Black Box

Previously on Black Box...

What was that?

Gunshots.

37-year-old male with gun shot to the neck.

Bickman?

You cannot operate on someone who shot you.

You don't even have an assistant.

I'm available.

I'm glad I didn't lose you.

I'm right here.

Don't you remember we were supposed to have dinner at Keith's tonight?

Yeah, I can't possibly make it.

Okay, I'll see you back here later.

- Actually, I'm gonna spend the night here. - Okay.

One of the patients is critical, and I don't think he's gonna make it, so...

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Sofia Ortega!

What are you doing?

I want to hear the news.

That's Tchaikovsky. I want to hear it.

Look, I like to stay informed.

No, you just hate music.

What are you doing? Look,

I prefer a stimulating conversation. So sue me.

Hey, hey! Sto... Will you stop it?!

Will you stop it?! I want to hear it!

Mark, stop it.

Oh, Mark, get back in the car.

I'll get a cab.

For God's sakes.

This is ridiculous.

Mark! Mark!

Oh my God. Are you ok?

Mark. Mark, can you hear me?

Mark, wake up. Sweetie, please. Please, please, please, wake up.

I can't believe it. It's my first day as an intern,

and you're doing a music study.

We're gonna map the areas of the brain that process music.

But is that even possible? It's everywhere.

Tonality centers in the prefrontal cortex,

cerebellum, and temporal lobe.

Lyrics are in Wernicke's and Broca's area,

the visual cortex, the motor cortex.

Rhythm is in the left-frontal cortex,

right cerebellum, the left parietal cortex.

All right, MacKenzie.

Studying things so complex

that they seem impossible to understand,

you know, it is what neurologists do.

- You good with that? - Mm-hmm.

All right. 'Cause if not, there's always law school.

I appreciate your concern, but you should understand

the tremors are probably a result of your alcohol use,

and to fix them, you just have to stop drinking.

I can help with that.

Oh, I-I don't mean to be contradictory, ma'am,

but I'm not an alcoholic.

Okay. How long have you been a working musician?

All my life.

I went to the Berkeley School of Music.

Then I studied with Anthony Braxton.

And I went on tour for a while

with Herbie Hancock

and the great Miles Davis.

Excuse me. I'm sorry.

Um, Dr. Mahmoud,

this gentleman is here for the music study.

Yes, he is, but he's having tremors

that hamper his playing... A result of his alcohol abuse.

I'm handling it.

How long have you been enjoying your gin?

Um, about three months or so.

I started when I got the shakes.

It makes it f-feel better for a while.

- Dr. Black, thank you. I'm already... - Excuse me one second.

Would you mind holding this pen for me...

with this hand.

Okay. That's all right.

Very good. Thank you.

I'm Dr. Black. Nice to meet you.

So, this has got nothing to do with alcohol.

If you wouldn't mind,

I'd like to run a few tests, if that's all right.

Sure.

Okay.

Good.

We'll get you back to this music study.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, do you know why it's not alcoholism?

He has essential tremors that predate the drinking,

and they worsen with movements of intention.

Good.

- He's clearly an alcoholic. - All right.

Why else would he end up on the street?

His wife had a stomach cancer,

and the treatment bankrupted them.

Then she died on the operating table

as a result of a medical error,

and he fell into a depression.

All right. Well, let's start treating him with propranolol.

Look, Catherine,

I'd like to help out with the music study.

On file. Thanks.

I'm a musician myself.

Brava!

Brava!

Brava!

That was amazing.

Well, it's official... We have zero in common.

I'm...

I'm tone-deaf.

That's sad.

No doubt the resulting envy

was a subconscious motivation for your music study.

Okay.

You can't believe what she sounded like before.

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This appears to be a case of acquired amusia.

- What's that? - A complete inability

to recognize or sing a tune and no pitch.

With acquired amusia,

often the patient can't tell that they are off-key.

Well, can you fix it?

If you're born with amusia like Dr. Black,

then there is no cure.

But when it happens suddenly, something has gone wrong.

We'll get to the bottom of this.

Start her out on an MBEA.

Montreal battery of evaluation of amusia...

It measures the ability to discriminate pitch,

musical scales, rhythm, meter, and memory.

Yeah, I know, MacKenzie.

An individual is considered amusic

if he or she performs two standard deviations

below the mean obtained by musically competent controls.

No-brainer... This kid will fail.

- Could you stop even if you tried? - No.

She also has headache, some nausea,

and weakness on the left side of her body.

The parents wrote that off to stress,

but acquired amusia is usually... if not always...

Caused by brain damage, right?

So I'm thinking tumor.

Okay, let's not get overly excited quite yet.

Get the blood work and get the imaging, all right?

Uh, Dr. Bickman.

Leo, how's everything going with Dr. Lark?

Fair.

You should be soul mates. She's like an older female you.

Uh, Dr. Bickman, uh, I know you're very busy.

If you just, uh...

If I could have a second of your time,

um...

I was just, uh, wondering,

in light of how well we worked together in surgery

after you were shot,

if you would reconsider

writing that letter of recommendation for me.

Sorry, I can't.

Not when you get a grade of "satisfactory"

on your neurosurgery rotation.

Because I had a brain tumor.

I'm recovering.

Well, we can't rewrite the past.

There must be something I can do.

You know what? Let me tell you the key to success

in four simple words... Play to your strengths.

The world is full of people

who want to be an artist who can't draw,

singers who can't carry a tune.

Successful people figure out what they're good at,

and they drop the rest.

You no longer have the hyper-memory,

and you're not really a people person, so...

Radiology's a good fit.

Please, I'll do anything

to get your recommendation for neurosurgery.

How can I change your mind about this?

Ace your Step 2.

So, he wants you to ace the final exam

on everything you've learned in four years of medical school?

Yes, I need to be in the 95th percentile.

- Ooh. - At a minimum.

Brutal.

- I'll be lucky to pass. - Oh, come on.

I lost so much when I had the tumor removed.

I've forgotten half of what I've learned.

You have to study. Are you studying?

You've got to study like the rest of us.

I'm crushing the books day and night,

but it's not sticking.

I need my hyper-memory to get it all back,

and that is gone for good.

Come in.

Hi.