Empty Nest (1988) s03e16 Episode Script

Life goes on and so do we just how we do it is no mystery Sometimes the answer can be hard to find That's something I will never be I'm always here for anything that you need Rain or shine I'll be the one to share it all as life goes on We share it all as life goes on d'you hear the latest from the hospital grapevine? What? Nurse kibby got a tattoo.
Lorraine in radiology is datin' an albino.
And Vivian, the head nurse, was found in the supply closet with a certain Dr.
Weston.
Wait.
Hold it.
That's me.
That's not true, Laverne.
Grapevine also has it that our chief of pediatrics is back from lecturin' at Oxford.
Dr.
Brewster's back! You are not gonna start gushin' about him again, are you? Well, Laverne, come on, after all, he is my mentor.
I wouldn't be a doctor today if it weren't for him.
Remind me to thank him for that.
Come on, Laverne, wasn't there somebody special in your life who took you under their wing and inspired you to be what you are today? Yes, and they just found her in the supply closet with you.
That's not true.
Well, let's just drop it.
It's gonna be so great to see Dr.
Brewster.
You know, he is the most remarkable doctor I have ever known.
I'll tell something that drives me nuts about him.
No matter how old I get, no matter how much I accomplish, he still sees me only as that student in row 3, seat 2.
I wish we could get past that.
I mean, just once in my life, I'd like to hear him call me "Dr.
Weston.
" - Harry! - Dr.
Brewster! Hi.
Let me look at you.
You haven't been dating have you? No, I-I've been dating.
I'm talking about a relationship, not some fling in the supply closet.
That didn't happen.
Never mind.
I'm tired of looking at you anyway.
This is I want to look at Laverne.
Now, that That is a face.
Oh, well, thank you so much, Dr.
Brewster.
The voice we could work on.
So how come you're back so soon? Lecturing is fine, but but I-i miss my day-to-day practice.
You know, I really miss the kids.
- How was england? - Wet.
The rain kept putting out my cigar.
So, listen, I am so glad to have you back.
How about coming over for dinner? It's been ages since we've seen you.
Well, I'll have to look in my date book here to see if I got an opening for you.
Yeah, yeah, I could be with you Never.
Come on, Dr.
Brewster, you got to come to the house.
The girls would love to see you.
The girls are still living at home? Yes.
What are they now, like, 40? I'm not giving up on this.
Now, you got to come over for dinner.
Oh, I got twilight free on the 9th.
You want a piece of that? Twilight's good.
Doctor's office.
Ah.
Uh-huh.
Okay, I'll tell him.
Uh, Dr.
Brewster, you were supposed to be at a finance meetin' They're a-waitin' on you.
Let them wait.
Finance useless.
That's not a meeting.
Roosevelt and Churchill at yalta that's a meeting.
I just don't know how you do it all.
I mean, chief of pediatrics, you consult, you teach, you got your own practice.
I mean, ever since I've known you, you've always been juggling ten things at once.
Let me tell you, Harry, I'm like a shark.
If I stand still, I die.
And I also like to bite pretty girls in bikinis.
Now why can't you say witty things like that? Oh, girls, everything looks beautiful.
Dr.
Brewster is gonna love it.
Oh, I almost forgot.
"Thank you for not smoking.
" I know Dr.
Brewster likes his cigars, but we don't want the harmful effects of secondary-smoke inhalation.
Carol, sweetheart, I-I'm sure you mean well, but if I know Dr.
Brewster, he will light his cigar with this thing.
Hey, westons.
Oh, the good China What's the occasion? Somebody give Carol a second glance? No, Dr.
Brewster's coming over.
Oh, the guy that got you into podiatry.
No, Charley, I'm a pediatrician.
Great.
The day I get a corn.
Oh, my god, I just remembered the last time Dr.
Brewster was here.
It must have been 20 years ago.
It was at our piano recital.
Oh, yeah, when you ruined our duet.
Me? You threw the first punch.
- Not before you bit me.
- Well, you ripped my dress.
Oh, this sounds ugly.
Tell me all about it.
Oh, the piano recital.
Yeah.
Everybody was here, all the grandparents, aunts and uncles, Dr.
Brewster.
I was taking home movies.
And there were these two adorable little sisters in black velvet dresses seated at the piano and playing and And then suddenly their hands leapt from the keyboard to each other's throats, screaming, ripping, tearing Velvet everywhere.
I don't want to talk about this anymore.
Hello? Oh, hi, Dr.
Brewster.
You're on your way To the hospital for a board meeting.
No, no, no, sir, no.
We know you have a very busy schedule.
I mean, no explanations necessary.
Oh, you weren't going to explain.
