Pulse episode 1 recap: chasing the storms

There’s a storm brewing at Maguire, Miami’s busiest Level 1 trauma center, and that doesn’t even include the hurricane bearing down on the city. Here’s your Pulse episode 1 recap.

An accident on a rainy bridge sends a school bus full of soccer players careening over the side and into the waters below.

As the camera pans toward the hospital, a news report tells us a powerful storm, Hurricane Abby, is expected to cause a lot of damage. Dr. Tom Cole (Jack Bannon) walks into the hospital and is met by Dr. Sam Elijah (Jessie T. Usher) and nurse Luis (Arturo del Puerto), who are all talking about Dr. Xander Phillips (Colin Woodell).

Dr. Harper Simms (Jessy Yakes) wakes up her sister, Dr. Danielle “Danny” Simms, who is sleeping in one of the staff rooms and is close to being late for her shift. When Danny asks if people “know,” Harper replies word is out but no one knows the details.

Xander had sexual harassment filed against him the day before. Luis says Xander was in bad shape; he’s never seen the Chief Resident like that before. Tom is in disbelief, as Xander's the best chief they’ve had and everyone loves him. When Tom asks if Danny knows, Elijah gives him a look. She more than knows.

Danny asks if people know who filed the complaint. Harper starts braiding her sister’s hair and gives Danny advice on how to face the day and the fallout.

Next in line

Tom points out if Xander is fired, Elijah is next in line for Chief Resident. As they walk into the heart of the ER, Tom asks Dr. Sophie Chan (Chelsea Muirhead) what she thinks about the harassment allegations? She's too tired to speak for all women at the moment. Tom focuses on the newest member of the team, third-year med student Camila Perez (Daniela Nieves), but Harper interrupts and says Tom will never remember her name because they’ve worked together for two years and he still doesn’t know who she is. They’re interrupted when Luis says victims from the bus crash are on the way in.

All eyes are on Danny as Elijah checks in on her well-being and Tom wonders what really happened. They’re interrupted when Dr. Natalie Cruz (Justina Machado) comes in and announces that Danny will be taking the Chief Resident spot. Everyone is stunned.

In a flashback, we’re introduced to Xander, who has been transferred to the hospital. He’s charming and funny and immediately captures the staff’s attention, while Danny catches his attention.

Danny tells Dr. Cruz she can’t promote her because of the way it looks. That’s when Danny realizes she wasn’t their first choice for Chief Resident, but they had no choice. As the patients arrive, Elijah halfheartedly congratulates Danny on the new role.

Triage

As Chief Resident, Danny must control the chaos. She thinks back to Xander’s first day when he took over one of her patients after he returned to the ER, but afterwards Xander admits Danny is a good doctor, and from then on they got along fine.

Back in the present, Tom’s young patient lost his hand in the crash. Tom simultaneously flirts with and insults the new paramedic, Nia (Ash Santos) as he tends to his patient, Tyler, who asks about his friend, Vera. Tom puts together that Vera is Natalie’s daughter and tells a nurse to inform Danny.

Upstairs, Dr. Ruben Soriano (Nestor Carbonell) tells Natalia he’s concerned about the hurricane, but she insists the hospital was built to withstand the storm. More importantly, though, he’s concerned about changing leadership in the middle of it. While he fully supports the HR investigation, he doesn’t think removing Xander from his post makes sense right now. Natalia believes Danny is capable, and she’s trying to navigate a legal minefield with the accusations Danny leveled against Xander.

Harper checks in with Elijah while they work on their patients from the bus crash. She knows it must be hard for him to accept that Danny got the promotion. He mentions Danny was Xander’s favorite and he wishes he knew what she’d been going through.

Danny treats the bus driver and the team's coach, who can’t go to surgery for another 20 minutes because they’re overwhelmed by patients. Elijah comes in to check on her and it’s clear he’s more concerned about his friend than losing the position. But when the nurse reports Natalie’s daughter could be on the bus, Danny makes the decision not to tell her because it would be distracting to her while she’s in surgery and they don’t even know if it’s true. Elijah doesn’t agree.

Standing out

Sophie watches the news report and Camila, a Miami native, asks if this is her first hurricane. Though Sophie is used to tornados in her hometown, the big storm has her on edge. Sophie takes the opportunity to tell Camila that her wardrobe is too much for their laid back aesthetic but Camila is eager to stand out.

