Hava

Anyone also not like Saracen? Bueller? Bueller?

I probably could accept her as an antagonist if the show treated her as such, but I don't think it did. Each time she did an awful thing, Alan either supported her or she came around to the right decision and the audience and the characters were supposed to just move on. I actually hate the premise of the show that these two people were in love with each other their whole live's and were pining for each other while married to other people. If I were Gillian, I could not move past that. I was hoping the show would end with Alan leaving Celia.

Ugh, this show would have been nearly perfect without Celia. She's horrid. And Alan is spineless to not stand up to her.

I saw that differently. I saw that as Abby recognizing that this woman would not be able to get an abortion (that she voiced wanting) if her husband was involved. And, also, her husband was not entitled to information about his wife. And the abortion clinic storyline left a really bad taste in my mouth, I think ending with Kerry's patient (who wanted an abortion) being an asshole.

The focus on Abby was irritating, but there was one moment or episode that made me like her character. It was with a pregnant woman who was basically only having children for her husband, and Abby actually counseled her about the possibility of abortion. The show up to this point had a hostile attitude towards abortion and was, to my eyes anyway, very pro-birth and pro-motherhood, so for Abby to have this moment was very refreshing and very in line with what I would expect from an ethical physician presenting all options to a patient.

See, I would buy that as the reason if his treatment of Lucy wasn't contrasted with his treatment of Abby in the same episode. Abby is new and he is kind and supportive of her, even following her to the roof to check in on her after a hard day.

I watched "Be Still My Heart" again, and in their very first interaction that episode, Carter is an asshole to Lucy, who presents Sobreki's case to him and asks if Carter wants to evaluate him and Carter dismisses her. I was confused as to the reason for the hostility, so I watched the prior episode to see if anything had happened between them, and there was nothing! Ugh. Carter was an asshole just to be an asshole?

Could you explain this a bit more?

I found Carol so unpleasant that I am still dumbfounded that her character was saved because the viewers liked her so much. I'm like--WHERE??

The Nicole Addimando story was rage-inducing. The prosecutor regurgitated so many myths about domestic violence (e.g., "why didn't she just leave?") that I couldn't believe it.

Just watched season 1 and loved it. I will echo what a lot of you said that my least favorite plot development was that Ted was an utter piece of shit. One of the things I initially liked about the show was that it appeared that Jen was actually in a loving marriage and Ted was a generally decent person. While she appears to still be grieving him even after the revelation of who he truly was, her grief resonates less with me. And it didn't really add anything to the show, so I really think they should have kept Ted's past out of it. One of my favorite lines from the show is when Jen tells Judy that men call women crazy to undermine them because it is so true. Steve probably did that throughout his relationship with Judy.

Why was every male character in love with Neela?

I'm curious about this aspect of the story. Do the ghosts know that they are reliving certain moments, or does it feel new each time? I feel like the latter is at least less agonizing.

I liked this season purely because it had somewhat of a happy ending in that the kids and Owen were able to escape Bly without any lingering effects. I was so worried that the show would end with the house still haunting them in some way, so that was a relief. I was not impressed with Victoria Pendretti's acting, although she has been getting rave reviews for this. Something about her affect took me out of her scenes. I am still confused about the "rules" regarding the ghosts. Like, were all the ghosts able to be so present as Hannah was? Hannah was a ghost, but she still interacted with the people and the world around her as almost completely normal. Why did Dani carry Viola with her when they left Bly but Miles didn't carry Peter? Why did Rebecca have to ask Flora for permission to possess her in the lake when previous times it seemed like she didn't? Why was Dani scared of hurting Jamie as Viola when, in the end, it turns out that Dani would not hurt anyone like Viola did?

You're completely right. I misspoke. It was a clinic of some sort though I believe where they convince women out of having an abortion.

