Scalpels and Hearts at The Ward

This past week we played The Ward by Kevin “Chroma” Petker which we used to participate in the pilot episode of the day time medical drama, Scalpels and Hearts.

The protagonists were Charlie, the new and innocent intern, Samuel Johnson, the old and wiley nurse, Dr. Apple McFly, the iron-willed senior resident, and Dr. Jennifer, the young, arrogant and seductive cardiology specialist.

It was a muggy night in Manhattan, wee hours of the morning, around 3 am, when Manuel, the Head of Surgery, is carted into the ER. The EMT wants to hand the patient to the hospital, but their first contact at the hospital is intern Charlie, who not only is in over her head, but is also shocked of the encounter as she had an affair with Manuel’s wife earlier the day before. She ends up calling Dr. McFly to help her attend Manuel. Dr. McFly, or Bumble Bee, as some call her, takes charge and gathers as much information as she can form the EMT and deduces that it is an overdose of opiates that she is dealing with. She confers with Dr. Jennifer, who was leaving the hospital mysteriously late, and agree on a course of treatment. Unfortunately, Manuel does not respond as expected and needs to be brought into the ICU for further treatment.

The following day, Manuel’s wife, Manola, storms into the hospital, demanding to see her husband. She is received my Samuel who answers what he can, but is put into an awkward position when Manola demands that she is given a luxury room at the hospital where she can stay at while her husband is in the ICU. He informs her that such room is unavailable, and she does not believe that, reminding Samuel that she knows Thomas, the Medical Director personally and she can make his life miserable. Meanwhile, Charlie rejoices that Manola is at the hospital… and starts scheming on how to get Manuel out of her way!

Meanwhile, at the cafeteria, Dr. McFly is approached by Gerald, who is very disappointed with her as she flaked out on their anniversary dinner the night before. Dr. McFly is surprised by this as she thought they were only roommates… but then again, she had been giving lots of mixed signals, she HAD agreed to a fancy dinner after all, but she had been clear that they were only roommates, but then why did she have him as her emergency contact? And just like the night before when she had to call off the dinner because of work, this time work saves her again as we hear her name being called in the loudspeaker as a young man has just been brought in after being run over by a car.

Later in the day, we see Manuela, walking in one of the halls of the hospital, walking towards the luxury room she wanted to stay at. It is clearly not being used by a patient. Why did the nurse tell her it was unavailable knowing who she was? Turns out, the room was not really empty… Samuel and Jennifer quickly put on back their clothes as they notice someone coming into the room, just as the episode ends.