Monroe (2011–2012): Season 1, Episode 6 - Episode #1.6 - full transcript

Oh, shit! It's my fault
she had a haemorrhage.

Shall I scrub in, too? No, no,
I think Dr Wilson has this one.

We're all holding out for
some miracle in the end. Not me.

It's better if we stop
seeing each other. Again?

Agh!

Is it Lion King 2: Simba's Pride?

Brain surgeon's daughter
dies of a brain tumour -

long odds by anybody's book.

If you leave this house, it doesn't
mean you're leaving Charlotte.

Nick?
(MOBILE RINGS)

Hello?



Well, I know it's not there.

Well, what do you suggest I do,
you cheeky little bollocks?

(SLOW APPLAUSE)

Wow. Why don't you just wave a flag
that says "midlife crisis" on it?

Nick's borrowed the car.

You do realise it's the afternoon,
don't you?

What time did you set off?
Very funny (!)

I'm covering Fortune's on-call.

That's just sad. I know.

I think you should change
your rota and join me.

What? Let's face it, you've nothing
else to do with your nights,
have you?

Don't do that, Mullery. It
diminishes you and embarrasses me.

Erm, blood tests good. Started her
on IV heparin yesterday.

Due a stair test
with the physio today.



The patient passed a regular solid
stool last night at around 2am.

Thank you, Mullery. An admirable
and dispassionate eye for detail.

How you feeling? Any lingering
pain's been blocked out

by acute embarrassment.

Yeah, well, unfortunately
I can't treat you for that.

How's your left side? I'm going
down to physio this afternoon.

Hoping it'll be good news.

Feel free to hit Mullery
if you think it might help.

Assessments.
That time of year already.

I hate them!

Planning, dexterity, teamwork,

how to cope under pressure.
What pressure?

I'm hardly allowed to bully them any
more. You bully them all the time.

No, that's just good-natured
verbal humiliation.

Speaking of which, how is it with you
when you bump into Bremner?

Like avoiding the sixth-former
who dumped you at the disco.

Just go up to her and say,

"You can mend all the hearts
in the world...apart from mine."

You'll get over Bremner, just try
to avoid crying in front of her.

There's a better way
of getting over her. Uh-huh?

I'm leaving.

Leaving?! You'll never leave!

Mrs Graves. Due for
a coronary artery bypass today.

Originally due for surgery
six weeks ago,

then last week got cancelled
for the second time.

Er, acute angina -
And now dying of starvation.

Mrs Graves, we're sorry
we're running a bit late.

We'll have you down
to surgery within the hour.

I look forward to it (!)

One of you can harvest the vein
for the bypass,

but I don't know
which one of you yet.

I don't understand.
Is it part of the assessment?

I don't believe in assessments,
Dr Witney, I believe in competition.

Normally I get my theatre nurse
to do this,

but as Wickens hates you,
I thought it'd put you at
an unfair disadvantage.

I know you'd have got rid of me

if you thought
I was completely hopeless.

Have you any idea how hard it is
to sack anyone round here?

Especially underprivileged
minorities like yourself.

Like I say, the hardest thing
you can be these days

is white, middle class and male.

Comments like that have earned you
an A+ for minority awarenesss.

Really? No, not really.
Still plenty of points to play for.

Excuse me for a moment.

Oi! Here, you!

You're not serious about leaving,
are you?

This Bremner stuff has taught me
I need a change.

Lawrence Shepherd, you're loser.
Wherever you go, you'll be a loser,

so why not be a loser
where you are at least respected?

I'm serious!

I've had enough.

OK, Dr Witney, tell me your plans
for harvesting Mrs Graves' vein.

Clean incision with a 23 blade.
Problems, Mullery?

Risks creating flaps if the course
of the vein deviates.
Any thoughts on exposure?

Start one finger breadth
anterior to the medial malleolus.

Give me one reason why you should
harvest the vein and not Witney.

I can tie better surgical knots and
bad ligatures can cause bleeding,

leading to resternotomy.
Ah!

