Blogcritics

DVD Review: General Hospital Night Shift - The Complete First Season

Connie Phillips — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:23:07 EST

Season one of the Soapnet original series is now available on DVD.
On July 12, 2007 the cable network Soapnet launched their much hyped spin-off of ABC's daytime drama General Hospital to the best rating the network had ever seen. For weeks before that initial episode, the PR promised us a gritty, late-night soap that would show viewers what happened in the hospital after the sun went down.Though based at the...

TV Review: General Hospital: Night Shift - "Time Served"

Connie Phillips — Sat, 6 Oct 2007 10:37:04 EDT

The inaugural season of Night Shift comes to a satisfying, yet confusing, close.
First – I can't tell you what sheer joy I get in saying "I was wrong." At the conclusion of last week's "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted," I was certain that Toussaint had become one of the few patients that Drake Jr. has ever lost. When the show opened and he was recovering, I think I actually squealed I was...

TV Review: General Hospital: Night Shift - "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted"

Connie Phillips — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 17:07:21 EDT

Hopefully, they have found some peace.
What becomes of the broken hearted was not only an apropos title for this episode of General Hospital: Night Shift but a fitting question to ask as the season nears its close as broken hearts and shattered dreams have been commonplace in every episode thus far. This week Patrick continued to soothe his heartache over losing Robin by repeatedly...

TV Review: General Hospital: The Night Shift - "Fools in Love"

Connie Phillips — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:18:04 EDT

"Sex is better than BBQ potato chips and orange soda." -- Damian Spinelli
"Sex is better than BBQ potato chips and orange soda." -- Damian Spinelli, Night ShiftWith his escapades with Jolene in last week's episode weighing so heavily on his mind, Spinelli questioned whether or not he's becoming a sex addict after overhearing Dr. Archer talking to Dr. Kelly about her obsessive condition. The real theme...

TV Review: General Hospital: Night Shift - "Fallen Star"

Connie Phillips — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:08:54 EDT

Jolene still lurks, doing MedCam's bidding; Robin loses hope in her pursuit of adoption.
Disappointment seemed to be the key phrase on Thursday's Night Shift, the biggest coming when Curtis showed up at the hospital with a DNA test proving he was the father of Stacy's baby. In a calculated and obviously distant way, he went about filling out the paperwork to take custody of the child, closing out any chance Robin had of adopting her....

TV Review: General Hospital: Night Shift - "Employee of the Month"

Connie Phillips — Tue, 4 Sep 2007 21:38:53 EDT

Every member of the staff faces demons as the angel of death is revealed.
For the doctors, nurses, and staff of General Hospital, the Night Shift has been a tenuous, emotional, and sometimes scary place to work. Often the doctors find themselves bound by the new order imposed by Dr. Ford, who is only trying to protect the hospital from a takeover by the HMO MedCam. At other time times they find themselves vulnerable to...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

TV Review: General Hospital: Night Shift - "Mother's Day"