The abortion clinic scene was extraordinary. The best part of the film. It showed exactly how anti-choice types care more about the unborn fetus than the actual girl/woman, who here was presenting as a child of sexual abuse at the hands of her father. I am a tried and true liberal, but I the Rudy Giuliani scene was overhyped. Sure, he was a creepy old man, but it did not look like he did anything non-consensual. And it really is believable that he was just tucking in his shirt.

Was there even a pediatrician on staff after Cleo left? Seems like the show left that whole peds department thing behind in the later years.

It was such a poor way of introducing a new main character. Luka being in love with Carol did his character no favors, IMO. As you said, it was creepy and also desperate. What I really didn't like is how animated and affectionate he was with Carol compared with how withholding and closed off he seemed to be with Abby. I'm not sure if that was intentional acting choice, but it was a weird shift in his character.

I think this is an UO: Jeannie was one of my top 5 favorite characters (beginning after her relationship with Benton ended). I'm disappointed that she doesn't get the recognition as one of the original main characters since she had such a big role. She should have made an appearance in episode 15.

Interesting. I got the complete opposite from Kem's mom--I thought she said the supposed boyfriend was a fool and was encouraging Carter to not let go of Kem, and that's why he ran through the rain to declare his love. And I honestly don't like the idea that Carter chose County over Kem. At the end of the day, County is just a place--it's an ER that will go through numerous staff changes and will always be there. I never got the sense that Carter was passionate about County specifically, but about being a doctor. I hope he called Kem.

I LOVED the Africa storyline and Carter/Kem. I really liked that the show explored health crises in other parts of the world--they didn't do it in the most subtle way, but it was still a welcome recognition that Chicago was not the whole of the universe. I thought the actors in small parts were superb, especially Angelique. And what can I say? I am sucker for hot doctors who do non-profit work abroad, so I was always going to swoon at Dr. Carter doing it. And I totally got his relationship with Kem. She was passionate about her work and her country and had a perspective that he hadn't really seen before--he had always been committed to saving one life at a time, and she was trying to do something on systematic scale. But she wasn't miserable (at least before the daeth of Joshua)--she had her mission, but she also knew how to enjoy life. I am not sure I understand the show's decision to end their relationship in limbo. It had been years since Joshua's death and Carter and Kem should have been able to reach some sort of understanding by then--either to stay together or part. The finale did a disservice to Kem's character and made her look like an asshole for no real reason.

I'm sorry, I tried, but I stopped watching somewhere during season 12. I didn't care about any of the characters anymore. Now I'm just going through season 15 trying to find the scenes with the old characters. This show ended for me in season 10.

I'm on season 11 now. There has been a considerable decline in quality starting in season 10 and that is when I started fast forwarding through scenes. I am basically only watching for Carter now. Did anyone notice that around this time the show started doing House-esque intros where we see how the patients ended up in the ER? I don't like it. ER was never about that. Sam and her kid are the wooooooorst. OMG. Why are we spending so much time on them? And Kovac has never improved as a character for me. I keep waiting for something to click with him, and I just don't get his character. He's bland and just sleeps around. The only time I actually like him was in Africa. Then he came back, abandoned his intention to return to Africa, and became an ass again. He's had the most chemistry with Gillian out of all of his love interests.

Thank you for this! I could not believe the reason Mark ended it with Chuney is that they had nothing to talk about, and the next thing he is with Cynthia, who is a receptionist, and didn't seem to have that problem (gee, I wonder if that is because Cynthia was white). I really enjoyed Mark/Chuney together and was pleasantly surprised the show went there to only be hugely disappointed that it ended so quickly.

Do you guys think Susan ever had feelings for Mark? When she first left, Mark told her he loved her and asked her if she didn't feel the same and she responded with "I'm sorry." And then when she came back, she told Carter that Mark was like a big brother to her and that she never reciprocated his feelings. It makes me sad if true because I was rooting for Susan and Mark and, even after she left, I thought their story was one of star-crossed lovers. I wonder if the writers just retconned it because of Sherry Springfield's decision to leave.