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Sleight of Hand

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Sleight of Hand is the ninth episode of the second season and the 27th overall episode of Code Black.

Short Summary[]

Willis, Leanne and Jesse risk their lives to operate on an officer with an explosive bullet lodged in her leg. Also, Mario, Noa and Guthrie treat a magician, Johnny Prentiss (Penn Jillette), who comes to Angels with trouble breathing.

Full Summary[]

Noa and Ethan are in an ambulance on their way to respond to officer down. They hear gunfire. Ethan reminds her they have a better chance of making it because she's there. They've pulled over to wait behind the police perimeter to get the all-clear. All threats are neutralized, so the ambulance enters the scene. Ethan gets out and rushes to Fiona Burnside, who's been shot in the leg.. He calls back to Noa, who is still standing by the ambulance. She then runs to Fiona. Ethan tells her to block everything else out and treat Fiona. Fiona's partner, Erick Hawkins, then collapses and Noa jumps in to stop his bleeding. They're then called over to another patient. Noa gets Erick to hold the bandage to his wound and then runs over to Tony Hall. She puts on a tourniquet to stop his bleeding leg. She gets the others to help her. She sees that he's talking and pulls off his mask. He's praying.

The ER TV is showing the police shooting.

Julia Clark is at the desk talking to Risa. She says it's been three hours. Risa says they're working as fast as they can and calls Elliot over to help her. Julia asks Elliot how old he is. Julia starts to tell him she has lupus and she fainted, but Campbell interrupts and tells him about the police shooting. Campbell tells Julia she'll have to wait.

Ethan is on the radio telling them about Fiona and Erick's injuries. Erick and Fiona reach out their hands to each other. Erick asks Ethan to promise him Fiona will be okay. Ethan promises.

Campbell asks how far out they are. When Ethan says less than three minutes, Leanne goes to meet them in the ambulance bay.

Noa's in the ambulance with Tony, who is in pain. He asks her to tell his wife he loves her. She tells him to tell her himself. He's not going to die.

The ambulances pull into the bay. Angus explains to Elliot that red on blue means officers down. They get Tony out of the ambulance and into the hospital. Then they go to Fiona and Erick and Ethan describes their injuries. Leanne tries to send Noa back out on ride-along, but she asks to see the case through. Mario offers to take her place.

In the ER, Fiona is in shock from her blood loss. Erick is worried about her, but Ethan tells him to calm down because they need to take care of him.

They're struggling to stop Tony's bleeding and he asks Noa again to tell his wife he loves her. She says she will. She starts compressions when he crashes, but it's too late and he's pronounced dead.

Fiona has a bullet imbedded in her leg, so she needs surgery. Erick asks how they're supposed to fight what came at them, explosive round all around them. Ethan puts together that the round in Fiona's leg is explosive and stops them from moving her to the OR. He tells them to get back away from her gurney. Any movement could set it off.

Risa directs patients out of the area.

Leanne says they need to figure out how to get the bullet out of Fiona's leg. Campbell says it's not that simple and Jeff Reese tells them they have a specialized doctor for cases like these. He's an hour away. She'll bleed out before he gets there. Campbell says the county's strict about this kind of situation. They can't do it. Ethan says he promised he'd save her life. Jesse says they can do it in the lobby, where there's room to establish a perimeter. Campbell refuses. He orders them not to go near her. Ethan says he can't order him. Campbell says he can't stop Ethan, but he can stop Leanne. Ethan has to go in alone.

Rollie tells Noa it's the toughest thing she'll do on the job. Tell her without emotion. She has to say he died. He asks Risa where Tony's wife is. She points out a waiting woman and Noa's shocked to see that she's heavily pregnant. Noa says she can't do it. There's an ambulance coming in. Rollie tells her to go meet the ambulance and he'll take care of it.

Paramedics bring in Xander Westin and Karen Chapman. Karen has facial trauma and Xander has a forehead laceration. Karen's worried they'll miss their flight to their honeymoon cruise. Jesse recognizes them as the couple that came in when he proposed by putting the ring on his penis. He's a legend around the hospital now. Xander says it was their wedding last night. He wanted to be adventurous. He fell on her in the shower.

