History Series / CodeBlack

** Rorish performs a lateral thoracotomy on an accident victim. This is a last-chance procedure where doctors open up the patient's chest laterally (practically cutting the body into two parts) to get access to all the internal organs at once.

** Rorish performs a thoracotomy on an accident victim. This is a last-chance procedure where doctors open up the patient's chest laterally (practically cutting the body into two parts) to get access to all the internal organs at once.

The series very much takes its cue from the groundbreaking ''Series/{{ER}}'', with graphically detailed medical procedures and a focus on the chaos faced by an incredibly busy urban public hospital.

The show focuses on the overworked and understaffed emergency room of Angels Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles as they try to deal with the swaths of people who come through their doors seeking help. Joining the experienced staff of doctors and nurses is a new group of residents, eager to prove themselves but quickly overwhelmed by the high-pressure environment. The series very much takes its cue from the groundbreaking ''Series/{{ER}}'', with graphically detailed medical procedures and a focus on the chaos faced by an incredibly busy urban public hospital.

The show focuses on the overworked and understaffed emergency room of Angels Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles as they try to deal with the swaths of people who come through their doors seeking help. Joining the experienced staff of doctors and nurses is a new group of residents, eager to prove themselves but quickly overwhelmed by the high-pressure environment.

** Leanne does this with her eventual foster daughter Ariel, following a sincere promise to [[NoMoreLies never]] [[LiesToChildren lie to her]] and followed by a [[AnywhereButTheirLips gentle kiss to her forehead]]. As with the above, it also serves the purpose of a CooldownHug in soothing a very frightened Ariel, though in this case the overtones are obviously maternal instead of romantic.

* PutOnABus: Neal and Christa departed Angels Memorial in the gap between Seasons 1 and 2 with no mention of them having left or where they went[[note]]CBS forced the showrunners to drop the characters, to everyone's intense displeasure[[/note]].

* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Leanne Rorish, unsurprisingly given [[Creator/MarciaGayHarden her actress]]. Incredibly experienced with a SugarAndIcePersonality, Leanne is widely admired in her profession but is to almost everyone cool, reserved, and utterly in control, with the mature beauty and long dark hair that are a hallmark of this trope.

* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Leanne Rorish, unsurprisingly given [[Creator/MarciaGayHarden her actress]]. Incredibly experienced with a SugarAndIcePersonality, Leanne is widely admired in her profession but is shown to truly open up to only four people -- Jesse Sallander, Neal Hudson, Christa Lorenson, and, increasingly, Ed Harbert. Jesse and Neal are longtime friends, Christa is "[[OutlivingOnesOffspring in the same club]]", and Ed Harbert is -- well, it's entirely probable that ''Leanne'' doesn't quite yet know what he is, but he seems to be becoming ''something''. To virtually everyone else, she's cool, reserved, and utterly in control, with the mature beauty and long dark hair that are a hallmark of this trope.

** The showrunners work hard at making sure that the show accurately depicts medical conditions and medical procedures.

* CharacterDevelopment: A number of characters experienced major life developments over the course of the first season.

** Angus becomes increasingly confident as a doctor but suffers emotional trauma [[spoiler: after intentionally letting Malaya's attacker bleed out]] and [[spoiler:develops an Adderall addiction]].

* ShownTheirWork: The episode title "Sometimes It's a Zebra" is derived from an old saying impressed on new doctors: "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras."[[note]] It means that, when evaluating a patient's symptoms, a doctor should first consider and rule out common illnesses ("horses") before concluding that the patient has a rare syndrome ("zebra").[[/note]]

* SurvivorGuilt: [[spoiler:Leanne]] is revealed to be suffering from a whopping great dose of this after [[spoiler:surviving the accident that killed her husband and two children]]. A patient responsible for his younger brother's death due to driving drunk also goes through this.

** Leanne does this with her eventual foster daughter Ariel, following a sincere promise to [[NoMoreLies never]] [[LiesToChildren lie to her]] and followed by a [[AnywhereButTheirLips gentle kiss to her forehead]]. As with the above, it also serves the purpose of a CooldownHug, soothing a very frightened Ariel, though in this case the overtones are obviously maternal instead of romantic.

** Leanne does this with her eventual foster daughter Ariel, following a sincere promise to [[NoMoreLies never]] [[LiesToChildren lie to her]] and followed by a [[AnywhereButTheirLips gentle kiss to her forehead]].

