Landslide

Season 2, Episode 5

Will and Malaya treat a first responder who was caught in a mudslide

**Landslide** is the fifth episode of the second season and the 23rd overall episode of **Code Black**.

## Short Summary

The Angels Memorial doctors treat victims caught in a landslide, and a group of children come in from a camping trip with measles putting the entire ER at risk.

## Full Summary

Jesse looks at the memorial for Charlotte. Ethan rides up on his motorcycle and parks. Jesse tells him he can't park there, but he defends that he doesn't get a parking space because he's a short-timer. Jesse says he says that, but he's been there longer than most of the military guys. Ethan says he's working on it. Jesse asks if he has a death wish with the motorcycle, but Ethan shows him his helmet. Jesse asks why he keeps bringing up leaving. Ethan jokes that he doesn't want Jesse to get too attached. Jesse looks at the shrine and says that's a risk in this place. Ethan says after two weeks, he still can't stop thinking about her. He expects this in war, but Jesse says an American city in 2016 is kind of the same. Leanne comes out to tell them there's an incoming on the roof.

Mario says it's good news that Mike is still breathing on his own. It'll take time for him to wake up.

After Mario leaves, a kid runs up to Angus. Elliot is right behind him and carries him back to the crowd. Joanna and Natalie Drake are futilely trying to calm down the kids, who are screaming and running around the waiting room. Natalie's son, Jagger Drake, needs medical attention, but Natalie disagrees with her mom on that. They were glamping. Natalie is weary of pharmaceuticals. Angus tells Elliot and Noa to get the kids into the overflow room.

On the roof, Campbell tells them they have two search and recuse workers coming in from a mudslide. Ethan jokes that LA is uninhabitable, but Leanne says it keeps them in business. Medics unload Rick and Liz Harrington, who are covered in mud. Ethan suggests a decontamination shower for Rick while they take Liz to Center Stage.

In Center Stage, they examine Liz, who is struggling to breathe due to debris from the mud in her throat. Leanne and Campbell disagree about how to treat her.

In decontamination, the clean the mud off Rick, which reveals a serious laceration. They hold pressure and move him.

In the overflow room, Natalie talks to Angus about her son. Joanna also has the rash that Jagger came in with.

Amid the chaos, Noa asks Elliot how he's doing. He says being distracted helps.

Jagger comes up to his mom and tells her he doesn't feel well. He has a fever, so Angus says he'll give Jagger ibuprofen. Natalie tells him not to give Jagger anything until she's called his pediatrician. Joanna objects, but then collapses to the floor.

Rick calls out to Liz as they both get treated.

Liz has a splenic laceration. Leanne is able to get the debris to of her throat and she breathes more easily.

Elliot diagnosis an MI, but Campbell says it's pericarditis. He sees her rash. Angus says it's poison oak, but Campbell has Elliot look in her throat. It's actually measles. They rush her into isolation.

Liz wakes p and when she sees Rick, she starts screaming at him that he killed Drew, her boyfriend.

Malaya tells Rollie she moved the drunks to overflow, but it's overflowing. Rollie says they'll have to start stacking them up in the hallway. He runs into Oscar Terzian, who collapses in his arms.

Joanna is still struggling in isolation. They want to do pericardiocentesis to relieve the pressure, but Campbell comes in and takes over from Angus. It works and she stabilizes. Campbell excuses Angus from the room.

They take Rick for a CT, but Nurse Brian says CT is packed because of the mudslide. Rick sees Liz go by and tries to explain how he tried to save Drew, too, but he couldn't save them both. The doctors separate the two of them.

Rick maintains that he didn't kill Drew. He was holding both of them, but the mud was pulling him. He couldn't save both. Rick hears that Ethan's military and tells him he's in the National Guard. His labs show muscle breakdown. It can damage his kidneys, so the give him fluids to resolve it. Rick asks if Ethan understands, seeing friends die he wished he could have saved. Rick says he tried to save Drew, but Ethan just tells him to relax.

Leanne tells Liz they'll keep her overnight to monitor her. Liz asks if she's being crazy about Rick and Drew. She knows Rick is in love with her, but she tried to ignore it because she and Drew are getting married. She was even planning to take his last name: McAdoo. She saw him get swept away. Leanne says she doesn't know either of them, but she sees a lot of people at peak hell and sometimes, they look for someone to blame. Otherwise, it's just loss.