Noa meets Mario at an ambulance. He asks about the cops and she says she'll tell him later. He has Johnny Prentiss, who is short of breath. He needs a chest x-ray. Johnny's a magician. They take him inside.

Malaya does an ultrasound on Erick. He's more worried about Fiona than himself. Malaya calls Leanne over for help because Erick was fine and started to decline. He's acidotic. He has compartment syndrome. Leanne makes an incision in his abdomen to relieve the pressure. He stabilizes and they send him to the OR.

Jeff asks Ethan if he's ready to move Fiona. They start to wheel her, but Ethan says it's making too much movement. They have to carry it. The SWAT officers step in to help. They surround the gurney and lift it up, carefully carrying her out to the waiting room.

Ethan tells Fiona they're going to do it.

Campbell is watching from a distance and Jesse tells him Erick was just rushed to the OR.

Angus and Heather treat Julia, who needs dialysis. She was diagnosed with lupus eight years prior. She's had a few flare-ups, but it's been manageable. Just then Ronny, her son, comes up to her bed and asks if she's going to be okay. She turns to her brother, Tim, and says she asked him to pick Ronny up, not bring him to the hospital. The doctors tell her they need to run labs. Tim asks her what's wrong. She tells him lupus is what's wrong with him. They call a nurse to get the labs started. Tim says if it's going to take a while, he wants to go to the cafeteria and get a sandwich. Julia asks if he's high and he says no, he's hungry. He asks why she called him anyway. Didn't one of her mom friends answer? Julia clenches in pain and he asks if she'll be okay. She said she wouldn't be in the ER if she were okay.

Rollie shows Johnny his x-ray, which shows a mast in his chest. Johnny turns to Noa and says she looks like she's been to the seventh circle of Hell. Mario tells Johnny the mass is why he's having trouble breathing. Johnny ignores that and tells them about a famous card trick. He continues his story as they take a fluid sample. The fluid is cloudy, which is concerning for cancer. Johnny asks Rollie to put his initials on a card so he can do the card trick he was talking about. Johnny asks for odds and he's told it's a 99% chance it's cancer. He does the trick and finishes the story. The card on top isn't the one with Rollie's initials. He says sometimes, you're dealt the wrong cards. He taps the deck again and gets the one with Rollie's initials. Rollie asks how he did it. Johnny asks Noa if she believes in magic. She says not today, but he says magic is how he's going to cheat death.

Malaya tries to examine Karen, who won't let anyone touch her nose until the plastic surgeon sees it. Xander is kind of out of it, which concerns Jesse. Jesse asks if he took enhancers. Xander crashes.

Angus finds Tim smoking weed. He says he has a prescription for sleeplessness and night terrors. Tim thinks Angus is judging him, just like Julia. He thinks it makes her feel good about herself. Tim knows she has lupus, but she says it's under control. He asks if she's lying. Angus says he can't tell Tim about his sister's medical case, but when his brother was in the hospital, he learned everything he could about his case.

As he works, Ethan asks Fiona how long she's been seeing Erick. She objects that she's not, but then admits that she's transferring to another unit. They were waiting until that happened to tell people. They're rule breakers. Leanne asks Ethan how he's doing. He says it shouldn't be too long and Fiona asks him to ask how Erick is. Leanne says Erick's waiting to see her. Ethan can see the bullet, but then Fiona starts bleeding. The bullet moved and severed her femoral artery. Leanne opens the door and goes into the room. Jeff stops her and takes his vest off to give to her. Leanne's surprised to see Jesse behind her. She says he doesn't have to, but he says if he didn't, she'd never shut up about it. They step in to help. Campbell won't like it and will probably fire them, but Ethan says it the bullet moves again, there won't be anything left of them to fire.

Julia is told she needs a CT to rule out things. Tim comes back in and Julia asks him to take Ronny to Andrea's house for the night. He sends Ronny to get his backpack and then confronts Julia. She's sicker than he knows. He wants to know if he's losing a second sister. They fight over Leah, their other sister. Tim asks if she's going to die and is surprised that Ronny is back behind her. Julia hugs him and tells Tim to stay away from her son. Tim leaves.

