Dead Man Walking (Body Of Proof)
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"Dead Man Walking" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American
medical drama A medical drama is a Television film, television movie or film in which events center upon a hospital, clinic, doctor's office, a paramedic, or any other medical topic or environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic progra ...
''
Body of Proof ''Body of Proof'' is an American medical drama, medical/crime drama, crime comedy-drama television series that ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from March 29, 2011, to May 28, 2013, and starred Dana Delany as medical examiner List of B ...
''. It was originally broadcast in the United States on
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
on April 19, 2011. The episode was directed by Matthew Gross and written by series creator Christopher Murphey. In the episode,
Megan Megan is a Welsh feminine given name, originally a diminutive form of Margaret. Margaret is from the Greek μαργαρίτης (''margarítēs''), Latin ''margarīta'', "pearl". Megan is one of the most popular Welsh-language names for women in ...
(
Dana Delany Dana Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American actress. After appearing in small roles early in her career, Delany received her breakthrough role as Colleen McMurphy on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television drama ''China Beach'' (1 ...
) investigates the murder of Ted Harbison (Kevin Kaine), who dies shortly after surgery and has to face up to her past, by going back to her former hospital; and Ethan (
Geoffrey Arend Geoffrey Rashid Arend, Jr. (born February 28, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ethan Gross on the ABC drama series ''Body of Proof'', Matt Mahoney on the CBS political drama series '' Madam Secretary'', and a young ...
) and
Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of Fren ...
(
Windell Middlebrooks Windell Dwain Middlebrooks, Jr. (January 8, 1979 – March 9, 2015) was an American actor and singer. Most famous as a TV pitchman for Miller High Life beer, Middlebrooks also starred in ''The Suite Life on Deck'' and ''Body of Proof''. Early ...
) autopsy Jessica Archer (
Christina Hendricks Christina Rene Hendricks (born May 3, 1975) is an American actress and former model. With an extensive career on screen and stage, she has received various accolades, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Critics' Choice Awards, as ...
), a woman who died from a blood clot, and meet her twin sister Karen (Hendricks), for whom Ethan begins to develop feelings. The episode received positive reviews, and was watched by 11.30 million viewers, according to
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
, on the Tuesday night it aired in the United States. Critics praised Hendricks, with one stating that "guest stars like this should help keep up the quality", saying her role was "lovely". Christine Orlando from ''TV Fanatic'' called it "one of its most entertaining episode's yet" due to the partnership between Ethan and Curtis.


Plot

Ted Harbison (Kevin Kaine) is found dead in a park. Dr. Megan Hunt (
Dana Delany Dana Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American actress. After appearing in small roles early in her career, Delany received her breakthrough role as Colleen McMurphy on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television drama ''China Beach'' (1 ...
) investigates into his death and during the investigation, it is revealed Ted had surgery just before he died, and Megan finds three surgical staples that weren't closed fully, causing him to bleed out internally, causing Megan to think that Ted was murdered. Megan visits her old hospital, where she was once a
neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, ...
. Ted's surgeon, Doctor Chandler (
Marc Blucas Marcus Paul Blucas (; born January 11, 1972) is an American actor. Prior to his acting career, he played college basketball with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He had his first starring role as soldier and love interest Riley Finn on the WB su ...
) has a reputation for recklessness while performing surgeries and Megan finds out that the video was never turned on, meaning the surgery was never recorded. While at the hospital, Megan meets her old friend and the hospital administrator Gwen Baldwin (
Carolyn McCormick Carolyn McCormick is an American actress who played Dr. Elizabeth Olivet in the ''Law & Order'' franchise. Life and career McCormick has worked in television, movies, theatre, and voice acting. Her breakthrough role was in '' Enemy Mine'', ...
) and while there Gwen reveals her son died of an overdose. Meanwhile, in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Ethan (
Geoffrey Arend Geoffrey Rashid Arend, Jr. (born February 28, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ethan Gross on the ABC drama series ''Body of Proof'', Matt Mahoney on the CBS political drama series '' Madam Secretary'', and a young ...
) and
Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of Fren ...
(
Windell Middlebrooks Windell Dwain Middlebrooks, Jr. (January 8, 1979 – March 9, 2015) was an American actor and singer. Most famous as a TV pitchman for Miller High Life beer, Middlebrooks also starred in ''The Suite Life on Deck'' and ''Body of Proof''. Early ...
) autopsy Jessica Archer (
Christina Hendricks Christina Rene Hendricks (born May 3, 1975) is an American actress and former model. With an extensive career on screen and stage, she has received various accolades, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Critics' Choice Awards, as ...
), with both Ethan and Curtis unsure how she died. Jessica's twin sister arrives, Karen (Hendricks), and she and Ethan are attracted to each other. Meanwhile, Megan discovers that the surgical staple gun was tampered with. The guns come in packs of three but the pack was broken up between three surgeries, one was given to Ted, another to George White (Dan Amboyer) who Megan has to perform emergency surgery on after finding him near-dead, and the third staple gun was not used. Megan finds traces of fungus found on bonsai trees on the staple guns and Megan realizes that Gwen has bonsai trees. When her son died, he was pledging for the
fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...
where George is president. Gwen tampered with the staple guns to kill George, not realizing that the pack would be broken up. Ethan and Curtis find out that Jessica had a genetic
mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, ...
that caused a blood clot, so Ethan warns Karen that she might also have one. Megan confronts Gwen, who confesses to Megan. Gwen is eventually taken away by the police, after admitting to George's attempted, and Ted's accidental murder.


