The WORST episodes of Code Black

Every episode of Code Black ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Code Black!

In the new medical drama Code Black, Angels Memorial Hospital is the busiest ER in the nation. A "code black" occurs when there are more patients than resources, and you’re either praying for a miracle or performing one.

Last Updated: 10/2/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
Pilot
star
7.69
1090 votes

#1 - Pilot

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/30/2015

Dr. Leanne Rorish puts her new first-year residents right to work at Angels Memorial Hospital, Home to the nation's busiest ER.

Directors: David Semel
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
We Plug Holes
star
7.69
902 votes

#2 - We Plug Holes

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/7/2015

Christa saves a woman's life and then pleads with Neal to perform a surgery that will save the patient's reproductive future.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
star
7.71
580 votes

#3 - Change of Heart

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/27/2018

Elliot fears the worst after hearing the emotional testimony by Detective Gomez’s wife at his malpractice trial, but hopes footage Diego shot for his documentary will change her mind. Also, Rox attempts to connect with Willis but he pushes her away, and Leanne attempts to comfort Ariel in the wake of a devastating loss.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
star
7.73
573 votes

#4 - Home Stays Home

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/13/2018

Mario joins Rox and Willis on the scene of a boat crash and, in Center Stage, Leanne works to save a brother and sister who drank boiling water through a straw as part of a challenge. Also, Max’s father tells Leanne to keep Ariel away from his son after he finds them kissing.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
star
7.73
561 votes

#5 - Only Human

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/20/2018

Max is brought to Angels Memorial with breathing difficulty and Ariel tells him she loves him. Also, Rox accompanies Willis and Martin to the funeral of an army buddy of Willis’ brother, and Willis decides to get to the bottom of what happened to his brother’s unit.

Watch Now:Amazon
star
7.75
600 votes

#6 - Step Up

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/6/2018

Rox decides to make amends with her former step coach when she arrives to Angels Memorial with the local high school step team after a pyramid stunt goes wrong. Also, Noa pleads with Leanne and Campbell to try any other method before performing an emergency hysterectomy on a young teenage girl experiencing complications after giving birth.

Directors: Edward Ornelas
Writer: Jessica Ball
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Pre-Existing Conditions
star
7.77
776 votes

#7 - Pre-Existing Conditions

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/14/2015

The doctors work 36 consecutive hours in code black and must deal with a distraught mother of two sons who were in a devastating car accident. Mario bullies Angus into performing an unnecessary operation and lets Angus take the blame when Leanne finds out.

Directors: Lee Rose
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Hail Mary
star
7.78
694 votes

#8 - Hail Mary

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/10/2016

Christa becomes insecure in her new relationship with Neal when his ex-girlfriend, Dr. Grace Adams, returns to Angels Memorial after spending a year volunteering in Haiti. Also, New York Giants Pro Bowl wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. comes to the ER to convince his stubborn high school football coach, Pete Delaney, to have life-saving surgery.

Directors: Alex Zakrzewski
Writer: Molly Newman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
First Date
star
7.80
729 votes

#9 - First Date

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/20/2016

Angus' older brother, an "all-star" ER doctor, tries to secure a position at Angels Memorial. Meanwhile, Christa's romantic feelings towards Neal begin to grow; and Malaya deals with a patient who is obsessed with her.

Writer: Kristen Kim
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Sometimes It's a Zebra
star
7.81
800 votes

#10 - Sometimes It's a Zebra

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/21/2015

A new surgical attending Cole Guthrie joins Angels Memorial with the help of his estranged father and clashes with Leanne over their contrasting approaches to medicine. Christa has a crisis of confidence in the middle of a procedure on her first infant since the loss of her son.

Directors: Adam Kane
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Buen Arbol
star
7.81
704 votes

#11 - Buen Arbol

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/11/2015

Angus utilizes his background in psychology when a woman cannot remember how she injured herself and others; Christa bonds with the mother of a patient with cystic fibrosis.

Directors: Nick Gomez
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
1.0 Bodies
star
7.82
909 votes

#12 - 1.0 Bodies

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/23/2016

The doctors treat cult members who unwillingly survived a mass suicide attempt, and Mario decides to connect with his late father’s girlfriend.

Directors: P.J. Pesce
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
star
7.82
625 votes

#13 - Better Angels

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/2/2018

Angus and Mario treat a patient who is a self-proclaimed psychic and envisions the staff singing and dancing, seeing beauty amid the chaos at Angels Memorial. Also, Willis and Rox put their lives in danger to rescue a congressman and his staffer from a multi-car accident.