Leanne is slowly working on Fiona, who is still bleeding. They're just clamping. They can repair once the bullet is out. Ethan asks how Erick is. He's stable, but she doesn't know for how long. Ethan says they're in love, but Leanne got that impression. They've found the bullet. Ethan rotates it so they can keep an eye on it. Jeff stands by as Ethan pulls it out carefully. Then he hands it off to Jeff, who neutralizes it as Fiona starts bleeding more. They rush her to surgery.

They meet up with Campbell, who says Erick did well. Campbell tells Ethan to scrub in and join him in Fiona's surgery so he can see the case through.

Mario asks Johnny if he's ready for the OR. He asks if they're ready to witness real magic. Noa's not convinced. Johnny asks Mario if he thinks the mass is benign. He says he hopes it is. Johnny says a little bit of hope and faith is all he needs. Johnny asks Mario to think of a card. 7 of clubs. Johnny splits the deck and the top card is the 7 of clubs. He has Noa do it. She picks the queen of hearts. He flips another card. 2 of clubs. He says he's still working on it.

Julia's short of breath. Tim comes back in. Julia has Ronny play his game. Tim tells Julia it was his idea, the day with Leah. He wanted to race her for the docks. At first, he was slow and kept an eye on her, but then he just wanted to win, so he raced ahead. When he looked back, she was gone. It was his fault. Every day he has is borrowed from her account. Julia pulls Tim onto the bed and tells him it's not his fault. He says he loved Leah just like he loves Ronny. Julia says she knows. He's a great uncle and her favorite brother. He says he has the market cornered. Heather tells Julia they got her CT results. She has a large pulmonary embolism and she needs surgery. They wheel Julia out.

Noa says the card was in his palm the whole time, but Mario says he saw his hand and it was empty. Mario doesn't think he's magic, but he hasn't figured it out yet. He knows Noa lost a patient and asks if she's okay. She says she'd never seen anything like it. He was praying. She tells him what Tony asked her to do. She says she didn't do it because she freaked out. His wife is going to raise the baby by herself and Noa was too scared to tell her her husband loved her. Mario says it's not too late. Rollie laughs as he comes toward them. He says the longer he's been a doctor, the more he's come to believe in miracles. Or magic. Johnny's mass is benign. He called his own shot.

Campbell is working on Fiona and checks on Heather, who is in the next room. She says she's putting Julia on bypass. Campbell says he'll be in to help as soon as he's done. She arrests, so Campbell leaves Fiona to go help her. The embolism was too big and Campbell tells her to call time of death. Fiona's still doing well and Ethan is about to close. Heather goes to tell Tim.

Tim and Ronny are playing cards when Heather and Angus come in. Tim sends Ronny to get sodas. He knows Julia is dead. Heather has him sit across from her and tells him Julia died. Her heart couldn't take it. These things can happen with lupus despite the best treatment. He asks what's going to happen with Ronny. Julia thought about that. Heather says Julia recorded a video right before surgery. He plays the video. Julia says she wants to make it official. She says she wants Ronny to go with Tim. She tells Tim there's only one secret to being a good parent and that's to love the kid with all your might and he's got the market cornered on that. She says what happened to Leah was not his fault and he has to start believing that because she does. She tells him not to be scared and she loves him. Tim cries as the video ends and says he loves Julia, too.

Leanne and Ethan take Erick to Fiona. They hold hands. He thought he lost her, but she says he can't get rid of her that easily. He says he'll be fine and she says he loves her. They kiss.

Karen is surprised that Xander, now stable, used enhancers. He wanted to give her the best night of her life. She was so stressed about the wedding. She apologizes and says he's right. He wanted it to be perfect, too. She says she loves him. Malaya says she can't wait to meet their children and Jesse hopes they never will.

