Revisiting Kingdom Hospital - episode 7

If you missed my last account of episode six - shame on you! It was brilliant. Headless ghosts running loose, men on fire and little girls in bottles. Yes, the last episode certainly picked things up, so it’s slightly disappointing that episode seven feels somewhat lacking in excitement … or anything of note at all really.

Proceedings open with a corrupt lawyer accused of sexual assault who suffers some sort of attack and gets taken into Kingdom Hospital. The lawyer is saved and put in the same room as Rolf, who has also been saved and relocated, but is badly burned. There is a definite pattern emerging here, as each episode opens with somebody being taken into A&E who is, shall we say, of questionable character. Rolf, the convict, the corrupt mother of Dr. Elmer, the alcoholic PHD, and now this cradle-snatching lawyer. I’m guessing there will be something to do with purgatory/ redemption coming up soon. Except, Peter Rickman sort of ruins that theory because, as far as we know, he’s a perfectly ordinary and innocent person.

Things which may be of note later on: Dr. Hook and Draper’s relationship develops ie with them sleeping together. The headless man has his head stolen by Otto’s dog, and it appears the dog is a ghost. A meeting is held to see how everyone working at the hospital can get along better with Stegman, who really hates them all for their “incompetence”. and finally, Sally Druse meets with Peter Rickman’s wife and attempts to explain everything about Mary and Rickman’s connection to her.

So yes, a pretty vacuous episode which - seeing as it comes slap-bang in the middle of the series - feels more like a stepping stone, something to bridge the gap between the two halves and progress the story rather than deliver scares. Virtually nothing paranormal happens in this episode. Very little of Mary, no ghost boy. There is an infestation of rats and cockroaches in Stegman’s room, which is attributed to the earthquakes, and the PHD claims he can feel his feet burning, but these are more subtle hints at what will be on the way. I hope.