We'll to have to watch this one,
Dr Witney.

I think love has made him ruthless.

Congratulations, Mullery,
you get to harvest the vein.

Better be as good as you say you
are. See you in theatre in a hour.

Go on.

OK, if I was going to die
of a high-grade glioma,

how would you go about telling me?
Try not to smile whilst imagining it.

I wouldn't leave you waiting.
I'd be factual but sympathetic -

Bremner, ten minutes -
I'll liaise about Fortune after
the weekend. Notes are by her bed.

It isn't about Fortune.

I'm excited about tonight.
Are you excited about tonight?

Er, is this part of the assessment?

Wilson, you worry too much.
That's my assessment of you.

You have great knowledge,
your decision-making is spot-on,

you've the stitching skills
of a child sweatshop worker,

so why are you not more confident?

I think there might be a bit of
a bullying culture in surgery.

A bullying culture?

I realise you're a rarity in surgery.

That's wrong, I try to acknowledge
that. It's not me I'm worried about.

It's Springer.
I think you pick on him.

Of course I do, he's Springer.
I think you do it for my benefit,

to reassure me you aren't favouring
the white public school boy.

I don't need reassuring
on that front.

Wilson, Wilson!

You don't express an opinion in six
months, now they all come out at once

and they're all wrong. Sorry.

Maybe it's a generational thing.

Ahem.

This can mean only one thing.

You're getting strength back
in your left side

or you're very, very bored indeed.

What do you think? Good, eh?

I think it's the best news
I've had all week.

Want to scrub in?
You know I would if you'd let me.

Good news is you can still be
involved in the frontline work

of the neurosurgery department
trainee assessments.

26 sections from clinical judgments
to breaking bad news.

Be good for your fine motor skills,
turning those pages,

ticking all those boxes.
Just so you know,

I'll be giving Springer
all excellents.

He'll be rated so highly, you'll
never be able to shake him off.

What cruel and unnatural revenge.

Take as much time as you want, you
know. I'm not going to replace you.

Why do you think I'm covering
your night shift? That's for me?

How sweet. I thought it was
because you were sad and lonely.

We want the patient to make
a rapid recovery.

Easier to do if her leg
isn't mauled by bad blade work.

OK, Mayo scissors.
Are you happy with the light?

Shouldn't I be? Hm...there is no
right or wrong, Dr Mullery,

there is judgment. It's your call.

Would you bring the light down
a litte, Dr Witney, thank you?

Even through a mask,
I can detect attitude, Dr Witney.

Can we have a little less, please?

Swab in, please, Dr Witney.

Smaller scissors.

I don't want to talk about it
any more.

So you sailed through
your assessment, then?
He didn't treat it as a big deal.

Didn't he? Because he's made up
his mind already.

What?!

You must have heard.

Mullery pissed off Bremner and
has been getting in with Monroe.

He'll join our team and one of us
will be out in the cold.
No guesses for who.

Why do you assume it'll be you
he gets rid of?

(LAUGHS) Well, I'm sorry, but...

I mean...

Without wishing to be offensive,

you do have some advantages
in these politically correct times.

I spent most of my assessment
defending you to Monroe,

and you turn round and you say that?

That's a worry.
If you're defending me,

that means he's already
decided to sack me.

Great (!)

OK, that's the last
of the grafts done.

Cut there, please.

OK, let's get the clamp off,

see if we've done any good in there.

Looking good.

Good.

Is there something wrong?

No. I'm just enjoying watching the
heart do what it's supposed to do.

(DISTANT SIREN)

Bremner, can I have ten minutes
that might change your life?

Is this about a mutual colleague?
I swear, if you hear me out

I'll never mention Shepherd again
and we'll return to our previous
state of hostility and suspicion.

There's this brain imaging thing
they're doing in neuroscience now.

When people who've been blind
all their lives read Braille,

the occipital area, here at
the back of the brain, lights up.

The same area that lights up
when the sighted are reading.

Your point being? I think the area
of your brain that lights up
when you're in love

still lights up, but you've lost
the ability to show it.

