Episode 1: Pilot

An exquisitely trim doctor, dressed entirely in black, with perfectly-cut yet charmingly tousled dark hair and the bluest eyes in Christendom, is giving instructions to his receptionist. She tells him that Mr. Yoshimada is still waiting for his bunion. "Then give it to him" he suggests. A nurse enters, calling frantically for Billy to come into the examination room. "Honestly, have you ever heard anyone talk to their boss like that?" he asks the receptionist. The nurse shouts at him again. In the waiting room, the Yoshimadas are looking seriously disturbed at the uproar. The patient is a jovial black construction worker with a nail stuck in his chest. He is already hooked up to a heart monitor, which is beeping away, and two nurses are bustling about. Billy asks, very calmly, how deep the nail is. "About four inches" says the patient, who then, to everyone's horror, calmly pulls it out of his own chest. "Yep," he says "four-inch galvanized." He pauses. "What? I just pulled it out!" "Out of your heart" says the nurse. The patient is looking woozy. "And it left a hole or something?" The monitor is sounding decidedly less cheerful. In the waiting room, the receptionist is calling the ambulance and the hospital, and the Yoshimadas are now really worried. The patient is finally stabilized and handed off to an emergency medical team, who take him down in the elevator with the Yoshimadas, now conversing frantically in Japanese. "Domo arigato!" says Billy as the elevator doors close.

Billy tells the nurse that he's going out. She reminds him that doctors in seven states are waiting for him to report about what he did to their patients. He says he'll take care of it in the morning. "You're worthless in the morning" she replies, following him into the elevator. "That's why I'm going out tonight." "You need more than three hours of sleep, Billy." "You're such a hall monitor!" "OK, forget the charts. Go home and take a bath." "Is that an invitation?" "The point is not to exhaust you." "Bring some bubble bath." "I don't want you to burn out." "Never happen." The elevator doors open. "The doctor is in the house!" he announces, as he struts into the busy, sparkling, crowded casino.

Tommy is walking with Vic and Veronica. He runs into Billy and is angry with him for sending the injured man out of the front door past the customers, instead of the back. They argue for a while, laying odds on Bob's survival and which one of them he is likely to sue. Tommy is called away, but tells Billy he's done good work. "Major pain in the ass if Bob died on us." A security man approaches to say that the club singer collapsed at the end of her set. Billy and Tommy go to see what happened. While Billy is examining her, her manager takes the opportunity to try to negotiate a better deal for her from Tommy. It's obvious that he doesn't care about the girl, only about the money. Billy seems quite concerned about her but Tommy expresses the opinion that all she needs is some food. Billy asks her whether she lost consciousness, and whether she wears contacts. He has her follow his finger with her eyes. She seems glad to have someone care about her, and agrees to go to his office the next morning for some tests.

On the way back to the casino, Tommy says he thinks that Eva's fall was a ploy to negotiate more money, but Billy doesn't seem to agree. He complains of a sore throat and asks Billy to check his glands. "That's what you have cocktail waitresses for" Billy points out. "(Somebody they knew) woke up with swollen glands last April, and now she's dead" Tommy says, not without satisfaction. Billy dutifully checks his glands. "You'd better get that looked at." "You think?" "NO!"

Veronica tells Billy she has missed a midterm because of car trouble, and she needs a note from her doctor to be able to retake it. "You want schizophrenia or tuberculosis?" Billy asks. "I was thinking of whooping cough" she says. Billy says she can pick up the note from Alice.

Billy stops in the bar to watch a boxing match on the TV. Vic comes up. "You know the number one rule in baseball?" he asks. "The Cubs will always break your heart." "What, are you clairvoyant? You know every bet I make in this town?" "Just the big ones. There's a reason employees can't bet in casinos." "I'm not an employee." "I know. I never said nothing. I run the casino, treat the customers right, they give us their money. That's my job. Watching friends circle the drain? That ain't part of it." "Don't worry; I know a good plumber."

