Ben leaps into the middle of family drama and big evil corporations.

This particular episode hits so many clichés. Estranged family members. Horrible, heartless pharmaceutical firms. Doctors who are cowardly or greedy or both. Or just plain shortsighted. Other doctors battling to balance personal and professional. Delivering babies curbside. Noble sacrifices and last-minute saves.

An episode so full of this many tired old tropes has absolutely no right to work so well. Yet it does. It works really well and totally pulls it off – right up to ruining it with the ending.

Ben leaps into the body of a young doctor who works in a big-city hospital. Right out of the gate, he delivers a baby because the mother can’t get to the hospital. He learns from Addison that he needs to save three lives at the hospital, including the estranged father of the doctor who mentors him. Ben must also prevent a senior doctor from repeatedly using a dangerous drug, and save a young woman who needs a heart transplant. One patient is not so lucky. When it falls to Ben to notify the next of kin, Addison helps by revealing some of her military history including when she lost someone under her command while leading a mission and had to do the notification herself.

The writing throughout is solid. It hits common themes and plot points, but does a good job with them. What really elevates the episode, though, is the cast. The regular cast is excellent as always, and the guest cast in this case is great as well. Also of particular note this time, the score is wonderful in evoking and enhancing the mood.

The show wraps up all the plot points nicely. Ben and Addison share a heartwarming talk about trust and moving forward. We see a couple talks at home base with Janice that don’t enlighten at all.

Then the ending. We get a montage with a voiceover that show and state the whole point of the episode – lest the viewers missed it. Both were awkward and unnecessary. The showmakers should have trusted in the product they’d made. Then they go from bad to worse with the final scene with Janice. She muddies the waters even more – completely expected at the midpoint of any series. Yet she does it by referencing even more conspiracies and paranoia, the complete opposite of Addison and Ben’s pledge of openness and trust. Basically ‘Trust No One’ mode to the tenth degree. (Yes, it was equally loathsome in that show.)

Verdict: A really, really good episode that trips up at the end. 7/10.

Rigel Ailur

http://www.BluetrixBooks.com