Tonight on ABC is another episode of their highly anticipated new show called, Black Box. On tonight’s episode, Catherine and Joshua reflect on their past when their father returns. Meanwhile, a decorated soldier struggles with a war wound; a new patient is admitted to the Cube after falling off a mountain; and Will tries to get rid of Delilah.
On last week’s episode Catherine shared a moment of tenderness with Esme when she turned to her for help with winning over the heart of a boy. A close friend came to Bickman at the Cube after she discovered her husband Jacob gave away his car, liquidated his assets, and had given his penthouse away to his maid. During an examination with Dr. Black, Jacob revealed symptoms of a centuries old condition called Jerusalem Syndrome. Catherine and Owen used unconventional methods to help Dr. Reynaud deal with his crippling fear of death so that he can be at peace in his final days. Did you watch last week’s episode? If you missed it we have a full and detailed recap, right here for you.
On tonight’s episode Catherine and Joshua have different ideas about how the past unfolded after their father made the decision to leave them. Hunter Black is ready to reconnect, though Catherine is reluctant to allow him back into her life. Meanwhile, a decorated soldier is struggling with a war wound that has left him miserable. Another patient is admitted to the Cube with macular degeneration after she falls off the side of a mountain. To her surprise, she begins to see vibrant visions of snow leopards and landscapes that she could have never imagined. Elsewhere, Will discovers that he can’t get rid of Delilah without risk of losing his restaurant.
Tonight’s Black Box Season 1 episode 6 is going to be exciting, and you won’t want to miss it. So be sure to tune in for our live coverage of the new episode of Black Box — tonight at 10 PM EST! While you wait for our recap, hit the comments and let us know how know how excited you’re about the season.
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page for Updates
Catherine is in a cab when a song by Hunter Black, the jazz pianist, comes on. That’s her dad. We see a flashback to her as a kid and her dad dancing with her. Her mom watches them smiling as her dad lifts her up and holds her close. She asks the cabbie to turn the radio off and he complies. At her office, there’s a military doctor – Stark – there asking her for a consult. She agrees. He says they’ll be in touch and says the patient is one of their finest soldiers and he’s suffering terribly.
Catherine says he’ll get her full attention. She checks out Captain Moran and he can’t lift his left arm. He’s in a lot of pain and she says she’s going to touch his arm. He’s got just half of his arm there and he says he has a Purple Heart and has been wounded many times, but now he’s been crippled by something that’s not there. Catherine explains that phantom limb syndrome is very real. He stands and struggles to put his shirt on and she asks to help.
Moran tells her that it’s been hard on his marriage because his wife didn’t sign on for a guy that can’t dress himself and can’t bear to be touched. He says he can barely sleep and when he’s awake, he feels useless. He says he would rather have died in the war than be living like this and Catherine promises him she’ll fix it.
Ali walks with Leo and they talk about his brain surgery and memory loss issues. He’s fed up with his parents and says they are all over him. He says his dad has no sympathy. She asks when he can move back into his place and he says this weekend and then Monday, he’ll be back at the Cube. He says you can’t miss any time without falling behind.
She asks if she can see his scar and he says no – it makes him feel like a freak. Then she asks to feel his burr hole and he makes a pervert joke. She reminds him what it is – maybe he forgot – and then he hurries to say he remembered. He says he has to go and Ali tells him that it will all come back. He says he’ll see her Wednesday and then she says Monday and he says that’s what he said.
Will meets with his money guy whose not worried and says it’s going well. Will says he’s thinking Sunday brunch and the money guy says he wants to hit the hostess. Will says she’s trouble and he needs to fire her. He tells Will he can’t fire Delilah since he banged her. Will asks who told him and he says she did. He says he could lose everything – he says she has him by the nuts. Delilah also told the guy that Will said he loved her and he insists that never happened.
Catherine comes to see a new patient, Beatrice, that fell off a mountain. She says she was with a group that helps people with physical challenges lead better lives. She has severe macular degeneration and can barely see. Catherine asks how she fell and she says she was trying to get a chocolate bar without help. Beatrice tells Catherine that since the fall, she can occasionally see things very clearly, but they are things that aren’t really there. Beatrice says she sees a snow leopard in the room near her. It’s beautiful. The nurse says she wants to see a snow leopard. She orders some tests for Lina to run.