Production

"Dead Man Walking" was written by series creator Christopher Murphey and directed by Matthew Gross, best known for directing ''
Dirty Sexy Money ''Dirty Sexy Money'' is an American prime time drama television series created by Craig Wright that ran for two seasons on ABC from September 26, 2007, to August 8, 2009. The series was produced by Berlanti Television and ABC Studios. Wrig ...
'' and ''
Day Break ''Day Break'' is an American crime drama television series for which one 13-episode season was produced. The series starred Taye Diggs as Detective Brett Hopper, who is framed for the murder of Assistant District Attorney Alberto Garza. Due to ...
'', and films such as '' Fired Up!'' and ''
Joe Somebody ''Joe Somebody'' is a 2001 American comedy-drama film written by John Scott Shepherd and directed by John Pasquin. The film stars Tim Allen as an ordinary man forced into violence by a workplace bully. Julie Bowen, Kelly Lynch, Greg Germann, Hay ...
''. This was Gross's first episode as a director, but he wrote the second episode of
season one Season One may refer to: Albums * ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004 * ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughters album), 2012 * ''Season One'' (Saukrates album), 2012 See also * * * Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to: ...
, "Letting Go", alongside Murphey.
Daniel Licht Daniel Licht (March 13, 1957 – August 2, 2017) was an American soundtrack composer and musician, best known for writing the score of Showtime TV drama series ''Dexter''. Life and career Licht grew up in suburban Detroit and attended the Roep ...
who has worked on the series since its inception, returned to compose the music for the episode. Actresses
Christina Hendricks Christina Rene Hendricks (born May 3, 1975) is an American actress and former model. With an extensive career on screen and stage, she has received various accolades, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Critics' Choice Awards, as ...
(best known for her role in ''
Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...
'') and
Carolyn McCormick Carolyn McCormick is an American actress who played Dr. Elizabeth Olivet in the ''Law & Order'' franchise. Life and career McCormick has worked in television, movies, theatre, and voice acting. Her breakthrough role was in '' Enemy Mine'', ...
(best known for her role in ''
Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...
'') guest starred in the episode as Jessica/ Karen Archer and Gwen Baldwin, respectively. As well as Hendricks and McCormick, and actor
Marc Blucas Marcus Paul Blucas (; born January 11, 1972) is an American actor. Prior to his acting career, he played college basketball with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He had his first starring role as soldier and love interest Riley Finn on the WB su ...
(best known for his role in ''
Buffy The Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...
'') played Dr. Chandler, as well as actresses
Milena Govich Milena Govich ( ; Serbian: Милена Говић) (born ) is an American actress, director, singer, dancer, and musician, who may be best known for portraying Detective Nina Cassady for one season on ''Law & Order'' (2006–2007). Early lif ...
and
Meta Golding Meta Golding is a Haitian-American actress. Life and career Golding was born in India in 1971. Her parents were international aid workers and she was raised in several countries. Besides the United States, Golding also lived in India, Haiti, Fr ...
also guest starring in the episode. Regular cast member
John Carroll Lynch John Carroll Lynch (born August 1, 1963) is an American character actor and film director. He first gained notice for his role as Norm Gunderson in '' Fargo'' (1996). He is also known for his television work on the ABC sitcom ''The Drew Carey Sh ...
who plays Detective Bud Morris, did not appear in this episode, although was credited. "Dead Man Walking", along with the eight episode's from ''Body of Proof''s first season, were released on a two-disc
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
set in the United States on September 20, 2011. The sets included brief audio commentaries from various crew and cast members for several episode's, a preview of
season 2 Season 2 may refer to: * ''Season 2'' (Infinite album), 2014 * ''2econd Season'', an album by Unk, 2008 * "Season 2", a song by Phoenix from ''Alpha Zulu ''Alpha Zulu'' is the seventh studio album by French indie pop band Phoenix, released on 4 ...
and a 10-minute "featurette" on the making of the show, with commentaries from the medical consultants who helped with the script, as well as a "Contaminated Evidence" blooper reel.