Connie Phillips — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:06:42 EDT

After a quick recap of last week's Night Shift, we were deep in the drama and action as the singular focus of the hospital seemed to be saving Stacy and her baby from the stalled elevator. Last week, HIV positive expectant mother Stacy Sloan found herself trapped on a broken elevator with janitor Jason Morgan and his sidekick, lord of cyberspace, Spinelli. Dr. Robin Scorpio, who is also HIV positive and had formed a bond with Stacy, was letting her personal attachment to the woman cloud her judgment, snapping at all of her colleagues, her boyfriend, and baby-phobic Patrick Drake the most, though I could hardly blame her. Hiding behind professional detachment, Patrick worked hard to distance himself from the crisis completely, a particularly brutal slap to Robin who was so invested. This episode opened with more of the framed flashback. We saw Dr Lee explaining to chief of staff Dr. Ford and the hospital attorney that Stacy had always planned to have a Caesarean section to minimize the risk of blood on blood contact with her child. We were then taken to the elevator car where Jason was giving the baby mouth-to-mouth, encouraging her to breathe. Soon, the infant's cries filled the elevator and their attention was redirected back to Stacy, still unconscious and bleeding. Jason handed the baby to a reluctant Spinelli and asked him to keep reading from the website; he needed to finish the procedure. Though he removed the placenta and pinched off his incision sites the bleeding wasn't stopping, and the blood was everywhere. Toussaint and Stan continued to work on fixing the electrical panel so they could get the elevator doors open, but both were buckling under the pressure. Toussaint, who was sure the mishap was not accidental, was especially upset. Meanwhile, Miss Sneed tried to put a stop to the vigil in the hall, insisting Dr. Archer, the anesthesiologist, scrub in on an appendectomy and the remaining doctors and nurses return to the short-staffed and overcrowded ER. When Robin protested, the administrator lashed out, saying Stacy and her baby were certainly dead by now, and the hospital needed to get back to business. Dr. Ford stepped in and (for once) came down on the side of medicine, giving the doctors permission to wait for the elevator to be fixed.After Miss Sneed made her exit, Dr. Ford asked how long it was expected Stacy and her child could last in the elevator. Robin hesitated, not wanting to admit the original prediction had been an hour - an hour that had long passed. Fortunately, she didn't have to as the elevator lit up and the car could be heard rushing to the tenth floor.The doors opened and Jason turned Stacy over to Dr. Lee, quickly answering her questions as to how long he had been doing chest compressions and how he had performed the Caesarean section, while Spinelli handed the baby over to one of the student nurses. Dr. Lee directed the others to get Stacy to the OR but when Robin asked to scrub in, she refused her permission. Angry, Robin turned her outrage on Jason screaming, "Why couldn't you just wait?"In surgery, Dr. Lee discovered Stacy had developed placental accreta and had to perform a hysterectomy. Afterward, her blood wasn't clotting and they tried to remedy the situation with blood transfusions, something considered a last ditch attempt to save her and all but Robin seemed to accept the probability Stacy would bleed out. When Dr. Lee was called away for another delivery, she asked Patrick to take over as the attending, further infuriating Robin.Things appeared to be turning