Ian is on the elevator and greets her warmly. Catherine ignores him and then he presses the eleator stop button and says they need to talk. He tells her that he wants to stop pretending what happened between them didn’t happen and she says it was meaningless and he says he can’t forget about it. She tells him she’s engaged and he says he doesn’t care. He says she wants him to touch her and she says she doesn’t. He strokes her hair and steps closer and starts to kiss her. She pulls away and slams the elevator button to restart it.
Esme plays her piano while Catherine listens. Will applauds her and Catherine says it was amazing. Joshua tells them Esme wrote it and Catherine asks how she likes her new school. Esme says the kids are a little intimidating, but she likes it. Catherine asks her to play again. Will compliments Regan’s cooking and she compliments the wine.
Joshua says he’s thrilled to be getting a brother with great taste in wine that can take care of his sister. Esme asks if they’re coming to grandpa’s show on Friday and Will asks Catherine if they are. Esme says they have tickets for all of them. Catherine isn’t thrilled but Joshua says Esme wants to see him. She reminds him their dad ditched them the day of their mom’s funeral and asks Joshua if he has amnesia. She slams away from the table. Esme apologizes to her dad.
Regan explains to Will that Hunter had to spend most of his life in Europe where he could make a living. Will says he heard it was more complicated than that and Regan says that depends on who telsl it. Joshua goes in and argues with Catherine. He says he has sees Hunter and that he wants to know him and Esme wants to and Regan’s dad is dead, so that’s all they have.
We see a flashback to her dad arguing with her aunt and Hunter saying he has to leave to make a living. A young Catherine cries. Catherine tells him that their dad bailed and went on tour and never came back except for the occasional Christmas and summer visit. She says her Aunt Cissy raised them. She says he would blow into town with expensive gifts they didn’t want and then would be gone in a day. She asks Will why she should have her dad in her future when he played no part in her past and asks him if she’s wrong.
[10:55:56 PM] Rachel Rowan: Beatrice thanks the nurse for walking the stairs with her to keep her in shape. Beatrice says it’s so beautiful up there – she seeing a mountain top. She says she knows it’s not real but it’s gorgeous like in a movie and says she’s happy. The nurse says they can stay and enjoy it. She says she wishes she could see it.
Catherine consults with the team about Moran’s phantom limb pain. Ian suggests some things that have already been tried. They also tried nerve stimulation. Catherine says he lost his arm trying to save a friend from a burning tank. The other doctor says it could be psychological trauma.
Ali approaches Catherine and says she needs to talk to her about Leo. She says he has some deficits in his memory and she worries he’ll be kicked out of the program. Ali asks Catherine if his memory will come back and she says there are no guarantees but he would be dead without the surgery. She promises to check in with him after he sees Bickman.
Leo is annoyed because Ian left him waiting for an hour. He asks him to sign whatever he needs to so he can get back in the program. Ian quizzes him about side effects from his surgery. Leo asks what he’s writing down and Ian says it’s none of his business then says he’s writing down that he’s argumentative. He asks Leo what hyperphagia is and he can’t recall it.
Ian says he needs a baseline memory test. He rattles off 10 words for him to listen to and repeat back. Leo listens and can recall just one correctly. Ian says normal response is five words. He tells him he can’t come back now and if his memory stays imparied, the neuro track is off the trable for him. Catherine sees Leo come out and asks to talk to him but he stalks off.
She asks Ian what he said and he says he told him the truth. She calls him a bastard and reminds him he was the one that advocated radical surgery. She says it’s his fault that he’s having these side effects and he’s tearing him down. She tells him if he fices his head and breaks his heart, he’s a lousy man and a lousy doctor. She stomps off.
Beatrice talks to a great dane in a tuxedo and tells him she likes his outfit. He barks in thanks. The nurse comes in and asks if she wants the TV on but Beatrice says no. She’s in a den with a fireplace and the friendly pup. Catherine tells Ali that there’s a chance that Beatrice may have MS or an aloma. She says she’ll do an LP.
The nurse tells Catherine there’s a guy there to see her who looks like a busted rock star. She goes out and peeks around the corner but then hops back on the elevator before he sees her. Moran goes to talk to Mahmoud, the shrink. He tells her he doesn’t have PTSD but she asks him just to talk about what happened that day. He gets weird and she says if he doesn’t have PTSD there shouldn’t be an issue. He says his buddies are screaming because they are burning alive in a tank.