A customer calls Billy over to the table and tells his date that he's the casino doctor. "Do you take Blue Cross?" she asks. "Cash or plastic, just like the rest of Vegas" he says. A young woman comes up to the table and causes a disturbance, accusing a young man who is playing there, her fiancé, of going to a wild bachelor party after he told her it was completely innocent. She's also found a porn magazine which she flings onto the table, to everyone's consternation. Vic escorts her out of the casino.

The next morning, Billy, in scrubs, is examining a young woman in his office. She hurt her knee while in the gym, and her dad is with her. She's worried that she won't be able to try out for an athletic scholarship at UNLV. Dad tries to console her by saying that he has money saved up, and she will start college in the fall as planned. She wants to go home, but dad points out that they have nonrefundable plane tickets and can't leave until Monday. Billy says that she has an injury which will need surgery if she is ever to play seriously again. There isn't anything that can be done until the swelling goes down so he tells her to keep it elevated and iced and refers her to an orthopedist. He's very sorry.

In the hall, the nurse tells him there is a woman in C who has swallowed her boyfriend's wedding ring, and he has to catch an 8 o'clock flight back to his wife. "What happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas" Billy remarks sagely. Someone asks whether Jordan has called back; Billy shakes his head.

Billy goes in to see Eva and orders blood and drug tests. She resists, saying that her manager won't let her have blood tests. "That's because he doesn't get a percentage of them" he says. He suggests that she's on drugs but she denies it. "Look" he says "I'm not the party police, unless people aren't partying enough, but you're not doing this for fun any more." "Go to hell." "If that'll help." "Does Tommy know that this is how you treat his friends? By calling them drug addicts?" "I heard a heart murmur, Eva. It's related to your habit." This pulls her up a bit, but she says that she doesn't consent to the drug test and leaves. He looks very sad.

Downstairs, Tommy is chatting up a lovely female customer at the blackjack table. Billy comes up in a white shirt and leather jacket. "So it's true" says the customer. "Dig a bullet out of a guy in Vegas and he has to give you a job." "Office space" says Billy "and it was a tricky bullet." Tommy calls his attention to a swelling on the woman's wrist. At first Billy makes a crack about it being caused by the chromium in hotel water, but then tells her it's a ganglion cyst. She can have it removed if she wants but it's benign. There are two other players at the table: the now-newlywed young man, who is hoping for a lucky streak, and the athlete's father. Billy says hi to the father and suggests that he take his daughter to a show or something. The father says that he's giving her space.

Billy walks with Tommy and expresses his annoyance at having to perform "medical monkey tricks" for the customers. Tommy says he's just trying to get the casino off the ground and the least Billy can do is be nice to the punters.

Suddenly a disturbance breaks out back at the blackjack table. The new bride arrives and starts another scene, this time about being deserted while her new husband goes off and gambles. She spills a glass all over the lady with the ganglion, and in the confusion, the new husband steals some chips off the table and pockets them. Veronica sees him and calls him on it.

Later, in the bar, apropos of nothing, Tommy asks Billy why breast reduction is the number one plastic surgery procedure in the U.S. "One man's blessing is another woman's curse" Billy replies, dead-pan.

Vic has managed to entice a notorious high-roller to the casino; the gambler has stipulated that his blackjack dealer not be a professional dealer who uses all kinds of tricks to win for the house, but rather a cocktail waitress. In the changing room Veronica is behind a curtain getting into a skimpy cocktail waitress costume. "I'm a business major. I'm not doing this." "Customer service is business" Tommy points out. "Hurry up; this ain't the prom." "So is prostitution." "Warren Buffett would wear that outfit if it meant closing a deal" Tommy insists. She comes out. "Of course, you fill it better."

We see Billy leaving the casino and getting into a cab.

It turns out that Veronica has never dealt the sort of game that this gambler plays, so Tommy is hastily coaching her. He asks what kind of business she's majoring in and she replies "Hotel management." "What, you gunning for Carla's job?" he asks, surprised. "No, yours."

The gambler comes in, leers at Veronica and starts being offensive. No sooner does he sit down than Veronica's father comes in, drunk and wanting a tender moment with his little girl. Tommy rushes him away to the restaurant for some food. Vic asks if Veronica is OK to continue. She nods. The gambler makes an unkind remark about her father's drunkenness.