toward a happy ending when Stacy woke up and held her baby for awhile. She asked Robin to make sure she thanked Jason for saving the child. Shortly after, her consciousness slipped from her and her heart went into defib. Patrick jumped in and tried several times to restart the woman's heart, but eventually called the time of death. Inconsolable, Robin tried to keep the staff working on the woman, but Patrick dragged her from the room, insisting it was over. Guilt is a powerful emotion, and it seemed there was plenty to go around. Robin blamed herself for not being in the ER when Stacy came in, Layla blamed herself for putting Stacy in the elevator with Jason and Spinelli and then going to help another patient, Spinelli blamed himself for pounding on the elevator buttons, and Jason blamed himself for not doing enough.Much to my frustration, Patrick chose to console Layla instead of Robin, telling her to stay focused on being the best and to not let the incident keep her from becoming a nurse. Jason and Robin found comfort in each other, after she apologized to him for her horrible behavior. In Jason's arms, Robin admitted her personal attachment and sobbed she had allowed herself to believe if Stacy could be a mother with her HIV status, then maybe she could as well. Does she truly believe because Stacy died, the choice to have a child of her own is now out of reach? I wonder. Spinelli found comfort, first from the object of his Night Shift affection, student nurse Jolene, and later from Toussaint. When Spinelli hesitated to get on the elevator to leave the hospital, and unloaded on the other how his actions had caused the whole tragedy in the first place, Toussaint explained that the repeated pushing of the button had in fact caused the cars to stall, but it wouldn't have caused the whole electrical panel to short circuit (he later told Jason he suspected someone had thrown a glass of water on the panel).He went on to say Spinelli had been part of the solution, and when rebuffed asked if Jason would have known how to find the directions to do a C-section online. (Now, there's an image - Jason in cyber space.) Robin made the rounds of the hospital apologizing to all she had lashed out at, including student nurse Layla. She also told Dr. Ford in his inquisition that Patrick had done all he could to save Stacy. In the end, she found herself in the nursery, trying to comfort the crying orphaned infant, which is where Patrick found her, though he kept his distance, watching her through the window. He appeared to be searching his soul for where the two could possibly go from here; her desire to have kids is so strong and he is so deathly afraid of the prospect.The last person to be questioned by Dr. Ford and the attorney was Jason, and when he tried to unload his guilt and apologize, he was stopped and praised for his actions. Unable to accept it in light of Stacy's death, he fled to the roof where the sun was rising and the night shift was coming to an end.A reoccurring theme with these episodes, and the roof scenes that close them, seems to be that how a person deals with tragedy and disappoint when the event passes and a new day dawns is what truly defines a person. Much to its credit, Night Shfit shows these events through each pair of eyes of its diverse cast. Everyone working the night shift the Saturday night Stacy Sloan was trapped in the elevator and lost her life, will deal with it differently and take something unique away from it. The only question remaining is just who is this angel of darkness wreaking havoc on General Hospital's Night Shift.Next week on the Night Shift:

Wife, mother, aspiring novelist, and music editor at BC Magazine, Connie Phillips spends most of her time in a fantasy land of her own creating. In reality, she writes about music, television, and the process of writing, when she's not cheering on her kids at equestrian events. Contact: Phillips.connie@gmail.com

TV Review: General Hospital: Night Shift - "Love's Labor"

Connie Phillips — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 10:52:46 EDT

We saw a brief break from the curse, or angel of death, that is stalking the halls of General Hospital's night shift last week, but she returned in grand form this week in an episode that focused on well known patient Stacy Sloan, the HIV positive woman who has had complications with her pregnancy and has bonded with Dr. Robin Scorpio.The story was told in a series of flashbacks intertwined with members of the staff being questioned by acting chief of staff Dr. Ford and the hospital's attorney. But first, before the opening credits rolled we saw Robin directing Patrick to hit a patient with the defibrillator paddles over, and over, and over again. Though framed flashback isn't my favorite way to have a story delivered, I have to admit I was on the edge of my seat throughout. I knew the ending would be bad for the patient I've grown to know and care about, but still couldn't give up hope. As we have often seen Stacy, she stumbled into the ER in great pain. When the nurse told her she would page Dr. Lee, she asks for Dr. Scorpio to be paged as well. After diagnosing a placental abruption, Dr. Lee asks student nurse Leyla to take Stacy up to the tenth floor and she will meet her up there to perform a cesarean section. As Leyla wheeled her into the elevator, she noticed a panicked couple at the desk who appeared to only speak Farsi and told Jason and Spinelli, who were on the elevator, to take her to ten and rushed to help the other couple. Another contraction hit, Stacy cried out, and Spinelli pushed the button for the tenth floor hard and repeatedly. Of course, the elevator froze between floors, with no power to the car at all.On ten, Robin questioned Layla as to where Stacy was, and learns she left her in the janitor and computer geek's care. After also discovering the broken elevator Robin laid into the student nurse for leaving her with non-medical personal and told her if anything happened to either Stacy or her baby she'll see her kicked out of the nursing program. Meanwhile, Patrick has determined the Iranian man that Layla chose to help needs surgery and asks Robin to scrub in. She refused, saying she wants to be there when they get Stacy out of the elevator, but after a lecture from Epiphany about doing her job, joins Patrick in the operating room.Toussaint and Stan try to fix the elevator, which Toussaint determined was sabotaged. While in the elevator Jason kept a watchful eye on the baby's heartbeat via the monitor and tried to keep Stacy calm telling her how he knows a woman who went through the same thing and the baby is fine (Jake). As they continue talking, he also remembered outloud about Sam's baby who didn't survive the same condition. Stacy begs Jason to do a C-section on her and save her baby before she passes out from the pain (and I assume blood loss.) Much to Spinelli's horror, Jason directed him to search the internet for directions on how to do a cesarean. He is undeterred when Spin pointed out that A) Jason is not a doctor and B) it's not your usual on-line sort of search. Much to his (and my) surprise, Spinelli was able to find a website with step by step directions and with his pocket knife and other supplies he had on his cleaning cart, he began to do what he could to save the woman's child. He was able to deliver her daughter, but then says, "She's not breathing" as the screen faded to black and the words "to be continued" appeared. So actually, I'm still sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to find out if either Stacy or the baby will make it through.In one small break from this very singular storyline, we saw Regina and Jolene on a break. While discussing the tragedy of Stacy being trapped, Jolene asked Regina about why she lashed out at Stan early in the episode. Regina shared that when she first got into the student nursing program, she discovered she was pregnant and made the difficult choice to have an abortion because she knew she wasn't strong enough to handle both her studies and a baby. Knowing how hard her choices were, she said she has great respect for the ones Epiphany made, to be a single mother while becoming a nurse, and it angered her to see Stan disrespect and hurt her.It's an on-going theme that's run through these first six episodes (of thirteen). The sacrifices a parent will make for a child, and the not always easy road one takes in the name of unconditional love. As we move into next week, I'm hoping against hope that Stacy, her baby, or both have survived, even though the tone of the scenes in which the staff is being questioned would indicate otherwise. On Sunday, August 19, Soapnet will be running a marathon of the first six episodes of Night Shift, beginning at 1:00 pm. (Actually, "Love's Labor" airs at noon, and then it starts from the beginning with "Frayed Anatomy" running through to a repeat of "Love Labor" at 6:00 pm.) If you've missed any, this is your chance to catch up.Preview of next week's Night Shift