Rollie examines Oscar. He was going to pick up his passenger, when a guy just appeared in front of him and he hit his head on the dashboard. He's been a cab driver for 36 years and now Uber is threatening his business. He says he saw the other driver too late and he was blurry. Rollie orders a CT and a consult for his eyes. As Rollie goes to write the order, his hand shakes, so he asks Malaya to write the order while he goes to check with Jesse to make sure they get patients moving.

Mario recognizes Vince's voice as they unload him from the ambulance. He fell and smells like alcohol. Mario and Noa take him to sides.

Noa asks if they should get another doctor to treat Vince because they aren't supposed to treat family members. Vince says Mario doesn't see him as family. Vince is upset about the pain caused by them pulling the glass out of his hand, but Mario says the alcohol is numbing him enough. Noa asks how he hurt himself. He says he forgot to pay his bill in a liquor store, so he ran and fell down a hill. He also says he wouldn't be in that situation if Mario had given him the money he asked for. Vince starts slurring and Noa notices a laceration on the back of his head. Vince orders a CT.

Angus explains herd immunity to Natalie. Because her kids aren't vaccinated, it led to her mother contracting measles. Her own vaccine had worn off.

Rollie tells Oscar his nose will heal. Oscar says he can tell what kind of day his clients are having when they get into his cab. The eyes tell the story. In Rollie's eyes, he sees that Rollie's not having a good day. He knows it's because Rollie is going to tell him he's going blind. He has macular degeneration. He thought if he ignored it, he could pretend it wasn't real. He's not afraid of going blind. He's afraid of losing his license. He loves his job and it's the only thing he has.

Mario asks Noa if she knows the cockroach theory. The hospital is full of people who are sick and dying. Then people come in with no regard for life and they always seem to make it through. Vince is a cockroach.

Liz starts crashing. Leanne gets an ultrasound.

Rick sees Liz crashing and tries to go to her.

Liz's spleen has ruptured, so she needs surgery. They take her to Center Stage and page Campbell.

They have Liz open in Center Stage. Campbell comes in and is shocked that they've opened her in the ER. He steps in to help. They've stopped the bleeding and Liz starts to improve.

Noa has cleaned Vince up and goes to leave. He wants her to stay and eat dinner with him. When Mario comes up, Noa leaves. Mario tells him his CT is clear. Mario hesitates for a moment and then gives Vince a check. Mario goes to leave, but Vince invites him to get dinner. Mario says he got the money he wanted. He hopes Vince will use it to get sober, but he knows better. Either way, he's done.

Natalie is asking about her mother. Elliot says she's stable and they'll re-check her in an hour. Natalie is still unsure how it happened. She was just trying not to poison her kids and says she did her research in chat rooms. Elliot says no studies have ever linked vaccines to any of the bad things she thinks will happen, but the diseases they prevent are real. Leanne comes in and tells Elliot to take a walk and calls Angus out to talk to her.

In the hallway, Leanne says while he didn't say anything, he stood silently and watched as Elliot did. One of his jobs is training the first-years. Angus says Natalie's an irresponsible parent. Leanne agrees, but says Natalie doesn't need a lecture. Her mom and son are sick. She needs compassion. She also says parenting is a minefield. You just try to tell your kids where to step to avoid a disaster, with nothing more than a best guess. She knows he's in his own minefield with Mike. She's sympathetic, but it needs to stop right now.

Malaya brings Rollie a drink for his low blood sugar. He asks her about Oscar. He yells at her that he had to go tell Oscar he was going blind and Malaya wasn't there. Malaya was with her patient from the mudslide, but Rollie says Oscar's her patient, too, and she needs to learn how to budget her time.

Rick's kidneys are coming around. Ethan tells him Liz is in surgery and doing fine. Rick is still going over what happened. Ethan doesn't want to talk about it and suggests that Rick call a lawyer. Rick says he doesn't need a lawyer and wonders what if he killed Drew subconsciously. He's not a murderer.

Joanna is unconscious. He BP is down. Angus comes in and helps. She has a third-degree heart block. The measles virus damaged her heart. They have to place a pacemaker.

Noa is doing compressions on Vince as Mario arrives. Jesse sees in the chart that it's Mario's father.

Ethan asks Leanne why people want to talk to him about things. He doesn't want to be that guy, but Leanne tells him she nows he cares. They both look as medics bring in another patient from the mudslide: Drew McAdoo. He's alive. They send him to Center Stage.

Drew has a branch impaled in his side.

