TVSquad

(S14E03) Hey, the previews actually didn't lie this time! One in a row!

The main story this week was the shooting of two police officers . . . volunteer police officers, to be precise. They were certainly the point of tension around the ER. Funny thing is, I thought the fate of those two volunteer officers would be the opposite of their outcome. That's because the college student seemed to be in worse shape than the recovering meth addict (and, not to bring up a debate, but why would you sign up a recovering anything addict for any type of law enforcement, volunteer or professional). Turns out the college student survived and the recovering addict didn't.

By the way, recognize the officers' supervisor? That was Mimi Kennedy. Even though she's had dozens of television roles she will probably be remembered as Dharma's mother on the ABC comedy Dharma & Greg. Only by her voice was I able to initially recognize that it was her. Got to give props to those wardrobe and makeup people.

I didn't feel that there was a focus on one main character this week. If you were going to go by screen time I would say that Archie, Abby and Grady had the most visibility during the hour. For me, Morris was the focal point. Over the last two seasons dear old Archie has become my favorite ER doc, and I'm always happy to see him get a main story once in awhile.

From the promos that NBC aired I had thought that the phone call Morris received was one informing him about Hope's death or serious injury. Thankfully that didn't happen. If it did I would have probably started this review with something like 'You cold heartless bastards!'. Instead, the call was from his cousin, informing Archie of his father's death.

Morris is part of a small handful of long-time ER staffers whose parents we never met. Yet, it looks like his dad followed the same dysfunctional pattern of those that we have. The man just didn't seem to think that whatever his son did in his life was good enough. Thusly, it wasn't good enough for him to call his son directly or, if incapacitated, have his cousin call Morris much sooner to tell him that he was hospitalized.

This was a pretty big moment for Morris. The boy has done a good deal of growing up since he appeared on the scene several years ago. With the death of his father some of the final baggage that was left over may be put to the curb. We may even get to see him enter the specialty that he is interested in before the season (and series) ends.

On to Grady: like we couldn't tell that he had a crush on Abby. Ever since he mistook her for an intern he's been all-thumbs around her. Considering that he's a fairly astute student of medicine, that awkwardness definitely signalled some non-professional feelings that the young man had for our recently married Doctor Lockhart. I have yet to develop an opinion on Grady. This episode was really the first time a bit of the spotlight was upon him. While smart, he doesn't seem to be to eager to let his statements be known. We'll have to wait and see if the following episodes concrete an opinion of him.

I was surprised that we saw Joshua Lipnicki again this episode . . . I had thought that his role was a one-shot deal. However, it looks like he'll have a multi-episode arc. Within the last two episodes Gates' role as a physician has really matured. He is a very smart man and, with the slower pace of the ICU, has begun to really show what he can do. He even impressed Lucien to the point that the surgical chief helped to get Joshua into a medical trial to help ease the disease that was killing him.

There were two other minor plots that appeared this week. It looks like Dubenko and Neela are finally coming to a mutual decision about their relationship which will lead to a deeper respect between them. That's good, because Neela's world needs to be a bit less complicated after the crazy relationship thing that happened last season. In the other side story, Pratt is finally coming to terms on how to act in a grown-up relationship. Dr. DeJesus may actually be the one that Pratt finally settles down with. She just has to realize that Greg is not a mind reader and needs to know by verbal communication if she doesn't want to do something. I think all men should save this episode of ER on their DVR's and replay that scene everytime their significant other wonders why their partner did something when they didn't want it to happen.

Next week a bit of the old Abby Lockhart bad luck returns.