#cleo finch

SO

Carter falsifies the chart.

On the condition, of course, that the dad come back AS SOON as his insurance is activated, and that they closely monitor Eddie's food and lifestyle in the meantime. He made it extremely clear that Eddie's life was at risk.

Because Cleo was also seeing this patient, she was aware of the symptoms of diabetes but not aware that Carter chose to lie.

Then Carter got stabbed.

And obviously, a lot of things slipped his mind.

When Eddie came back, he was in a diabetic coma, his dad had NOT watched his diet or lifestyle as promised, and Cleo, who knew that this kid had diabetes, was surprised to discover that there was no official diagnosis logged.

And she accurately surmised that Carter lied, falsified the chart, and told the dad that that was what he was doing. Essentially. Basically, he was explicit enough that the dad later threatens to blame Carter, knowing that he's got him over a barrel.

So Cleo confronts Carter, calling him out for medical malpractice (because it is), and for endangering the child's life (because he did), and for putting her in an awkward position where she chose to lie for him instead of throwing him under the bus.

And technically -- TECHNICALLY -- Cleo is absolutely right for this. Carter did all the things that she's calling him out for.

However, I'm a Carter apologist, lalala, and so, I'm sympathetic to his side of things. Which is this:

a) he's coming back from almost dying. He shouldn't be at work. As Cleo is chewing him out through the halls of the ER, he is walking along beside her, clearly barely keeping up with the conversation, never mind the pace. He's limping. This man is still visibly injured.

b) he's in his downward drug addiction spiral era. He's got a lot going on. I wouldn't expect him to remember this kid. Or prioritise him. And yeah, again. He should not be working.

c) most relevantly, Carter's decision, while technically absolutely illegal, and wildly reckless, was one made because of a system where the alternative to diagnosis was equally likely to be death, or at least destitution. He chose to prioritise the kid's future health, taking a risk that his current status would remain stable.

It's illegal. Yes. It is.

But that kid was fucked either way. Either he gets diagnosed, and his family go bankrupt attempting to get him insulin, potentially entirely unable to acquire it and therefore killing him anyway.

OR

They risk a couple months -- if that, because Carter was told it would only be a few weeks iirc -- to ensure that this kid will have safe and stable access to his lifelong requirement of a lifesaving drug.

Was his decision wrong? Yes.

But I'd argue his decision was compassionate. And Carter's compassion is always the thing that gets him in trouble.

And personally, if I were sick, I'd want a compassionate doctor.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

2. Cleo vs. Privilege

Cleo is exceptionally conscious of her race, of her mixed heritage, of her place in the world, and of how that world perceives her.

We see this topic come up as a point of conversation and more importantly, conflict, between her and Peter.

Peter, who is Black, and not mixed, takes his identity for granted to some degree. Whether or not we feel Cleo's criticism of him in this arena is fair or warranted doesn't really matter, because she makes the critique regardless.

The two of them fight about it before Thanksgiving, with Cleo walking away from him after it. And it comes up again at various points, most relevantly in regards to Benton's admission to medical school. He finds out that he was an AA acceptance. And he tells Cleo.

How does this figure to Carter?

Well, he's a rich, white boy.

He's working while obviously impaired.

He's given compassionate consideration, not just by his colleagues who go out of their way to support him, to protect him, to get him to rehab, and to bring him back, but also by the hospital as an institution.

It's easy to see how Cleo would be acutely aware of the privileges he enjoys, and she wouldn't be wrong to connect it to race. And Carter, as part of that privilege, gets to remain unconscious to it.

What makes this more difficult for Cleo, I would venture to suggest, is Peter's relationship with Carter.

Peter, who experiences all and more (in some ways) of the racism Cleo comes up against, has this MASSIVE BLIND SPOT for the person who best represents the type of person the system favours. In acting to support Carter beyond the bounds of professionalism, or reason, or logic, or law, Peter is actively participating in this system. I think that hypocrisy -- at least as Cleo sees it -- would be really difficult for her to swallow.

Because...

3. Cleo Knows Peter Loves Carter

Now, I'm not gonna say it's something as simple as jealousy, but I do think we can, as an audience, read something like that into it.

And more importantly, Peter's love for Carter impacts how much time and energy and interest Peter has for Cleo.

This first comes up the night Carter is stabbed.

Cleo is forced to do a thoracotomy because multiple times her direct request to Peter for assistance is ignored, dismissed, or otherwise pushed aside in his desperation to be with Carter.

Even when Carter is out of the woods, Peter actively puts Cleo's patient's life in danger because he wants to close with Anspaugh. To the point that Cleo is forced to intervene, and Peter, in response, lashes out at Cleo.

She knows that his anger is not about her doing an unnecessary procedure. And we know she knows, because the last words she manages to get out to Peter are "I'm sorry Carter is hurt --"

Before Peter completely shuts her out.

And then, when she comes to tell him that Lucy has died, Peter's first priority, ahead of anything, is still Carter.

And fine, maybe that's okay when the crisis is at its climax.

But when Carter's in the hospital, Peter is ALWAYS there. And again, we know that this takes time away from Cleo because we see them on a date.

And on that date, all that Peter talks about...is Carter.

To the point that Cleo suggests they skip a show and go to a cafe, since clearly, all Peter really wants to do is tell her about Carter.

Now, I'm not saying this is jealousy per se, because she does seem quite happy to allow Peter to wax poetic about his boy. BUT I do think she resents Carter for how Peter so willingly compromises his integrity to attend to him.

Peter literally almost let that patient die. Peter has outside responsibilities. Cleo thinks Peter has an incredible future as a surgeon -- ironically, she is as ambitious for his career as he was...before he met Carter.

But the softening of Peter that began with Carter as his med-student, and then became obvious and intentional with the birth and raising of his son, of Reese, is emphasised in Cleo's frustration with Peter's willing and (to her mind, and possibly fairly observed) unexamined or uncritical prioritising of certain other people in a way that undermines, compromises, or else distracts him from his own trajectory.

I think Cleo thinks Carter's a bit of a bad influence. She doesn't see how they came together, she doesn't understand how they were, or how they work. She doesn't grasp the depth of feeling between them. All she sees is a rich kid getting away with rich kid actions, and her boyfriend compromising himself to support it.

She clearly has a chip on her shoulder about being half-white. It’s very specific that her issue is not with with being half-Black. She objects to the racism she experiences as a result, but it’s very blatant that she has no shame or insecurity about being Black— she has issues with her proximity to whiteness, and implies she’s generally uncomfortable around non-Black people specifically.

She only ever mentions her mother and shows discomfort about the lack of Black people in the hospital. She makes a few comments suggesting she has strong opinions on parents she sees as unprepared for raising children with atypical problems, or who don’t pay enough attention to how their child is actually feeling.

Her speciality in paediatrics in itself, and the way she instantly switches from her usual stoic expression to a sweet smile whenever she talks to a child also feels… I mean, it feels related, if nothing else.

It’s probably not a stretch to assume her mother wasn’t great at considering that Cleo was still, well… Black. It’s easy to imagine Cleo feeling frustrated that her mother didn’t understand and didn’t take her issues or concerns seriously enough.

Maybe even making Cleo feel irrational or paranoid whenever she did try to vent, or complain, or look for reassurance or comfort…

I don’t know. The image I have of Cleo’s mother is of a white woman who looked at her obviously mixed daughter and said things like “not everyone is racist, honey, they’re just kids saying stuff to get under your skin, you’re being too sensitive,” even if Cleo had just come home from school crying because kids had been sticking things in her hair and calling her slurs.