TVSquad

(S14E01) So, here we are.

After 13 years, numerous cast changes, various relationships, and a number of staff deaths, we come to what will probably be the final season of NBC's medical drama ER. This show has come a long way since Doctors Greene, Lewis, Benton, Carter, and Ross (and Nurse Hathaway) entered our Thursday nights. Some of the journey has been rocky (Season 7 was one of the rockiest, in my honest opinion). But, for the most part the trip has been a very good one.

Especially last season. After a few years of mediocrity where cast members came and went, last season was deemed one of the best in a long time. Some of that can be chalked up to the addition of John Stamos to the cast. Some can be chalked up to the stability that the remaining cast finally achieved. The rest can be chalked up to good writing and major character development. In particular, we finally saw Abby Lockhart remove that huge albatross that had been hanging around her neck for years. In addition, we also saw great leaps in maturity for Doctors like Greg Pratt and Archie Morris.

So, what does the beginning of season 14 hold for the fans of ER? Well, for the second year in a row an emergency room doc is in peril. If you remember at the end of last season Neela was trampled upon when a peaceful anti-war rally erupted into pandemonium after what seemed to be bomb explosions. It turns out that she didn't escape unscathed and she ended up becoming another patient within the ER that she works in.

This got me to thinking -- bad idea, of course -- about how many ER and hospital personnel have had to be treated over the last thirteen seasons for serious injuries. Well, there was Carol Hathaway all the way back in the pilot episode. Then there was surgical intern Dennis Grant in the third season (who was reincarnated as Eric Foreman on House) and Mark Greene when he was attacked by an unknown assailant. Jeanie Boulet was there after she got into an car accident with Doug Ross. Of course Carter and Lucy Knight were treated in the ER after being knifed by a crazed patient.

Doctors Romano, Chen, Pratt -- they were all treated in County General's ER. Both Jerry and Frank were treated there as well for serious conditions. Last year, Abby ended up needing care after a shootout in the ER. Damn. Being this may be the last season I wonder how they'll get the rest of the doctors to be treated by their co-workers?

Anyway, back to Neela. The treatment of her injuries caused a bit of tension in the ER. Okay, a lot of tension. All right, the tension was so thick that it pushed me against the back of my chair. There were so many cooks involved in this kitchen that everyone was getting in the way. First there was Tony Gates, who tried to get to her at the rally, but couldn't. Throughout the entire episode you could see how much he still cares for Neela. Whenever he tried to get close to her Moretti kept shooing him away.

Moretti was trying to manage Neela's treatment, the treatment of all the others injured in the rally, and the ER in general. He did nothing but argue with Abby and Dubenko on how to treat her. Dubenko, who still has feelings for Neela, was trying to get her up to surgery to see what he could do to save her life. While all of this was going on Abby was trying to mediate all of the little battles that were going on. She basically told Moretti to take a flying leap when he asked her to leave the room and take care of other patients. Then, during surgery, she strongly suggested that Dubenko step off because of his feelings towards Neela, while Crenshaw worked to repair some of her damaged organs.

I want to talk about Doctor Kevin Moretti for a bit. We got to see some of his management techniques in the last few episodes of last season. He seemed capable enough. However, in this episode he was downright micro-managing everyone. Frankly, he was just pissing me off. His whole speech last season about treating the patient properly from entry to exit could not apply in this situation. That's when the ER is working at normal levels. When traumas are coming in fast and furious you have to throw Moretti's speech away and concentrate on saving lives no matter what.

Unfortunately, he didn't know how to do that. By telling Morris and Pratt to go home because their breath smelled like alcohol was a trigger-finger reaction. Yes, we knew something he didn't know -- that they barely drank anything -- but he could have asked them to take some blood tests first before making the decision. Fortunately, he realized that his management skills weren't the best and that he had to work to improve them. What? An administrator who learns from his mistakes? What kind of universe is this?

Over to Tony Gates. Man, good for Tony for figuring out that the guy who supposedly lost his fingers due to a lawn-mower accident was actually the guy who popped off the fireworks at the peace rally that caused the riot and caused Neela to be trampled. I don't know if I would have gone the route Tony had by showing the guy all of the people who he maimed and killed, but I would have been just as angry. This time around, though, his anger did not go unnoticed, and Gates ended up being sent to the ICU for some reflection and slow-down.

Other notes of interest in this episode:

• Moretti's speech about the origins of emergency medicine. For some reason, the way he said it, with pauses while he thought about what he was going to say next, seemed very natural and almost like it was not part of the script.
• We meet a new emergency room intern, Paul Grady. We don't know too much about him because he's seen running around a lot and getting acquainted with the ER.
• Senseless Death of the Episode -- the death of that teenage girl with 10 broken ribs. Her grandfather was utterly devastated. So much so that he tried to kill the man who launched the fireworks. Actually, the guy was dead when Abby and Moretti found him. Don't know if the grandfather killed him, though.
• Light-hearted Moment of the Week -- Howard Hesseman as the orthopedist(?) who was high on mushrooms. He laughs at Morris' shirt and goes 'Your shirt is breathing'.
• Ickiest Moment of the Night -- The boy who had a piece of the sign-holder embedded in his chest. All of the blood coming out of Neela's abdominal cavity during surgery runs a close second.
• The most poignant moment came at the very end when the rest of the ER staff joined Gates to wait for Neela to wake up. Other than Gates, they were the remains of the veteran cast of ER and it made me a bit sad to realize that this may be the last season of the show.

This episode of ER didn't disappoint. All of the activity within the ER reminded me so much of the early days of the series when they used to concentrate on the medicine portion of the show. Next week? Well, I have no idea what's going on. I can't trust episode previews for the life of me. So, you'll just have to wait and see what next week's episode entails.