TV Review: General Hospital: The Night Shift - "Bed, Bath, and Beyond"

Connie Phillips — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:16:07 EDT

Three new patients, and one a familiar face, found their way into the Emergency Room lat Thursday and we checked in with one from two weeks ago. We were also treated to plenty of drama between the doctors, nurses, and staff of Port Charles' favorite hospital.Having been seduced by Dr. Kelly Lee last week, Pablo tried once again for a repeat with the gynecologist, but she had just awakened from a rather disturbing dream involving a sketchy mixture of passion and violence with a masked partner or assailant. Just as she finishes rebuffing Pablo, another of her past conquests, Dr. Andy Archer, rounds the corner to also be met with her anger. Later Dr. Ford called Pablo into his office with the news that he was being fired because of numerous complaints from the hospital staff. Angry, he asserted it must be Dr. Lee retaliating because he refused to sleep with her and threatened a sexual harassment suite. Dr. Ford informed Dr. Lee this could be the final straw that delivers GH to the HMO.In the early episodes, I wasn't quite sure what to make of Kelly's habitual bed jumping, or shower jumping as the case may be. I couldn't decipher if she was trying to combat an emotional isolation with physical companionship or if she was battling some type of addiction to either the sex or the thrill of possibly being caught. With this new turn of events, the dream, I wonder if we aren't going to discover Dr. Lee is trying to cope with an abusive past. However it turns out, we should be seeing some real progression with this soon now that Robin is suspicious and Dr. Ford and Miss Sneed are in the know. Dr. Archer had a patient who insisted he had REM sleep disorder – he looked it up on the Internet. His wife's complaint was he would walk in his sleep and crawl in bed with beautiful women. Believing the patient was just scamming his wife, Dr. Archer suggested hooking him up to monitors and observing him. Twice, the patient 'sleepwalked,' once crawling in a bed with a horrified Layla and later with Epiphany who took matters into her own hands, blackening his eye. Convinced his patient had a real sleep disorder, he referred him to a clinic specializing in such things. By the way the man's eyes followed Regina as he and his wife were leaving the hospital, I suspect Dr. Archer's first diagnosis was the right one.A clown also came into the ER, laughing hysterically and flailing his arms around. Might not seem like unusual behavior, but we learned he had 20 to 30 such uncontrollable episodes daily. While Patrick ran tests, Spinelli tried to face his life-long fear of clowns and forge a friendship with the man who obviously needed a friend. Yes, a fear of clowns might almost seem as unlikely as a clown whose uncontrolled episodes scare the daylights out of his young audience, but it's actually not as uncommon as you might think. Of course, Spinelli, even when he's weirded out and battling his own demons, has a way of doing so with such joyous humor. The clown, like most people, wasn't quite sure what to make of him.Patrick's test confirmed a brain tumor, one nicknamed the joker face because of the symptoms. He suggests immediate brain surgery with a hopeful diagnosis for the future, while I’m left simply amazed at how many brain tumors and head injuries come into the ER on a regular basis. Spinelli accompanies him to the operating room, doing his best to cheer up the clown along the way.Patrick's patient from two weeks ago, Jared, was still in a coma and his parents were beginning to lose hope, though his father admitted to Jason that the way the two battled since Jared had reached puberty, it might be a blessing in disguise. Robin offered his mother hope, remembering Jason's similar accident and injury from long ago and detailing the circumstances. Jared did regain consciousness, and much like with Jason, had a completely different personality. The difference in Jared's case was that instead of being combative he was now loving, caring, and apologetic to his parents for his past actions. When Patrick suggested they could try some different drug therapies to restore his original personality, his father was animatedly against it saying as long as Jared was not in danger he wanted to leave well enough alone. Robin was just as disturbed as I was by the father's selfishness surrounding his son's recovery, and found herself talking about that and her own fears about becoming a parent with Jason while Patrick quietly observed and overheard. It wasn't quite clear if was more upset about her rekindling her friendship with Jason, or the topic of parenthood she seems to continually revisit, but he was bothered by something; almost as much as Robin was upset by finding Patrick on the roof with Layla – twice. The second time was completely innocent as it was the now traditional roof scene at the end of the episode and many of the doctors and nurses were greeting the new day and the end of their shift while dancing to the song on the radio. The first time, in contrast, Robin found Patrick comforting Layla who had once again been accused of killing Mrs. Storch. With her staph infection not getting any better, Maxie returned to the hospital as a patient this week. Dr. Julian informed her she had become septic, the infection was now in her bloodstream and her transplanted heart was in real danger. They would continue treating with IV drugs until they found one the infection was not resistant to. True to form she tried to slip out of the hospital and collapsed near the elevator bays. (Didn't the very same thing happen on the parent show during the monkey virus epidemic?) Though Dr. Julian continued to insist they would find a medication that worked, at the end of the episode, with Mac and Georgie by her side, she crashed.In a recent interview on Soapnet, head writer Bob Guza said Maxie's staph infection and the complications are one of the few storylines that we will see cross back over to the parent show, so I'm pretty confident Dr. Julian will be able to turn her around. Just what those after-effects are for Maxie and the rest of General Hospital's staff on the Night Shift remain to be seen.If you've missed an episode of the Night Shift, here's your chance to get caught up. Soapnet is running a marathon of all previous episodes Sunday August 19 beginning at 1:00 pm. All episodes can also be purchased at iTunes for $1.99 per episode or $22.99 for the season pass.

TV Review: General Hospital: The Night Shift - "Keep The Change"

