GIFTED MAN, A: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The premiere episode in this drama series about an arrogant New York City neurosurgeon who begins to reconsider his life when he is visited by the ghost of his late wife. In this episode, Dr. Michael Holt performs emergency surgery on his friend, playboy Ronald Vinetz, impatiently ordering his staff around. Later, he goes jogging and thinks he hears a car crash, but when he investigates there is nothing there save a child’s rubber ball. His assistant Rita then informs him about a consult with a famous young tennis player, who suffered a head injury, and her concerned parents. Michael checks on Ron and orders him to “behave” and eschew his excessive lifestyle while he heals. Later that night, he is surprised to run into his ex-wife Anna, and he greets her warmly before inviting her to dinner. They discuss their past working at a clinic together in Alaska, and he admits that he misses being married to her. She explains that she now works at a “commie” free clinic in the city and that she has not remarried, and she leaves despite his protests as he receives a call from his troubled nephew Milo, who has been arrested. He bails Milo out and takes him home to his mother Christina, telling her to be stricter with him and giving her money for her rent. He then tells her about seeing Anna, and she says that he was “not a jerk” for once while with her. The next day, Michael runs test on Lacey, the tennis pro, and discovers that she has an aneurysm. He explains that he can operate quickly, which will put her out of commission for three months and ruin her chances of breaking a certain world record, or they can take a small risk and postpone it, and Lacey immediately opts to wait. Michael then visits Ron and prevents him from leaving the hospital early, and then calls Anna’s clinic and hears, to his shock, that she died two weeks previously.
Michael frantically researches causes of hallucinations, and Rita finds a news story about Anna’s death. Christina comes by and asks Michael to attend family therapy with Milo, which he bluntly declines. She spots the article about Anna and though Michael tries to claim that he did not really see her, Christina excitedly states that her spirit must have visited him, saying that it is a “cosmic gift.” Ron makes another bid to leave the hospital, attempting to head for St. Bart’s, and Michael stops him again. His CFO Madeline visits and updates him on his financials, and they share a possibly-romantic moment. In his hallway, he sees the child’s ball again and is shocked when Anna reappears. She explains that she was hit by a car when retrieving a kid’s toy, and he panics that he is losing his mind. She asks for his help in continuing her work at the clinic, saying that he must unlock her computer files so her co-workers can access them. The next morning Michael orders Rita to schedule an MRI for him, but heads to Anna’s clinic all the same, where he poses as tech support and accesses her computer files. On his way out, he encounters a mother, Ines, asking for help for her sick child, and he ends up offering to run tests on her son at his hospital. He passes the task to another doctor, however, and goes in for his own MRI, which shows no tumors. Anna shows up again and he frets that he cannot “be irrational” and keep speaking with her. He goes to Christina’s home and encounters her shaman friend Anton, who is impressed with his experience and says that he has a “tear in his energetic body,” and offers to help “extract” Anna.
Michael receives a call that Ron has worsened because of his partying, and then learns that Lacey has taken a turn for the worse, having downplayed her symptoms previously. As he hurries to perform her surgery, he notices that Ines’ other son is in pain and orders tests on him. He operates on Lacey, and then learns that the boy has a tumor as well, and Rita is baffled when Michael states that he will perform his surgery for free, as she cannot hear Anna’s encouragement. He checks in on Lacey, who is devastated that she cannot break the tennis record, and Michael realizes just how much she intended to put her career before her own life. Michael comforts Ines’ son as he goes in for surgery, but then learns that Ron did not make it. He updates Anna on the little boy but then angrily says that Ron shouldn’t have died and decides that he cannot handle having Anna in his life. He goes to visit Anton, and he performs an elaborate ceremony, telling Michael to thank Anna for her presence in his life before asking her to leave. When he does so, however, she says she has things to finish and needs his help, but he says that she does not “fit” in his life and he does not understand her. He breaks the ceremony before it is finished and says that she is gone, although Anton observes otherwise. He sees her again as he leaves and smiles, having decided to continue working with her after all. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: September 23, 2011 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:43:30
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 106364
- GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 2011-2012
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Sarah Timberman … Executive Producer
- Carl Beverly … Executive Producer
- Neal Baer … Executive Producer
- Susannah Grant … Executive Producer, Writer
- Jonathan Demme … Executive Producer, Director
- Lindsay Jaeger … Producer
- Loucas George … Producer
- Dara Schnapper … Associate Producer
- Ron Bozman … Consulting Producer
- W.G. Snuffy Walden … Music by
- Patrick Wilson … Cast, Michael Holt
- Jennifer Ehle … Cast, Anna Lindberg
- Margo Martindale … Cast, Rita
- Pablo Scheiber … Cast, Anton Little Creek
- Bill Irwin … Cast, Ronald Vinetz
- Liam Aiken … Cast, Milo
- Afton Williamson … Cast, Autumn
- James McCaffrey … Cast, Milt Soredski
- Mary McCann … Cast, Jill Sandreski
- Susie Abromeit … Cast, Lacey Sandreski
- Armando Riesco … Cast, Tavo
- Marin Ireland … Cast, Elena
- Shirley Roeca … Cast, Ines
- Necar Zadegan … Cast, Madeline
- Robert Lupone … Cast, Dr. Arnold Soltman
- Beau Sia … Cast, Randy
- Sakina Jaffrey … Cast, CJ
- Julie Benz … Cast, Christina Holt
- Samuel Mercedez … Cast, Robert
- Sebastian Martinez … Cast, Ernesto
- Sue Jean Kim … Cast, Chief Nurse
- Marsha Stephanie Blake … Cast, O.R. Nurse
- Vickie Van Tassel … Cast, Reporter #1
- Quincy Dunn-Baker … Cast, Jogger
- Tim Wright … Cast, Reporter #5
- Victoria Haynes … Cast, Reporter #6
- Stephen Park … Cast, Anchorman #3
- Barret Swatek … Cast