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Wonderland Episode Guide
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Over fifteen million less people watched the second episode of Wonderland than the first episode. Given this fact, ABC has canceled Wonderland with six episodes unaired.
AprilApril 6, 2000This show continued last week's momentum and only got better with another, dazzling 9 Flush episode that conveyed real emotion. I'll start with Lyla, because she has the most important and best role in this week's episode. We learn nothing about the status of her baby, but we do see everyone talking about her behind her back. Everyone wonders whether or not Lyla should have admitted Rickel. In a great scene between Neil and Banger, we discover that Neil Harrison (Lyla's husband) blames, not Rickel, but his own wife for the damage to his unborn baby. Anyway, Lyla goes before a review board to see if she should remain at Rivervue Hospital. She does not supply adequate answers, but after the board takes a break Lyla returns and gives a little speech. She explains that as a psychiatrist she lacks the tools that other doctors have to test blood or do MRIs. Lyla says that she has to admit patients based on her own experience and instinct. She believed at the time of admittance that Rickel did not have the appearance of anger, he seemed to be at the hospital only for drugs, and that given the same circumstances, she would turn him away again. If the board wants to fire her they may, but for now Lyla says she is going to return to work. I loved her speech, it really got me excited. That was all Lyla had to say this week.But what about Rickel? How is he doing? Banger becomes his doctor, and Banger can tell that Rickel is currently a mentally ill patient because he has delusions that he is receiving messages from Mount Olympus. Banger wants to put Rickel on medication so that he stops receiving these messages. Rickel's lawyer does not want Rickel to appear lucid at trial, because if he does then Rickel may not be found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. Banger says that the patient's health is at risk, and he gets a court order to put Rickel back on medication. Rickel's problem now is that the district attorney is claiming that even though Rickel was receiving messages from Mount Olympus when he went on his shooting spree that he still understood the consequences of his action, and therefore can be punished. Banger disagrees and will testify for the defense that Rickel is insane. However, when I heard Rickel talk, I began to think that his whole insanity was a lie. Rickel went to Columbia and is a brilliant man who understands a lot. For example, he knows that he does not want to "fry" (go to the electric chair), and Rickel tells the story of the day he went on the spree by saying "That's what was in my head [orders from Olympus]. I must've been out of my mind." The fact that he acknowledges his own insanity proves that he is sane. Well, none of this matters, because at the end of the episode, Rickel tries to kill himself. I'm not sure if he actually dies, but he IS seriously injured. Final story this week had some good old-fashioned competition between young doctors. Abe sees the husband and Heather Miles (new character? and second year resident) sees the wife. Abe concludes that after fifty years of marriage, the husband just wants to relax and not have to talk all the time, and that the wife is trying, without reason, to kill the husband. Heather concludes that the wife deserves more attention and that while the wife had violent outbursts against her husband that the husband was never in any real threat. Abe and Heather agree that the couple can be released and seen on an out-patient basis, but just as they are leaving, the husband begins to undress down to his underwear and then go for a swim (in an imaginary pool). As it turns out, the husband is the really crazy one and the wife was just going along with everything. A great episode that interested me and moved me.
NOTE: Lyla's husband's last name is Harrison, but Lyla is known as Dr. Garrity.
MarchMarch 30, 2000Wonderland debuts on the Toilet Tube with a 9 Flush episode although I'm not sure why. I may have just bought all of the hype about the show, but at the same time I realize that there was some preternatural quality to it. Words to describe the show include realistic, gritty, original, and risky. If you're looking for something new to watch (and I use the word "new" to connote a new type of show as opposed to just another new show with an old format), then give Wonderland a shot.Here is my best attempt at figuring out what happened. Keep in mind that I'm just a regular television viewer deciphering this drama. I believe that all of my information is accurate, but next week I may realize that I misidentified some of the character's interrelations. The show takes place at Rivervue Hospital's Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation Program, abbreviated CPEP. The man in charge at CPEP is Dr. Robert Banger. Banger is currently in the middle of a divorce, and today he has to go be evaluated by a committee that will decide whether he or his soon-to-be ex-wife will be a better candidate for their children to permanently live. At his hearing, he is asked what he does for a living. He explains that he is "the keeper of the gate" at Rivervue because he decides who should be admitted. He says that the gate is a "barbarian's gate" and that he lets in the "shadow people" who remind us how fragile our lives really are. Banger say that his admitting people to psychiatric care is comparable with the committee deciding whether he or his wife should have control of their children. Banger's meeting goes OK, but his children's desire to play with Banger and a phone call from the hospital makes him appear overwhelmed. We also meet a married couple. The husband is Neil Harrison and the wife is Lyla (I assume her last name is also Harrison). The two both work at CPEP and Lyla is six months pregnant. Neil oversees group meetings of patients and these group meetings served as the beginning and closing of the episode. All of the chaos and all of the emotions that the show represented were encapsulated in these moments. Anyway, I'm going to introduce another plot element here. We all of a sudden hear the voice of a man named Rickel. He narrates that psychiatry is too shaky of a science and he goes through the ABCs of all of the wrongs of psychiatry (and I really wish that I could remember this list because it was phenomenal), and the Z of psychiatry involves Atlas holding the world up on his shoulders. Rickel says that he is like Atlas and that he also has the burden of the world on his shoulders. Then he says that he has to escape the world of Zeus (this is the Z) and then he goes into a shooting rampage. The police capture him ,and he shows up in the emergency room of Rivervue hospital. Lyla and Neil go to perform a psychiatric evaluation of Rickel. Lyla recognizes Rickel as a man that came to her for help last week. He was dressed in a business suit, was acting in a coherent manner, and asked for drugs but she thought that he was only seeking drugs without having a medical condition so she refused to help him. Anyway, Rickel is going insane in the hospital; he takes a needle and stabs himself with the needle. Lyla goes to take the needle out when Rickel's cot flips onto Lyla. The needle ends up in her stomach. But remember that she is pregnant. She gets some tests performed and learns that her baby may have brain damage when he is born due to the needle having pierced his head. She could choose to abort but because Lyla and Neil had so many problems conceiving in the first place she decides to keep the baby. The irony of Lyla letting Rickel go and then his returning and hurting her is not loston the characters. Our final character is Dr. Abe Matthews who is a little bit younger than the rest of the cast. His girlfriend, Aurora, discovers that he has been cheating around on him and destroys his apartment (an apartment that he shares with his roommate Cort) while he is at work. This week Abe dealt with a patient named Butowski who was an account manager at Morgan Stanley. His wife recently left him and as a result Butowski tried to commit suicide. He failed and ended up at the hospital, but Butowski refuses to admit that he is suffering from depression. By the end, Abe helps Butowski realize his problems. Butowski represented a normal man that anyone of us could be, and while his downfall was sad, his realization over his depression was sadder. The advantages to this show are its gritty style and realistic content, yet the show may play out too much as a documentary. Judge for yourself...I will definitely watch Wonderland over er.
SUICIDAL FACT OF THE EPISODE: Men attempt [it] more than women. Women succeed more than men.
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