Er 3/7/02 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

This episode was really really good, and it sets the table for these 5 (Kovacs, Carter, Abby, Susan, and Gallant) to be the mainstay of the show after this season.

OMG, that opening segment of the show was just so funny.



The whole S&M thing and getting those 5 in trouble when they were too curious for their own good and wound up playing with that S&M mistresses bag of goodies and then getting busted by Weaver was just too funny.

There was just a lot of good character interaction, and development, plus fleshing them out, giving long-time fans of the show a little more insight why these character are who they are. I haven't laught with an episode of ER like this in ages. Susan is really funny (sarcastically), and Abby just killed me with her remarks. I was really surprised that Kovacs and Carter were fencing without face guards.

I really dig Abby (Maura Tierney), she's just the bomb for me, too bad she smokes.

Finally, maybe Carter will wake up and go after Abby, as Susan put the kibosh on their relationship.

 

[Patrick Sun]

BTW, I dub this episode: "The ER/Breakfast Club Episode"

 

[Chuck C]

Definitely a Breakfast Club Style episode.

I don't know whether to start disliking Carter for his arrogance and stereotyping or keep loving him for his reserved confidence. 11 yrs old with his maid!!?!

Luka never ceases to amaze me...the guy is a romantic.

Michael Galant stands out as the alltruistic type.

And boy did Abby and Dr. Lewis hit it off! I'll tell ya what, Abby's a cool girl, and I hope she gets some action, and Dr. Lewis is hot, but she's nosey and gossipy. Still, I love em all!

Man, the S&M theme was hilarious! I loved how the lady didn't feel pain when Carter cracked her fingers back into place.

 

[EricW]

i for one thought the checking-out-the-bag scene was totally out of character... but i guess it was necessary for the plot. as it was happening all i could think was 'why the hell are they doing this?'
did anybody else think it was actually Weaver's piece?!? i mean it would be like the episode where she ate the bagel total irony/hypocrite whatever...
i'm glad they're finishing the whole Carter/Lewis thing, they never really clicked that way.

 

[josh4040]

I tottally agree great breakfast club style episode and a good bit of comedy before the end of dr greene on the show

 

[todd s]

I was just waiting for Carter to say..."A guy walks into a bar with a..". I thought it was a ok episode. The only big revelation was that Carter and Lewis breakup. But, yes it did flesh out all of their pasts a little.

I don't think it was out of their characters to open the bag. Especially, knowing who the owner is. They all look like people who do what they did.

Spoiler

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ps-On a side note. I really cannot believe they are killing Dr.Green off. In a real life sense, its crazy. You know a few years after the show ends they are going to do a reunion movie. This prevents his return.

 

[Rob Varto]

Did anybody else think that the guy in the leather S&M outfit was the big dude who just came back on the show (sorry, I don't know his name)? He's the really big guy who got into a fight last week with his older co-worker.

His body type just seemed to fit the mold and he absolutely refused to de-mask on the OR table. Also, he was nowhere to be seen during that scene and the voice sounded like his.

 

[Larry Price]

Thought it was a great episode. Laughed out loud at the "2 date rule" comments , since its been conversation in my past as the three date rule.

Patrick - If you like Abby (I do too) - make it a point to go see Scotland , PA an independent film by in which she plays Lady Macbeth - shes in practically every scene.

 

[LDfan]

Abby is awesome. My favorite character on the show. Finally I'd like to see her and Carter get together.

Jeff

 

[Craig_T]

I thought the whole episode was out of character. The Breakfast Club vibe was so strong I half expected Judd Nelson or Molly Ringwald to come bursting through the door.

 

[Stacy Huff]

Don't you...forget about me. Don't, don't, don't, you...

I enjoyed last night's episode well enough. I also wondered whether that was Jerry under the mask, but didn't the EMS people say that he weighed 450? I don't think that Jerry is that heavy.

I also wondered whether or not the surprise in the locker actually belonged to Weaver. Way to go, Dr. ...!

I started thinking last night, after watching this show, that the one thing about ER that perhaps bothers me is that I'm not sure that any of these people are really likeable. By that I mean that we only see them through the ER. That's the only place we see them, and the little relationships and squabbles make me think that at best the people are civil to one another. I don't think that any of them are actually friends. We never see them outside of work, so we never see the people that would be their good friends in real life. We only see them working, and it seems like that is all that they do. Work, go home, back to work, catch a few winks on a couch. Not a really appealing life. Luka does seem to be a genuinely good guy, with some terrible things in his past. The other guy that seems to get along reasonably well with everybody else is Dr. Greene. As for him, I'm hoping that NBC is setting us up for a curve. After all, they are playing it up big so that you just know he's going to die. When you think about all the terrible things that have happened to him over the years, to have him go out this way just seems plain mean. It is the safe bet, but I'm hoping for remission and then maybe he takes that good paying job with those private doctors from the first episode.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Thanks, Larry, I'll keep my eyes open for that film.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one that thought it might be Jerry under the mask. I almost thought the dominatrix was Brigitte Nielsen by the hair/face/body type, but it wasn't.

I think we've seen a lot of these doctors outside of the ER, it just on a long-running span of episodes, not a character dump like last night.

 

[Dave Morton]

Rob,

That's exactly who I thought the guy in leather was. I think his name if Frank on the show and he got in the fight with Jerry. What did he have done to him so we can look out for it on the next new episode?

I thought the show was good for character development but not the best. Just average, imho.

 

[Larry Price]

Patrick
Link Removed

 

[Patrick Sun]

Didn't the guy in the mask just pass out (on top of the dominatrix)? I forgot what else he might have injured (I can check my tape when I get home).

Larry, thanks for the link, but it appears I won't get to see it because it's not showing Georgia for the next few months.

 

[Steven L]

The episode didn’t really work for me, it just seemed to come out of left field. I know they’ve done character-specific episodes before - like Benton in the South - but those episodes seemed to advance character development more than this one did. I found I didn’t really learn anything about any one of them that made me think “ahh, that’s why they’re the way they are” or “I can see how this experience is going to change him/her in some way”.
Maybe I’m looking too deeply. Maybe the writers are just setting them up as the central characters going forward and want to lay down some groundwork for their inter-personal relationships with each other. If that’s the case, then I would have liked to have seen Jing-Mei in there too, it would be nice if they made her a more important character – plus I’ll bet she would have had some interesting sex stories.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Let's see:
We finally get the whole scoop on Abby's med school career and why she's where she's at now. We now why Abby really knows her stuff while in the ER. We also find out a bit of her interest in college (literary plays). She's got no relationship with her father (we already know about her wacko mother). And I don't think Abby's a gold-digger (so if she were ever to get back with Carter, the money wouldn't be an issue). Her whole screed on the chip of doctor's shoulder and looking down on the nurses was right on (it is a caste system in the medical profession, but I think rightly so, though it does lead to poor human relation skills among doctors).
We see why Carter has issues, and that for all the money he was born into, the rest of them seem to have a happier childhood because the lack of money brought their families closer (given Carter's arc with his mom, it paints a more painful picture of the rich kid who grows up to be a doctor and has no real designs on relying on the family fortune and is a doctor because he's good at it, and it's a vocation that money can't 'buy'. Carter has a nasty side to him, a very competitive side (exhibited during his fencing bout with Luka).
We see a different side of Luka, a gentler side, a side that shows a bit of the artistic side (playing Hamlet in his native language, having to recall those days seem bittersweet in his memory). He's a good fencer. He's got very different views on what war means, and has experienced the aftermath of war (losing his wife and daughter). He's battle-scarred emotionally.
Gallant comes across as a bright kid with strong military slant to his upbringing. He has plenty of siblings, and his twin sister has CP. And judging by how he lost his virginity, he's no choirboy!
Susan finally divulges what brings her back to Chicago after spending years away in Arizona (running away from a cowboy). She's got a naughty streak in her. I'm glad that she and Abby got along so famously. Susan doesn't betray confidences (never did tell Carter why she stayed over at Mark's place).
I thought it was a really entertaining episode that was totally character-driven.

 

[EricW]

what bothers me about Galant is that so far he's been so 2 dimensional. hopefully we'll start to see other sides of him. perhaps as his career goes he'll get more pessimistic like Carter.

i'm still sorry to see Maluchi go.

 

[Chuck C]

I'm hoping that NBC is setting us up for a curve. After all, they are playing it up big so that you just know he's going to die

Didn't the doctor say Mark's cancer spread to his spine and other organs? If so, he's not gonna be around for much longer.
Also, check out the Julia Roberts/ March 11th People Magazine for an interesting article about Sharif Atkins (Dr. Michael Gallant).
I'm gonna have to agree with Patrick on the entertainment values of this week's episode. There was excellent character development...esp. Luka. I immediately recalled how he lost his wife and kids in the war, and I'm happy that he had a very special wedding night, . It's something that he will always cherish.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

I started thinking last night, after watching this show, that the one thing about ER that perhaps bothers me is that I'm not sure that any of these people are really likeable. By that I mean that we only see them through the ER. That's the only place we see them, and the little relationships and squabbles make me think that at best the people are civil to one another. I don't think that any of them are actually friends. We never see them outside of work, so we never see the people that would be their good friends in real life.

Oh, I don't know. I think they're probably more like "real" people in that respect. I imagine there are plenty of times during the day (at work and at home) when we're not entirely likeable, and I think the show reflects that.

As for the work vs. social relationships, I think that when you're constantly surrounded by the same people for long stretches of time at work, chances are you don't want to spend all your time after hours with them. (I'd also guess that they probably don't have a lot of "free time" anyway.) Still, there may be a few good friends you develop in such a work situation, and I think we see that.