The Surgeon

Assistant State’s Attorney (ASA) Paula Fuselier rushes into the Langham Hotel two minutes late for a meeting with her boss, State’s Attorney (SA) Mitch Hobbs. He meets her at the elevator with a pointed remark about her tardiness. At the Travelle restaurant, Hobbs orders steak for both of them, calling her a hunter who draws blood. He questions why she approaches certain cases with particular intensity. Paula explains that she fights hardest for underprivileged victims because their losses matter more, citing a recent case involving a foster youth’s stolen car.

Hobbs praises this as political capital and promotes her to head of the Criminal Prosecutions Bureau, saying he’ll coach her to eventually take his place as SA. He warns her that a colleague named Parsons will be upset and gives her eight minutes to finish her meal before her party arrives at 4:30 pm. He orders champagne for four and informs her that she’ll start in May when Tannehill retires and will complete three months of training and a year of probation with elevated expectations.

Paula’s assistant, Marie Eckley, and lead investigator, Adam Costilla, arrive. Paula announces her promotion and says they’re moving up with her. Adam calls her by her nickname, the Pit Viper. Paula receives texts from someone saved in her phone as Mr. Mayor, who is jealous and provides a room number at the Langham: 1098. Hobbs gives her an unreadable look as she texts and then excuses himself. Paula realizes that her lover, a mayoral candidate, is waiting for her in a room at the hotel and decides to make him wait while she celebrates with her team.

In the cold, mostly empty operating room, Anne sits on the floor with only Madison and Tim Crosley remaining. They help her to her feet. Madison informs Anne that Dr. Seldon has taken over her next scheduled surgery. Anne feels compelled to see Donaghy’s face again and walks past the surgical drape. She studies the birthmark, confirming its unique shape. She notes that Tim is shutting down the pump and that no organ “harvesting” will occur because Donaghy didn’t give consent.

Anne realizes that Donaghy’s beard and ball cap disguised his identity during their previous meetings. She asks herself if recognizing him made a difference in the outcome and silently answers that it did. Had she known his identity beforehand, she would have had a colleague perform the surgery. Anne asks Madison for fresh gloves and inspects her surgical work on Donaghy’s heart, finding no technical errors that would explain why it failed to restart. She recalls that all procedures are recorded, documenting her 17 minutes of resuscitation efforts before she recognized him. Anne admits to herself that once she knew who her patient was, she wanted him dead.

Anne watches orderlies wheel Caleb Donaghy’s body from the operating room. Madison escorts her to her office and insists that she go home, citing the hospital rule requiring her to take the next day off after losing a patient. The thought of facing the formidable hospital administrator, Dr. Jody Meriwether, known as M, convinces Anne to leave without argument.

In the parking garage, alone in her car, Anne breaks down sobbing. She drives off quickly to avoid being seen by approaching nurses. During the rainy drive home, she mentally replays the surgery, finding no clinical reason for the heart’s failure. She concludes that nothing went wrong until she recognized Donaghy. She thinks that no one must ever find out who he was to her.

Anne arrives at her family home, built by her late father, who was a surgeon at the same hospital. The house holds memories of her father and her deceased sister, Melanie. She sits in the dark garage, feeling temporarily safe but believing that authorities will eventually come for her for what she has done.

Paula is in room 1098 at the Langham with her lover, a mayoral candidate. Following sex, she notes the gold wedding band on his finger, a reminder that their relationship is an arrangement, not a romance. They discuss their quid pro quo political alliance: Paula will provide him with information on high-profile arrests for media opportunities, and he’ll endorse her future bid for SA.

He tells her the story behind the Veuve Clicquot champagne, comparing the powerful widow who founded the company to Paula. She confesses that her favorite champagne is the cheap Martini Asti, revealing her humble origins. He offers to order it, but she declines, wanting to maintain control. He questions whether Hobbs’s promotion is a keep-your-enemies-closer strategy. Paula speculates that Hobbs may be running for governor.

Paula resists his suggestion to have sex again and prepares to leave, despite his desire for her to stay. He recognizes her pantsuit from the night they first met at a fundraiser. She leaves, satisfied with her adherence to her rule: Always leave them wanting more.