In the cab, Billy is making a cell phone call. There is no answer. "Hi, it's me again, leaving a message for Jordan" he says to the machine. "It's 11 p.m. I guess I missed you this year. Happy birthday, Sweet Pea. I love you." His expression is a mixture of love, pride and disappointment; as he shuts his phone he looks emotional.

He arrives at a country & western type bar and sits at a poker table. The players all seem to know him and they call him Fish.

Back at the casino, the gambler calls Veronica a bitch. Vic tells him to watch his language. The gambler is losing.

Back at the country bar, Billy loses to a long-haired, unpleasant guy and he looks like a man who has been in this situation many times before, but is nevertheless disgusted with himself. Clearly, Billy's life is not all roses.

Meanwhile, back at the casino, Tommy's had a drink or two and is having a real heart-to-heart with Veronica's dad. He, too, has had a hard life. He went bankrupt three times, packed it all in, left Vegas, and ended up getting himself shot in LA. "Some doctor had to crack my chest open and massage my heart with his bare hands" he says. "Great way to start a friendship." So he came back to Vegas where some big shots came up with the funds and backed his casino. "Now I've got it all on the line again" he says. The father seems unimpressed. "Hey!" Tommy says. "That's my best inspirational story!" "But you're back in the same place" Veronica's dad points out. "With new insight, you stupid mook." Veronica's dad nods, and waxes sentimental about his daughter, saying she still has a chance to be someone special.

On his way back to the casino, Billy finds the new husband in the parking lot, gasping for breath and coughing up something.

Tommy, in his bathrobe, and a security man are standing in the hall outside the doors leading to Billy's office. They're locked and Billy isn't answering. The security guy doesn't have a key so he breaks the glass in the door. This gets Billy's attention; he was developing an x-ray and he's mad at the intrusion. "It's a good look on you, kid" Tommy says to the bridegroom, whose face has been well and truly beaten. The bridegroom is obviously afraid of the security man. "You said it would be OK" he says to Billy. "You said the clinic wasn't part of the casino." "A little tip" Billy says to the security guy. "You're supposed to take him out in the desert, not pummel him in the parking lot." Tommy takes Billy aside. He wants the newlywed gone. "You're lucky I found him, and not some tourist" Billy points out. "I know you can't help it; you've got a God complex. Somebody's hurt, you've gotta lay yourself on the line. But this one's not your business!" Tommy's almost spitting by now. "His hand is broken in three places. You're lucky he doesn't have a head injury, collapsed lung, blind, deaf, a vegetable." "It should have been his neck. He's a con man and a thief. We threw him out of here eight hours ago. Anything could have happened. We're not talking, and you can bet he's not talking either. Get rid of him." "Let's call the police; they'll come and get him." "We IDd this kid. He's 19 and gambling in my casino. His bride is 17. I don't need the headache. But get this straight, Billy. I don't answer to you. If you weren't my friend, you'd be gone now, too. I want him gone by sunrise, and he'd better not come back." Tommy and the security man leave. The boy starts to thank Billy. "Hey" Billy says "You try and tap this casino again, and I'll bust you up myself."

The next morning, Billy wears jeans and a navy shirt to visit Eva. Her manager lets him into her suite and retires to the balcony, still fulminating about the need to get more money out of Tommy. Billy breaks it to Eva that she has an infection of the heart valve. Without immediate treatment, it will spread and kill her. Later, in the office, he tells his nurse that Eva won't go to a hospital because she's a celebrity and values her privacy. "National Enquirer vs. death" says the nurse. "Tough call." "I need a 2-D echo machine for the diagnosis" he tells her. "Well, sure; put 50 grand in my purse and I'll pick it up at Safeway." Billy doesn't want to BUY one, he just wants to USE it. Predictably, an argument ensues, with the nurse laying out all the problems. What does Billy want to do, rehab her here? Is he prepared to sit up with her for every waking hour to make sure that she doesn't shoot up again? Eva and her manager are grown-ups; Billy should explain it to them and send them to a hospital. "Why don't you let me worry about that?" asks Billy. "Worry? You're not very good at foresight in general. Do you want them to suspend your license again? At least the last time it was for a sick little boy, not your casino paymaster." "JUST GET ME THE DAMNED ECHO!" He bursts into the waiting room to find the Yoshimadas are sitting there, listening in horror to it all. Billy smiles brightly. "How ya doin? How's that bunion?"