Johnny talks to a group of kids, telling them that to create a trick, he thinks of an unresolvable problem then he beats his head against the wall until the wall goes away and the answer is revealed. He has a kid take card, look at it, and put it back in the deck. He taps the deck and then says the card she picked was the 3 of diamonds as he deals four of them out onto the table. He flips the cards over and then flips the back, showing that each one is different. He says he can't imagine living in a world without magic, without hope. In the dark times, they all have to conjure up a little magic. He flips the cards out over the kids' heads. Then he calls out to Noa, who's watching from a distance. He asks what she has in her pocket. She checks it and pulls out a queen of hearts, her card from before. She asks how he did that. She says she wants to know and he says she just wants proof. If he doesn't tell her how he did it, she's running on faith. Proof is easy. Faith is hard work. He asks Rollie if he's right and Rollie says he's right as rain.

Noa sits for a moment and then dials a number. She tells Tony's wife that she was with him when he died.

As they smoke cigars on the roof, Ethan tells Leanne and Jesse they had a tradition in Afghanistan. After a tough day, they'd go on the roof and smoke a cigar. Leanne tells him he kept his promise. Ethan says they all did it. Jesse says they're busted. Campbell comes up to them and Ethan offers him a cigar. Campbell pauses for a moment and then takes the cigar. Ethan lights it and they all look out over the city and smoke together.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Fiona Burnside[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Gunshot wound
    • Hematoma
  • Treatment:
    • Tourniquet
    • Surgery

Fiona, 32, was shot in the thigh. In the field, Ethan and Noa tried to stop the bleeding, using a tourniquet. She was then rushed to the hospital. An x-ray showed the bullet was embedded in her leg, so she was taken to the OR to have it removed. However, before they got there, they were stopped by Ethan, who figured out the round was explosive. They evacuated the area and called the specialized doctor. However, it was an hour before he could get there and so Ethan worked on her. While he was working, the bullet moved and lacerated her femoral artery, so Leanne and Jesse stepped in to help. They were able to remove the bullet and moved her to the OR to repair her femoral artery. She was stable and awake afterward.

Erick Hawkins[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Gunshot wound
    • Neck laceration
    • Compartment syndrome
  • Treatment:
    • Stitches
    • Surgery

Erick, 33, had been shot in the torso. He also had a graze laceration to his neck. Noa rushed to stop the bleeding. He was then rushed to the hospital. His neck was sutured in the ER while they worked on his gunshot wound. He developed compartment syndrome due to his internal wounds. Leanne cut into the tissue to relieve the pressure and then he was taken to the OR for surgery.

Tony Hall[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pelvic trauma
    • Avulsed thigh and pelvis
  • Treatment:
    • Tourniquet

Tony, 40, had a large laceration to the right leg and an avulsed pelvis. Noa tied a tourniquet to slow the bleeding. He was then put in an ambulance. At the hospital, they were unable to stop the bleeding and he was pronounced dead at 12:07 PM.

Julia Clark[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Lupus
    • Pulmonary embolism
  • Treatment:
    • Embolectomy

Julia came into the ER after fainting. She had been diagnosed with lupus eight years prior but had been managing it. She struggled to breathe. They ran a CT, which showed a large pulmonary embolism. Heather rushed her into surgery, but unfortunately, she was pronounced dead at 3:47 PM.

Karen Chapman[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Facial trauma
    • Nasal fracture
  • Treatment:

Karen, 30, came into the ER with facial trauma and a broken nose. She refused to let anyone see her until a plastic surgeon consulted.

Xander Westin[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Forehead laceration
    • Head trauma
  • Treatment:

Xander, 30, came into the ER with a forehead laceration and head trauma after waiting in the bathroom. He later crashed with low blood pressure. He admitted to taking vasoconstrictors to enhance his performance, but he survived and stabilized.

Johnny Prentiss[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Chest mass
  • Treatment:

Johnny, 61, came into the ER with shortness of breath. It sounded like fluid in his chest, so they ordered a chest x-ray. His x-ray showed a mass in his chest. They removed the fluid from his chest and it was cloudy, so he was told there was an overwhelming chance it was cancer, so they did a biopsy and sent a sample to pathology. His mass was benign.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • This episode scored 5.92 million viewers.
  • The playing cards used by Penn Jillette throughout the episode are the Revelation Playing Cards from Art of Play and Kairos Playing Cards.
  • Penn Jillette wore his own stage clothes in the episode.

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Quotes[]

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.

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