Reception


Ratings

In its original American broadcast on April 19, 2011, "Dead Man Walking" was seen by 11.3 million viewers, according to
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
. Among viewers between ages 18 and 49, it received a 2.4 rating/9 share; a share represents the percentage of households using a television at the time the program is airing. This episode achieved higher viewers than the previous episode, "
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads
", but a lower number of viewers than the subsequent episode "
Society Hill Society Hill is a historic neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 6,215 . Settled in the early 1680s, Society Hill is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Philadelphia.The Center ...
". ''Body of Proof'' came seventh in the ratings on Tuesday night, it was outperformed by the
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
police procedural The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies ...
drama ''
NCIS NCIS or N.C.I.S. may refer to: Law enforcement * National Criminal Intelligence Service, the predecessor to the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the United Kingdom * Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a United States law enforcement and intelli ...
'', as well as
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
's ''
Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...
''. "Dead Man Walking" was watched by 1.75 million viewers upon its airing on Channel 5 in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.


Critical response

"Dead Man Walking" received positive reviews. Jessica Banov from ''FayObserver'' said that ''Body of Proof'' was finding its "groove" due to this episode, as well as highly praising Hendricks guest role, saying that "guest stars like this should help keep up the quality". Christine Orlando from ''TV Fanatic'' also praised the episode, calling it "one of its most entertaining episode's yet". She also praised the character development between Megan and
Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...
( Nicholas Bishop), as well as praising the partnership between Ethan and Curtis, saying that they "made up for" the fact Bud was not in the episode. She said, "This partnership just keeps getting better and the visual of the two of them in bio-hazard suits was so comical. I look forward to more of these two as the show continues". She was also "glad" that Dr. Kate Murphy (
Jeri Ryan Jeri Lynn Ryan (née Zimmermann; born February 22, 1968) is an American actress best known for her role as the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in '' Star Trek: Voyager'' (19972001) and '' Star Trek: Picard'' (20202023) for which she won two Satur ...
) had a bigger role, summarising that the "character interaction sells this show". Like Banov, Orlando praised Hendricks guest role, saying it was "lovely" and that "she and real life husband Geoffrey Arend had a sweet sort of chemistry". She also hope that Hendricks would reprise her role as Karen, stating that it would be "wonderful". Finally, Orlando said that her favourite scene was with Kate in, when she and "an entire team of cops going in to a hospital and shutting it down". She called it, "Dramatic, but effective".


References


External links


"Dead Man Walking"
at ABC.com * {{Body of Proof 2011 American television episodes Body of Proof episodes