FEB 05

I've just rewatched this one and noticed something amazingly slashy at the end.  Andy has his heart attack in the field and Peter's torn - he knows his Dad's in trouble but he can't leave Andy to die.  Andy tells him to go - that he'll never forgive himself if anything happens to his father.  Peter tries to call for an air ambulance and he must manage to get through but he's having mobile signal difficulties.

In the end he leaves Andy with the phone and promises he'll be back.

Later, we see from Andy's POV, him being airlifted to hospital on the brink of death, with Peter saying, 'hang on in there, don't you die on me.'

In the hospital, at the end, Wieldy and Bomber leave Peter and Andy alone (strategic withdrawal) and Peter starts with 'out there, in the field, when you told me to leave you....'.  He's obviously unhappy with what Andy told him to do and with what he did.  You have to wonder if he'd have ever been able to forgive himself if anything had happened to Andy.

Andy tells him, 'I'm not family' and it's so obvious Peter wants to say more, but Andy tells him to get going, and to talk to his father because he won't always be around.

There's again something left unsaid.  But it's as if Andy knows what it is and just doesn't want to hear it.  At least he knows how much he means to Peter now.  He just has to admit he feels the same way!

It's the ultimate hurt/comfort slashers plotline - one half of the pair is hurt, the other half is beside himself with worry.  Lots of room for angst and confession.  This is no exception.

Peter drives into a concrete pillar during a police chase (someone not knowing their north from their south) and is rushed to hospital with a compound fracture to the leg.  But worse than that he's unconscious (which is better than how he looked in the car - ie, dead) and there's no one answering the hospital's page for a CT scanner operator.

Andy's called out and at first he does look calm, if worried.  But as time goes on and he realises Peter's got a 50-50 chance of making it, he goes from concerned to approaching distraught.  There's a gorgeous if disturbing moment when Peter's abandoned on a gurney in a deserted hospital corridor when he needs to be in Intensive Care.  Andy - completely helpless - can only reassure him - 'I'm here now, Peter'.

Finally he makes it onto a ward, still no scan, and Andy sits at his bedside, telling him to wake up.  He recounts a story that Peter told him one day, after Peter had come back from seeing Ellie and Rosie (who now live in the states).  Apparently Rosie's bike had developed a puncture but before Peter could fix it, Ellie's boyfriend had already got there first.  Peter had gone to sit in his car and had just cried.  He'd told Andy this one day when they were driving somewhere, and Andy tells Peter he's glad he chose to tell him.

Later that night, he tells the doctor that Peter's not only a colleague but a friend, a unique friend.  He says something like, 'there aren't many like Peter.  In fact, I don't know any more like him.'

He's still at Peter's bedside in the morning, and finally they've found a surgeon and a scanner operator.  Enter the plot.  There's some body parts floating around in the river and "Bez" (temporary sidekick #1) needs help.  (Where's Wieldy?  We miss Wieldy!  This would have been PERFECT with Wieldy!)

Peter's being wheeled off for his scan.  Andy holds his hand and tells him he'll be back soon and to hang in there.  It's a very lovely moment.

Some plot happens but all we notice is that a) Andy's not bothered getting changed from the casual clothes he was wearing when they called him to the hospital and b) Andy's mind is definitely not on the job.

Back at the hospital it's revealed that Peter has a subdural haematoma.  The doc thinks he's too weak to cope with the operation to remove it, but the brain surgeon (neurology specialist - see, I do know the terms!) wants in!  However, while Andy's there, Peter's condition deteriorates and they cart him off to theatre.

Bez in turn carts Andy off back to the plot.  But a couple of hours later there's another phone call.  Andy goes rushing off to the hospital and finds a doctor and a nurse (Shannon <- temporary female love interest #1) bent over Peter.  Desperately he asks what's wrong, obviously fearing the worst, but the doc backs up and Peter's awake and smiling.

Andy almost falls apart, all tears, smiles and talking nonsense, overjoyed that Peter's okay, and our patient - if confused after almost dying - is smiling back.  Gorgeous, gorgeous moment!

After this, and with Peter making a steady but miraculous recovery through the rest of part I and part II, plot has to take over.  Don't ask me what it is.

Peter's slowly falling for temporary female love interest #1, and Andy's encouraging it, but it does become obvious that she isn't going to be able to live (for a start, she's not in next week's credits).  And she doesn't.  To make it worse, she's on the phone to Peter when her car hits a lorry.

In the end it's just the two of them, as it always has to be.  Andy's sprung Peter from the hospital and they stop at the new hospital construction site.  Andy gets out of the car and goes to stand by the passenger side window where Peter sits.

A: I'm really sorry about Shannon, Peter.
P: I know.  I know you are.

This is a very close moment, one of the closest they've ever had.
But as usual, a lot is left unsaid.

PS. Where's Wieldy?!

Andy: Why don't you say what's on your mind, Peter.
Peter: Nothing to say.
Andy: You could say that I'm a pathetic sad old bastard who bullies his way through life to get what he wants. That's what everyone else'll say.
Peter: Well, you can't make me say it. It wasn't your fault, Andy.