Anne’s mother finds her still sitting in the car in the garage and helps her inside. A fire burns in the living room. Her mother says surgical nurse Ginny Gonzales called to tell her what happened. Anne’s mother, who was also a surgical nurse and worked with Anne’s late father, tries to comfort her by citing surgical mortality statistics and recalling how her father obsessed over them.

Anne prepares to confess the full story, but her mother preemptively changes the subject. She recounts how, at age six, Anne performed surgery on a doll and her father taught her to suture with his medical kit. She then tells the story of the Thanksgiving when her father taught Anne to suture using the turkey while her mother was preparing to cook it, beaming with pride at his daughter’s skill. The memory makes Anne feel ashamed, wondering what her father would think of her actions. For the first time, she’s glad that he’s dead and can’t find out.

Anne understands that her mother is trying to remind her of her strength and heritage. She admits to herself that she deliberately gave up on resuscitation early and could have tried other methods, justifying Dr. Bolger’s anger. A passing police siren causes Anne to panic, thinking she’s about to be arrested. After it fades, she lies on the sofa, convinced that her arrest is inevitable because she killed a man.

While setting the table for dinner, Anne is haunted by the empty chairs and fixates on her deceased sister Melanie’s empty place. The smell of her mother’s roast chicken makes Anne sick, and she vomits. Her husband, Derreck, a lawyer, arrives home. Anne reflects on their relationship, from meeting in college when he was a law student to his moving in with her and her mother 16 years ago. They still live in the downstairs guest suite of the family home.

At dinner, Anne is unable to eat and stares at Melanie’s empty place. Overwhelmed with grief, she excuses herself and goes upstairs to Melanie’s closed bedroom door. She can’t make herself open it and slams her hand against it in frustration. After her mother goes to bed, Derreck asks Anne what’s wrong. She confesses that she lost a patient and that she knew him, but didn’t recognize him until it was too late. She admits that she stopped resuscitation efforts early after recognizing the patient.

Derreck asks if she’s saying she could have saved the man and did not. Anne breaks down sobbing. He holds her but becomes shocked and tense. Acting like a lawyer, he asks who else knows about the connection. When Anne says no one, he advises her not to speak to anyone about it without legal counsel present and tells her to keep the connection secret. He then takes her to bed.

Anne sits by the fireplace, contemplating Derreck’s advice. She feels that she has let everyone down and dreads becoming desensitized to patient deaths. After Derreck goes to their bedroom, Anne showers, crying silently as flashbacks of Melanie (laughing, cowering, bruised) flood her mind. She emerges from the bathroom in a silk nightgown and stands at the foot of the bed, where Derreck is reading a magazine.

She lets her nightgown fall to the floor, standing naked before him. He invites her into bed, but she shakes her head. She retrieves his belt from a nearby chair and places it on the bed beside him. Derreck understands what she’s asking. He picks up the belt and asks how many. Anne whispers six.

It’s the following Wednesday; Anne has been back at work since Monday. The hospital administrator, M, had Anne assist with several surgeries under supervision to assess her readiness. Madison reviews the day’s schedule with Anne, which includes a coronary stent procedure, and tomorrow’s cases, including another ascending aortic aneurysm. Anne suggests asking Dr. Seldon to take the aneurysm case, and Madison confirms that Dr. Barrymore is the assigned anesthesiologist. She informs Anne of a rumor that Dr. Bolger has formally requested never to work with her again.

Anne asks about Caleb Donaghy’s body. Madison says it’s still in the morgue awaiting an autopsy. Compelled to see him again, Anne goes to the morgue. The attendant recognizes her from a hospital billboard campaign, calling her the heart girl, and pulls Donaghy’s body from storage. Anne studies the birthmark and takes a photo with her phone for future confirmation.

The sight triggers a detailed flashback to when she was 14. She was walking her nine-year-old sister, Melanie, through Lincoln Park to the zoo when Melanie suddenly became terrified of a man sitting on a park bench; the man had a prominent red birthmark on his forehead. Melanie begged to go home, whispering not to let him hurt her again. Anne, realizing from previous signs on Melanie’s body what this meant, rushed her home. In the present, Anne leans over Donaghy’s body and whispers her accusation that he killed Melanie and will now pay for it. The attendant startles her, and she leaves, regretting that she didn’t do more to confront the man in the park years ago.