A patient rolls in and Elijah calls Sophie and Camila in to help. Sophie says the patient needs a chest tube and she moves to put it in despite the team’s concerns. Tom walks in and asks what Sophie was thinking as Ruben comes in and says the chest tube, while successful, is too low. Elijah asks Tom why he didn’t stand up for Sophie’s solid work, but Tom says Xander supported Danny and now he’s lost his job.

Harper finds Danny and Luis working on Coach Harris. She tells Danny she needs to oversee the floor and not spend all of her time on a patient. Danny has a flashback of Xander calling out her fear of pregnant women and making her deliver a baby to get over her anxiety. Back in the present, the OR is ready for the coach but he wakes up on the way and says he doesn’t want to leave without knowing how his kids are doing. He refuses treatment until he finds out.

Tom finds Nia and asks about Tyler’s hand. She said they’re still looking for it. When she uses a nickname for him, she says she knows all about him thanks to his surgeon TikTok and Tinder profiles.

Setbacks

Danny goes to see Coach Harris. She tells him he’ll die without surgery and that his team is worried and wants to see him. He doesn’t want them to know he’s refusing treatment. Danny sits down and tells him that Harper is her sister and when they were kids they used to fight a lot. Danny reveals she pushed her sister down the stairs during one of their fights. She pushed her so hard she didn’t hit the stairs, just the ground. Danny understands wanting to suffer more than the people you hurt. Coach Harris asks how she suffers? She admits she makes bad decisions and says the wrong things, but knows you can’t do it if you’re dead. They’re interrupted by Luis, who reveals there’s one more critical patient coming in.

Danny leaves Coach Harris and finds Xander at the nurse’s station. She asks him to ID if a patient is Vero Cruz (Sophia Torres), Natalie's daughter. Sure enough, it is, and she’s the most critical patient of them all.

It’s all hands on deck. Danny sends Camila to the OR to let Natalia know Vero is there. Tom is notified that they’ve found Tyler’s hand so he leaves to tend to him, leaving Danny and Xander to work together. He watches over Danny as she drains fluid away from Vero’s heart.

Upstairs, Camila asks Elijah where she can find Natalia, so he takes over and goes to tell her himself. Natalie is in the middle of surgery but she’s furious that no one told her Vero was there. Elijah reveals Danny knew but didn’t tell her.

Vero’s condition worsens, so Danny decides to perform a risky procedure in the ER. Xander cautions her against it but she keeps going, only to have the power go out in the middle. Xander tells Danny he has faith in her as she continues. Elijah returns and says the backup generators are down because of flooding. Natalie arrives and tells Danny to stop, but the power comes on and everything looks good enough to move Vero to surgery. Natalie demands answers about why no one told her Vero was there. Danny says there was no proof it was Vero. Natalie says Elijah knew it was her. She storms out to follow her daughter to surgery. Elijah tries to talk to Danny, but Danny keeps walking.

Danny heads to Coach Harris’ bedside. He says she looks terrible. She offers to sit with him so he’s not alone when he dies.

Tom tells Tyler that they found his hand, and he gives credit to Nia, whom he says has a crush on him. Tyler is grateful.

Outside, the players gather and tell Coach Harris he needs to get surgery. Danny gives him a final push and he agrees. The players cheer as their coach is taken to surgery. Danny returns to his now-empty room and thinks back to Xander telling her she did a great job delivering the baby. He wants to know why she always doubts herself? He guesses she self-sabotages because she’s afraid of her own potential. When he moves in to kiss her, she pulls away from him.

In the present, Xander comes into the room and says he tried calling her. He says she dropped a nuke on their lives when they could have talked. Danny says she was dumb enough to believe all the things he said to her. He says he heard her talking to the coach and saying she pushed Harper down the stairs, but he knows it was really her father. Danny also knows why he left his previous hospital, but they’re interrupted when Natalie comes in and says the hurricane is going to be a direct hit and they need everyone on deck, including Xander.

In the past, Danny arrives home and strips down to her underwear. She walks into the bathroom to find Xander already in the shower. “Hi,” he says. He knows she’s upset that he “slipped” about talking about their relationship in public. She walks into the shower with him and kisses him.

All episodes of Pulse are streaming now on Netflix.