Er 10/10/02 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

I loved it when Carter chewed out Weaver in the ER.

Carter's walk-out was pretty funny in bits, especially in how he had no idea what he was doing.

I wonder who'll get the axe among the 3 nurses (will it be any of the regular nurses? How about Yvette Freeman, the one that lost over 110 pounds over the summer)?

Glad to see Abby trying to stay on the wagon at the nightclub. Deb's living it up after being shook up as the hostage for the guy in search of pain killers.

 

[Michael*K]

I'm glad to see Romano back in the ER, even if his arm's in a sling: "Never trust a lesbian to do a man's job."

 

[Chuck C]

I loved when romano said "as you can see, i'm short handed"
then Carter laughed and Romano said it was no joke!

Ya, I was worried about the Abby/alcohol thing...that's why she looked at Carter when Chen and Dr. Lewis asked her to the club. I was getting a little bored with the lady with the opera singer until they started playing a piece and she turned off the machine. I liked Abby's bro (Shades from That Thing You Do).

Q) Now, who is Pratt's roommate? I know he's a dude that they took in when he was 9, but is he a slow (mentally)? Did they come out and say that he has mental difficulty? Is that part of the reason Pratt became a doctor?

Speaking of Pratt, I always love watching how he and Chen get along.

Best line: "he hasn't fingered it out yet"

Also: "the last time I worked in the ER I had a ponytail and a lava lamp"

 

[Patrick Sun]

Yeah, even though the situations should have been really tense, it seemed the writer wanted to keep the dialog more light, lively and funny/ironic.

Amazing how Romano can have all of 3 lines and get the biggest chuckles out of the episodes.

Could Weaver have less compassion for her employees?

 

[Marty M]

I can't imagine they will fire any of the regulars on the show, but Weaver did say that Carter had to fire 3 veteran nurses.

 

[DaveBB]

So did they put Romano's arm back on?

 

[Michael*K]

Yeah, his arm was re-attached, but it is useless for now.

When the psycho (don't know his real name, but he's the guy from Oz) was waving the gun around, I had my fingers crossed that he'd move it away from Chen and put a bullet in Pratt. I find his character particularly grating and abrasive and I'd like to see him exit like Malucci did last season.

 

[rutger_s]

I missed a couple of episodes...

How did Romano lose his arm?

 

[Brian Ralph]

I'd like to see him exit like Malucci did last season.

Actually, after Romano, Dr. Dave was my favorite character. Obnoxious and irresponsible? You betcha!!

 

[Julian Reville]

Carter's family has millions. Why didn't he just get the family trust to make a tax-deductible donation to cover the security devices? Now 3 innocent people are out of a job, so he can be a "hero". Nice guy.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Romano lost his arm in the season premiere.

Romano was on top of the hospital waiting for helicopter patient transport and he was trying to manuever his patient over Kovach's patient (who was in line first), and as Romano got near the helicopter, his clipboard blew away and Romano reached out to grab the clipboard and the tail rotor of the helicopter sliced off Romano's left arm in the middle of the bicep/tricep upper arm region. It was pretty gruesome and they showed it get sliced off in slow motion too.

 

[Jeff Savage]

Yeah I liked the episode last night also. I wonder how many of the ER staff will still be cheering Carter when they find out it will cost them 3 nurses. Oh well I am sure we will get to find out.

I have a question for those of you who can view ER in HD, does the picture seem a bit "soft" to you? It does not look anywhere near the quality of some of the CBS/ABC HD offerings. Is this normal?

Laters,
Jeff

 

[Lew Crippen]

Weaver did say that Carter had to fire 3 veteran nurses.

True, and yet another indication of how far she is in over her head. Real managers would never delegate that problem—they know it comes with the territory. Of course Carter also screwed up by letting Carrie drop the problem in his lap.

On the other hand, the real weakness here is likely in the writing.

 

[Dave Morton]

I bet we'll never know who gets fired. This seems inconsequential. They would probably get rid of 3 "unknown" nurses.

Romano is still the best!

 

[Steven L]

Real managers would never delegate that problem—they know it comes with the territory.

I agree with how Weaver handled it. As a manager myself, if a supervisor/manager who reported to me did this, then I believe that they need to face the consequences of their actions and deal with the fallout. I would never make it easy on a supervisor by cleaning up their mess for them. A regular front-line employee, yes; but not a leader - which, as chief resident, Carter is. I actually thought it was a good thing for Weaver to do – and believe me, I don’t particularly like her character or generally agree with the way she manages and treats her staff.

I think this storyline was written to give Carter some backbone and develop his leadership in the ER.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Plus it also showed his dedication when Carter stayed to "clear the board" once the deal was struck between him and Weaver. And to think, they used to live together as roommates...

 

[Lew Crippen]

A regular front-line employee, yes; but not a leader - which, as chief resident, Carter is.

Reasonable if you view Carter as a leader. And as Chief Resident that could be reasonable view.

But, to me the interaction with Carrie, is that she is the one who makes all the decisions, takes no input and brooks no arguments. Therefore, regardless of whether Carter is a leader or not, he has no effective power in making non-operational decisions. And as Carrie does not let him make decisions or appear to value his opinions, she should not dump on him.

Of course I don’t know how you manage your managers, but I’ll bet you give them more autonomy than Carrie does Carter.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

One of my favorite parts was in the very beginning when Carter and Susan were talking about those guys who put those bumper stickers on your car and how to get them off while the guy was going psycho.

 

[Chuck C]

you'd never know...that's how wicked she is.

 

[Mark C.]

This episode was certainly written to establish Carter as the leader and the focal point of ER. I just don't know if it worked. In fact, the more new episodes I watch, the more convinced I become that this show should have left the building last year at the latest.