In the casino, Vic gives the athlete's dad his last batch of chips. He's reached his limit. Veronica deals. Of course, dad loses, and Veronica is clearly sorry. He says it was his daughter's college money and he sounds heartbroken.

Tommy congratulates Billy on his brilliant treatment of Eva. By keeping her in the casino for treatment, Billy has guaranteed Tommy his headline act for the duration. He apologizes obliquely for his tantrum about the newlywed, and asks whether Jordan has called back.

Upstairs, the nurse says Eva is waiting and the echo is plugged in and ready. Billy is surprised. "You asked for one, didn't you? I didn't follow you here for the benefits. I reserve the right to protect you on occasion." "With a swift kick in the ass?" asks Billy, putting on his lab coat. "Oh, no, that'll cost you overtime!"

In the examination room, Billy tells Eva that her heart looks as good as can be expected and the infection hasn't spread, but she still has to take her meds. He also shows her the result of another test that just arrived. She's 11-12 weeks pregnant. He shows her the ultrasound of the baby, and says it looks healthy. Eva starts to cry, and for the first time admits her addiction. She has tried to quit. "It's an addiction" Billy says, with great empathy. "There will be times when you want nothing more than to give into it. Times when you got it beat, and won't know you've fallen until you hit the ground. But you get back up again. Do you want this baby, Eva?" She nods. "I want it to want me." "It's a whole lot easier when you're fighting for someone else." He says it with feeling, like he really knows. Eva agrees to enter rehab.

Downstairs, Tommy congratulates Veronica for beating the gambler, hands her a wad of cash, and tells her to get help for her Dad. Billy comes up to tell Tommy that Eva has entered rehab and will be in a hospital in Santa Fe for 12 weeks. Tommy throws a fit, demanding that Billy get her back and put her into rehab here in town so she can fulfill her contract.

There is a crash outside. The athlete's dad has jumped from the fourth floor, landing on a refreshment tent, crushing his legs and cutting a femoral artery. Billy sends Tommy up to his office for equipment and starts engaging in frantic activity. His patient is begging him to let him die.

Tommy has broken down the door again and is frantically searching for Billy's equipment but doesn't really know what he's looking for. He's on the cell phone to Billy, who's trying to describe it to him. Luckily, just at that moment the nurse comes in, wearing off-duty clothes, and finds what he needs.

Meanwhile, dad is saying that he just wants to get out of his daughter's way, while Billy is yelling into the cellphone and attending to him. The nurse and Tommy arrive with the gear and both of them have to help Billy. Since this involves an injection between the ribs with a huge needle, Tommy nearly faints. But the patient is successfully stabilized and taken away by the paramedics.

Tommy is thrilled with his participation in the medical miracle, and all is forgiven as far as Billy is concerned. Billy points out to Tommy that he still has his aerial act. "Hell, people" says the nurse. "Don't let a little thing like a man jumping off your building ruin your party!" "You obviously still don't get Vegas" Tommy says cheerfully, and walks off.

Billy notes his nurse's attire. "Are you going to a wedding? A funeral?" She just smiles mysteriously. "See you at the office" she says, walking away. He gestures happily all around him. "This IS my office!"

Vic comes up to ask about the seriousness of a certain kind of injury, which Billy says is definitely not good. Alas, this injury has befallen a Pittsburgh Steeler, and is likely to mess up their recent bet.

In the background, a couple wins a $12 million jackpot on the slots, and Vic joins the celebration.

Billy's cell phone rings. It's Jordan. His face lights up. It's hard to hear what she's saying over the music, but Billy is clearly in heaven.

~ Roxane