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EPISODE ESSENTIALS |  | Air Date: 5/26/2009
| | | Show Episode: 101
| | | Season: One
| | | Writer(s): Deborah Joy Levine & Dan Levine | | | Director(s): Guy Ferland | | | Guest Star(s): Silas Weir Mitchell
Katherine Kamhi
Ted Rooney
Chad Todhunter
Remy Thorne
Bella Thorne
Sterling Jones |
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PILOT SYNOPSIS | What happened in this episode of Mental?
Jack Gallagher spends his first few days as the Los Angeles Mental Health director trying to win over his new colleagues. His unusual treatment of patients gives him trouble in winning over his new boss, Nora Skoff. Nora Skoff met Jack Gallagher at a conference (or ski trip) and also visited Jack's clinic in Vermont, apparently impressed, Nora hires Jack to be the new "head honcho" over Veronica Hayden-Jones, who believed she was to get the job as her many years at the hospital and experience more than qualified her. Episode begins with Carl Belle, one of the doctors working at the hospital quizzing residents Chloe Artis and Arturo Suarez about a patients diagnosis. Chloe suggest fictitious disorder and Carl quips that they're right this time, and asserts that even though Director of Psychiatric Services will not be him, he is ultimately the decider in who stays at this hospital. Out in the busy waiting room, Veronica is on the phone and Carl comes out to inquire about Dr. Gallagher and whether or not he 's arrived yet. Unbenounced to them, Dr. Gallagher is standing in the line waiting to talk to Veronica wearing athletic gear and carrying a bicycle tire. Cops enter the room holding a man in a raincoat who is dirty and wide-eyed. They loose control of the patient when h e sees lizards/aliens in the people waiting at reception. Vincent Martin thinks he's being attacked by these creatures. He strips down naked and grabs a chair as a weapon, shouting "human flesh" as to prove that he 's human. Carl Belle prepares a syringe of Haldol and attempts to sedate Vincent, but he knocks him down. Jack intervenes through the crowd, stripping down also until he is naked, telling Vincent that he too is real, and not an alien, and that they should work together, but not fight the officers as there are too many of them. Vincent agrees and is taken to seclusion. Veronica and Carl are bewildered when Dr. Gallagher introduces him self as "head honcho" Nora brings Jack to her office and asks about his methods in subduing Vincent and if they were appropriate for gaining trust of staff. Jack responds with "couldn't say, never tried it before". Nora warns him about making any other kind of stunts like this, saying he'll be out on hi s very public ass. Chloe and Arturo gossip in the break room about Dr. Gallagher and Arturo attempts to sit by her, putting his hand around her shoulder before she leaves. Arturo comments that "mind says no, but the body says Arturo". Veronica attempts to shut Jack out of an elevator but he quickly buzzing through a door and stands next to her. Feeling that she needs to make small talk Veronica quizzes Jack about being from the UK and relays how she knew h is predecessor Dr. Friedman for 10 years since her internship. We learn that Jack was in Somalia with doctors without borders. Jack visits a restrained Vincent and allows him to get up, joking that if anybody gets hurt he'll be in a world of trouble. Jack inquires as to why Vincent stopped his meds and he replies that he doesn't know, that maybe he forgot. Vincent hallucinates a space ship outside h is room and tells Jack it isn't real. He furthers says "i though i could do both" but when Jack asks what he means Vincent dismisses him and asks to be put back on his meds. Jack persists but Vincent only pushes him against a wall and demands that he should be put back on so he can go home. Jack insists that getting him home is what this is all about. Veronica meets with one of her patients, Emerson Grayson who would like to be apart of her resident day clinic after he's been released. Veronica opens with "I understand your a cat lover" and learns that he owned 20 living cats in h is apartment and had dead cats in hi s freezer. Emerson tells Veronica that he couldn't let go of them and that they're fur was too beautiful to burn. Diagnosis is Acute Anxiety Disorder. Dead Cat Syndrome. Jack leaves hospital that night and is approached by Eledy Martin, Vincent's sister. She asks Jack to sign release papers as he floods her with questions about Vincent, leading Jack to say no. Jack has the right to keep Vincent for 72 hours and informs her its only been 8. She tells him she'll be back in 64 and is going to transfer him to 12 Oaks Psychiatric Facility. This gives Jack a short time in which to figure out how to help Vincent stay out of an institution. The next day Jack is hurrying through the halls when Veronica asks him about the department budget and wants him to observe her day clinic. Her funding is about to expire and she wants an entension. Jack meets with his new team in a conference room and is introduced by Nora. Jack regulates a new way of having staff meetings. Instead of "secret society" like meetings, Jack invites several of the wards patients to sit in as they discuss treatment options and diagnosis. The staff is opposing to the idea and Jack describes how using new ideas and breaking molds can help a person's recovery through a card trick. He also slightly threatens to fire anyone who disagrees. Jack visits Veronica's day clinic and is impressed. Without telling her he takes her patients outside to hear music. Veronica is mad when she sees that he's broken her routine schedule and he insists that shaking things up can be healthy. Jack visits Vincent and find that he 's fashioned a carving tool out of a spoon and is attempting to draw on the wall. Jack learns that Vincent is an artist and that he "can't do both" while on meds. Jack visits Eledy and meets Eledy's children. Eledy still wants to commit him even though Jack tries to inquire about what's changed in Vincent's life. One of the children hands him a card to give to Vincent. Jack asks to see his room and is denied. After leaving, Jack receives a phone call telling him that Vincent has walked off the ward. Vincent is at his old job trying to work and Jack convinces hi m to come back with the card from Eledy's daughter. Jack sends Chloe and Arturo out to interview Vincent's brother. Miffed, they leave and learn that Vincent must have found his old drawings, and this was the reason h e stopped his meds. Jack breaks into Eledy's house and sees the mural on the wall. It is the same drawing Vincent tried to carve into the wall. Jack is arrested for breaking and entering and is released by Nora. He tells his team he is going to detox Vincent and come up with a new cocktail so that he can draw. Veronica discovers her patient Emerson Grayson's wife's body was found in the freezer also by the police. Grayson explains that h e wanted to freeze her until the technology became available to revive her. Jack sits with Vincent as he detoxes and gives him paper and pencils. Jack shows these drawings to Eledy when she demands his release and she agrees to let Jack work with Vincent. Vincent balances on new meds and reports that he is "feeling" and can draw once more. Veronica, who attempted to resign the day before decides to stay as Jack validates her day clinic. Jack goes home and receives a call from his sister Becky. Becky is mentally ill and homeless, living somewhere in LA. She breathes into the phone but says nothing. Jack offers money and tells her he's a Wharton Memorial Hospital and that she should visit. She hangs up and we see Jack's sadness. | | | |
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| Jack & Veronica |
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