'90s Flashback

Summary: It’s the morning of Mark and Elizabeth’s wedding, and she is not a pleasant bride. She regrets deciding to get married while pregnant. Her mother, Isabelle, tries to calm her, telling her to enjoy her day. That lasts for about five seconds before Elizabeth learns that it’s raining. Mark tries to downplay that, but it just gets worse: Rachel missed her flight and will be arriving in Chicago later than planned. Mark assures Elizabeth that will be the last complication of the day.

At County, Cleo tells Benton that she might miss the wedding, since her attendance is dependent on Dave agreeing to take her shift. Weaver is finishing up a night shift and handing things off to Luka. A bunch of nurses have called in sick, and Weaver knows it’s because they want to go to the wedding. She interrogates Connie over the phone, questioning whether she really has a fever of 102.

Abby is actually sick but wants to stay at work to make up for her lying co-workers. Luka tells her Weaver is going to a conference instead of the wedding, and Abby clues him in that Weaver wasn’t invited to the wedding. Makes sense, after the whole mess with Mark’s competency evaluations. Weaver tells Connie that she wants a note from a doctor confirming she’s really sick, and if Connie shows up in any wedding pictures, she’s fired.

Outside, Weaver runs into Mark, who’s there to look for his missing wallet. She tells him she’s happy for him and Elizabeth. “You still can’t come to the wedding,” he replies. No, just kidding. As a call comes in about a car accident involving a prison van, Chen asks if Rena will be carded at the wedding, since she’s underage. Heh. Abby asks where Luka is, since the paramedics want to know how many accident victims County can handle. Carter gives her an answer, not bothering to defer to Luka, his superior.

Mark parked his van in the ambulance bay, and by the time he gets outside to leave, it’s being towed. Instead of arguing with the tow-truck driver, he just grabs his tux. Carter offers to let Mark use his car, but before he can leave, Mark gets news that Rachel is still stuck in St. Louis, so he has to deal with that first.

Elizabeth is already dressed, wearing a gray-ish outfit that doesn’t look like a wedding dress but is still pretty. Her mother remembers her wanting to marry a neighborhood boy when they were kids. Elizabeth says that kid wound up being indicted for insurance fraud. Isabelle notes that Elizabeth’s life has already turned out better than expected. Unfortunately, her father, Charles, won’t be able to make it to the wedding, thanks to flight difficulties. Elizabeth gets emotional, but Isabelle assures her that everything will be great. She gives Elizabeth her something old, a pair of her grandmother’s earrings.

Rachel won’t make it to the wedding, either, so Mark promises they’ll tape the whole thing for her to watch later. The prison-van passengers start coming in, which means the staff has to treat patients who are handcuffed to their gurneys. Chen wants her patient’s handcuffs removed since she may have a wrist injury. The officer with her refuses to take them off. In the next trauma room, Carter, Abby, and Haleh treat the van driver, but it doesn’t look good for him.

Things also don’t look great for Elizabeth, since her limo reservation has gone missing. She tells the person giving her the news on the phone that their company will get her to the church if she has to ride someone like a donkey. Isabelle wants her to eat something and calm down, but Elizabeth isn’t going to just stand there and let things fall apart on her special day: “This is America, and sometimes in this country, you have to kick some a$%.” Isabelle says they’ll just take Elizabeth’s car.

Before they can leave, Mark calls to report that all flights are grounded because of an impending storm, so Rachel can’t make it in. Elizabeth asks if he wants to postpone, but neither of them wants that. Amira praises Mark for not telling Elizabeth that his van was towed, which would just cause her more stress. She also gives him an umbrella.

More van victims come in, mostly with minor injuries. Mark leaves with Amira’s polka-dot umbrella, but when he gets to an El station, he learns that there’s a technical problem and no trains are running. He tries to catch a bus, which, of course, is crowded with people who couldn’t take the train. He asks a guy to let him squeeze in since he has to get to his wedding. The guy doesn’t believe him but lets him on anyway, yelling for people to make room for the dead man walking. (Considering Mark’s health problems…ouch.)

Back at County, Carter hasn’t been able to stabilize the van driver, and since the trauma room is needed for patients who can actually be helped, Luka tells him to declare the driver dead already. Carter ignores him and keeps shocking the guard, not wanting to give up while the man’s co-workers are watching. Luka tells him the driver is brain-dead and they need to move on.

