(S13E10) A few weeks ago one of our avid readers (may have been my brother, actually) said I should mention the radical change that Kerry Weaver has gone through this season. She's a kinder, more gentle Kerry that is on the screen now; a radical change from the authoritative, power-hungry doctor she was since she stepped into County General during the second season. It could be that her recent hip replacement, along with her son, have made her realize that there is more to life then being someone who rules over others. And the fear of homosexuality back in the sixth season? Well, that is completely and totally gone, as seen this week when Kerry snogged the producer of her television segments.
With that out of the way, let's get to the bulk of this week's review.
Luka never learns, does he? Let's remember way back to season six, during Luka and Abby's first attempt at dating. There was that incident where the good doctor killed a man who tried to attack them. It was determined that the killing was in self-defense, and we thought that taught him a lesson. Well, apparently not, because without any real concrete evidence Luka is now threatening to kill Curtis Ames if he doesn't stay away from his family. Abby isn't very happy about this; she thought the father of her child had gotten past this protection stage. I hope that this whole thing won't get out of hand.
Speaking about fathers, it turns out that Eddie, the man Abby talked to last episode, is her long-lost father. He's back this week as a patient under Abby's care. Dr. Lockhart has a rapport with him, but Luka's bedside manner with the man leaves something to be desired. I believe this is due to the fact that he believes Eddie is working with Curtis to spy on his family. That boy needs to stop being so paranoid!
On the whole, this week's episode reminded me very much of the early days of the series; one major patient storyline with a bunch of secondary stories. What I really enjoyed was the appearance of Archie (Morris) and his gang. I think that this is the first group of medical students and interns that I've actually enjoyed watching. Dr. Morris really impressed me when he verbally took down Dr. Crenshaw, the chief surgical resident. It was something Neela hasn't done since she joined the surgical team. Let's have more Archie, please!
One other item of note. We are introduced to Kip Pardue as a new registered nurse and potential love interest for Samantha. At first the ER staff at County think he won't last a day, but it turns out he has learned a thing or two from his previous stint as a nurse. As Morris says, he's quite 'macho'.
That's it for this week. Christmas comes early to ER next week. So, we'll see you then.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-01-2006 @ 11:55AM
scott said...
This seemed like a high school production of ER to me... I watched it on DirecTv in HD on the west coast, and there was no score except each scene before a commercial break. I don't know if this was a technical error (the season premiere of Medium had no dialog for about the first 10 minutes before they switched to standard def) or if everyone saw this the same way? Did anyone else notice this?
The dialog seemed extremely forced and the directing was very hacky, almost like it was a run though, not the finished product. The lack of a score certainly could have contributed to this. It was directed by Weaver (Laura Innes), who's done a great job in the past.
That said, Morris' verbal beatdown was phenomenal!
But Eddie is Abby's long lost dad? How did I miss that?!? Who told us?
Overall it seemed like I was watching a rough sketch of what the episode should have been, and that sucked.
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12-01-2006 @ 1:44PM
Dorv said...
Yeah, Richard... I don't remember anything about Eddie being Abbey's father. Looks like you may have combined spoiler with review :) (And I'm usually the "Anti-Spoiler" police around here)
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12-01-2006 @ 2:12PM
Cindi said...
WHO was the intern who pulled the ice pick out of the patients head??? I have searched high and low for an answer but without her name I am stuck! I have missed so many episodes of ER and want badly to get up to date. She struck me as VERY very familiar. What have I see her on????
Many thanks!
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12-01-2006 @ 1:16PM
scott said...
Cindi,
The character is Hope, played by Busy Phillips from Freaks and Geeks and Dawson's Creek.
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12-01-2006 @ 2:42PM
scott said...
So that (Eddie being Abby's dad) wasn't in the episode and you spoiled it for us?
nice.
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12-01-2006 @ 3:10PM
Cindi said...
Thank you Scott! She had one of those faces that I couldnt place and it was gonna drive me insane!
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12-02-2006 @ 9:08AM
Richard Keller said...
Before you continue to berate me in spoiling the surprise about Abby's Dad, it was mentioned in the comments of the 'Reason to Believe' episode:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/11/17/er-reason-to-believe/
Reply
12-02-2006 @ 11:27AM
Matt said...
"Before you continue to berate me in spoiling the surprise about Abby's Dad, it was mentioned in the comments of the 'Reason to Believe' episode:"
But, not everyone reads every single comment. There are threads about spoilers. I don't think we should expect to read any spoilers in the episode reviews... maybe that's just me, but I doubt it.
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12-02-2006 @ 4:31PM
jason said...
Hey -
just wanted to clarify a couple of techinicalities...
1. Crenshaw is the chief surgical "resident" - not "residence"
2. pardue is a new "registered nurse" not "resident nurse"
3. neela is a first year surgical intern and morris is attending - thus, morris has the social hierarchy and ability to give crenshaw the tongue lashing he needed - neela doesn't have that rank yet.
none of these are a big deal - but I do think the show tries hard - especially these last 3 or 4 years - to get the structure of an academic hospital down and reflected accurately. It's one of those things that us med students, residents and other physicians can enjoy about ER that we might not find on the other medical dramas.
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12-03-2006 @ 6:25PM
Connie said...
Nice review except for the spoiler. I like being surprised while watching the show. That Eddie character was a little suspicious anyways. I am looking forward to the next episode!
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12-05-2006 @ 11:57PM
Rich Keller said...
I made changes mentioned by jason. Thanks for pointing that all out.
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