All right, bye, bye.
- Can't make it.
- Oh.
Boy, this Brewster guy sounds really rude.
Hey, you're out of milk.
Well, now you are.
Morning.
Good day, sunshine, mm-hmm, mm-hmm Good day, sunshine, uh-huh, uh-huh Good day Barbara! The official antiperspirant of the miss junior teen U.
S.
A.
pageant? Yeah, it's real zesty.
- Barbara? - Yeah? I've been thinking about the piano recital and how we never finished the duet.
Carol, it's over.
It was 20 years ago forget it.
Barbara, we have to resolve this issue once and for all.
Like I care.
The point is This was a very traumatic childhood moment.
Hmm.
Barbara, what I'm trying to say here is that piano recital was the turning point in our relationship.
I mean, who knows? We might have been great friends today if that recital hadn't happened.
Carol, it's past history.
Besides, we're real comfortable with hating each other.
Why screw with it? Well, maybe it doesn't have to be that way.
- What do you mean? - Let's have another recital.
- What? - Don't you see? We re-create the moment.
We invite the same people.
We play the same piece.
Only this time we finish it.
And when it's all over, our relationship will blossom like flowers pushing their way through the warm ground in spring.
It's a good thing I'm over the sink.
Barbara, say you'll do it, or I'll keep talking about it.
- I'll do it! - Yay, Barbara! I feel a hug coming on don't even think about it.
Okay, bye.
Do you know which X-ray technician keeps balled-up socks in his britches? Laverne, I don't want to hear about this.
I'll give you a hint He's got dates every night this week.
- Harry, how are you? - Hey, Alan.
- Hello, Dr.
Wakefield.
- Hi, Laverne.
Harry, can I talk to you privately? Sure.
You go on ahead.
I'll get it all later from the grapevine.
So What's up? It's about Dr.
Brewster.
Oh, it must be great to he him back in the office.
Well, that's what I want to talk to you about.
I-I'm worried about him, Harry.
He's forgetting appointments.
He's not showing up at staff meetings.
He's dozing off at lectures.
Alan, come on, we've been to those lectures.
Half the time, the speaker's dozing off.
It's more serious than that.
Lately he's ordering too many blood tests, too many x-rays.
Alan, Dr.
Brewster's always been very cautious.
This is more than caution.
Something's happening to him, Harry.
The man is slipping.
Alan, I don't think you want to have this conversation with me.
Okay, I admit, nothing dangerous has happened yet.
He's just lucky that somebody's been there to catch the errors.
You realize who you're talking about? Look, Harry, I-i know he's special to you.
We all like him, but he's getting older.
The man's taken on more responsibilities than he can handle.
We're going to the peer review board with a recommendation that Dr.
Brewster stop practicing and become professor emeritus.
Emeritus? That's Latin for "put out to pasture.
" We think it's for the best, Harry.
We'd like you to come with us.
- I'll be there.
- Good.
I'll be there, and I'll fight you every step of the way, Alan.
Well, I don't care what he's tellin' her.
I hear he's leasin' that Mercedes.
And you know those gold chains around his neck? Well, they're a-turning green.
Yeah, well, you figure it out.
Listen, I got to go.
Doctor is in a mood.
- So she'll be okay, doctor? - Yes, Mrs.
lasko.
It's uh, strep throat, but, uh, treated, it's nothing serious.
I'm gonna, put her on some medication.
- She's already on medication.
- She is? Yes, the last doctor prescribed a antihistamine for her.
For the strep? No, dear, I don't think he prescribed an antihistamine.
But I have it right here.
Well, that is an antihistamine.
"Dr.
Leo Brewster.
" Is there a problem, doctor? No, dear.
Uh, you just get this penicillin.
And Shannon is gonna be fine.
- Thank you.
- Bye-bye, dear.
Bye, doctor.
He didn't do a throat culture.
How could he miss something like that? Well, now, that's an easy enough thing to overlook.
No, Laverne, no, not for the Dr.
Brewster I know.
He never would make a mistake like that, never.
God, maybe he is slipping.
Alan tried to tell me that today.
I practically threw him out of the office.
Well, I guess all of us are human, now, even Dr.
Brewster.
I don't want him to be human.
I want him to be the man I've looked up to all these years.
Well, what are you gonna do? I don't know.
- Is this where you want it? - That's great, Charley.
I think you gals are doing the right thing with this recital.
My theory is Once you've had a problem, you got to take care of it.
You know what they say "fall off a woman, get right back on.
" That's "fall off a horse, get right back on.
" Gross! Oh.
This bench seems so much smaller than I remember it.
Of course it seems smaller.
Your butt's bigger.
