No, George Clooney did not show up for the series finale of ER.
But it was a pretty good finale anyway. It's impossible to please all fans of a long-running show in a series finale because we expect too much, and what we expect can change depending on whether you've been watching it since the beginning or just started four years ago. Do they focus on the old cast members coming back and focus on the people who have been there for the past few years? Do they tie up all loose ends neatly in a bow or leave things open-ended because that's how life is? ER managed to do both last night.
After the jump, the good and bad about the last episode of ER.
The Good:
- The return of Sherry Stringfield, Laura Innes, and Eriq LaSalle. We saw LaSalle come back a few weeks ago, but it was good to see him their with his son (played by the same actor, I believe, a nice touch), and it was very satisfying to see him interact with Alex Kingston again. This was easily a plot (that they used to date) they could have just forgotten about, but they actually got their own scene together to show the audience that they're still friends. That was great.
- More time for the nurses and other staff. It was great that they gave longtime cast members like Laura Ceron, Abraham Benrubi, Deezer, D, Ellen Crawford, and Yvette Freeman so much time. Some of these characters I don't even think we've seen much of in the past year or two.
- The original opening! The long theme song and even the classic images of early episodes of the show. Glad to see some TV shows think of things like this for the finale.
- Kem comes back, but she and Carter don't get back together. This felt kinda real and right, didn't it? I would have bet money that she was going to come back for the Carter Center dedication and they would start over again and everything would be OK. But that wasn't the case. She showed up to support him, but not necessarily to get back together with him. And then we saw Carter staying up all night playing basketball so he could call her, but then the big trauma came in at the end and we were left hanging as to whether he actually called her or the job came first.
- Tony and Sam get together. Really satisfying to see this happen.
- The return of Rachel Greene, this time as a medical student. Nice way to bookend the show.
- That final shot of County, showing the entire building, with the giant logo at the top and how the building fits into the Chicago skyline. Not sure if we've ever seen that before. I liked it.
- No one died in an explosion or had a helicopter fall on top of them.
The Bad:
- Too much time taken up by faceless patients and who-the-hell-cares new cast members. ER has always been a show about looking forward and not looking bad, and they've been aggressive with introducing new characters, killing off old characters, not giving closure to certain characters, and trying to be realistic (so-called) about "life goes on." But having a group of new medical people we hardly know sit around and reminisce about their med school history? With 15 minutes left in the show? That was a weird decision. (Though a "Good inside of a Bad" for Alexis Bledel, who somehow made her new character feel like she really belonged there.)
- Angela Bassett. I thought it was odd from the very start that ER would introduce this new, major character in the last season of the show. What happened to her child was heartbreaking, of course, but I always thought she was an odd fit into the show. Maybe if she had another season we'd warm to her and she'd feel right there, but it never happened. We didn't even see her husband or that little baby in this episode. I guess it was good that she was the cast member who had to act like the stern one in this episode, wondering who the hell these people (Susan, Rachel, etc) were and why they were getting in the way in her ER. Of course, I think longtime fans were saying, "no, who are you?"
- It was a half hour too long. I think they could have tightened it up a little bit by cutting out a storyline or two.
- Marilu Henner? Who cares?
- It would have been good to see Dr. Anspaugh one last time. He still works at County!
Overall, a pretty good finale. Check it out here if you missed it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-03-2009 @ 1:30PM
Willmore2000 said...
Bob. Don't. Just Don't.
Reply
4-03-2009 @ 2:45PM
Dorv said...
Don't what?
Bob, thought the review was spot on.
4-03-2009 @ 2:16PM
fsu120 said...
I thought it was cool when Dr. Carter was showing Rachel now to insert the needle into the arm, since it was Dr. Greene that showed him the ropes in the beginning.
Also, wasn't the last scene when they were standing in front waiting on the ambulances the same as the first scene in the first episode.
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4-03-2009 @ 2:53PM
John Heltsley said...
I loved how Basset's character was trying to find out why Carter was doing that, and Jerry just gives her an "are you kidding" look and simply says, "Um, he's a doctor." and turns away.
4-03-2009 @ 2:17PM
Stacie23 said...
A very satisfying ending to a show I have been watching since I was 8 years old. This was the last show that was still on the air that I watched when I was little, I had Beverly Hills 90210, Friends and ER, those were the pinnacle shows in my young TV life and now they are all gone. Pretty sad but the cliche is true that all good things must come to an end. I mean how many times can they do the same story over and over again.
I am glad that they brought back most of the original cast, the arrival of Rachel Greene and having Dr. Carter say the final line of the show, harkening back to the pilot was very well done. I will miss this show greatly. Unlike many fans who watched the show, left and maybe came back for the last season or even the last episode, I have watched every episode on NBC on Thursday nights at 10pm. I really have no intrest in that Southland crap because we all know that come September the Jay Leno show will get rid of it along with several other shows. I really have no idea what I will watch now at 10pm this coming Thursday and that's the first time I have had to say that in 15 years.
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4-03-2009 @ 2:20PM
Jimmy said...
As finales go I thought this was a good one. ER didn't stray from its roots will the usual TV goodbye. This episode ended where the series began: as the story of an overworked, underfunded urban hospital. It was great seeing some of the old faces, and damn if Sherry Stringfield didn't look totally hot!
While she was a little underused, I think ER would have been smart to have cast Alexis Bledel a long time ago. She was pretty good in this episode and how many times can actress be asked to pretend she's pushing a woman's uterus back in! The whole pregnant woman plot was a little overdone. You just knew she was going to die. It brought back memories of ER's greatest episode, "Love's Labor Lost."
It was a nice touch to see Mark Green's daughter all grown up and entering medical school. Not to mention being the last one person we see running into the hospital.
