ER Discussion Thread

[Vee]

Luka and Abby are pretty transparent attempts to replace Doug and Carol on the canvas - their trials and tribulations, romantic and otherwise. It gets worse later on. I liked both initially but stopped watching when they began all-consuming along with Carter. ER then promptly repeated this with Linda Cardellini's character when Maura Tierney left. They all just felt like new iterations of Carol to me as opposed to trying something new.

 

I'll be curious to see how Chris reacts to Carol's exit. The events that play out there were a big deal at the time BTS, a big surprise watching live, and this article lays it out. Don't read that or click this part til you see the episode:

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Meanwhile: Gloria Reuben stays busy.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Vee

[Chris B]

I was happy to see. Clooney back to give Carol (and Doug) the send off they deserved. I was fine with her leaving to meet him off screen but it was a nice touch to actually see him as well. I think Carol really suffered in that final season without him. The timing of their relationship being fine and her having the babies left her so down for most of the season. 
 

Season 7 is a strong season so far. I like that Carol was written out before the season finale so they could devote that to the new ensemble. They finally allowed Luca to be human by having him let that gunman die which is giving you some insight into his past. As season 7 developed he’s more interesting now that he’s developing relationships with the cast and is written less as a mythical savior. 
 

The Abby character is one my opinion changed on in record time. I liked the vibe she was bringing and then they threw everything out the window by making her quit medical school to become a nurse again. I could deal with that, but then they pile on a bi polar mother played by Sally Field AND a brooding romance with Luca. It is too much. When I see her I just feel drained. The story with her mother is giving me flashbacks to Susan with her sister. The difference is that Susan could at least distract you by being a competent doctor and resilient woman, but Abby seems like a dark cloud follows her. I hope they pull back and balance this out for her. 
 

I love that they’re allowing Weaver to be more playful and showing us more about her personal life. Until Dave spend an episode asking everybody about it, I hadn’t realized we didn’t know why Weaver has a limp. I was disappointed that he was too afraid to ask when she confronted him so we still don’t know what’s going on there. I also loved the episode where the little kid was afraid of her because of her cane. Now she seems to be toying with a lesbian relationship which I wasn’t expecting, but I’m okay with. 
 

Eric La Salle remains a standout. Dr. Cleo works as a love interest for him, but still isn’t much of a character on her own. Same with Dr. Dave who is more annoying every time I see him. The episode where he joked around while they worked on the black man who got shot was disgusting. Then later on when Benton’s nephew got shot and he thought it was “just another gangbanger” broke my heart for Benton. I will say, I’m glad the play these stereotypes and use main characters or do it. Especially characters who aren’t necessarily villains. These biases exist and they show them in a real way. 
 

Dr. Greene finally has his brain tumor. This is something I do remember from the press as a very long and very depressing exit. So far I’m enjoying it. The one curious thing is that I don’t really understand how he fell in love with Dr. Corday. I watched it, but I don’t understand it. Somehow now that they’re together and she’s engaged it works, but they’re such an odd couple. I also find it odd they keep playing the chemistry with Peter which only makes Cleo and Mark look inferior. 

The only characters I don’t think I’ve hit are Carter and Chen. For Carter I’ll say that Lucy didn’t die in vain because I did enjoy his drug addiction and him slowly rebuilding trust at work. Chen’s sudden pregnancy I feel was rushed. We didn’t get enough time to even see that she was pregnant. Then you have Morris Chestnut as the baby daddy and barely feature him?! Giving up the baby was a bold choice, but I feel this could’ve been a season long arc, not something wrapped up in 5-6 episodes. I hope this doesn’t mean Ming Na will be sidelined because when they give her something to do she kills it. 

[Vee]

 

I never understood or accepted the Corday/Greene pairing despite loving both characters, and never will. 

 

I think Ming-Na hangs in for awhile but I felt they never, ever used her to her full potential. They should've paired her with Carter IMO but as you'll see, the all-encompassing Carter love dynasty is a different quadrant of characters. I think Susan and Carter may have been involved when she returned, but I don't think they ever committed to it. I don't remember, bc around then I stopped watching.

[dragonflies]

If I remember correctly Carter and Susan had a huge flirtation when she returned but nothing really came of it. I thought they'd be great together

[Chris B]

If only Susan had returned a year earlier they could’ve married them off which probably would’ve played better than pairing him with Corday. 

[Vee]

 

God, amen.

[Chris B]

I loved the way they handled Mark’s death overall. I was worried because I’d heard it was drug out for too long, but even though it spanned two seasons, he was in remission for a lot of that time so it didn’t take over the show in a negative way. It had a nice balance of emotions and I liked seeing Mark reconnect with Susan and Rachel and reflect on his life. His final episode was a tearjerker. It amazes me that to my knowledge none of these ER actors won Emmys. So many of them have done Emmy worthy work. 
 

