All Episodes Talk: What's Up Doc?

[slasherboy]

Aw, Baby Carter doing the twist.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I get up and do the twist whenever I watch that episode. 

[doodlebug]

14 minutes ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

I get up and do the twist whenever I watch that episode. 

love that episode!

[doodlebug]

2 hours ago, slasherboy said:

I think Nameless Son-of-Doug got THREE mentions!  Can any of you show experts (Doodlebug, I'm looking at you) confirm?

 

Ah ha!  I  just got the significance of Mark GREEN wearing GREEN scrubs!  HAHAHA

I remember two times off the top of my head.  That doesn't mean there couldn't be 3.  One was to a parent who asked Doug if he had any kids.  The other was an episode where he was talking about it as he got on the elevator to go someplace and said he didn't know his son's name and had never seen him.  If anyone remembers another instance, we'd have the third.  I don't remember the exact circumstances or episodes for these two mentions; I haven't been watching every eppy this time around although I did have to catch 'Full Moon Saturday Night' when I saw it was on today.

[slasherboy]

Surprise!  Tomorrow morning, Thursday, January 25th, POP is starting all over again with Season 1, Episode 1 at 8:00 a.m. Central Time with "ER".

A third instance of Doug's no-name kid anybody?  Anybody at all?  Bueller?  Bueller?

[Bastet]

I can't remember a third, but "I can't/didn't remember" sums up my relationship to this show.

The first instance was when a patient's parent asked if he was a father/had kids, he said yes, and that was that.

The second was a similar situation, a patient's father asks Doug if he has children, and he says he has an 8-year-old son.  This time, a nurse overhears.  Then later, while waiting for an elevator together, the nurse (Wendy, I think) says, "I didn't know you have a son.  What's his name?"  He replies, "I don't know; I've never met him."

I really don't think there's a third, but, again, I do not have remotely the memory bank for this show I do with several others.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Bastet

[RedbirdNelly]

19 hours ago, slasherboy said:

I think Nameless Son-of-Doug got THREE mentions!  Can any of you show experts (Doodlebug, I'm looking at you) confirm?

 

Ah ha!  I  just got the significance of Mark GREEN wearing GREEN scrubs!  HAHAHA

I'm aware of 2 mentions. But I could have missed another.

11 hours ago, Bastet said:

I can't remember a third, but "I can't/didn't remember" sums up my relationship to this show.

The first instance was when a patient's parent asked if he was a father/had kids, he said yes, and that was that.

The second was a similar situation, a patient's father asks Doug if he has children, and he says he has an 8-year-old son.  This time, a nurse overhears.  Then later, while waiting for an elevator together, the nurse (Wendy, I think) says, "I didn't know you have a son.  What's his name?"  He replies, "I don't know; I've never met him."

I really don't think there's a third, but, again, I do not have remotely the memory bank for this show I do with several others.

Those are the 2 I remember. They caught my eye the first time Pop started showing ER, because I had no idea he had a son, so it surprised me.

I finished Ruby Redux last night. I liked how Carter sat down and was really honest with him and told him what he really needed to hear about the surgery. Too bad it just ends there and there is no opportunity for Ruby to redeem himself for me--though in reality, I'm sure he wouldn't have.

MP did a good job of reacting when he's at the Cease Fire place and someone asks him if he's related to another Pratt--and you know right away that might be his dad. I always like Pratt's nervous chuckle when he's thrown into a situation--such as when Cease Fire lady (sorry I'm bad at names) puts him on the spot to talk about medical careers.

[CrashTextDummie]

On 1/24/2018 at 5:03 PM, starri said:

Oh God, "The Letter."

Another one I didn't quite get the first time.  From Kerry being utter distraught about all the things about her relationship with Mark she should have done differently, to her teary "I think I did" when Sandy told her in spite of everything, Mark had still been a friend that she'd lost, Susan just being in a fog, Romano almost getting emotional when he was operating on the little girl.

But especially Carter cleaning out Mark's locker and keeping his stethoscope.  And then him later, in the green scrubs Mark favored (and Carter almost never wore scrubs), sitting with Al who thought he was Mark.

Gutted.

