Beignets, Baozi, and Vivian’s Ring
WILD CARDS – Episode 303 – M. D. CEASED – (speculative recap) ⁓
Max and Cole
On her way to work, Max (Vanessa Morgan) gets three phone calls. The first is from Ricky (Fletcher Donovan), complaining about too many interruptions getting in the way of planning the upcoming diamond heist (see previous post), and that is interrupted by a call from her father George (Jason Priestley), who wants advice on what to bring (food-wise) to his meeting with Parole Officer Howard (Tom Scholte).
Vivienne
George is leaning toward bringing egg tarts. He is also staying at “The Ritz”, and Max thinks he is avoiding contact with his newly returned wife Vivienne. George does not deny this, and points out that Viv lied to them.
The third call is from Vivienne (Tamara Taylor). Max explains that she’s on her way to work. “Oh, good,” Viv says, “Well, I will drop these beignets by your place.” Max tries to discourage Viv from doing that, but without success.
Parole Officer Howard
This may or may not be relevant, but in Disney’s 2009 animation “The Princess and the Frog”, Princess Charlotte asks her sister Tiana to make beignets for a masquerade ball, ultimately causing Tiana to be mistaken for her sister and turned into a frog.
Max arrives at work visibly stressed. She can’t tell Cole much about the reasons for that (because he’s a cop), so she asks how he’s doing. “I slept great last night,” he tells her, “and then this morning, Jess and I just kind of sat in silence and watched the sunrise. It was beautiful.”
They meet Coroner Olive (Manuela Sosa) at a hospital where an ER doctor has been found stabbed to death in a storage closet.
Coroner Olive, who likes neither hospitals nor science fiction. (A Star Trek reference from Max is completely lost on her.)
Dr. Schaffer (Giles Panton) was in charge of the Emergency Room, and in the hours immediately preceding his death, five events occurred suggesting at least five murder suspects. First, a man named Darren (Harrison MacDonald) complains loudly about the delay in treating his broken arm. Next, Nurse Gayle (April Telek) worriedly asked Dr. Shaffer about a recommendation letter she needed from him.
Then Intern Delgado (Moheb Jindran) faints from exhaustion, and a couple (played by Nick Hunnings and Allison Riley) vehemently dispute their Dr. Shaffer’s diagnosis (gonorrhea).
Finally, Kara Blake (Theresa Coombe) whose car was t-boned by a pickup truck is wheeled in. Blake flatlines after being sedated with procofol instead of ketamine, but Dr. Shaffer manages to get her heart going again.
Before being stabbed the doctor was sedated with procofol.
Darren takes a hostage
Darren, who had been locked up by hospital security, somehow escapes confinement and takes a nurse (Gigi Gill) hostage at knifepoint. He is subdued when Max hits him over the head with a dirty bedpan. The nurse is uninjured.
With help from Ricky’s coffee, which (he says) contains “a whisper of hazelnut from a galaxy far far away”, George’s meeting with Parole Officer Howard goes well. Then George leaves again because Ricky wants to get back to work and his “process” requires listening to opera in the nude. Then Vivienne arrives with that bag of beignets, and pretends have lost a scarab ring during her previous visit. The ring is very possibly a reference to the 1921 silent film “The Scarab Ring” in which a woman learns from her dying father that he was being blackmailed for a crime he committed long ago, and swears to prevent her younger sister from finding out about it.)
Ricky finds the ring that Vivienne pretended to have lost
Ricky uncovers Vivienne’s ruse.
RICKY: “Just tell me the truth. Why the ring gag? Was it some kind of test?”
VIVIENNE: “I wanted something to break the ice. The truth is, while I know George and I know Max, you are an unknown variable to me. And in this game, I don’t like unknown variables, especially not in my own family.”
RICKY: “Your family? You haven’t been around for the last 15 years. Hell, you haven’t even been alive.”
VIVIENNE: “Everything I’ve done, whether you approve of it or not, has been for my husband and daughter. You have to know that.”
RICKY: “All I know is what your death did to both Max and George. They were devastated. And I was the one who stayed with them, holding things together, keeping them in the game. Not to mention cooking and cleaning and making coffee that reduces grown men to tears. You want to talk unknown variables. Honey, take a look in the mirror.”
Simon Chin as Ray from hospital security and April Telek as Nurse Gayle – Both Telek and Chin appear in Karen Lam‘s soon-to-be-released dark comedy ARMAGEDDON ROAD
In Domee Shi‘s 2018 short film “Bao”, a woman suffering from empty nest syndrome who creates a steamed bun that comes alive as a boy. The film is not referenced in the episode, but after solving the case, Max and Cole have steamed pork buns (baozi) on the drive home. Max tries to find out more about Cole’s new girlfriend, and he suggests that the three of them should go out together. Max suggests pork buns to Ricky who asks Vivienne if she wants some, but Viv declines. “No thank you,” she says. “Too much bun, not enough pork. Not worth the inevitable disappointment.”