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ER....Was that the season finale?? 5/13
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Posted by: Tivohud

I have one word to describe that episode....weak!! Not all around, but from a season ending standpoint I thought it left a lot to be desired.

Posted by: TeeSee

Next week is the season finale.

Posted by: dsmoot

quote:
Next week is the season finale.

No, this was the season finale, no show is scheduled for next thursday and tvguide lists this as the 10th season finale.

Overall, I thought that this episode was pretty well done. I like how Abby showed the math teacher that his life was really worth while.

Posted by: JYoung

Who didn't wince when that car plowed into the mother?

Posted by: ced6

Did anyone else notice the mother (the amputee) was from Carnivale? Anyway, I enjoyed it as a season finale. A lot of questions to ponder until next season.

Posted by: kdmorse

Ok - I couldn't tell - who was the guy in the car with the gun? Was he someone we know, or a complete stranger?

I'm confused...

-Ken

Posted by: bobjohnson

I didn't recognize him, but that doesn't mean much.

I agree, as soon as it ended I just thought to myself, "Well that kinda sucked."

Oh well, they're allowed to have a bad ep every now and then, too bad it had to happen right at the end of the season.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

It was a pretty good episode, up until the stupid chase scene at the end, which was cheesy and cheap even by season-end cliffhanger standards.

Posted by: jk5598224

Overall I liked the episode. I am very pleased Abby passed her boards. Now that her character seems to be 'normalizing' I like her more.

Posted by: Gunnyman2k3

I thought the episode was meh.
Abby is the best thing to happen to ER in years though.

Posted by: bdlucas

quote:
Originally posted by jk5598224
Overall I liked the episode. I am very pleased Abby passed her boards. Now that her character seems to be 'normalizing' I like her more.

Plus, if she goes into psychiatry, that has lots of possibility for some interesting story lines.

Posted by: rhuntington3

What Medieval Guy said.

Posted by: firerose818

quote:
Originally posted by Gunnyman2k3
I thought the episode was meh.
Abby is the best thing to happen to ER in years though.

:up:

For the past few seasons, the only reason I have been watching ER is for Abby. It was great to see her pass her boards too.

I like the new character of Samantha - I hope that she ends up sticking around.

-Rose

Posted by: DougF

Did seem kind of lackluster for a season finale, especially since it seems they've tried to make every episode an event episode this year. We are left with several unresolved story lines for the fall, though.

I think this episode shows once again that the cast is too big. It's hard to get invested in characters when they get so little screen time.

Posted by: Gunnyman2k3

I'm hoping to see her more involved in the NICU, the best episode of the season was the NICU rotation.

Posted by: singletb

Nothing like a chase scene on Lower Wacker to end the season. It brought back memories of the Blues Brothers.

Posted by: jlb.x

Wasn't Susan Lewis supposed to have a baby? I guess that wasn't pertinent, since we've already seen 20 cast members have kids in the hospital.

I think the Neela storyline was terrible. 10-second vignettes of her driving to Ann Arbor? Indecision about being a doctor? What's new about this? I think her life might have been more entertaining if she had joined the circus (or whatever it was she said to the Doc).

Chen got punched by her father? I think that storyline has gone far past it's usefullness.

Chrysler 300C. Nice product placement. I wonder if they told Chrysler they were going to show the car in a high-speed chase and shooting. My bet is on the fat kid getting hit by a bullet, a la Pulp Fiction.

Sam and Alex and Luca and What's-his-name. What is there to say about this? I sort of used to care about Luca, but he seems to have a different personality every season.

I'll definitely agree about Abby/Maura Tierney. Without her, this show would be dreadful and probably unwatchable. The quirky, down-but-not-out attitude wins her over for me. I STILL miss NewsRadio with the interaction that she had with Dave Fooley and Phil Hartman. I hope being Dr. Lockhart doesn't change her attitude.

Posted by: whitson77

I have been wondering why a few seasons back they decided to decimate the nice Luca character and make him a total A-hole. It seems like this season and part of last they are trying to redeem him.

I am sad to see Carter totally let himself go. He looks awful this season.

What IS up with Neela?

It just seems like the last 2 or 3 seasons the writers have been all over the place. I think they have the cast to get back on track, but will they do it?

Posted by: Tivohud

Did anyone notice that Carter was carrying a box when he left the hospital? Am I reading too much into that?

Posted by: Squeak

quote:
Originally posted by bdlucas
Plus, if she goes into psychiatry, that has lots of possibility for some interesting story lines.

quote:
Gunnyman2k3
I'm hoping to see her more involved in the NICU, the best episode of the season was the NICU rotation.

She matched in the ER at County, so she won't be doing any pysch or peds work.