And yours isn't? Not like yours.
Barbara, dear, we're not going to have a second chance a relationship if we continue to snap at each other.
The point is, is to get through this piano duet without incident.
You're right, Carol.
Hey, you know, this thing's been in the shed a long time.
You think it still works? Charley, that was magnificent.
That was incredible.
How did you do that? I don't know.
Nothing like that ever happened before.
Let me try again.
Nope.
Weird.
Excuse me, Dr.
Brewster.
Uh, may I come in? That seems like a question you should have asked six feet ago.
Come in, come in.
Okay.
Um, sir, I need to talk to you.
Harry, I've always got time for you.
But hurry up.
I'm late for a meeting.
That's hurrying? This is, uh, very important.
Oh.
What's on your mind? Uh, sir, um, there are some people who are concerned that with, uh, all your duties, you don't have the energy practice medicine anymore.
What? What are you saying? There's a move under way to bring you before the peer review board.
That's incredible! I mean, the backstabbing that goes on in this place.
I'm glad you told me about this, Harry.
You and I are gonna fight this thing together.
We're not gonna let them get away with it, are we? Actually, sir I'm one of them.
You're one of them? Sorry, but, uh One of your patients, Shannon lasko, was brought to me for a second opinion, and what you have diagnosed as a cold was, in fact, strep.
But because this didn't seem like you, I did some checking, and from what I gather, this is just one of a series of slip-ups you've been making.
Dr.
Brewster, please, I don't want to see you dragged before a review board and humiliated.
I think it would be in your best interest to resign.
Are you finished? Yes, sir.
Now, you listen to me.
Who the hell are you to judge my practice in medicine? I taught you, Harry.
I molded you.
I made you what you are today.
And you're one of them? This is how you repay me? - Doctor - Get out of my office.
Get out! Everything's all set for our recital.
The piano's been tuned.
The sheet music's arrived.
And I've had the most adorable little programs printed up.
Hey, they spelled my name wrong.
Oh, pish tosh, Barbara, you must learn to stop being so self-centered.
And it says here that you're two years older than you really are.
Stupid idiots.
These are all going back.
Oh, goody, that's probably my metronome delivery.
Dr.
Brewster! No, it's arsenio hall.
I-is your father in? Hello.
Yeah, look, I want to talk to your father alone.
So so go upstairs and make some calls.
Find an apartment.
Get a life.
Go, go.
I want to talk to him alone.
I said, "alone.
" Well, Harry, that was quite a visit you paid me this afternoon.
Hardest thing I ever had to do.
I was rummaging in the office today, and I ran across this health chart from 1952.
This is what they told the kids to eat so they'd stay healthy and live to be 100 Milk, eggs, meat, and white bread.
Today this is a death chart.
You eat this every day, you'll blow up at 30.
Why did you bring me this? Because the video store was out of days of thunder Why did I bring you this? 'Cause its outlived its usefulness.
It's old, Harry.
And so am I.
Listen About this afternoon Ah.
Nature is a bitch my boy.
There was a time in my life I could do everything.
In one day, I could see patients, perform a tonsillectomy, lecture interns, and still have enough energy left to make a pass at a good-looking nurse.
Let's face it I'm not 65 anymore.
This is where you're supposed to say, "it's not that bad.
" It's not that bad.
What, that's supposed to make it feel better? I looked over the records of that lasko girl.
Boy, I missed that one, but I had two conferences that day, and then Ah, it's no excuse.
I mean, the patient comes first.
I screwed up.
Well, we're all human.
Anyway, kid, I'm taking your advice.
I'm giving up my practice, and I'm stepping down as chief of pediatrics.
From now on, I'm gonna devote all of my time to teaching.
That's so good.
I mean, there are hundreds of students out there just like me who are gonna learn a great deal from you.
That's a very comforting thought I didn't turn on you.
What was that today at the office, a testimonial? Look, it took a lot of guts to do what you did today.
You came in, and you taught the teacher a lesson.
And for that, I thank you Dr.
Weston.
"Dr.
Weston" You don't know how long I've been waiting to hear you say that.
You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to earn it.
Good evening, and welcome to our little piano recital.
Some of you were in attendance 20 years ago at our last recital.
You may remember that evening.
Around the Weston house, we call it our "unfinished symphony.
" You said they were gonna laugh.
Ladies and gentlemen, the sisters Weston.
We did it.
We got through it! Barbara, I acknowledged you.
You're supposed to acknowledge me.
You were not supposed to finish with a flourish.
Well, you messed up your part.
I covered for you.
You didn't covered.
You hogged.
- Did not.
- Did too.
Who's for coffee? Anybody for coffee?