My only quibble with this episode was the whole John and Kem storyline. Thandie Newton was completely wasted in this episode. It would have been better if they'd never even mentioned her. Still, overall this was a nice end to what was once a really excellent series; and I didn't even miss seeing George Clooney.
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4-03-2009 @ 2:23PM
Erin said...
I believe that the addition of Alexis Bledel's character and her interaction with Brenner was supposed to mirror the Benton/Carter mentor/mentee relationship from the pilot (as was the scene where Carter shows Rachel around the hospital). In this case, having a new cast member in the finale made total sense, and Bledel's performance was phenomenal.
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4-03-2009 @ 2:35PM
Karen said...
I sort of thought that Dr. Banfield and her husband would end up with the adoption of the little boy, she'd leave and Carter would take over the ER Chief position. A little far-fetched, I know, but it would have been nice. If I were not a die-hard ER fan, this finale would have left me disappointed - a lot of subtle nuances were in play that a new (or less seasoned) viewer would probably not get. I'll miss this show very much. Well done!!!
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4-03-2009 @ 3:45PM
bcarter3 said...
The finale would have been much more interesting if the staff at County General had spent the 2 hours fending off a zombie attack, with old cast members playing the zombies.
Maybe in the Director's cut....
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4-03-2009 @ 4:36PM
Ellen Bishop said...
I cried and cried, they went back to work, and it was if they didn't know we had gone, they are still there, they will always be there, we just won't see them any more. It was the prefect blend of looking back and looking forward, the old faces and the new, and John, who can always make me cry, and I cried often watching ER, it was very emotionally. We could see how much they cared and we cared too, it made it very real.
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4-03-2009 @ 5:15PM
Adrienne said...
That one moment when Frank realized who Rachel was, I teared up. Everyone loved Mark Greene, and to see his daughter hopefully following in his footsteps, THERE, was the perfect ending. I'm one of those who expected Carter to tell either Julia or Rachel that they, "set the tone," but he already told Gallant that after Dr. Greene died.Now Gallant is dead to, so he can't pass THAT along as Greene did to Carter and Carter did to Gallant.
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4-03-2009 @ 5:22PM
Dorv said...
I know Carter did the 'set the tone' line to Morris (which doesn't mean he didn't do it for Gallant, too). He (Carter) even mentioned it in his first episode back this season.
Actually, Morgenstern did it to Green first. I didn't remember that, but it was in the retrospective last night. Kinda cool how they've carried that thread through.
4-03-2009 @ 5:17PM
WhatI said...
This was a great finale because it didn't try to wrap things up - it's great we don't know what took place in the morning with Carter and Kem, or if Tony and Sam got back together, or if Jerry was.... Didn't matter - the show was meant to have a realistic element that no other show had up until that time, and what's more realistic than life going on without knowing all the answers. Well done.
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4-03-2009 @ 5:28PM
skw said...
As much as I enjoyed the show(and i've been a veiwer almost since the beginning),did it seem to anyone else besides me that they were setting up a spin-off or a sequel or something?
Why bring in a bunch of new characters on the very last show?And also set up the possiblities of continuing older plotlines.like Tony/Sam and Elizabeth/Peter?
I think NBC has something up their sleeve.Time will tell.
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4-03-2009 @ 7:36PM
Age-K said...
Thinking back on the episode, did ANY of the patients survive besides the baby? I mean the critical patients, not the cut head/fractured penis/etc. patients. Frankly, that was what turned me off from the show back in the '90s. It seemed like the most pessimistic hospital show ever. Yes, I know that people die and they needed to lose patients to retain credibility as a realistic show, but everything just always seemed so bleak. It would've been nice if at least one patient at least had things looking up in the end. You had Ernest Borgnine losing his wife, the mother of the babies pouring all her blood out on the trauma room floor only to be rushed to the OR to die and practically be forgotten by the staff, and Drunk girl coming out of her coma and seeming doomed to remain a vegetable. Who did I miss?
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4-05-2009 @ 3:37PM
Chris Bragg said...
Excellent analysis overall, although I love Alexis Bliedel. Actually it made me think they should have had her on the show all season.
Yeah, no Anspaugh (or Coburn)?? What gives???
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4-03-2009 @ 7:05PM
HD said...
Finale was well done - not perfect, but considering that ER has killed off so many regular cast members - it limited some of the creative choices.
Bookending the series with Carter was a good choice - although a few more solid answers would have been nice. The episode was heavy with symbolism but nothing pretentious (like the use of the word pretentious).
I've never cared for the actress that played Mark Green's daughter, and somehow I doubt she has spent her time in acting class in the past few years - but her characters return made sense and was welcome. I must note how great Sherry Stringfield looks after 15 years - personally, I'd like to see Carter end up with Susan...
On a final note - yes NBC we get it - you want us to watch "Southland" - we'll see what happens - now stop mentioning it every 3 minutes.
*****Where is the "Life on Mars" finale review?
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4-03-2009 @ 8:08PM
vidvid said...
I, too, thought it was a nice, simple touch to show Reece played by the original actor. I also felt Mark Greene smilling from heaven, because as the recap episode during the first hour showed, his final wish was to "fix Rachael."
This finale reminded me of the Gilmore Girls finale in the fact that life does go on for the characters, we just aren't invited to the party anymore.
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4-03-2009 @ 11:10PM
pumpkinhead said...
And the actress who played the doomed twin-birth mother. Is it my imagination, or did she really frakking (am I allowed to say that anymore?) sound like she was in agony.
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4-04-2009 @ 12:18AM
jaerisk said...
Anyone else catch the "dig" at Grey's Anatomy with the old doctor who fractured his penis....god I'm going to miss this show.
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