Vince is still coding. Noa asks Mario what he wants to do. He's been coding for 40 minutes. Mario says they have to call it. He calls time of death and then moves Vince's body out. Jesse tells Leanne that was Mario's father.

They can't stop Drew's bleeding with the branch there, so they have to pull it out. Ethan pulls and Leanne sutures. Once it's out, she sees that it was threw the soft tissue, not the abdomen. Drew got lucky. They take him for a CT.

Elliot is placing Joanna's pacemaker with Angus's coaching. He gets it in successfully and she stabilizes.

Jesse tells Malaya he saw what happened with Rollie. He also knows about the tremors. Jesse tells her not to talk to Rollie about it, to let Rollie come to her. He'll come when he's ready.

Ethan takes Drew to see Rick. Rick's excited to see him. Drew thanks Rick for saving Liz. Drew also says that Rick didn't let him go. He let Rick go so that he could save Liz because she means everything to him.

Mario is in the lounge, angry because there's no new coffee. Noa comes in and says she has nicer coffee in her locker if he wants some. He says he'll make his own. She apologizes for what happened with Vince. She says it's not his fault, which he knows because Vince has been killing himself for years.

They take Natalie to see Joanna. There are rules for living with a pacemaker. She says she's done her own research online, but then says she's kidding. She also says she called a new pediatrician and her kids are getting their vaccines. Joanna wakes up and Natalie says she's sorry. Joanna says she loves her no matter what stupid mistakes she makes.

Angus tells Elliot he did good work.

Jesse asks Rollie about his shaking hands, to Malaya's shock. Rollie denies anything serious, blaming it on caffeine. Malaya reminds him he said it was low blood sugar before. Rollie says it might be both and leaves. Malaya asks Jesse what happened to waiting for him to bring it up and he says Rollie was taking too long.

Angus apologizes to Campbell. It's been a tough couple months. Campbell tells Angus there's increased activity on Mike's EEG. It could be a really good sign.

Drew is by Liz's bedside, waiting. She wakes up and is surprised to see him.

Rick watches from his own bed and Ethan says he should forget all the stuff Rick told him before.

Mario is with Vince's body in the morgue. He says Vince could have disappeared and Mario never would have known. He asks if Vince came there on purpose because he knew. He was right there. Angus comes up, but Mario brushes off his support. Angus pulls him into a hug and Mario breaks down and cries as Angus says he's sorry.

Ethan is on the roof when Jesse comes up and offers him a beer. Jesse trie to call his bluff on leaving. Ethan says just because he wants to go back doesn't mean they'll take him. Ethan says it's an honor to be at Angels. They call Jesse Mama because he's a caretaker. He takes care of his own and now Ethan's one of his. Ethan quotes a novel about Sparta, a quote he likes about war. He left a lot of good men and women in Afghanistan and he just wants to get back to them. Jesse says they have all kind of brothers and sisters and selfless love at Angels. It's not every day they lose a soldier, but they just did and they could use someone who knows how to get through it. Ethan says Jesse's attached and maybe he'll stick around just to piss off Campbell.

## Cast

* Leanne Rorish
* Will Campbell
* Malaya Pineda
* Rollie Guthrie
* Angus Leighton
* Mario Savetti
* Jesse Sallander
* Ethan Willis
* Vincent Savetti
* Elliot Dixon
* Noa Kean
* Rick
* Liz Harrington
* Drew McAdoo
* Natalie Drake
* Oscar Terzian
* Joanna
* Risa Park
* Jagger Drake
* Daisy
* Nurse Brian
* Flight Medic #1
* Flight Medic #2
* Paramedic #1
* Paramedic #2
1/25
### Main Cast

* Marcia Gay Harden as Dr. Leanne Rorish
* Boris Kodjoe as Dr. Will Campbell
* Melanie Chandra as Dr. Malaya Pineda
* William Allen Young as Dr. Rollie Guthrie
* Harry Ford as Dr. Angus Leighton
* Benjamin Hollingsworth as Dr. Mario Savetti
* Jillian Murray as Dr. Heather Pinkney (credit only)
* Luis Guzmán as Jesse Sallander
* Rob Lowe as Col. Ethan Willis

### Guest Starring

* Eric Roberts as Vincent Savetti
* Noah Gray-Cabey as Dr. Elliot Dixon
* Emily Tyra as Dr. Noa Kean
* Bryce Johnson as Rick
* Vedette Lim as Liz Harrington
* Brian Hallisay as Drew McAdoo
* Leisha Hailey as Natalie Drake
* Stan Shaw as Oscar Terzian
* Meredith Baxter as Joanna