Weaver’s flight is one of the ones delayed by the storm, so she’s drinking and doing a crossword puzzle at an airport bar. A guy strikes up a conversation with her, but Weaver is no longer interested in conversations with men, if you know what I mean. At County, Carter has moved on to another patient, hoping to leave as soon as things have calmed down. Luka has other ideas for him. Abby is also still there, and Carter asks if her boyfriend didn’t give her permission to leave. Oh, shut up, Carter.

Rena arrives, ready to go to the wedding with Carter, and he puts her to work with a patient named Veronica who has a dislocated shoulder. Veronica doesn’t want any pain medication because she’s afraid it will threaten her year-long sobriety from heroin. It’s raining harder now, making Elizabeth again regret getting married right now. The church doors are locked, for some reason, but when they open, Elizabeth gets a nice surprise – Charles made it after all. He and Isabelle haven’t seen each other in ten years and would prefer not to see each other ever again, so Elizabeth warns them to be on their best behavior.

Mark is stuck on a bus, trying to reach someone on his cell phone. A woman tells him that cell phones give you brain cancer. Mark gives her a hilarious looks before going to ask the driver what’s wrong. The engine seized, so they’re waiting for another bus, but the driver doesn’t know when it will arrive. Mark decides to take his chances in the rain. Unfortunately, his umbrella gets caught in the bus doors and goes inside-out.

Chen examines one of the van victims, Sara, who says she hurts all over. The guard with her thinks Sara’s faking. Chen notices that Sara has a C-section scar, and Sara laments that she’s missing a visit with her daughter. She may not see the girl again for a while, since she lives with Sara’s sister, who’s about to move to California. The guard mocks that the girl is probably better off without Sara. Chen comforts Sara and glares at the guard.

Rena helps Carter fix Veronica’s shoulder, which really shouldn’t be allowed, since Rena has no medical training. Luka chastises Carter for not giving Veronica enough pain medication, even though she refused narcotics. Luka overrides that, warning Veronica that she could have permanent nerve damage if they don’t give her morphine. Veronica gives in, and Carter decides Luka can handle this on his own.

Another accident victim (not one of the prisoners) tells Cleo that she dreamed last night that she would survive a car accident. Cleo says her grandmother also had some psychic abilities; she could predict when her cat would get sick. The woman continues that in her dream, she also strangled a female doctor. Cleo quickly leaves.

She tells Benton he should go to the wedding without her, since she still hasn’t confirmed that Dave can cover for her. Plus, Benton never really asked her to go; he RSVP’d and told her to save the date. The real issue, of course, is that Cleo doesn’t want to go to her boyfriend’s ex’s wedding. Benton tells her that his and Elizabeth’s past relationship isn’t a big deal. If Cleo doesn’t want to go, she should just say so. Cleo says so. Mark returns, asking to borrow someone’s car, but Benton is on his way to the church and offers him a ride. See, Cleo? If Benton can be this nice to his ex’s new partner, everything’s fine.

Guests are starting to arrive at the church, where Elizabeth is trying to relax. Charles hopes he’s better at grandparenting than he was at parenting. Elizabeth notes that she didn’t turn out too badly, but Charles says that was luck. He asks if she’ll continue to practice medicine after the baby is born. She will, though she knows it makes her sound like a hypocrite, since she always criticized her parents for working after they had her. Charles is sure she’ll be better at balancing work and family.

Mark’s latest disaster is a traffic jam. He knows Elizabeth will be panicking, especially since she’s having to deal with both her parents (so I guess he knew Charles was coming after all?). Mark hasn’t even met Charles yet, though Benton has. They chat about Elizabeth’s parents, then about how difficult Isabelle is. This turns into a discussion of moms, women and their moms, and whether Benton has met Cleo’s mother. Benton probably regrets offering Mark a ride.

At the hospital, Sara makes a run for it but is taken down by some guards. Chen feels horrible that she has to be away from her daughter. Weaver’s new friend, Mike, tries chatting with her again at the airport bar, though this time she’s more welcoming. She tells him she was writing a letter to a friend. Mark, still in traffic, is annoyed that his phone is broken and he can’t tell anyone where he is. He thinks the wedding started without him. Benton’s like, “They can’t start without both the bride and groom present, genius.” Mark climbs up on Benton’s car to see what’s causing the traffic jam. Seems safe.