Only time in my life I remember openly weeping in front of the television. I was watching the show on DVD and I knew Anthony Edwards had a whole entire farewell episode coming up and I was trying to steel myself for that so Mark's death being announced at the beginning of this one totally caught me off guard. Granted, Orion in the Sky had already softened me up considerably.

I understand why people had issues with the Hawaii episode and I also think it's flawed, but the way this stretch of episodes was structured was absolutely masterful to me.

[justduckey]

Doug mentions he has a son twice in the episode where Wendy overheard in addition the in episode when talking to the dad whose little girl overdosed on cocaine. So that would make 3 mentions.

Edited January 26, 2018 by justduckey

[slasherboy]

On 1/25/2018 at 1:08 AM, Bastet said:

I can't remember a third, but "I can't/didn't remember" sums up my relationship to this show.

The first instance was when a patient's parent asked if he was a father/had kids, he said yes, and that was that.

The second was a similar situation, a patient's father asks Doug if he has children, and he says he has an 8-year-old son.  This time, a nurse overhears.  Then later, while waiting for an elevator together, the nurse (Wendy, I think) says, "I didn't know you have a son.  What's his name?"  He replies, "I don't know; I've never met him."

I really don't think there's a third, but, again, I do not have remotely the memory bank for this show I do with several others.

Yes, that makes 3.  The first is in, I believe, the first episode.  The second and third are in the same episode when the father asks, then Wendy asks what his name is as they're getting on the elevator.  So that's 3.

 

4 hours ago, justduckey said:

Doug mentions he has a son twice in the episode where Wendy overheard in addition the in episode when talking to the dad whose little girl overdosed on cocaine. So that would make 3 mentions.

Thank you, JustDucky!  I know I'm spending way too much time on this but when I get something on my mind that I feel certain about, I can't rest until it's either proven or disproven.  So that's 3 instances of Doug's son being mentioned.  Whew!  Now I can rest easy.

Thanks to all who played!

[RedbirdNelly]

got it--I counted your second and third as one mention.

I watched Season 11, You are Here--epi where Susan does not get tenure. Sorry, Susan, and yes, Carter got his because of his donation--but seriously, you have to be practical at some point on this. It's not like the fired her for not getting grant money. If you want the guarantee of tenure, then there are some requirements and she did not meet them. Also, Carter has been there the entire time --save weeks in rehab and in Africa--she's the one who went away for years, so don't act like somehow this is her home more than his.

Morris as chief resident still does not make sense.

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, slasherboy said:

Yes, that makes 3.  The first is in, I believe, the first episode.  The second and third are in the same episode when the father asks, then Wendy asks what his name is as they're getting on the elevator.  So that's 3.

Okay, I wouldn't count the follow-up conversation in that episode as a third instance, just part of the second, so that's why I said I could only remember two.  But now you know why you were thinking three, so it can stop bugging you; I know how annoying it is when some little thing like that sticks in your mind.

[slasherboy]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

Okay, I wouldn't count the follow-up conversation in that episode as a third instance, just part of the second, so that's why I said I could only remember two.  But now you know why you were thinking three, so it can stop bugging you; I know how annoying it is when some little thing like that sticks in your mind.

I'm still going to count it as 3 since it was a totally separate conversation and the father wasn't present.  But we can go with 2-1/2 and I'll be half-satisfied.  :-)

[doodlebug]

56 minutes ago, slasherboy said:

I'm still going to count it as 3 since it was a totally separate conversation and the father wasn't present.  But we can go with 2-1/2 and I'll be half-satisfied.  :-)

Yeah, I was thinking in terms of number of episodes where it was mentioned and not in terms of number of scenes where it was discussed.  Since there were 2 mentions in 1 episode, it is a little tricky.

[starri]

I'd never actually seen "On the Beach" because at the time, I was just beyond sick of the storyline and just didn't care.  But with the ability to binge and my new, middle-aged perspective on the story, I didn't...hate it?  There were some parts that were really quite moving, but I don't think they were the ones John Wells was intending.  Like, Mark's not quite admission to Rachel that he'd made the same mistakes with her that his father had made with him.

I loved that after Susan had to take charge when the ER was locked down, Kerry's appraisal of her was "you kicked ass."  Nice to see those two respecting each other.  I haven't seen much past this, so I'm sure it falls apart again, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

I have no idea why Elizabeth would go back to the UK.  I'm sure Chicago had a lot of painful memories and she certainly wanted to be closer to her father.  But it just seems so stiff and formal, and not really the person she became in the US.  Or was before, really.