Directors: P.J. Pesce
Watch Now:Amazon
star
7.82
668 votes

#14 - Third Year

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/25/2018

A drug bust-turned-shootout tests the bravery of the doctors of Angels Memorial as they race to save a girl caught in the crossfire. Also, Willis shifts his focus to field medicine, choosing to work primarily on an ambulance with his new partner, paramedic Rox. And Leanne begins her journey to adopt Ariel.

Directors: Rob Bowman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
You Are the Heart
star
7.83
697 votes

#15 - You Are the Heart

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/18/2015

Christa must handle all emergencies at Angels Memorial that happen outside the emergency room; Malaya arranges a bone marrow drive for Carla; Leanne turns down a date.

Directors: Alex Zakrzewski
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
star
7.84
609 votes

#16 - Hell's Heart

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/30/2018

Willis and Rox are called to the scene of a wildfire in the mountains of Los Angeles to tend to the injured firefighters and choose to stay to look for a missing young boy who was separated from his father in the chaos.

Directors: Larry Shaw
Watch Now:Amazon
The Fog of War
star
7.84
702 votes

#17 - The Fog of War

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/13/2016

A love triangle begins to develop between Mario, Angus and Heather, while the doctors treat patients from a chaotic multi-vehicle accident. When Malaya learns Carla is at the hospital, she goes against Carla's wishes and stays by her side during the delivery of her baby.

Directors: Rob Bailey
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
star
7.85
589 votes

#18 - Cabin Pressure

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/30/2018

Over the radio, Leanne and Jesse talk a young girl through how to use the supplies on board a small plane to build a makeshift defibrillator when her mom, the pilot, loses consciousness. Also, Rox and Willis are taken hostage at gunpoint while on their way to meet the plane at the landing site. Julitta Scheel, Marcia Gay Harden’s daughter, stars as Ruby Harris, the young girl on the plane.

Directors: Randy Zisk
Writer: Mike Weiss
Watch Now:Amazon
Vertigo
star
7.86
889 votes

#19 - Vertigo

Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/25/2017

After pulling a double shift, Mario risks his own life when he follows Willis to a construction site where two brothers are trapped on a crane 300 feet above the ground. Also, Leanne treats the wife of an orthopedist from Angels Memorial who is brought into the ER with mysterious injuries.

Directors: Carol Banker
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
In Extremis
star
7.86
776 votes

#20 - In Extremis

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/4/2015

Leanne struggles with whether to treat a police officer who helped her during an accident or his shooter, who has more serious injuries. Meanwhile, Malaya's pregnant ex-girlfriend arrives at the hospital with pain in her arm, and Malaya is shocked by her MRI results.

Directors: Vincent Misiano
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
star
7.86
608 votes

#21 - The Same As Air

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/16/2018

Willis and Rox arrive at a road rage accident resulting in multiple serious injuries. Also, Elliot doubts his ability as a doctor when he’s sued for his role in the death of the SWAT officer involved in the drug bust-turned-shootout, and Leanne discovers Ariel on an ice cream “date” with Max, a young patient at the hospital.

Directors: Diana Valentine
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Love Hurts
star
7.87
745 votes

#22 - Love Hurts

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/17/2016

Christa and Grace deal with a teenager who claims to have been abused at a camp. Angus begins to take ADHD medication to remain focused. Leanne deals with a VIP patient who had embryos implanted in her without her husband's acknowledgement. Christa feels at odds with Grace.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Fifth Stage
star
7.87
742 votes

#23 - The Fifth Stage

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/27/2016

Leanne visits a prison to finally confront the drunk driver who killed her family. Meanwhile, Malaya begins to feel uncomfortable around her patient.

Directors: Oz Scott
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
What Lies Beneath
star
7.89
931 votes

#24 - What Lies Beneath

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/16/2016

Willis and Campbell are sent to a Russian submarine in U.S. waters to treat a sailor badly wounded during an explosion, and violent convicts injured during a prison riot descend upon Angels Memorial.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
star
7.90
616 votes

#25 - La Familia

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 5/9/2018

Jesse is in denial when his brother arrives at Angels Memorial in bad shape after being pinned down in a warehouse collapse and further tests reveal he has advanced congestive heart failure. Also, Willis opens up to Rox about his brother who was killed in Afghanistan.

Directors: Michael Schultz
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV