ER - 5/13/03 - Season finale (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Recap of "Drive":

Luka stops to help a woman and son as their SUV has stalled. Some coked up idiot comes barrelling down the road, hits the car behind the woman who was looking for the jumper cable in the trunk and she becomes the meat in a SUV sandwich. The ER spends the rest of the episode trying to save the mother and the son. Corday winds up having to decide to amputate the mother's legs as the woman needed surgery on her internal organs and her legs.

Carter and Chen work on the boy and finally they figure out how to do so (tubing the right lung instead of the left lung). The son also comes through surgery fine. Carter was losing some perspective trying to save the boy, so Weaver sent in Chen to "help" him in case he got in too deep.

An old retired math teacher is brought in for complications from his cancer condition. His' Abby's patient (she's still in nurse mode), and the teacher is moping about having nothing to show for 37 years of teaching algebra. Abby calls teacher's old school, and some of his student show up to let him know that he made a difference in their lives.

Weaver continues to fight for Henry in the court room. Sandy's parents paint a perfect picture of parental availability, while Weaver has deceased parents and no other siblings to provide a support system for Henry. Weaver then goes off on a minor rant about her and Sandy's love for Henry and that should come first in the consideration for custody. The judge is still deliberating...

Sam finds out Alex wasn't in school, and was playing hooky with his father, who was a bit on the stoned side. Sam also finds out that Alex's father is getting a job managing an apartment complex nearby. Sam can't take the risk of trying to raise Alex with his father around, so she packs up everything and runs away again. Alex gets a phone call off to Luka, he shows up as Sam is about to drive off. She is scared for Alex and just drives on off, leaving Luka in the middle of the street.

Neela matched at a Michigan medical school/center. She drives to Michigan, attends orientation, and then drops the bomb on the advisor that she doesn't want the internship. The advisor said that she can't be licensed without an internship, and Neela understood. Neela has no idea what her future holds.

Chen showed up with a black eye. Folks in the ER were a little concerned. Pratt couldn't get anything from Chen, and neither did Abby. Finally Chen admits to Pratt that her father did it, but she claimed that her father doesn't really know what's he's doing. Pratt had been sort of looking after Elgin (the 17 year old with the hypertensive medical history). Elgin's mom never showed up to pick him up. Pratt leased a new pimped out Chrysler, offers Elgin and ride, and convinces Chen to go to dinner. So has all 3 are in the car, a case of road rage ensues (after Elgin flips off the crazy driver), a car chase erupts and Pratt and company get shot at by the crazy driver, and then the end credit show up. Ugh, another cliffhanger.

Oh, Abby passed her boards, so she's officially a doctor now! Yay! Carter tells her that he never had a doubt. Weaver was on Abby to find out her scores (even while she's trying to fight for Henry, she's can be heartless wench).

 

[WillG]

Oh you know how I just loved that impassioned speech by Weaver. If the judge gives he custody over that, I'll have to vomit. As I said, I'm fine with Weaver getting Henry back but as long as it is a real storyline and not just a speech that wins the case. Pretty gnarly with the woman who was crushed. And the cliffhanger, how do we know what happened? It might have been more compelling if we actually saw someone get hit. As for the guy who play's Sam's Ex, why is he always a creepy guy in whatever role he is in?

I did notice the Hemi plug in Pratt's new car.

 

[AndrewG]

Funny thing, they go to Ann Arbor to do an "authentic" visit, and she gets oriented at the Law Quad. Nowhere the Medical school, which is on an adjacent campus.

 

[Jason Walstrom]

Wow. How contrived an ending was that? A road rage shooting? Gimme a break! Lazy writers.

 

[Michael Martin]

So are Sam and Neela leaving the show? Anyone have an inside scoop? I'm far out of the loop on rumors and spoilers on ER.

 

[Raasean Asaad]

I noticed Carter had a box under his arm as he was leaving like he had packed up to quit..I think Noah Wyle has another year on his contract so it seemed odd.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I think both Sam and Neela will be back. IIRC, Lisa Cardellini (Sam) and Parminder Nagra (Neela) signed 2 year deals.

Now I have no idea about Ming-Na (Chen) or Mekhi Phifer (Pratt).

 

[Chuck Mullen]

That didnt sit too well with me either. I also thought Carrie's speach in court was a little "preachy". What did you guys think?

 

[WillG]

Well, it is a bit of a cliched bit, the impassioned plea to whatever authority is there when the case is not looking too good. I was a bit nervous when they had the camera on the judge like she was going to say "I am a single mother myself and you have clearly show your commitment. Therefore I rule that you are truly the boy's natural mother."

It is too bad that they could not come up with something better for the season finale cliffhanger. The problem is, either going to result in nothing happening, or another doctor being killed off, or nearly killed off. And if so, I don't know which place has a higher mortality rate, County General or CTU.

 

[Marty M]

I would agree that they both will be back. I think they may just drop Sam's ex-husband and she will be back at the ER after resolving things over the summer. Neela might just continue in the research lab.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Neela's no good to the ER if she's back in the research lab. She's going suck it up and have to earn her way back to an internship a year later in the match program (after pissing away this coming year by dropping out of the internship in Ann Arbor).

I think Carter was holding a box of condolence cards from the staff to bring home.

 

[Steven L]

Carter was being very tenacious, but it turned out to be a good thing. Chen wanted to give up and "call it" when nothing was working to revive the boy, and it was Carter seeing the boy's father watching from outside and refusing to give up (considering what he had just gone through himself) that ended up saving him.

 

[Justin1]

Noah Wyle's contract was set to end with this past year, but he signed a one-year extension which will allow him to direct a few episodes.

Contract Extension details

 

[Keith Mickunas]

I was under the impression that Neela wanted out of medicine. How do they plan to bring her back? It would seem far-fetched if she had a change of heart and County let her in. I would imagine she's burned some pretty major bridges with this stunt.

 

[Rob Speicher]

I was wondering about that too. But remember a few episodes ago where Carter was doing some paper work in the doctor's lounge? I think those are the boxes - the stuff for his grandmother's estate.