When helicopters win, we all lose.

[doodlebug]

2 hours ago, starri said:

I'd never actually seen "On the Beach" because at the time, I was just beyond sick of the storyline and just didn't care.  But with the ability to binge and my new, middle-aged perspective on the story, I didn't...hate it?  There were some parts that were really quite moving, but I don't think they were the ones John Wells was intending.  Like, Mark's not quite admission to Rachel that he'd made the same mistakes with her that his father had made with him.

For me, the best part of On the Beach was the Hawaiian scenery and the gorgeous house where he died.

Unpopular opinion:  I really don’t like Israel   Kamakawiwo Ole’s version of Over the Rainbow.  Amongst other things, he messes up the lyrics.

Edited January 27, 2018 by doodlebug

[jewel21]

Just watched the episode where Mark is attacked. I only vaguely recalled it happening but on re-watch it was even more brutal than I remembered. And he looks terrible. Did we ever find out who was responsible for the attack?

[doodlebug]

8 minutes ago, jewel21 said:

Just watched the episode where Mark is attacked. I only vaguely recalled it happening but on re-watch it was even more brutal than I remembered. And he looks terrible. Did we ever find out who was responsible for the attack?

Nope

[WendyCR72]

24 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

Nope

And, if I recall, that was intentional per TPTB. Some crimes just are never solved. Obviously, they never thought that much ahead, but I wonder if an attack like that could have brought about the tumor later on. (I'm no doctor, can you tell?)

[jewel21]

Thanks for the response. I was wondering if the writers ever discussed it later in interviews or after the show ended, but it appears they didn't. It was just so violent. It seemed personal which is why I was surprised none of the people on Mark's list of suspects ended up being the attacker. But again, yeah, sometimes these things are just random. Awful and random.

[doodlebug]

2 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

And, if I recall, that was intentional per TPTB. Some crimes just are never solved. Obviously, they never thought that much ahead, but I wonder if an attack like that could have brought about the tumor later on. (I'm no doctor, can you tell?)

I don’t think there’s any correlation between concussions and the eventual development of brain tumors.

[starri]

8 hours ago, doodlebug said:

Unpopular opinion:  I really don’t like Israel   Kamakawiwo Ole’s version of Over the Rainbow.  Amongst other things, he messes up the lyrics.

I don't particularly like it either.

Unpopular opinion: It doesn't really bother me that Doug and Carol weren't at Mark's funeral.  It was better to have them back for something that was more meaningful (like saving Carter's life, even if they didn't know they were doing it) than just a few seconds graveside.  Anything more than that, and it would have been about Clooney, not Mark.

[doodlebug]

1 hour ago, starri said:

I don't particularly like it either.

Unpopular opinion: It doesn't really bother me that Doug and Carol weren't at Mark's funeral.  It was better to have them back for something that was more meaningful (like saving Carter's life, even if they didn't know they were doing it) than just a few seconds graveside.  Anything more than that, and it would have been about Clooney, not Mark.

Me neither.  By the time Mark died, Doug had been gone for 4 years.  People lose contact, they lose touch; even formerly close friends.  There hadn’t been any mention on the show that they’d kept in touch, even during Mark’s illness.  Not many people would fly cross country to attend the funeral of a guy they used to be friends with years ago.  If they had shown up, it would’ve been more in service to the fans than a realistic plot point.

[ClaireCrumbcake]

On 1/16/2018 at 10:21 PM, starri said:

As I think was best expressed with Carter's "Doctor Greene, you coming?"

Oh, god! That line gets me every. single. time. I remember when it first aired, I burst into tears sobbing, "He called her 'Doctor Greene!'" My husband STILL laughs at me because he can randomly bring it up nine years later and I will, having not seen the ep in forever, start crying. Once he did it at a Toyota garage just to see what would happen!

[starri]

It's weird seeing how much the actual medicine has changed.  Elizabeth and Mark talked about him having upped his Dilantin dosage to prevent seizures, when today he'd most likely be on Keppra.  And they seem to mention Heliox constantly when they need to intubate people, and I've never seen that used because they could never find that it actually did anything.  And the placement of central lines blindly, instead of using ultrasound guidance.

