EMILY OWENS, M.D.: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The pilot of this medical drama series about an awkward medical intern at Denver Memorial Hospital. Emily Owens begins the first day of her first-year internship at Denver Memorial Hospital. She is excited to be working under Dr. Gina Bandari, a pioneer in heart valve replacement surgery. After years of feeling awkward and insecure in school, Emily finally believes her life is progressing, although that proves not to be the case: her medical school crush Will Collins and her high school nemesis Cassandra Kopelson are interns alongside her, causing her insecurities to resurface. She strikes up a friendship with Tyra Dupre, daughter of the hospital's chief of staff Jim Dupre. Tyra points out that the hospital's social environment is not unlike high school, pointing out various "cliques" therein. She also reveals that she is a lesbian, which she indicates is very much against her father's wishes. At opening orientation, Emily and the other interns meet Dr. Bandari and their resident overseer, Dr. Micah Barnes. Dr. Bandari issues pagers to them and gives them their initial instructions, coming across as rather terse and impersonal. Emily's first assignment is handling discharge papers for Julia, a twelve-year old girl suffering from intermittent fainting spells. The two of them immediately develop a rapport; Julia discusses her secret affection for a boy in her class, to which Emily can relate. Julia suddenly passes out and flatlines, and Emily is forced to resuscitate her, which proves difficult. However, Julia is revived and the other interns are impressed with Emily's quick thinking, although Cassandra takes the opportunity to revive Emily's embarrassing nickname from high school. Soon Emily finds that her pager is missing and believes Cassandra is responsible. The missing pager causes Emily to miss her calls, and she scrambles to compensate. She brings in two men injured in a drunk driving accident; Leo the driver is harmed but largely intact, although his brother Dan, the passenger, is injured badly and immediately taken to intensive care. Dr. Bandari diagnoses Julia as suffering from a pericardial effusion which will require surgery to repair. In private, Emily and Julia talk again. Even Julia can perceive that Emily has a crush on Will, but she is too shy to tell him so. Both of them resolve to tell their respective crushes of their true feelings. Tyra locates Emily's missing pager and asks her for a favor in return: she wants to find out of Jessica, one of the hospital staff, is a lesbian, since she keeps staring at Tyra. Tyra reveals that she cannot ask herself since her father is unaware of her sexual orientation and she would prefer that he did not find out. Emily reluctantly agrees but first must attend to her own business. During an MRI session, Emily nearly tells Will her true feelings but stops herself from doing so. Dan's pregnant wife Vicky comes to visit him, but he is in surgery. Leo feels guilty about what happened to Dan, believing that it should be him in the operating room instead of Dan. Emily confronts Cassandra and asks her if she took her pager. Cassandra denies it but Emily keeps pressing the issue. Their bickering causes them to lose track of an elderly patient suffering from Alzheimer's, and Emily tracks her down with Dr. Barnes's help, even allaying Dr. Bandari's suspicions. Emily talks to Jessica and her attempts at subtlety fail miserably; she discovers Jessica is straight but now she believes Emily is a lesbian. As Emily and Will watch the surgeons work on Dan, they reminisce about their time in med school together. Emily once again feels the urge to tell Will how she really feels about him, but again stops herself. Afterwards, Emily tells Leo and Vicky that Dan is going to live, and Vicky must be physically restrained from harming Leo, whom she blames for the whole incident. However, upon inspection of his wounds Emily discovers that Leo was actually in the passenger seat and Dan was driving. He tells her not to tell anyone, since he has long been regarded as a "screw-up" and Dan is under consideration to work at the DA's office, thus Leo does not wish to ruin his reputation and career and wishes to go to jail in his place. Marian Kramden, the daughter of Mrs. Ellis, the Alzheimer's patient, arrives. She does not wish to see her mother, as she is wracked with emotional turmoil over how Alzheimer's has affected her mother and how it has upended their lives. Emily withholds the paperwork for the operation needed to remove a pseudocyst in Mrs. Ellis until Marian