Epidemic | |
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Season 1, Episode 2 | |
Takes Place | 1868 |
Air date | 2 Jan 1993 |
Written by | Beth Sullivan |
Directed by | Chuck Bowman |
Episode guide | |
Previous Pilot |
Next The Visitor |
Epidemic is the second episode of Season 1 of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Olive Davis and her cowhands return from a cattle drive in Old Mexico bringing the grippe (influenza) with them. The resulting epidemic stops the stage coach from bringing food, supplies, & medicine. Dr. Mike does her best to treat the epidemic & runs out of quinine when she herself gets sick. The Cheyenne medicine man Cloud Dancing is left as the only person in town that can help Dr. Mike.
Important Information[]
- Character Arc: Olive Davis, part 1 of 11. First appearance of Olive Davis (former Bray). Olive heard about Charlotte's death when she was halfway across Old Mexico. Miss Olive, as the kids call her, is a rancher and Loren Bray’s sister. She becomes the first town schoolteacher after the school is built later in The Operation. Dr. Mike and Olive share some hostility over the children as the result of Olive believing they should have been given to her when Charlotte died. Miss Olive gives Brian a blue wolf statue, Colleen a locket, and Matthew with a golden revolver. The golden revolver isn't seen again after Epidemic. Dr. Mike later chooses Olive as the caretaker of the children if she dies from influenza. Olive tells her she doesn't need to worry, and that she'll get well.
- First appearance of Grace. Robert E. falls in love with Grace the first time he sees her. Grace is one of Miss Olive’s cattle hands who returns from the cattle drive.
- First appearance of General Custer. He appears at the makeshift clinic looking for Indians, but departs when Olive tells him there is an epidemic of the grippe (influenza). General Custer is played by Taylor Nichols.
- First appearance of Ingrid played by Ashley Jones. Matthew and Ingrid would later introduce themselves and talk to each other in The Prisoner, and he would invite her to dinner with his family in Law of the Land.
- Story Arc: Epidemics. First epidemic on the show. An influenza epidemic breaks out in Colorado Springs due to a cowhand of Olive's from becoming sick in El Paso. The stagecoach ceases operation to Colorado Springs during the epidemic, Loren rations the food in his store for two hours a day in the mornings, and Dr. Mike runs out of quinine to treat the patients with. Dr. Mike uses the boarding house building as a makeshift clinic as she doesn't currently own the building. Colleen decides, after watching Dr. Mike care for the sick, that she wants to be a doctor herself. Horace and Myra first meet during this epidemic. Dr. Mike eventually falls ill to the influenza which prompts Sully to take her to Cloud Dancing the Cheyenne medicine man to help heal her. Dr. Mike has her first experience with Cheyenne medicine. Sully also brings back purple coneflowers to help the sick recover from the influenza as Dr. Mike ran out of quinine. Brian is worried about Dr. Mike because his real ma, Charlotte, died in the same room Michaela is resting in. Sully tells Brian not to think Dr. Mike will die. The next epidemic that is mentioned, but not seen, is an influenza epidemic in Soda Springs in Sully's Choice.
Patients[]
- Horace Bing
- Brian Cooper
- Emily Donavan and her baby
- Sam Donavan (husband of Emily) †
- Jake Slicker
- Ingrid's dad †
- Olive's cowhand †
- Other townspeople †
- Dr. Mike - is treated by Cloud Dancing and looked after at the clinic by Olive
† Dies as a result
Dr. Mike's Aides[]
Cast[]
Starring:
- Jane Seymour as Dr. Michaela Quinn
- Joe Lando as Byron Sully
- Chad Allen as Matthew Cooper
- Erika Flores as Colleen Cooper
- Shawn Toovey as Brian Cooper
Guest Starring:
- Gail Strickland as Olive Davis
- Jonelle Allen as Grace
- Jim Knobeloch as Jake Slicker
- Geoffrey Lower as Rev. Timothy Johnson
- Henry G. Sanders as Robert E.
- Orson Bean as Loren Bray
Co-Starring:
- Frank Collison as Horace
- Heidi Kozak as Emily
- Larry Sellers as Cloud Dancing
- William Shockley as Hank
- Helene Udy as Myra
- Taylor Nichols as General Custer
- Ashley Jones as Ingrid