Posted by: jlb.x

quote:
Originally posted by Tivohud
Did anyone notice that Carter was carrying a box when he left the hospital?

Yeah, I was confused by that. When I lost my job last year, I had a similar box with all my stuff to take home.

I hope I wasn't the only one to, at first glance, think he was carrying his dead baby in a cardboard box to be burried... :eek:

Posted by: IJustLikeTivo

quote:
Originally posted by Tivohud
Did anyone notice that Carter was carrying a box when he left the hospital? Am I reading too much into that?

I wondered the same thing. BTW, for my money, I think Deb is the one who gets whacked them the idiot has to deal with the guilt for being stupid.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

quote:
Originally posted by whitson77
I have been wondering why a few seasons back they decided to decimate the nice Luca character and make him a total A-hole. It seems like this season and part of last they are trying to redeem him.

??? He was always an a-hole--although at first, he was more charming about it, until his true nature became more obvious. I think they've done a good job of redeeming him.

As for Neela, I suspect they may realize they'll have trouble getting the actor back next year, so they wanted to hedge their bets. Then again, they might just be preparing for a Practice-style salary-cutting purge, since there are a LOT of characters who, after this week, don't have to come back next season!

Posted by: laria

quote:
Originally posted by Tivohud
Did anyone notice that Carter was carrying a box when he left the hospital? Am I reading too much into that?

Probably, he is still going to be on the show next year. I don't know what was up with the box though. :)

Posted by: Jayjoans

What a loser season ender. I could not care less about any of the characters in the car being shot at. The Jinmay chick is about the worst actress in prime time, and Pratt does nothing for me either. If I was supposed to care about them, I guess I missed it.

I would LOVE for them to make a Practice-like house cleaning, I think all of these characters are getting stale. Neela? Who cares about her anyway. I might have liked her until she parked on the freeway for a smoke! Why do all of these doctors smoke?

Yeesh, I'm getting old and cranky, time for a nap.

Posted by: LoadStar

Well, I thought it was pretty good.

As for "who were the people involved in the shootout" - the shooter was a random idiot whom we have not seen before. Deb Chen was in the passenger seat, Pratt was driving, and they were driving one of Pratt's patients home (the guy sitting in the back seat).

To respond to the smoking comment - you'd be surprised how many doctors, paramedics, etc. smoke... especially if they're in a high-stress position like the ER. Yeah, they know it's bad, but with that much stress, it's easy to pick up really bad habits and really hard to get rid of them.

As for Neela - I found it interesting that of the two med students they were focusing on this season, Neela and Abby, the one they were most worried about placing into an internship (Abby) was the one that ended up passing her boards and placing, and the one that they were least worried about (Neela) ended up dropping out. I wonder what they'll do with Neela next season... whether she can find an internship position or whether she'll be just out of luck.

I wondered about Carter's box too... it was a little unusual. I think that was the intent, to add a little mystery about what Carter will be doing next season.

Luca "always an a-hole"? No, not really - he started out good, then he had that storyline with the bishop and him dealing with his religious beliefs, then they had him sleeping around, then he became hotshot "fighter jock" type of a doctor, now he's been redeemed... the writers can't make up their minds what they want to do with the character.

I think if anything, they had too many storylines going in this episode... they had Luca dealing with the amputee, then they had Luca dealing with Sam, then they touched (briefly) on Carter and the loss of his kid, as well as briefly on Kerry and the court case over her kid, then they had Abby with the thing about her results, and the thing with Neela and her intership... yeesh. Most hour shows have an A-plot and a B-plot. ER has a friggin' alphabet.

Posted by: efilippi

Filed under "N" for nurses. Funny. That fat guy is way over the top. No one could be so obnoxious and keep his job.

Lockhart and Corday are the two I like the best, and I would also be sorry to see Neela leave. But the rest of them...

Posted by: hawkamer

Pretty good episode. I could have done without the chase sequence at the end, but, oh well. Good to see Abby happy for once in her life, although knowing ER history, I'm sure that won't last very long!

I like Neela, but it sure looks like she will be: (a) written out; or (b) pull a Carter and disappear for half a season.

Posted by: mwhip

Anyone want a casting spoiler for next season? Actually I kind of like it.

Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
New med student, Joshua Jackson. In talks not confirmed yet.

Posted by: BrettStah

quote:
Originally posted by mwhip
Anyone want a casting spoiler for next season? Actually I kind of like it.

Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
New med student, Joshua Jackson. In talks not confirmed yet.

Never heard of him, so it's not a spoiler for me! :)

Posted by: mwhip

quote:
Originally posted by BrettStah
Never heard of him, so it's not a spoiler for me! :)

Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
He was Pacey on Dawson's Creek

Posted by: Jorgasnarova

quote:
Originally posted by LoadStar
Well, I thought it was pretty good.