agrees to see her. Emily visits Julia again, who says that she revealed her feelings to her crush via text message, and he reciprocates. Julia is apprehensive about Dr. Bandari performing surgery on her and wants Emily to be present as well. Emily says that she can request it, but this decision enrages Dr. Bandari, who no longer wishes to speak to Emily due to what she perceives as the brash decision of a hotshot intern. Will arrives to comfort Emily and she finally reveals her feelings towards him. He is flattered but informs her that he views the two of them as just friends, and Emily struggles not to cry. Later, Dr. Barnes finds Emily in a stairwell eating junk food. She tells him about the troubles she's experienced that day and he gives her some perspective by pointing out several patients in the hospital with terrible ailments, including a woman with pancreatic cancer, who will have only six months to a year to live and has virtually no hope of recovery. He points out, however, that Emily's concern with her own problems is a natural reaction. Emily is somewhat bolstered by this talk and goes to attend to Dan. She tells him about how Leo is taking the blame for his drunk driving, and Dan seems disturbed by this. Marian approaches Emily about signing the paperwork for her mother's operation and talks about how her mother requires constant care and how she cannot remember her own daughter. When Emily says she understands Marian's situation Cassandra takes considerable offense, explaining to both of them how her family had to constantly care for her brother, who suffered his entire life from cystic fibrosis. Cassandra's speech inspires Marian to visit her mother. Emily compliments her but asks her why she was a "bitch" to her in school. Cassandra reveals that she was always jealous of Emily's academic prowess. Emily is called away to observe Julia's operation, much to her surprise. Dr. Bandari warns her not to talk or touch anything during the procedure, but asks her questions throughout and Emily answers. A problem occurs during the operation and Dr. Bandari calls upon Emily for assistance. Together they are able to repair Julia's heart. Afterwards, Vicky approaches Emily, saying that Dan decided to turn himself in to the police and take responsibility for his drunk driving. Emily advises her on how to reconcile with Leo. Tyra thanks Emily for her conversation with Jessica. Emily asks her why she doesn't tell her father about her sexual orientation, as it is not a secret to anyone else. Tyra says that her father has a "perfect marriage" with her mother and wouldn't understand. However, soon thereafter Emily accidentally spots Tyra's father and Jessica kissing in the stairwell; she decides not to tell anyone. Dr. Barnes visits the patient with pancreatic cancer to tell her about her condition; it is revealed that the patient is his mother. The episode ends as Emily muses about the challenges of entering adulthood and spots Will and Cassandra talking outside of the hospital. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CW
- DATE: October 16, 2012 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:42:11
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 108185
- GENRE: Drama, medical
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, medical; LGBT Collection - Drama; African-American Collection - Drama
- SERIES RUN: CW - TV series, 2012-2013
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Dan Jinks … Executive Producer
- Bharat Nalluri … Executive Producer, Director
- Jennie Snyder Urman (See also: Jennie Snyder) … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Grace Gilroy … Producer
- Suzanne Lauer … Associate Producer
- Jim Dooley … Music by
- Transcenders … Music by
- Mamie Gummer … Cast, Emily Owens
- Justin Hartley … Cast, Will Collins
- Aja Naomi King … Cast, Cassandra Kopelson
- Michael Rady … Cast, Dr. Micah Barnes
- Necar Zadegan … Cast, Dr. Gina Bandari
- Kelly McCreary … Cast, Tyra Dupre
- Harry Lennix … Cast, Dr. Tim Dupre
- Emily Holmes … Cast, Vicky
- Brady Rubin … Cast, Mrs. Ellish
- Chelah Horsdal … Cast, Marian Kramden
- Christian Tessler … Cast, Leo
- Michelle Harrison … Cast, Jessica
- Trish Allen … Cast, Nurse Doreen
- Nicola Anderson … Cast, EMT Tech
- Catherine Barroll … Cast, Micah's Mother
- Zach Martin … Cast, Jockey Orthopedist
- Lissa Neptuno … Cast, Dr. Imelda Andaya
- Sarah Willey … Cast, Julia
- Marci T. House … Cast, Cardio Nurse
- Sachin Sahel … Cast, Male Orderly
- Julia Sarah Stone … Cast, Frizzy Haired Girl
- Natalie Skye … Cast, Abbey
- Brendon Zub … Cast, Dan
- Dan Zukovic … Cast, School Official