[desertflower]

I'm in season 14 and noticed a guest star bingo I don't think was called... Eddie Mekka, aka Carmine from Laverne and Shirley. He turned blue from drinking colloidal silver. 

[RedbirdNelly]

I finished Season 11 this weekend. Sad to see Carter go; I'm a nostalgic person, so loved the moments of him walking out of the hospital and hearing Mark's voice, Carol, Peter. . and the little slide show.

I remembered the porch collapse but still found myself telling Ray "get off the porch."

Sam's runaway son is annoying. I do fault her for not telling him more about his dad. I understand not trashing the ex, but "he's in prison" is important info, and he needs a dose of realism.

On ‎1‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 11:46 PM, jewel21 said:

Thanks for the response. I was wondering if the writers ever discussed it later in interviews or after the show ended, but it appears they didn't. It was just so violent. It seemed personal which is why I was surprised none of the people on Mark's list of suspects ended up being the attacker. But again, yeah, sometimes these things are just random. Awful and random.

It was so very violent. When I last watched it (first Pop run through the series), I knew it was coming and had to look away. At the end of Season 11, we see Carter in the bathroom at the surprise party restaurant, washing up in the sink, and looking up in the mirror--and part of me was "watch out! some random person may start beating on you!!"

[desertflower]

54 minutes ago, RedbirdNelly said:

It was so very violent. When I last watched it (first Pop run through the series), I knew it was coming and had to look away. At the end of Season 11, we see Carter in the bathroom at the surprise party restaurant, washing up in the sink, and looking up in the mirror--and part of me was "watch out! some random person may start beating on you!!"

I did that too!! Any scene where someone is washing up in the bathroom makes me think of poor Dr. Greene. 

Hey, I just saw Donna's stalker (the first one) from BH90210 as a patient's dad. (Yes, she had more than one stalker.) 

[RedbirdNelly]

45 minutes ago, desertflower said:

I did that too!! Any scene where someone is washing up in the bathroom makes me think of poor Dr. Greene. 

Hey, I just saw Donna's stalker (the first one) from BH90210 as a patient's dad. (Yes, she had more than one stalker.) 

I missed the stalker!

[RedbirdNelly]

On ‎12‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 12:47 PM, desertflower said:

I'm behind; just watched the one where the dad shoots himself so his daughter can get his kidney. Guest Star Bingo: The dad was the dad from My So Called Life. And of course Chad Lowe returning as Carter's old student. It was funny, there were several times when the way he delivered his lines reminded me so much of Rob Lowe's character on Parks and Recreation, so I ended up chuckling at some scenes I probably shouldn't have! 

The whole thing with the press showing up because the guy shot himself seemed odd. How many crazier things have happened at this hospital? It was tragic, but it wouldn't have really brought out a slew of reporters, would it? And they knew Carter had posted on medical internet boards about the drug? Just seemed off. 

.

It was over the top and not believable to me that they would have sent Carter out to do the talking. First they would have sent a PR person; if not that, Susan or someone higher up. Not Carter, the very involved doctor who has drawn this attention with the board posting. If this was real, I'd be all over Susan for sending him out there.

[RedbirdNelly]

On ‎12‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 3:45 PM, doodlebug said:

Initially, I don't think Carter remembered Ruby, but, after reviewing the old charts, I think he did since he was pretty specific when explaining the situation to Abby.

 

my impression was that Carter recognized him if not immediately, by the time Rudy finished his first rant but chose to pretend that he did not remember him at first. Then he fessed up. But that's just my take.

[doodlebug]

46 minutes ago, RedbirdNelly said:

It was over the top and not believable to me that they would have sent Carter out to do the talking. First they would have sent a PR person; if not that, Susan or someone higher up. Not Carter, the very involved doctor who has drawn this attention with the board posting. If this was real, I'd be all over Susan for sending him out there.

I work for a very large hospital system.  As part of the orientation, we are told to never, EVER speak to the press about anything pertaining to our jobs but instead to have the reporter contact the press office who will decide if the hospital is going on the record and then who it is will do the talking and what it is they can say.  There are HIPPAA rules here as well as legal considerations. Carter was clearly far too emotionally involved to be serving as spokesperson.

