TVSquad

(S13E01) Denny Crane.

Whoops, sorry, wrong review. Let's try this name . . . Abby Lockhart. Ah, much better. Of course, if we are mentioning the perpetually unlucky Abby we must be talking about the veteran medical drama ER. Yes sir, the NBC drama is still on the air and about to start its 13th season. There have been plenty of ups and downs, and all of the original season one cast have gone on their merry way, but the show still gets the ratings.

Last season, especially the first half, was an adjustment for the show. Noah Wyle's Doctor John Carter left at the end of the previous season, and Sherry Stringfield's Doctor Susan Lewis left after only a few episodes in the new one. Recurring characters were added (Kristen Johnston as a tyrannical nursing chief and John Leguizamo as an unorthodox doctor), but didn't really do much for the show. Then, Abby got pregnant, courtesy of on-again, off-again boyfriend Doctor Luka Kovac.

From that point on the season took a whole new turn. Long-standing plot points finally came to a resolution. For instance, the relationship problems between Doctors Neela Rasgotra and Michael Gallant were solved when he died from a roadside bomb in Iraq. In another instance, the degenerative hip condition that Doctor Kerry Weaver had been living with for her entire run on the show (since season 2) was finally corrected. She could now walk without any assistance from a brace. Things were looking up at County General, even for Abby.

Then, in last season's finale, it all changed. The father of Nurse Samantha Taggart's son returned to the hospital, with accomplices, in an attempt to kidnap him so he and the boy could live in Canada. It went horribly wrong. First, Luka tried to stop the kidnapping but was injected with a paralyzing agent, rendering him helpless. Then, the kidnappers shot up the ER, severely injuring Jerry. When we thought everything had calmed down, Abby collapsed on the floor in a pool of her own blood. As the last scene ended we were shown a struggling Dr. Kovac trying to get out of his bindings to save the mother of his child. And, that's where we return in this season's premiere. So, if you don't want to read what happened, then let me just say that this well-crafted and emotional episode sets the stage for the upcoming season, and leave it at that. Go away now if you don't want to know.

The good news is that Jerry is okay. This made me happy because I really enjoy Abraham Benrubi in his role. In fact, other than some of the nurses, Jerry is one of the only recurring characters left from the first season. I know he'll be leaving for the new ABC series Men in Trees, but I'm sure there will always be a space for him at the ER check-in desk. Oh, excellent casting of Estelle Harris as Jerry's mom. She was a nice break of levity in such a dark episode.

The other (kind of) good news is that Abby and Luka's newborn is okay for the time being. In the previews for next week they make it to seem that the baby dies. That would be horrible. For once, I'd like to see Abby have some good luck. Back to tonight's episode, some of the strongest moments came from Abby and Luka, the new Carol Hathaway and Doug Ross. There was one scene where, after the baby is born and Abby tells Luka that she can't have anymore children due to complications with the birth, Kovac heads to the bathroom. He is extremely emotional and is constantly looking into the bathroom mirror, and you know that something is going to smash into it, you just don't know when and by what. When you think it's all safe, Luka smashes the mirror with a garbage can. I really hope the writers see better times for this couple.

The not so good news is that Samantha and her son are still kidnapped. It's clear to see that her former husband is now totally out of control, and proves this by killing his accomplices and sexually assaulting Sam. This is the only part of the episode I had a problem with, because I already knew the outcome. When her husband falls asleep, Sam gets ready to make a getaway, until she realizes that he will never let up in trying to take her son away while he's alive. So, what does she do? Well, she certainly doesn't give him a kiss good-night.

Two more performances I want to mention. One is Troy Evans as Frank, Jerry's co-worker at the desk. Frank has been the gruff ex-cop for several years now, but we saw a new side to him this week as he becomes very emotional on hearing about Jerry's shooting. The other performance, surprisingly, is Scotty Grimes as Doctor Archie Morris. My first impression of Morris when he appeared on the show was 'what an incompetent ass'. However, in this episode we saw another side of him: more compassionate, more professional in dealing with his co-workers as well as Jerry and his mom. I don't know if this is a new side that will remain for season 13, but it certainly made me like him more.

Two things I didn't like about this week's show. First, they took away the opening title that I have come to love and adore. It was only a brief five second title card with the credits actually appearing after the first commercial break. I don't know if I'm going to get used to that. The other thing that bugged me was the camera work during the first scene of ER. It looked like some single-camera action, and it was extremely wobbly. I know that it was done to represent the chaos that was going on around the emergency room, but it was very annoying and distracted me from seeing what was going on.

Next week, Sally Field returns as Abby's mom and Uncle Jesse John Stamos takes his bow as regular.