Synopsis of Blind Faith


Written by TK

Sydney has a dream that a series of nightmarish blind dates come to her door to pick her up. Her mother taunts her misery.

Sydney is nervous about her interview at the hospital. She is applying for privileges at the hospital so that she can start doing surgery again. She tries out two different outfits on her sister and father, and they both say that they are too "L.A." Joanie tells the family to save tomorrow night for a celebration of Hannah's sixth month. She says she will be cooking dinner. She hasn't quite decided what the menu will be, but it will start with mom's clam chowder. Both Syd and Robbie make a face. They've always hidden it up until now, but they hate their mom's clam chowder. Joanie wonders if they should get dressed up for dinner, remember how their mother would pull out her standard navy-blue dress for an occassion like this. Sydney is inspired and decides to wear her mother's conservative navy-blue dress for the interview.

A blind woman comes into Jim's office with her seeing-eye dog, a good-natured German Shepard named Lucky. She says that she can't say exactly what's wrong with him, but she can sense that something is off. Jim asks if he can keep the dog overnight for observation. The blind woman says that she'll make do without him for one night.

Robbie is at the bar, and Dani comes in. She is upset because the uncle from whom she usually borrows money for school can't loan her the necessary funds this semester, and she thinks she is going to have to drop out. Robbie says that she can't drop out, and he will try to find a way to help her.

Syd goes to her interview, and gets cut down right and left. When she gets back to the clinic, she finds out that her fears are founded, and she has not been granted privileges. She storms back to the hospital to find out why. She finds out that actually, the interview wasn't all that bad. It was the acting director of the hospital that turned down her application. She storms into the acting director's office, and although initially surprised by how young he is, she demands an explanation. He doesn't really provide one, only telling her that she can apply again when the real director is back.

Robbie starts talking to a friendly bookie that works out of the bar. He asks the bookie if he can loan him some money. The bookie says he can only extend a line of credit if Robbie uses the money to place a bet.

Syd goes out on a blind date with a man named Sherman Smith, who explains to her his gospel: you can get whatever you want from the gods as long as you insist. He and Syd go to the local cemetary, and in a rising rain storm Sherman strips down to his skivvies, grabs hold of a metal bar on top of a gravestone, and yells up to the gods that Syd wants hospital privileges. A bolt of lightening comes down and strikes the metal bar that he's holding onto.

Jim comes down with a high fever, and is bed-ridden. In the middle of the night, he comes downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of lemonade, and he hears a voice from the basement calling his name. He goes downstairs and Lucky the dog is speaking to him. He and Lucky go back upstairs.

Syd has fallen asleep in the hospital waiting room, and dreams that Dr. Marcus (the acting director of the hospital) comes to her and not only grants her privileges, but kisses her. Her mother ridicules her dream. She is woken by a nurse, and goes to visit Sherman. His hand is badly damaged, and he says that it's perfect, because now she can do the necessary reconstructive surgery. Her wish has been granted.

When Dani comes into the bar with two free tickets to a hockey game (she knows the goalie), Robbie says he can't go because of the celebratory dinner. Instead, he invites Dani to the dinner (which he promises won't be as bad as the last family dinner he brought Dani to) and uses her inside info about the team to place a bet.

Lucky wakes up Jim, telling him that he only has a short window of opportunity, and he needs Jim to help him. Lucky tells Jim that he thinks he's going blind, which is the worst possible thing to happen to a guide-dog. Lucky makes Jim promise that if he goes blind, Jim will help his owner find a new guide-dog. Jim, with help from Lucky, diagnoses him with something that is very treatable, and Lucky is incredibly grateful.

The blind woman comes back looking for Lucky. Joanie tells her that Lucky is upstairs with Jim, who is sick. Joanie invites the blind woman to stick around and help her with dinner, which the blind woman is happy to do.

Sydney goes Dr. Marcus's office and tries to suggest that she do the surgery on Sherman's hand. He is extremely rude to her and refuses. She goes outside in frustration and runs into a slightly crazy but very friendly woman who introduces herself as the goddess Athena. Sydney is friendly and gives her five dollars. She finds out later from one of the doctors that interviewed her that this woman was actually Dr. Marcus's aunt, Hilde, and with some convincing from his aunt, Dr. Marcus has decided to let Sydney help with this particular surgery.

Joanie makes Robbie promise to add the milk to the clam chowder while Joanie goes to get dressed for dinner. She shows him the container with the milk in the fridge, warning him not to take the other container that has expressed breast milk in it. Robbie agrees, but is then distracted by the fact that Dani told him that the hockey team he bet on is probably going to lose because their goalie is out sick. Robbie is trying desperately to get in touch with the bookie to cancel his bet, so the blind woman decides to help out and add the milk to the chowder. She, of course, adds the breast milk. Mom's chowder turns out to be extremely good.

It turns out that while Robbie's team was missing their goalie, the opposing team had to forfeit because so many of them were sick. Robbie wins $4,000 and gives it to Dani for school.

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