### Co-Starring

* Angela Relucio as Risa Park
* Clive O'Meara as Jagger
* Melanie Laenani Lewis as Daisy
* Charan Prabhakar as Nurse Brian
* Lyn Alicia Henderson as Flight Medic #1
* Braden Lynch as Flight Medic #2
* Amy Shelton-White as Paramedic #1
* Edwin Kho as Paramedic #2

## Medical Notes

### Mike Leighton

* **Diagnosis:**

* **Doctors:**
	+ Will Campbell *(surgeon)*

* **Treatment:**

Mike was still breathing on his own. Campbell later told Angus that there was increased brain activity on his EEG.

### Jagger Drake

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Measles

* **Doctors:**
	+ Angus Leighton *(ER resident)*
	+ Noa Kean *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**

Jagger, 8, came into the ER with a rash. He had a fever as well. They later discovered the rash was measles.

### Rick

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Crush injuries
	+ Arm laceration
	+ Rhabdomyolysis

* **Doctors:**
	+ Ethan Willis *(ER physician)*
	+ Mario Savetti *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Stitches
	+ Hydration

Rick, 30, was brought to the hospital with crush injuries after a mudslide. Since he was completely covered in mud, they used a decontamination shower to clean him, which revealed an arm wound that was being tamponaded by the mud. They held pressure and moved him inside, where they stitched up his arm. He also had severe muscle breakdown from rhabdomyolysis. They hydrated him heavily to resolve it.

### Liz Harrington

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Splenic laceration
	+ Ruptured spleen

* **Doctors:**
	+ Leanne Rorish *(ER physician)*
	+ Ethan Willis *(ER physician)*
	+ Will Campbell *(surgeon)*
	+ Malaya Pineda *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Splenectomy

Liz, 30, was found unconscious and facedown in the mud after a mudslide. They took her to center stage where Leanne believed there was debris from the mud caught in her throat. Leanne used a laryngoscope to clear the airway. She also had a splenic laceration, which they observed. Her spleen later ruptured, so they took her to Center Stage to remove it. After surgery, she was stable and awake.

### Joanna

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Measles
	+ Pericarditis
	+ Pericardial effusion
	+ Third-degree heart block
	+ Myocarditis

* **Doctors:**
	+ Will Campbell *(surgeon)*
	+ Angus Leighton *(ER resident)*
	+ Elliot Dixon *(ER resident)*
	+ Noa Kean *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Pericardiocentesis
	+ Pacemaker

Joanna developed the same rash her grandson had. Then she collapsed. They believed she'd had a heart attack, but Campbell looked and said it was pericarditis instead. And the rash she had was actually measles, not poison oak. They moved her into isolation where they diagnosed pericardial effusion and did pericardiocentesis. She later developed a third-degree heart block, so they put in a pacemaker and she stabilized.

### Oscar Terzian

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Nasal fracture
	+ Macular degeneration

* **Doctors:**
	+ Rollie Guthrie *(ER physician)*
	+ Malaya Pineda *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**

Oscar had been in a car accident. He hit his head on the airbag. They ordered a head CT to check out his nose and called for a ophthalmologist consult because he said his vision had been blurry before the accident. The CT showed a nasal fracture, which he was told would heal. He was also told he had macular degeneration, which he already knew.

### Vincent Savetti

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Lacerations
	+ Scalp laceration

* **Doctors:**
	+ Mario Savetti *(ER resident)*
	+ Noa Kean *(ER resident)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Stitches

Vince, 50, came into the hospital drunk after falling. Noa removed glass from his wound and stitched him up. He had a large laceration on the back of his head, so they ordered a CT to check for a brain bleed. His scans were all clear. He later crashed and despite their best efforts, he was pronounced dead at 6:32 PM.

### Drew McAdoo

* **Diagnosis:**
	+ Impalement injury

* **Doctors:**
	+ Leanne Rorish *(ER physician)*
	+ Ethan Willis *(ER physician)*

* **Treatment:**
	+ Stitches

Drew came into the ER after a mudslide with a branch impaled in his abdomen. They were unable to stop the bleeding with it in, so they removed the branch in the ER. The branch had only gone through the soft tissue, not his abdomen, so they stitched him up and took him for a CT.

## Notes and Trivia

* This episode scored 4.45 million viewers.