Connie Phillips — Fri, 3 Aug 2007 14:24:10 EDT

It's a week later, and we're back in General Hospital's emergency room for the Night Shift -- Midnight to 6:00 am. This week the doctors and nurses are still reeling from the loss of their favorite habitual patient Mrs. Storch and shocked to discover it was caused by an injection to her IV. The paper is calling it a mercy killing and coupled with the brewing strike talks amongst the nurses and staff, as well as the continuing mix-ups with patient's charts, Dr. Ford and Miss Sneed are both worried a take over from Medcam is eminent. Spinelli showed up to fill in for Jason, only telling Toussaint the other man was working his day job. It quickly becomes apparent he is there to further his attempts to get closer to nurse Jolene, who is distraught and weepy for most of the episode. Many assume it's over the loss of the patient, but late in the episode she confides to Spin it is the seventh anniversary of her father's death. He died during surgery, she says, and while her mother blamed the health care system it drew her to it – she wanted to effect change. A noble cause and honorable tribute to his memory comforted Spinelli.As during the day, Spinelli brings lighthearted fun to even the most dramatic of situations with his quirky and awkward movements as well as his way of paralleling every situation to a video game, but even more so on Night Shift we are seeing a depth and growth to the character, which is just as entertaining to watch. Hopefully we'll see this friendship between him and Jolene escalate and carry over to the daytime hours. Stacy Sloan was back at the hospital, actually passing out in front amidst the striking employees. Thankfully Patrick noticed her and got her inside where Robin pressed to keep him involved in her case. With neither pregnancy nor HIV being his area of expertise, Patrick found himself feeling trapped and accused Robin of forcing the idea of having a baby on him. Two patients were refused treatment in the emergency room this week. One was a nameless young woman, obviously very ill, but without health insurance. The other was Lainy Winter's father, who was transferred from Rose Lawn where he's being treated for his advanced Alzheimer's on the fear he has suffered a stroke. The Alzheimer's storyline was visited briefly awhile back on the parent show, but was dropped suddenly and I was happy to see it revisited on Night Shift. Patrick is able to diagnose a TIA or precursor stroke and advises that Lainey allow him to perform surgery soon to prevent a more serious one. Enter Dr. Ford who ruled out surgery as Lainey's father's health insurance would not cover it due to his pre-existing condition (the Alzheimer's). Lainey insisted she would pay out of pocket and Patrick offered to donate his services but Ford held firm, stating it was a waste of hospital resources to treat someone who in essence was untreatable. The scenes were quite disturbing yet unfortunately very realistic, reinforcing the need for a complete overhaul of the medical system as we know it. As Lainey tried to help her father dress for his return to Rose Lawn, he became confused and combative. Cody, the Iraq war veteran she's been treating, came to the rescue, handling her father calmly and respectfully yet authoritatively. In the hall, Lainey thanked him, but added she hoped it was genuine kindness and not a grandiose attempt to get more pills out of her. Cody made an observation of his own: that she doesn't like to accept help from anyone. Is this a change in Cody? Is he finding his heart, hardened by his time in Iraq? Is Lainey getting through to him? I'm anxious to see how this develops both here and on General Hospital where Cody is still seeking his vengeance against Logan.As Patrick ran off in a huff, frustrated by Dr. Ford's persist attention to the bottom line instead of heath care, he found himself trapped in the temperamental elevators with Toussaint. When the janitor began to sing "When The Saints Go Marching In" to pass the time, Patrick found the mysterious voice that had been haunting him these last four weeks he has worked the Night Shift. Further conversation revealed Toussaint was once a member of the group The Saints, a name Patrick recognized from discussions of music with his father. Later, Patrick confides Toussaint's previous life to Epiphany who is quite unnerved by it, and later quite tongue-tied when she runs him to him.Between the medical cases Regina confronted a very offended Layla, telling her she had seen her enter Mrs Storch's room just minutes before she had passed. She can act offended all she wants, right now Layla is my top suspect too. Kelly also found the time to roll another man, this time Pablo in the showers. When Robin tired to discuss her distant behavior with her, Kelly blew her off. Even later, last week's victim confronted her, trying to break through this wall she's building around her and the self destructive behavior she been demonstrating on GH too. I'm quite interested to see what's got Dr. Lee acting so out of character in the weeks to come.When Epiphany confronted Stan about the labor strike he had organized and vocalized how disappointed she was in the man he'd becomes. He voiced just as much disapproval in her showing her the woman who had early been removed from the ER for not having insurance. He suspected she had pneumonia and her apartment building had been 'red tagged'. She had turned to the hospital for compassion and was given none. Epiphany insisted she had rules to follow, but Stanford countered rules could be bent and broken, but medical staff should care.As the dust settled the striking workers returning to their jobs and the sun rose, Toussaint's words to Stanford that change can happen one degree at a time was realized as Epiphany came out and escorted the ill woman back into the emergency room, holding off her supervisor with a reminder that he was truly afraid of her. On the rooftop, Patrick and Robin met up for their usual reflection and we learned Stacy had decided against inducing her labor and was going to try to go full term. When Patrick voiced his fear, that by Robin living vicariously through her patient they would never again be the way they once were, Robin countered with 'why is that bad.'This world is ever turning, nothing remains static and change is inevitable. How people and relationships deal with it becomes the question, and I will continue to turn in to the Night Shift hoping Dr. Drake and Dr. Scorpio come through just fine.