* HeadbuttOfLove: Neal does this to help settle a very upset Christa, touching his forehead to hers and putting his hands at her waist, [[spoiler:right before kissing her for the first time and initiating their relationship upgrade]]. It also serves the same purpose as a CooldownHug, though he doesn't actually hug her -- and the scene is, surprisingly enough, even more intimate because he doesn't.

** Rorish decides to [[spoiler:step down as Residency Director (ultimately handing the job to Angus Leighton's older brother Mike) and take a leave of absence]] in order to [[spoiler:properly grieve her family and figure out who she is without them]] -- but not before [[spoiler:getting temporarily dragooned into serving as ER director in the interim between Gina Perello's death and Mark Taylor's return]]. Her development continues in Season 2, culminating in her taking in an orphaned 13-year old as [[ReplacementGoldfish her foster child]] because she realizes [[spoiler: she's been "living in a graveyard" and isolating herself ever since losing her family]].

*** At age 15 Guthrie, Jr. found his mother's body after she'd shot herself.

*** OOCIsSeriousBusiness: we know things are looking bad for Leanne in the Season 2 finale when Jessie is unable to respond in kind to Leanne's DangerDeadpan.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The main plot of the season finale concerns an explosion at a debate between presidential candidates -- and just so happened to air in the heart of the 2016 primary election season.

** Over the course of Season 2, Campbell loses his JerkAssFacade and becomes far mellower and willing to bend rules.

** "Unfinished Business" has several, most prominently Elliot [[spoiler: when [[spoiler: he's unable to revive an infant who's stopped breathing]] and Rollie [[spoiler: finding himself unable to comfort a child whose mother keeps attempting suicide.]]

** Over the course of Season 2, Campbell becomes far mellower and willing to bend rules.

** OOCIsSeriousBusiness: we know things are looking bad for Leanne in the Season 2 finale when Jessie is unable to respond in kind to Leanne's DangerDeadpan.

* HeroicBSOD: Malaya has one on her first day back after [[spoiler: the attack]].

** Rorish decides to [[spoiler:step down as Residency Director (ultimately handing the job to Angus Leighton's older brother Mike) and take a leave of absence]] in order to [[spoiler:properly grieve her family and figure out who she is without them]] -- but not before [[spoiler:getting temporarily dragooned into serving as ER director in the interim between Gina Perello's death and Mark Taylor's return]].

-->''Hello, residents. I'm Jesse Sallander, senior E.R. nurse. And for the next three years, I'm your mama. I can promise you nothing goes on in this house your mama don't know about....''

** Happens in the Season 2 two-part finale.

* ContaminationSituation: In "Doctors With Borders", most of the neurosurgeons and their families attending a nearby medical conference at a local hotel -- along with [[spoiler: Neal's mother and father]] -- come in with severe respiratory symptoms; per medical procedure, it has to be treated as a potential contagion. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted. Turns out the culprit is actually chlorine gas burns on the airways, which causes sloughing of the tracheal lining, and the patients are suffocating]]. Once [[spoiler:Neal]] figures this out, [[spoiler:the quarantine tent comes down and the rest of the ER gets to work saving them]].

** In Season 1, Guthrie Sr. mentions that he needs to "get right with God," for [[NoodleIncident reasons left unexplained]]. In Season 2, we learn that [[the loss of his daughter as an infant so haunted him that he was unable to realize that his wife was depressed and becoming suicidal.]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast:
** Mario confides in a patient that his parents once completely forgot about him and he had to spend a weekend with his teacher. When his parents finally showed up he didn't want to leave his teacher's house with its clean sheets and full refrigerator.

** At age 15 Guthrie, Jr. found his mother's body after she'd shot herself.
** Guthrie Sr. mentions that he needs to "get right with God," for [[NoodleIncident reasons not yet explained]].

* LikeBrotherAndSister: Ethan Willis clicks with Leanne Rorish right from his very first appearance, and as they continue working together they develop a very close, mutually supportive but frequently teasing relationship that very much has this vibe. Ethan is one of the few people to whom Leanne will actually cede command of a surgical situation, while Ethan often looks to Leanne for support during his many [[MeatgrinderSurgery crazy schemes]].