Paramedics bring in a boy with hypothermia who was found on a soccer field in the rain. Luka tells Abby she can end her shift and go lie down until he’s ready to leave. He thinks she’s mad at him for some reason. She says she isn’t, but she’s a little annoyed with how he treated Carter. Luka makes it clear that he’s not going to be extra-nice to her friend when he’s not doing his job correctly.

Carter and Rena have made it to the church, where Carter’s complaining about Luka. Rena thinks there’s tension because Luka is dating Carter’s “ex.” Carter finally admits that he and Abby never dated. Rena guesses that he just wishes they had. Dave is also at the church, since Cleo said she didn’t need him to cover her shift. He’s brought some surprise guests, figuring that there would be some no-shows because of the rain. He also went off the registry for his gift. Romano arrives next, asking if people are surprised that he was invited.

Mark goes to the front of the traffic jam, which was caused by a crash between an arguing man and woman. Mark tries to get a ride to the church from a cop who definitely has more important things to deal with right now. Chen’s patient, Bryan, tells her that he must have fallen asleep waiting for his parents to come get him from soccer practice. They work a lot, and sometimes they forget to pick him up.

Mark runs into Doris, who agrees to take him to the church in her ambulance if he helps her with any injured people in the traffic jam. Benton comes to help as Mark examines Kevin, the male half of the fighting accident victims, who clearly know each other. Sounds like they’re married and he cheated on her. The woman, Brenda, is pregnant and thinks her water just broke. Oh, of course! Why not add that into this whole mess?

Elizabeth worries that Mark got cold feet and won’t be coming to the church at all. Charles and Isabelle are on the verge of bickering again, and Elizabeth tells them to cut it out. She admits that she worries about Mark all the time – she’s more scared of being without him than being with him. Charles reminds her that Mark’s treatment worked and there’s no sign that the tumor has returned. He assures her that she and Mark will have a great life together. (Cough.)

Mark gets in the ambulance with Doris and Brenda, who wants to go to the hospital without Kevin. Kevin tries to get in anyway, and when he and Mark fight over the door, Mark accidentally gets smacked in the face with it. Bryan’s father comes to the hospital, and Chen confronts him for forgetting to pick up his son. He doesn’t seem as worried as he should be that his son could have died because his incompetent parents can’t communicate with each other.

After delivering Brenda to the hospital, Mark is ready to finally go to the church, but he needs a clean shirt, since he bled on his. Abby tells Luka to hand his over. Romano checks in on Elizabeth, letting her know that the other guests are getting restless. Fortunately, he has a message from the ER that Mark is on his way. He manages to tell Elizabeth she looks beautiful without sounding gross.

Weaver’s tipsy now and still talking to Mike. His flight is ready to board, and he asks if she wants to get dinner the next time they’re in the same town. She declines, though she appreciates his company. He gives her his card in case she changes her mind, but she quickly throws it away. Benton returns to County, where Cleo has decided to join him at the wedding after all. He teases that he might not still want her company. Chen calls her son’s adoptive parents to thank them for the card and pictures they sent her. She’s happy to hear the baby laughing in the background.

Doris gets Mark to the church, where the guests greet him with applause for finally arriving for his own wedding. The ceremony starts immediately, and Charles wishes Mark good luck when he hands her off at the end of the aisle. That makes it sound like Mark will need luck dealing with Elizabeth. He couldn’t just say, “Congratulations” or “I’m so happy for you”? Elizabeth teases that it was nice of Mark to show up. He replies that it was raining. And after all that, we don’t even see the wedding!

Thoughts: We’ll pretend that Doug and Carol were invited to the wedding but they couldn’t get off work or they couldn’t get a flight because of the storm.

I hate sitcommy plots where everything goes wrong on someone’s wedding day. Just pick one disaster.

Again with Cleo being awkward about Benton and Elizabeth’s past. She’s marrying someone else, Cleo! They’ve both moved on! You need to chill!

For the record, Connie is at the wedding. Good luck not getting fired, Connie.