer a little comfort.

Prompted by Landry, Ragosa opens up about his personal life. His wife and kids left him three months ago; he's heartbroken, confused and unsure of how to go on. That may explain the source of his anger a little bit.

Pain Relief

An elderly woman complains of genital pain; it seems she's been getting around at the retirement home. Paul draws the lucky card of examining her. He initially believes he's being put through another resident practical joke, but when Mrs. Franklin lifts her gown to give Paul a closer look, he realizes this is no joke. Ew.

A wedding party is involved in a multiple-car accident. After some quick work by the staff, everyone's stabilized and both the bride and groom are expected to be fine. When the groom's buddies sneak into his hospital room while he's sedated to play a practical joke they've been planning for a long time - shaving the groom's full beard - Kenny and Drew give them the okay. A few minutes later everyone is horrified to discover what's under the groom's beard: Nazi tattoos! Guess the groom has some explaining to do to his new wife.