He says he was supposed to be in Jack’s spot on the lead tank but he was late because he was hung over so Jack was in the turret. When the fireball his the tank, he ran to save himself. He says he was guilt ridden. He asks if she was hoping to hear something like that. He says that’s not what happened. He says Jack was hung over, he was fine and says it was just random bad luck and he nearly died trying to save him.
He says he saved five guys and lost his arm. He says he’s proud of what he did and got a medal. He says he has no regret or repressed memories. He thanks her and says he needs to focus on something that will work. He leaves and goes to talk to Catherine. He rants about Mahmoud and she says she has a next stage and needs one day to prepare. She asks him to come back the next day.
Catherine heads in to her brother’s work site. She hugs him and says she’s sorry. She tells him she’ll also call Esme and apologize. She says she needs him to make her something for a patient. He goes to work on it and she says their dad came to the hospital but she didn’t talk to him. She asks how this started and he says Hunter sent a beautiful letter and was mostly interested in Esme.
She akss if he has told her what he did that day and he asks which truth – hers or his. We see Hunter kiss Catherine and then talk to his sister. He wanted to take the kids with him but Cissy argued with him and says their mom would not have wanted them on the road. Cissy argues hard to keep them and then tells him to go now and quickly to make a clean break and says she’ll deal with them. He goes.
Catherine says memory is a funny thing and says he constructed that memory to make Hunter seem better. He says Cissy was a good mom and she says she wasn’t their mom. Joshua tells her that she should understand giving your children to someone you can trust to take care of them – like she did with Esme. She says that was different because she was just 16. He asks her to reconsider dinner and she says she will think about it.
Will and Catherine talk about her situation with her dad. Harry, the bartender, talks to them and Will says Harry knew his dad. Harry says his dad was a good man but Will says his dad slapped him around. Harry says every year his dad snuck every year and gave them a Thanksgiving turkey.
Catherine goes to see her shrink Dr Hartramph. She tells Catherine that she had a patient in London that was depressed and consumed with shame. When she was 12, her stepdad had molested her and it took her four years to tell her mother and then he was sent to jail and left them destitute. She says she made her patient talk about the molestation and how she felt and they delved into is endlessly. She says one day she missed her appointment because she had slit her wrists and almost died.
Hartramph says that sometimes it’s better to leave the past behind and live life forward. Catherine asks what if her memories are false and she’s being too hard on her dad. Her doc says the pain she felt when he left was real so seeing him may be hard. She says Josh wants her to forgive him but the little girl she was is still angry because she loved him so much. The doc asks her what she should do with that anger. Catherine leaves and we see the scars on her wrist – she was talking about herself, not her patient.
Catherine talks to Moran and says he needs to retrain his mind. She sets the box her brother made on the table and tells him to put his right and left arm inside. He does and she has him look in the mirror in the middle and tells him to flex his fist. It looks like he has two hands making fists. He says the pain is gone and asks why. She says he’s tricking his brain into thinking he still has a good arm. He pulls his arms out and he hurts again. She says it will take time and every day the pain will grow less.
Catherine comes in to see Beatrice. She says she can go home because all her tests are fine. She says she doesn’t have MS but that she does have Charles Bonnet Syndrome where the mind remembers what it once saw so it creates hallucinations to fill the void. Beatrice says it’s not something they have to fix and Catherine says it’s a gift. Beatrice is thrilled. We see she’s looking at mermaids and fish in a tank in place of the windows.
Ian has a VR display and Catherine tells Moran that he thinks her box is a relic. He asks Moran to put on the VR glasses and says he had a friend hack a game to construct this. The video game works like the box by tricking the brain. The screen shows two working hands and Moran says this is way better.
Ali works with Leo and he’s up to five words out of ten. Catherine sees and asks Ian if he arranged this and she says she’s proud of herself for shaming him into it. That’s two good deeds Ian has done to please her.
Esme texts Catherine and tells her she’s okay with whatever she decides about tonight. Catherine looks at some photos on her phone and thinks. We see Esme getting dresed for the dinner. Catherine is at home in her robe. She drinks a glass of wine and looks out the window. Esme, Josh and Regan come to the restaurant. Esme looks around hoping for Catherine but then Josh leads her in. Catherine walks up a little while later and peeks in the window. She thinks about her dad dancing with her when she was little.
She turns and walks off and hails a cab. Hunter plays and sings while his granddaughter and son watch. He sees Catherine in the crowd and smiles, startled. Catherine watches for a moment then walks away into the applauding crowd. She heads back outside and onto the street.
THE END!