To respond to the smoking comment - you'd be surprised how many doctors, paramedics, etc. smoke... especially if they're in a high-stress position like the ER. Yeah, they know it's bad, but with that much stress, it's easy to pick up really bad habits and really hard to get rid of them.

As for Neela - I found it interesting that of the two med students they were focusing on this season, Neela and Abby, the one they were most worried about placing into an internship (Abby) was the one that ended up passing her boards and placing, and the one that they were least worried about (Neela) ended up dropping out. I wonder what they'll do with Neela next season... whether she can find an internship position or whether she'll be just out of luck.

Having a character smoke a cigarette to denote agitation or nervousness is essentially cheap trick #1 in the Actor's Manual....the same thing with hand wringing....a bit theatrical but it does provide a quick visual way to get the message across.

Posted by: FatherTed

quote:
Originally posted by Tivohud
Did anyone notice that Carter was carrying a box when he left the hospital? Am I reading too much into that?

I just finished watching this and I wondered why nobody else brought that up. It appeared that he cleaned out his locker and nobody noticed?

Overall, I thought it was a very weak episode and incredibly weak for a season finale compared to some really good ones of years gone by.

Posted by: FatherTed

quote:
Originally posted by efilippi
Filed under "N" for nurses. Funny. That fat guy is way over the top. No one could be so obnoxious and keep his job.

Wow, you've never worked in a hospital. There are obnoxious jerks by the dozens.

Posted by: bigpuma

quote:
Originally posted by efilippi
Filed under "N" for nurses. Funny. That fat guy is way over the top. No one could be so obnoxious and keep his job.

Clearly you don't understand the power of the local 250 union. I watched an MA (medical assistant) hit another. Guess what the punishment was? 1 day suspension. Oh, and it was paid. True story.

Posted by: LoadStar

quote:
Originally posted by Jorgasnarova
Having a character smoke a cigarette to denote agitation or nervousness is essentially cheap trick #1 in the Actor's Manual....the same thing with hand wringing....a bit theatrical but it does provide a quick visual way to get the message across.

Well, it is useful for that purpose, true, but having the characters on ER smoke is also true to real life - as I said, if you go by major trauma centers, I think you might be surprised how many people who work there are out smoking from time to time. Same goes with other high-stress positions - firefighters, air traffic controllers, etc.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

quote:
Originally posted by LoadStar
Well, it is useful for that purpose, true, but having the characters on ER smoke is also true to real life - as I said, if you go by major trauma centers, I think you might be surprised how many people who work there are out smoking from time to time. Same goes with other high-stress positions - firefighters, air traffic controllers, etc.

Not to mention Europeans...like Neela.

Posted by: jschuur

quote:
Originally posted by Tivohud
Did anyone notice that Carter was carrying a box when he left the hospital? Am I reading too much into that?

The box clearly contained Marcellus Wallace's soul.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

quote:
Originally posted by jschuur
The box clearly contained Marcellus Wallace's soul.

No, I'm pretty sure he got it out of the trunk of a '64 Malibu...

Posted by: newsposter

quote:
Originally posted by efilippi
Filed under "N" for nurses. Funny. That fat guy is way over the top. No one could be so obnoxious and keep his job.

You're wrong, I know several :)

Posted by: faerie

quote:
Originally posted by mwhip
Anyone want a casting spoiler for next season? Actually I kind of like it.

Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
New med student, Joshua Jackson. In talks not confirmed yet.

Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
oohh. yumm! that will DEFINATELY keep me watching. Talk about eye candy!

Posted by: Maui

I thought it was a decent episode. Maybe not season ender material but definitely enjoyable.

I found it interesting that the scene between Abby and Carter had the raing coming down really hard and the next scene showed Luca showing up at Sam's in complete sunshine.

And I like Neela. I would like to see her back next year.

Posted by: Falconeer999

quote:
Originally posted by Tivohud
Did anyone notice that Carter was carrying a box when he left the hospital? Am I reading too much into that?

Noah Wylie (Dr. Carter) is contracted through next season (Season 11). NBC has ER contracted through season 12.

It did look like he had cleaned out his locker though, so we'll see where it goes!

Posted by: Bradc314

quote:
Originally posted by Maui
I thought it was a decent episode. Maybe not season ender material but definitely enjoyable.

I found it interesting that the scene between Abby and Carter had the raing coming down really hard and the next scene showed Luca showing up at Sam's in complete sunshine.

And I like Neela. I would like to see her back next year.

What was weather like down there in "Southern" Illinois? Last week we had days with pouring down rain one minute, sunshine the next, and then back to rain. I guess they were trying to mimick springtime in Chicago. That, or their continuity folks screwed up! :D