Another thing I loved in season 8 was then continuing to humanize Weaver and give her a personal life. To date she still hasn’t revealed that she’d a lesbian to anybody and still won’t allow anybody to be her friend. Im excited to see what happens when people know she’s a lesbian. 
 

Now onto the shocker…I knew there was something with a helicopter, but I wasn’t expecting this at all! First of all, this monkey pox outbreak was dramatic enough so there is no way I was expecting Romano to get his freaking arm chopped off! I’d say that is the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen on tv. One thing ER does better than anybody is place the shocking moments at the times you’d least expect which keeps you on your toes. They never write people out in season finales either which I like. It feels more natural when people come and go and for some reason it’s easier to accept. 

[Chris B]

Typically when a show reaches it's 10th season because of the milestone it tends to be a special season. Here it's special for how bad it is. This is the first season that I can say is 100% terrible and doesn't feel like ER. 

 

Things that don't work for me:

 

- The cast has no chemistry with each other. It's a weird mish mash of characters and they're good characters, but something is missing. I've never fully warned to Luca and Carter is no lead. Having these two as your leads is not only boring, but this storyline in Africa is painfully dull. Entire episodes set with two weak characters in Africa?! It's rare a show can split the action like that and have it work. Of the new characters, Nurse Sam and med student Neela are great and both played by good actors, but they don't have anything interesting in terms of story. Dr. Morris is bizarre because he's a terrible doctor, but he only pops up to avoid helping patients or screw up and you get no insight into who he is and why he's acting like this. Is he scared? Is he an [!@#$%^&*]? He's just there.

 

- The biggest issue I have is that there is so much talent wasted. The leads are Pratt, Luca, Carter, Abby and Sam and everybody else is left fending for whatever scraps are left over. Whenever Dr. Chen has a potential storyline it's wrapped up in one or two episodes as a B story. Despite Pratt being a lead, their relationship was only featured in a way to expand on his characterization and she never had a point of view. Then you have Weaver who is married I guess, but we've hardly seen her wife so it's odd whenever they appear or when her wife gave birth after we barely saw her (if at all) pregnant. Weaver's miscarriage was similarly shoved into the background. Now that she is chief of staff you never see her. Corday could be a guest star as far as she is on the backburner. When she does appear it's brief and I'm sure if I look into it she's missed several episodes. In general people disappear a lot this season. Carter went MIA for a few episodes, Dr. Chen, Corday, Lewis. Speaking of Dr. Lewis, as one of two original characters left, it's shameful that the best she can muster is a C story. It's bizarre that they have so many interesting characters that just sit on the background.

 

Looking at the comings and goings, the one that I feel has hurt the show more than anything is Dr. Benton's exit. Eric La Salle had such a presence that could help tie the canvas together in a way Noah Wyle can't do. I also can't go without mentioning how ridiculous it was to have Dr. Romano crushed to death by a helicopter. That was a Jump the Shark moment if I've ever seen one. The last spoiler I knew was about his arm getting cut off and I'm not sure I would've believed it had I read that he was later crushed by a helicopter. How did that make it out of the writers room?! They've had brittle characters before, but he was kept one note until the end. They never explored who he was, a romance for him, a real friendship. It was a total waste of a good actor and a character that could've provided good conflict had he been more nuanced.

 

What's keeping me going is that I do enjoy Dr. Pratt and I've enjoyed getting to know Neela. I enjoy Gallant when we get to see him and Jerry has had some fun moments. That is pretty much it. Even the introduction of one of my favorite actresses (Thandie Newton) can't save this season for me. I'm hoping things get better next year.

[Vee]

I thought Romano had some nuance and layers in Season 6, around when Lucy died. I think they often lazily reverted to type with many characters later, him included. The helicopter shenanigans and other stunts before and after always smacked of them constantly trying to top the big Lucy scenes - shock and more shock for sweeps. I was long gone by then. This and the unrelenting misery of certain storylines for certain folks (like Mark) is a big part of what drove me away; that and the blatant attempts to just clone Carol and Doug repeatedly with Abby, Luka, Sam, etc.

[dragonflies]

Yeah I warmed up to Romano a bit when he fought hard to save Lucy and genuinely seemed torn up that she died. I think he respected that she stood up to him even though he'd deny it. He's a good doctor but it was personal with Lucy and that showed

 

I always thought Romano and Corday could have worked, they had great chemistry. Could have been a love/hate thing lol

[Chris B]

Yes Romano had nice moments but they didn’t really go anywhere. He had so much potential, especially with Corday like y’all mentioned. Especially since she doesn’t seem to have anything going on.  

[Soaplovers]

If you love ER...you'll love St Elsewhere...finally on Hulu.