Synopsis of Runaway Sydney
Written by TK
Jim is suspicious of Mrs. Blake who keeps coming to him with very silly problems with her animals. When he tells Robbie that he thinks Mrs. Blake is coming on to him, Robbie says that the sure-fire way to tell is that women who are coming on to you always laugh really loudly at your jokes, even if they're not funny. Jim tells Mrs. Blake one of his favorite jokes that Robbie assures him isn't funny, and Mrs. Blake guffaws for almost a full minute. Jim tells her he's flattered by her attention, but that Linda's only been dead a few months and he's not ready.
Joanie is overly concerned about Hannah, and when Syd isn't very comforting, she realizes how much she misses her mother. Sydney finds a present for Joanie in the attic from their mother. It's a Dr. Spock book on childcare and an old childhood favorite, "The Runaway Bunny." Sydney and Joanie both realize how much they miss their mother.
Syndey treats a baby in the clinic that has some strange symptoms. She can't figure out what's wrong. She runs a series of test, frustrating the baby's parents, and then botches a spinal tap. The father of the baby, who already has problems with women doctors, doesn't want Syd anywhere near his child. That night the child is admitted to the hospital with seizures. Sydney tries to help out, but is rebuffed by both the father and the doctors at the hospital (who are not impressed by her credentials as a plastic surgeon). The mother of the baby comes out from the hospital chapel, and tells Sydney that she and her husband are Catholics, and she keeps looking in the bible for answers, but can't seem to find any. She tells Syd that she'd like it if Sydney stoppped by the following day to check on the baby. Sydney says that they baby's father probably wouldn't appreciate that. The baby's mother hands Sydney her bible, which was passed down to her from her grandmother, and says to bring it tomorrow and say that she found it in the chapel. At home, Sydney notices a Jewish star in the bible, and stars madly looking up things in her pediatrics book. She realizes that there is a disease passed down by Ashkenazi Jews that fits the baby's symptoms. She discusses it with the parents (after the mother forces the father to listen), and discovers that although they're both Catholic, the mother was born Jewish and converted when she met her husband, and the father's grandparents were raised by nuns in Poland in the thirties and forties, which was not uncommon for Polish Jews during that time. The parents agree to the necessary tests, and it turns out that Sydney is right.
Kyle tells Sydney that he has an offer to become the coach of a minor-league team in Portland, Maine. He says that a couple months ago it would have been an easy decision, but now that he and Syd might be starting something, it's harder. He says they don't even know if they have chemistry yet... they haven't even kissed. So they try kissing. And they try kissing again. And then Sydney wishes him luck in Maine.
Jerry comes to Providence to see a new client - a playwright at Brown. He gives Sydney an enormous bouquet of red roses, and a little tiny gorgeous dress, and invites her out to dinner. Kyle is Jerry's limo driver, and Jerry admits to Kyle that he just wants to be friends with his ex, but that he feels badly because he thinks she left her entire life in L.A. just because of him, so he's going to try to convince her to come back to California. He tells Sydney that he spoke to one of her old partners, and her job is almost definitely available. Sydney decides to fly back to California with him (because she feels useless as a doctor and useless to her family), but at the last minute chooses to stay in Providence.
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