Ah, a neurological explanation

for my mysterious desire
to make my own choices.

Can't argue with science. Every
working hour I argue with science.

And so do you.
You're both damaged,

you could make
one great big damaged thing.

Like a good car welded together
from two write-offs. (LAUGHS)

Did I make you laugh? Is it some
kind of breakthrough? He is lovely.

He's funny, he's bright,
he's considerate. He's just wrong.

You're making excuses because you're
fundamentally afraid of intimacy. So?

So, why? I can't think of a single
good reason to tell you that.

Why are we walking round in circles?
I'm trying to shake you off.

Just think about what I said, eh?

Nick. I leave you for five minutes
and you're chasing women
round the hospital.

They don't come any stranger,
believe me.

Thought you might need these.
Thank you.

For the record, that pneumatic woman
that disappeared into the lift

is Shepherd's lust object, not mine.

For the record, I'm your son,
not your mate.

For future reference, I'd rather
you didn't talk about sex,
drugs or rap music.

Not even Joe Dolce's
Shaddap You Face?

That's a dad joke. Come on.

You are gonna be all right on
your own in the house? Course I am.

An HD screen and toastie maker -
what more could a man want?

It's not your job to worry about me.
It's my job to worry about you.

Here, just so I've got
something else to worry about...

Take them.

I want you to have the car. Really.

I think you should. Go on.

The car? Is this another dad joke?

Just take it
before I change my mind.

He's leaving, you're giving away
your possessions.

Not sure I can take this much
uncertainty. I kept my bike.

I'm always telling patients
regular exercise will add
two years to their life.

If those two years are spent doing
exercise, where's the advantage?

I think you did it to upset Anna.

No, I wouldn't do that.

Nick reminded you that
she's seeing other men,

you gave him the car.
Just warped revenge.

Nick never said she was seeing other
men. Only a matter of time, though.

Good-looking woman. They get
their second wind about her age.

We've split up, you know.

I no longer have the right to feel
anything about her love life.

Apart from gnawing jealousy
and heart-churning insecurity.

That's a good 'un. Somebody else
wants her and now you want her, too.

You see it all the time
in bookmaking.

Odds shorten on some unfancied nag,
everybody throws their money at it.

Thank you for that
touching and sensitive image (!)

(TEXT SIGNAL)
Right on time.

That'll be Anna,
ready and waiting for me.

Very funny. What you doing?

I'm having a kip
before an emergency arrives.

I sometimes suspect
you're abusing my hospitality.

Well, switch the light off
on your way out, eh?

Ah...

Well, I have to say,
I didn't see this coming.

I don't do preamble.

I know.

So I'm going to tell you something,
then you're going to understand.

When I was 16,

my father...left us.

Oh. His business failed and all
he saw before him was more failure,

so he took a decision.

Decisive and brutal for all of us.

Well, I can see why you ended up
becoming a surgeon.

You're probably right.

It confirmed some other things, too.

Male idiocy,

the perils of love and...

the dependency that comes with that.

Just because you had some bad luck
with men doesn't necessarily mean

you should give up.
Yes, I thought you'd say that.

Well, I'm nothing
if not predictable.

When I said that he left, what
I meant was that he really left.

He killed himself.

Why didn't you tell me that before?

Because I thought that if you knew,
you'd set out to cure me.

I know your type. You're kind,

you're a rescuer.

And I don't need rescuing.

There... I said you'd understand.

Hey. How did the assessment go?

Mullery seems to have
snatched my crown. How about you?

I'm behind on points and
there's not much left in the locker.
I can hardly play the ethnic card.

The...ethnic card? Well, yeah.

Maybe I should try that.

You're not "ethnic" ethnic.
Oh!

Mullery's dating Fortune, so working
the ethnic angle by association.

(LAUGHS) I'm not sure
Mullery's working on any angle

where Fortune's concerned.
How naive are you?

He's ruthless.
He'll hoover us all up.

You really spend your nights
thinking this stuff up, don't you?