[desertflower]

19 hours ago, RedbirdNelly said:

I missed the stalker!

He was in S14E17, Under Pressure. 

[desertflower]

I finally finished 14. Glad to move on to 15. Pratt's death was as sad as I'd remembered, but it was nice seeing Tony Hale in that episode. Love him. 

[RedbirdNelly]

5 hours ago, desertflower said:

He was in S14E17, Under Pressure. 

good--will keep an eye out for him. I'm at the start of season 12 now.

On the topic of season 12, Sam and Luka are breaking up. I liked them as a couple but Sam just goes very negative at this point. So I guess it needed to happen.

None of the new interns ever become real characters. I don't remember them at all.  Morris is being super annoying as chief resident. I wish they'd made his storyline/character more real.

[slasherboy]

I missed Carmine!  I remember him as quite the dancer.

[Earl Is Dead]

There's no marathon of episodes listed for this Saturday, 2/3.  Does anyone know if POP is going to stop doing that or is this weekend an anomaly? 

[slasherboy]

Looks like it's a one-shot deal, Earl Is Dead, because the marathoning is back the following Saturday, February 10th.  They're re-airing The Grammy Awards so maybe they just decided to fill up the hours before and after with crap.  So worry not.

Just watched "And Baby Makes Two".  Sort of ... missed the part I wanted to see to comment on.  A woman brings in her husband and she's covered in blood.  They gave her a scrubs top to wear, but her pants are still covered.  Why didn't they give her scrubs bottoms too?  This may have been the instance where she hurt her husband herself.  As I said, I didn't see that part and wanted to, but I'm sure everybody on here will remember the story line and know the answer.

And I'll just say again, I love the Benton/Carter relationship.    And Clooney has legs just like my ex's.

This may sound weird, but I find a lot of comfort in watching, or even half-watching, this show every day.  I can be doing something else, but the sound of all their voices (except Chloe) is so familiar that I would definitely miss them if POP decided to air something else.  Say, oh, "The West Wing"?  Hint Hint.

Edited January 30, 2018 by slasherboy
Added a response to Earl Is Dead and wanted it up top.

[Country Twang]

Anyone watching this on Hulu? 

[doodlebug]

14 hours ago, slasherboy said:

Looks like it's a one-shot deal, Earl Is Dead, because the marathoning is back the following Saturday, February 10th.  They're re-airing The Grammy Awards so maybe they just decided to fill up the hours before and after with crap.  So worry not.

Just watched "And Baby Makes Two".  Sort of ... missed the part I wanted to see to comment on.  A woman brings in her husband and she's covered in blood.  They gave her a scrubs top to wear, but her pants are still covered.  Why didn't they give her scrubs bottoms too?  This may have been the instance where she hurt her husband herself.  As I said, I didn't see that part and wanted to, but I'm sure everybody on here will remember the story line and know the answer.

 

No explanation as to why they didn't give her scrub pants, too.  This was the one where both of them were drug addicts and she cut his arm with a chain saw apparently because they were desperate for a fix, I think we were supposed to think she didn't realize what she was doing and accidentally cut his arm off.  They were about to lose their health insurance and I think they were counting on getting a nice big prescription for narcotics from the ER paid for by their prescription plan.

Today was also the awful episode where med student Harper sleeps with Doug because she is upset after taking care of a dying child.  She was really awful in that episode.  First, she cannot believe that Carter, who she was casually dating at the time couldn't understand her need to hook up with Doug since he had been with her while she was taking care of the kid and 'understood' her distress.  Say what?  How could anyone buy that?  Is that something she does every time she has a bad day at work?  If so, perhaps she needs to consider a different career.  Call me crazy, but I attended medical school myself and saw quite a few people, even kids die; was often distressed by these things and yet it never occurred to me that sleeping with my supervising resident would be a good way to work through my feelings.  As a woman, I was pissed off.  Yes, as her supervisor, Doug held the ultimate responsibility to behave ethically, but she was totally ridiculous in her reasoning.

Then, after Mark accidentally discovers her hook up, she confronts him and tells him how she doesn't want the fact that she slept with her supervisor because she was sad about a dying kid to lead to any sort of negative consequence for her med school future and acts like it is somehow Mark's problem and not hers.  She’s pissed at him for accidentally discovering her indiscretion.  Suggestion:  if one feels that sleeping with the boss might affect how others in the workplace perceive you; then don't do it.

