132 - A Bend in the Road
Summary
Will Jack live or die? Meanwhile, a 16-year-old cheerleader, Diana, disappears. She found the donor of her heart, tried to find out about the boy who died and then confessed to his family that she had his heart. The brother of the boy who died didn’t know his parents donated his organs, became angry, and took the girl at gunpoint to try to make sense of the horrible accident.
Rating
Discussion
Luckily this episode has not-quite-dying-Jack as background rather than front and center, so this episode is okay. In addition, we have a bit of pregnant-Sam, but luckily not too much, and what we have progresses that storyline along well (i.e., baby-daddy decides he wants to be in the baby’s life, so he and Sam need to actually get to know each other). I do have to question his concept of a good idea since he apparently thought it was a good idea to go to a hospital to talk to Sam about it. Did it not cross his mind that generally when someone is with a friend or whoever at a hospital they might not be up for a big conversation like, “Yeah, it turns out I’m going to be intertwined in your life for the next 18 years or longer after all. Hope you don’t mind”?
But both of those plot lines were small and in the background. Front and center is the case of the disappearing 16-year-old named Diana. She got a heart transplant a couple years ago and since then has been having even worse teenage drama than normal. Her personality has taken a whole ‘nother turn, and her parents don’t understand. It’s never really explained exactly what has upset her, since she learned about the donor after her personality change, so we are left to guess. My guess is that she has the normal teenage identity crisis going on, amplified by the total change in her health (and thus social opportunities) after the heart transplant.
And then she learns a bit about the heart donor. Her parents knew it was a 17-year-old boy who was killed in a car accident, but Diana didn’t know that and finds it upsetting that it was someone her own age. So she seeks out his family to learn about the boy who died. I’m not sure what she hoped to accomplish with that, but perhaps she was seeking some sort of answers or understanding of the ironies and cruelties of her life where someone had to die for her to live. Unfortunately, the parents of the boy who died are still suffering, and the brother, who survived the accident though he was seriously injured, didn’t know his brother’s organs were donated. The brother becomes very upset, kidnaps Diana at gunpoint, takes her to the site of the accident, and demand and explanation for why he lived and his brother died. But of course Diana has no answers. Our team arrive and the brother puts the gun down. Daughter and parents are happily reunited.
And Jack is apparently going to live. As if we didn’t already suspect that was the case.
Notes
Sam’s one-night stand wants to be a father rather than sign the paternity waiver.
Quotes
Vivian: You know, I picked up a couple magazines: Vanity Fair and People. What’s your preference?
Jack: Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.
Vivian: People magazine it is, then. Let’s see. “Meow 11. A cat calls for help and saves its dying owner.”
Jack: You really are trying to kill me, aren’t you?
Vivian: Mm-hmm.