Look...I'd love to give you
more advice,

but I've got an admission to take.

SPRINGER: Monroe?

Monroe?

Monroe... Uh...Springer.

Is this an emergency, or did I die
and go to hell? It's emergency.

Does the patient in any way
resemble Debbie Harry?

Well...it's not exactly
Debbie Harry.

On the other hand,

the disc is completely
obliterating the CSF space.

It is an emergency

and I get to use a big stick.

The Cobbs elevator? Sometimes.

Sometimes just any old stick
we can lay our hands on.

Face down, tied to a table.

Does the patient's position remind
you of your assessment, Springer?

I haven't seen
the size of instruments yet.

(LAUGHS) Oh, you got
a laugh out of Shepherd.

you really must be coming on.

Isn't Wilson srcubbing in? She's
down at A&E, picking up the crumbs.

If I thought badly of you, I'd
suspect you hadn't told her of this.

Frowning for a reason, Dr Witney?

I was just wondering about
my assessment.

I didn't get to harvest the vein
and I was... Here.

You fill in the assessment,
I'll sign it in the morning.

I never had any doubts about you,
Dr Witney.

That's the reason why
you didn't get to harvest the vein.

Oh, man make fire.

(MONROE LAUGHS) Fire is good.

No other surgeon in the world
would laugh at your jokes like I do.

(WHOOPS)

OK, swab. When do we check
the spinal level?

When we've cleaned
the remaining tissue from the bone.

What a night, eh?

We've had fire,
we've used a big stick.

Any more macho,
we'd be in orthopaedics.

Any more testosterone
and we'd make someone pregnant.

You see what you've done there,
Springer?

You've taken it too far.
You've let yourself down.

(PHONE)
Somebody do the honours, please.

Hello?

Ah, Wilson.
How nice to hear from you.

Right... Go on.

Go ahead, go ahead.

Tell me.

WILSON: '13-year-old girl.
RTA.

Hit by an oncoming car
as a pedestrian.

GCS is 3. Both pupils blown.

Her father's here.'

OK. Send through the scan
immediately you get it.

Tell the father you'll talk to him
after I've seen the scan.

Come up and have a look
at it with me. Wilson...

..prepare him for bad news, OK?

So...did she land a good case?

Can't be better than this one,
can it?

OK, let's get on with
doing some good, can we?

Saline, please.

Left-sided, frontoparetial. Wilson?

Subdural haematoma.
Crescentic and hyperdense.

Significant midline shift.

Some acute subdural blood
on the right side, too.

Can you explain to the father her
chances of survival are very poor?

If she did survive, she would do so
with...massive brain damage.

Can you handle it?

Yeah. Good.
I thought so.

You've done the right thing.

Love, you've got to call me back
right away.

Soon as you get this,
just call me, right?

Do you have kids, love?
No.

If it's all the same to you,

I'd rather talk to somebody
who has kids.

Clinically, it doesn't look good,
I'm afraid.

I have to talk to somebody
who has kids.

When would you have him walking,
Springer? Three to four days.

Three to four days if you
suture him to the bed. Tomorrow.

(PHONE)
Somebody get that, please.

Hello?

I'm sorry, who's this?

I'm sorry, Mr Fraser, but I thought
I got Dr Wilson to explain.

I can do that, yes.
I can do that, of course I can.

I'll come and talk to you
soon as I can.

That was the father of the RTA girl.

Wilson put him on.
I've got to go and talk to him.

Springer, I want you to continue
closing up.

Bury the knots in
the subcutaneous layer

and close the skin using
a subcuticular continuous stitch.

I can do that. Good man.

Mr Fraser, I'm Mr Monroe. I'm...
I know who you are. The surgeon.

If I operate on your daughter

I think that she will either die,
or her brain damage will be such

that her quality of live
will be...severely compromised.

That's what the other doctor said,
the young girl.

I wanted to hear it from you.
Absolutely. Of course.

(SIGHS)

Her mother's away, with work.

In Spain.

Tasha was on the phone to her
and I was telling her off
for staying on too long.