ETA: while in medical school, I was aware of 2 separate incidents where a resident and med student became involved during the rotation leading to a lot of awkwardness for everyone else who had to work with them.  One led to a reprimand for the resident after the interns who worked on the service reported that they felt that the student was receiving favored treatment on the rotation and requested that the resident be excluded from grading that student (and that's what happened).  Interestingly, it was the same student both times; and I do think this person had problems with boundaries and also saw nothing wrong with currying academic favor by flirting with the residents.  It was icky.

Edited January 31, 2018 by doodlebug
Pronouns

[justduckey]

4 hours ago, slasherboy said:

Looks like it's a one-shot deal, Earl Is Dead, because the marathoning is back the following Saturday, February 10th.  They're re-airing The Grammy Awards so maybe they just decided to fill up the hours before and after with crap.  So worry not.

Just watched "And Baby Makes Two".  Sort of ... missed the part I wanted to see to comment on.  A woman brings in her husband and she's covered in blood.  They gave her a scrubs top to wear, but her pants are still covered.  Why didn't they give her scrubs bottoms too?  This may have been the instance where she hurt her husband herself.  As I said, I didn't see that part and wanted to, but I'm sure everybody on here will remember the story line and know the answer.

And I'll just say again, I love the Benton/Carter relationship.    And Clooney has legs just like my ex's.

This may sound weird, but I find a lot of comfort in watching, or even half-watching, this show every day.  I can be doing something else, but the sound of all their voices (except Chloe) is so familiar that I would definitely miss them if POP decided to air something else.  Say, oh, "The West Wing"?  Hint Hint.

I find it comforting, too. I didn’t think I’d be up for another round of this but I find myself DVRing it daily and attempting to watch them daily. Not with as much attention as the first go-round on POP but I can’t seem to let it go (as soon as Clooney leaves I think I’m done though).

[MVFrostsMyPie]

5 hours ago, slasherboy said:

This may sound weird, but I find a lot of comfort in watching, or even half-watching, this show every day.  

 

Totally not weird. I feel this way about this show and Alias. The episodes feel like a comforting hug. :) 

Edited January 31, 2018 by MVFrostsMyPie

[desertflower]

I just finished the episode where Dr. Greene appears in flashback and they show what happened to Dr. Banfield's son. It tore me up! My nose is stuffy from crying now. I wish they had brought Angela Bassett on sooner and we'd seen more of her and Courtney B. Vance. They probably would've lifted those blah seasons up a few notches for sure. 

[katha]

22 hours ago, slasherboy said:

And I'll just say again, I love the Benton/Carter relationship.   

Benton/Carter is perhaps my fave TV relationship ever. Everything about it was perfect. It was a great blend of the personal and professional. The actors clicked, the characters brought out things in each other that no one else every managed (mostly positive, but sometimes also ugly aspects of their personalities).

And from a character/storytelling perspective it was so crucial, but many shows don't properly see dynamics like that: Carter desperately needed a mentor like Benton to become a decent doctor IMO. For all his kindness and eager puppy dog behaviour, Carter could be hella manipulative and he knew how to wield power and get his way when he wanted. He needed Benton, who just seems totally resistant to any attempts at charming your way out of problems. Imagine Carter with Mark: I think the danger of Carter getting his way too often and not always learning proper consequences would have been great.

And Benton trying to shut everyone out, yet somehow coming to care for Carter anyway. But it also felt realistic that he only lets people in so far, and though it broke Carter's heart to not get closer to him, it was cool that the show didn't take the cheap way out. A personality like Benton won't ever get warm and cuddly and start sharing their feelings with people, much less their student.

[RedbirdNelly]

1 hour ago, katha said:

Benton/Carter is perhaps my fave TV relationship ever. Everything about it was perfect. It was a great blend of the personal and professional. The actors clicked, the characters brought out things in each other that no one else every managed (mostly positive, but sometimes also ugly aspects of their personalities).

