The Plague: Medical dramas’ new go-to tool

Posted by Dan September 27th, 2006 at 12:07pm In Grey's Anatomy House

The Bubonic Plague?  Haven't I heard that one before?  The season premiere of Grey's Anatomy sounded familiar with the whole McDreamy and George are trapped in a quarantine because of the plague scenario. 

Here is a list of medical dramas that have done a variation on the quarantine/plague scenario. 

"We love(d) medical dramas!"

Grey's Anatomy - "Time Has Come Today"

Quarantines are to medical dramas as being trapped in an elevator (possibly with a very pregnant woman) is to sitcoms.  It's the opportunity for two or more characters to have forced heart-to-hearts and self-reflection.  This is precisely what happens in the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy. 

Chicago Hope - "White Rabbit"

Remember this show?  Alan Arkin's son played a doctor alongside Mandy Patinkin?  It was the more cerebral (and less popular) counterpart to ER when they both debuted.  In this episode, everyone's quarantined because of an outbreak of the Bubonic plague.  I'd tell you more, but I probably saw this episode when I was 15, so I wouldn't have even remembered it existed if Google hadn't reminded me.

House - "Sleeping Dogs Lie"

I don't watch House regularly, but I actually caught this episode.  It's not your run of the mill plague episode because a) they don't know it's the plague until late in the episode b) there's no quarantine c) it's chock full of LESBIANS!  After Lesbian A gets sick at the beginning of the episode, they eventually find out that she got the plague from a flea on her dog and that she needs a risky partial liver transplant from Lesbian B.  However, this is dicey ethical territory because Lesbian A was secretly planning on dumping Lesbian B the whole time and the doctors can't make her tell Lesbian B.  In the end, though Lesbian B is all "I knew she was going to leave me, but now she'll feel too guilty.  She's going to keep her Melissa Etheridge-listening ass right here."  Shady, shady lesbians.

ER - "Lockdown"/"Chaos Theory"

These episodes don't have the plague, but they do have a quarantine, the CDC and a mystery African disease that might be smallpox. "Chaos Theory" features a two week quarantine for several cast members wherein they laugh, cry, share and bleach each others hair.  You'd think that ER would have had a plague outbreak, though, right?  It's been on long enough.