Worrying about her homework.

She started tying her school tie
in one of them great big fat knots.

They all do it. Drives me mad.

It was just this morning.

Little things...

I know.

I know what's likely to happen...

..but I'm saying to you,
I don't want to take that risk.

I want you
to try and save her life...

and I'll take the consequences.

You have to ask yourself
if she'd want her life saving

if it was going to be no life at all.

She's a 13-year-old girl.

All she has is life,
all she has is potential.

Well, in that case, then,
it's up to you and me.

Her scans indicate that the pressure
in her brain is extremely high.

Her pupils are both
fixed and dilated,

which means the brain
is so badly damaged

she's lost the ability to constrict
her pupils in response to light.

I think that tells us that
we are far too late, Mr Fraser.

I'm sorry.

All the signs suggest
that there's no hope.

I have hope.
Let me worry about hope.

I know it's hard to think of
anything but the here and now...

but in a year's time, with your
daughter in a vegetative state...

In ten years... Are you saying
that you can't save her

or you won't save her?

I'm telling you that, in my opinion,

there is a very small chance
of saving her.

And the work that we would need
to do in order to save her life

won't be worth the suffering
it will cause.

But that's not for you to judge,
is it?

I'm asking you to operate.

I'm asking you to give her
one last chance at life.

Not for me. For her.

I have to fight for her.

That's all I'm asking,

that you help me fight.

(MONITORS BEEP)

Don't tell me
you're having second thoughts.

When I decide not to operate,
I ask myself this -

can I explain that decision

rationally and clearly
to a loved one?

And can I stick by that decision...

in the face of their grief
and their wishes?

I talked to her dad.

And you know what?

I couldn't do that.

So, yes, I am having second thoughts.

A 13-year-old girl...

and a grieving father.

Come on, if I can see
the similarities, I'm sure you can.

It has nothing to do with Charlotte.

This won't bring her back.
I'm making a clinical decision
based on emotion,

but her father's emotion, not mine.

I don't believe you.
My beautiful daughter is dead.

I know this, I never forget this,
it is never not with me.

Why would I confuse
that father's grief with my own?

You're just prolonging the agony
for her dad.

He has a lifetime of agony
ahead of him!

The one thing that might
help him get through that

is that he knows everything
was done that could've been done.

Everything has been done -
I'm going to operate

and I don't need your approval,
I need your help.

Are you going to help?

Craniotomy and evacuation of
acute subdural haematoma. Agreed?

When I've washed out the clot,
Wilson,

you can help me insert
the intercranial monitor.

OK?

OK. Are you all right with that?

Yeah.

Be nice if you still fainted
once in a while, Wilson.

We badly need some light relief.

I could say something tactless
and offensive if that would help.

No response to painful stimulus.

Pupils nonreactive to light.

No gagging or
coughing reflex present.

No signs of breathing on her own.

We did everything we could.

She sustained a lot of damage
throughout her brain.

We managed to remove the clot and
that helped to reduce the pressure.

Shepherd and I have just done
the first set of tests

and she's showing no responses.

She isn't likely to do so.

I'm sorry.

Thank you.

What happens now?

In a couple of hours
we'll do the tests again.

If the results are the same,
we'll take her off the ventilator

for a few minutes.

If she can't breathe on her own...

then we'll agree that
Natasha is dead.

We'll let you say goodbye

before turning off the ventilator
for the last time.

You understand?

I understand.

The thing is, I don't know when's
the right time to say this...

She was always on at me
to carry a donor card.

What about Tasha?

I'll get someone from the donor team
to come and talk to you.

She's a good girl.

She'd never hurt anybody.

How can she be dead...

..when there's so many
bad buggers alive?

I really don't know.

It's very unfair.

You did your best.

Hi.

Hello. How are you?

What are you doing here? Is it Nick?

No!

No, you called me
in the middle of the night.

Remember?

You rang and told me there was
a girl the same age as Charlotte

and you needed to see me.

Did I? Yes.

Yes, you did.

When Charlotte died...

..I couldn't think of
anything to say to you.

