TVSquad

(S13E20) Lights out. A-ha. Blast, blast, blast!

Oh, hello there. Didn't see you come in. I must admit you caught me singing. See, the title of this week's ER reminded me of Lights Out, the Peter Wolf song from the early 1980's. That, of course, reminds me of Wolf's former band,the J. Geils Band, which reminds me of their song Centerfold, which reminds me of MTV. That reminds me of how sucky MTV has become.

But, we're not here to talk about the glory days of a music-video channel. We're here to talk about this week's episode, which was another good one. Really, this has been a solid season for this classic medical drama. If they decided to pull the plug on the show at the end of this season I would feel quite satisfied that they left on an up note. Luckily, we have at least one more season of the show to enjoy before it goes to the Eternal Land of Syndication. In the meantime, let's talk about what went on this time around.

Boy oh boy, what a 180-degree turn-around for bright boy Tony Gates. Last week he was the darling of the ER. This week, he's back to his old arrogant self. It's a good thing our hero Archie Morris decided to grow a pair and send Gates home after he set a man's shoulder without sedating him. Man, Archie was hot! I've said it before and I'll say it again, Archie has come a long way from the bumbling fool he was in earlier seasons. Oh, the tables were turned on Tony, by the way. After being reamed out by Morris at the hospital he was the, um, reamer when he finally confronted his father about his drinking and his pathetic life.

In actuality the tables were turned for a number of our favorite County General staffers this week. When confronting a boy who fed his friend sulfur to obtain a solo performance spot, Dr. Barnett tells the young man that if he's patient enough he'll eventually obtain his goal. Ray was obviously talking about himself in this case, but it was interesting to see. Oh, and remember that 4th-year medical student Ray was seeing during Christmas of last year? Yeah, well, he hasn't called her since that time. Personally, I forgot she existed until she popped up on tonight's show. When the audience saw her, and then saw Ray's reaction, I'm sure there was a loud 'Whoops!' circling the nation.

Another staffer whose fates seemed to turn this week was Samantha Taggart. If you recall from a few weeks ago, Sam met Diane Moore, a photographer who took photos of terminally ill patients. Well, she was back this week, but as a terminally ill patient herself. The ovarian cancer she mentioned just a little while ago (in real time, not TV time) has gotten aggressive and she's dying. While she says she wants to spend her remaining moments with friends in Costa Rica, in reality she doesn't want to die alone. Sam becomes her companion, even taking photos of Diane in her final moments. It's weird how things can change for you. One moment you're feeling like you've never done anything in your life. The next moment you are the luckiest person around. I bet that Sam felt a bit more blessed after seeing this new acquaintance of hers slowly dying.

I do have one tiny complaint about this episode, and it involved the story of Greg's brother. Just last week he was thinking of becoming an EMT. Now, just seven of our days later he's an EMT? I can only hope that this episode took place many weeks later to justify this sudden change in employment. That wasn't what bugged me, though. It was the fact that the paramedics, after seeing countless instances of alcohol poisoning in their past, decide to get Pratt's brother drunk to the point of near death. Would you want these guys coming to save you?

Wrapping around all of these sub-plots was the main plot that County General's Emergency Room was closing down for renovations. I wonder if this will last till the end of the season. I know something special is happening next week, but what about after that? After a nearly-full season where the action has taken place within the confines of the hospital perhaps a episode or two that takes place outside of that environment would be nice to see. I also wonder what the ER will be like now that Luka has decided to resign as ER chief and return to standard doctoring.

That's all for now. Next week, the wedding of, well, next week comes to ER. On a scale of one to seven, one being worst I give it a 6.