And from a character/storytelling perspective it was so crucial, but many shows don't properly see dynamics like that: Carter desperately needed a mentor like Benton to become a decent doctor IMO. For all his kindness and eager puppy dog behaviour, Carter could be hella manipulative and he knew how to wield power and get his way when he wanted. He needed Benton, who just seems totally resistant to any attempts at charming your way out of problems. Imagine Carter with Mark: I think the danger of Carter getting his way too often and not always learning proper consequences would have been great.

And Benton trying to shut everyone out, yet somehow coming to care for Carter anyway. But it also felt realistic that he only lets people in so far, and though it broke Carter's heart to not get closer to him, it was cool that the show didn't take the cheap way out. A personality like Benton won't ever get warm and cuddly and start sharing their feelings with people, much less their student.

I can't like it enough. Benton was one of my favorite characters because he had edges and they never smoothed over them entirely. The scene where he leaves the show and Carter gives him the token was so perfect and true to his character, bumps and all. Their relationship was the best--and would have been so much less, if they'd gotten all "he's my person" or whatever. It kept its edge/some distance but they both cared about each other. I also give credit to the actors. When I first started watching ER (early Season 2) I remember asking friends "am I supposed to like Benton?" I wasn't sure and most shows have you either liking or dislike the characters--all good or bad. I loved how he was a mix and E. LaSalle portrayed it perfectly.

[kittykat]

Just finished binging S1 on Hulu and 5 into S2.  Random thoughts

Love's Labor Lost was gutting but I couldn't help but agree with comments upthread about why OB didn't get involved way sooner with Jodi's case.  They made a point that Coburn was away and that all the other residents were tied up (IIRC literally every mom in OB needed a C-Section that day).  It was gutwrenching since the show usually has anywhere from 4-10 cases a show minor to severe and we mainly spent the whole episode minus a few scenes with Ma Benton  with them. I've seen too many Call the Midwife episodes so when I saw that the O'Briens were the happiest happies to ever happy cynical me was all "this couple is doomed."  In future episodes when the ER dealt with a pregnant woman trauma, OB was called and brought down immediately; I would yell at the TV "WHERE YOU WERE WHEN JODI OBRIEN NEEDED YOU!"

I absolutely love the rapport between Carter and Benton.  It reminds me of JD and Dr. Cox on Scrubs.  Every time Carter looks longingly at Benton waiting for validation I pretend he says to himself "and I will have that hug."

I know it crosses a line work wise but I side 100% with Doug decking the asshole who kicked his daughter off a balcony.  

[RedbirdNelly]

Season 12, I believe episode 2 has an OB case (gestational surrogate refuses a C-section). It was a nice bit of continuity to have Coburn show up again, even though we haven't seen her in years.

Also early season 12, Neela is packing a care package for Gallant and Abby has one of her funniest, deadpan line (following Frank trying to include a porn tape in the package and Abby telling Neela in a separate conversation that Gallant has certain needs) (likely slightly paraphrased because I can never remember exact quotes)

Abby; [line about Gallant having needs]

Neela: You sound like Frank

Abby: I get that a lot.

 

cracked me up.

[slasherboy]

Watching "A Miracle Happens Here".  Shep and ? (can't remember his partner's name) (Raol maybe?, and yes, I know I spelled it wrong) brought in a woman injured from a car-jacking who was a survivor of a concentration camp.  Anyway, Shep and ? had snow on their shoulders, which amazingly didn't move or fall off the entire time they were hustling around, but there was nary a flake on their heads/hair.

I love noticing silly little things like that.

[Bastet]

16 minutes ago, slasherboy said:

Shep and ? (can't remember his partner's name) (Raol maybe?, and yes, I know I spelled it wrong) 

Yep, Raul.  He's memorable to me because his death was the only time I ever didn't want Shep off my screen.

[bythelake]

34 minutes ago, slasherboy said:

Watching "A Miracle Happens Here".  Shep and ? (can't remember his partner's name) (Raol maybe?, and yes, I know I spelled it wrong) brought in a woman injured from a car-jacking who was a survivor of a concentration camp.  Anyway, Shep and ? had snow on their shoulders, which amazingly didn't move or fall off the entire time they were hustling around, but there was nary a flake on their heads/hair.

I love noticing silly little things like that.

For us oldies on the board, the woman who played the grandmother is Joan Copeland, the younger sister of playwright Arthur Miller. she was briefly Marilyn Monroe's sister-in-law. I always liked her work.