I remember standing in the corner
of the room, watching you cry...

..and not feeling anything
but my own pain.

I couldn't share mine with you

and I didn't want yours.

Because I knew if I did...

..if I let all that sorrow in...

really let it in...

..it would just fucking bury me...

..and I'd never survive.

I know that...that was the beginning
of the end for us.

Never mind the affair,
never mind the years after.

I couldn't share my pain with you

and I'm sorry.

You don't have to tell me this.

I was there.

And that girl today...

seeing her...

..made me want to say
all of this stuff to you.

Yeah.

So are you going to do something
about the grief?

Like what?
Well, you could talk to someone.

Someone professional.

What, a therapist?

There's an idea.
Well, I was pretty sceptical, too.

But I found it really helps.

You've been going to therapy?

Really? Well, can't you tell?

Don't you think I'm a living,
breathing picture of mental health?

I was wondering how mad you'd be
if you hadn't done therapy. (LAUGHS)

I'm glad we talked about this.

I'm glad you said what you said.

Me, too.

I've got to go to work.

Look after yourself, eh?

Is it time?
Yes.

It's time.

When I held her,
when she was born, I could...

..rest her head on my hand.

'Days like today are what the job
is really about.

You will always fail
more than you succeed...

..and you'll always
secretly be thankful

when a patient with that much brain
damage is allowed to pass away.'

Because the dying
you will get used to...

..the dying you'll be able
to live with...

..but the wrecking someone...

..that you will never get used to.

Tomorrow somebody else will come
through those doors with a loved one

that you have to operate on.

They won't care about
the little girl that we just lost.

And you won't, either.

You just...get on with
what is in front of you.

You need four things
to become a surgeon.

Memory, manual dexterity,

decision-making

and, most of all, the strength
to come through those doors

and do it all again
after it's gone wrong.

You come back for more
tomorrow morning

and that's your assessment.

Because the rest...

..is just so much bullshit.

All right, that's more than enough
of being nice.

Go and write it up.

I'm sorry, about the girl.

Me, too.

Have the transplant team spoken
to you, the parents were keen.

Yeah, we will get on to that
at the end of the day.

We never should have tried to
save her in the first place.

I disagree. I think we're here
to make life viable.

That surprises me, coming from you.

There are two ways to drive
yourself insane doing this job.

One of them is to question
the morality of every operation.

And the other is not to.

Erm...

If you ever want to talk...

You know, just...talk.

I'm sorry.

About the girl.

Hm.

What's this, a farewell drink?

I hope we can run to
better than that.

You all right?

The thing that breaks your heart is
that he was so fucking nice about it,

so grateful.

Why couldn't he just get angry
with me?

Well, not everyone's like you.

You think I'm angry?
I think you're furious.

I think you wake up and if you're
not angry you check for vital signs.

Anybody who wakes up in the morning
and isn't angry...

..is an idiot.

Got any plans
for the rest of the day?

Thought I'd go home
and sleep for a week.

You've not forgotten
it's poker night?

Poker?

Nah, not tonight.

(DOORBELL)

# WILLY MASON: We Can Be Strong

I'm in for a fiver.

I'll raise it by three.

I'll call.

If I call, it's costing me more to
stay in than Wickens or Shepherd.
Correct.

I may as well call, then.

I'll call because Springer's not a
good enough actor to run that bluff.

# Signed myself out today

# Sent a letter far away

# I said, baby,
I'll be good someday... ?

I earned house colours
for bridge at my school.

Hang on, are you telling me that
bridge was a school sport?

Just when I thought
I was starting to like you,

you drag me back to
the foothills of class hatred.

# I couldn't take that sterile place

# In those rooms I lost my face

# And in the end
they couldn't sell me grace... ?

Money goes to money every time.

I hate you, Springer. Sorry.

(PHONE)

I've just got to get this.

Hello.

No, no, nothing important.

# We can be strong

# Strong

# Strong

# We can be strong... ?

Springer...you're sitting
with the big boys now.

itfc subtitles