All Episodes Talk: What's Up Doc?

[doodlebug]

47 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Watched episodes 3 and 4 of season 11 and more Neela stupidity. She can't find a job and is basically told the only thing she is qualified for is entry level work at the convenience store by the hospital. Yet the employment placement Lady says she has an undergraduate degree from Yale. Which seems odd to me that even if she wanted to dump medicine an undergrad science degree from Yale shouldn't be totally worthless. It's just the whole can't find a job storyline was dumb, like sitcom dumb. Actually like bad sitcom dumb because I can't remember if Scrubs did a story like that but if they did it would have been way better.

Plus as far as her parents not having money for the other kids, I looked it up and a degree from Yale for a US citizen costs about 4 times what a degree from Cambridge costs for a UK citizen. So assuming the ratio was the same back in the 90s her parents could have sent 4 kids to school just in what they spent on Neela going to Yale, not counting relocation costs. And it is not like Cambridge is some no name loser school.

Yep, totally illogical.  And, yes, of course, any degree from Yale should be good enough to get an entry level job someplace other than a convenience store.  If it was a science degree, even better.  There are pharmaceutical companies, companies that manufacture various chemicals, biologics, etc that would be happy to employ a science major even if the job itself wasn't science specific.  Law firms that deal with those industries also love having people around who can read a scientific paper and summarize it.

Chicago is a huge city with all sorts of industry.  If Neela got good enough grades to get into med school and, then, managed to graduate; there is no way she wasn't employable in a job with a future of some sort.

Edited January 28, 2021 by doodlebug

[Heathen]

3 hours ago, doodlebug said:

US medical schools require all applicants to be US citizens. Or, at least, that was the case back when I was applying.  I had a friend in undergrad who was Canadian; he moved to the US at age 10 when his father took a job here.  He was a permanent resident with a green card, but had never gotten around to getting citizenship.  He had to apply and be naturalized so he could get into a US med school.  I remember this because I was one of his witnesses.  I had to go to court and get sworn in and attest that I'd never seen him break a law (other than minor traffic laws), that he was genuine in his desire for citizenship  and that he wasn't planning to overthrow the US government.  I must've answered the questions correctly because he got citizenship.  He also got into med school and continues to live in the US.

The whole story with Neela's parents was just ridiculous, IMO.  Certainly, there is cultural pressure for Asian Indian kids to do well in school and aim for major careers; but, as far as expecting Neela to put her siblings through school; even if she did dermatology, it would be 3-4 years before she'd be out in practice and making enough money to help out anyway.  And, yes, if Neela still had British citizenship, she should've gone to the UK where undergrad and med school are combined into a 6 year program and the schooling is government funded.  The training in the UK is completely different in the US, but the medical system is excellent.  Of course, graduates of UK med schools couldn't come to the US and practice without completing a residency in a US hospital.  Even if Neela was trained in the UK in the best dermatology residency there and went out and practiced for a decade as a top dermatologist; she'd have to repeat the residency if she wanted to practice in the US.  The only country where a residency would be accepted for US practice is Canada.  We sorta saw that on ER when Elizabeth had to do an internship.  In real life, she'd have had to do an entire 5 year general surgical residency which is why docs who've completed training in the UK rarely emigrate here.

I went to undergrad with international students who were applying to med school and weren't citizens yet. I checked with Dr. Google -- it's complicated and not common, but not impossible. https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/preprofadvising/pre-medhealth/applicants/special-applicant-groups/international-applicants/  

As for the rest, number one, this is ER world, where nothing in the later seasons resembled reality. My guess is that Parminder Nagra could not act with an American accent, so they had to make her British. If she had a facility for accents, they could have made her be from Michigan, and had entire plotlines about Chicago v. Detroit and who had the best paczki or whatever. (Pratt had family in Detroit so they could have bonded over it and pissed off Jing-Mei even more.) It would have been more believable, but by that point the writers weren't going for authenticity. 

I remember an episode in which Neela (at work, of course, for ostentatiousness) was writing a large check to her parents for her siblings' education. Wonder Doc Abby commented on it, I believe. If I have time anytime soon, I'll watch some episodes and find out which one it was. 

[doodlebug]

3 minutes ago, Heathen said:

I went to undergrad with international students who were applying to med school and weren't citizens yet. I checked with Dr. Google -- it's complicated and not common, but not impossible. https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/preprofadvising/pre-medhealth/applicants/special-applicant-groups/international-applicants/  

As for the rest, number one, this is ER world, where nothing in the later seasons resembled reality. My guess is that Parminder Nagra could not act with an American accent, so they had to make her British. If she had a facility for accents, they could have made her be from Michigan, and had entire plotlines about Chicago v. Detroit and who had the best paczki or whatever. (Pratt had family in Detroit so they could have bonded over it and pissed off Jing-Mei even more.) It would have been more believable, but by that point the writers weren't going for authenticity. 

I remember an episode in which Neela (at work, of course, for ostentatiousness) was writing a large check to her parents for her siblings' education. Wonder Doc Abby commented on it, I believe. If I have time anytime soon, I'll watch some episodes and find out which one it was. 

I didn't apply to any of the elite med schools like Johns Hopkins and their admissions standards were always different because they had private funding.  Back when I applied, I only tried for in-state schools because they favored residents of the state due to the state government contributing some of their funding.  It could be that that was the reason that non US citizens were not accepted. 

I just looked at the website for my school and it doesn't mention US citizenship as a current requirement for admission, so perhaps that has changed.  The only requirement is fluency in written and spoken English.  Virtually every single student at my med school was a resident of Ohio, in addition to being a US citizen.  The state of N Dakota didn't have enough slots at their med school to produce the number of doctors needed there, so they paid OSU for something like 4 places in each med school class.  Those were the only out of state students that I remember.

Things have changed a lot in the more than 40 (!) years since I applied.  However, in the era when Neela would've been in med school; I believe US citizenship was a requirement at most if not all med schools.

[Kel Varnsen]

2 hours ago, doodlebug said:

Chicago is a huge city with all sorts of industry.  If Neela got good enough grades to get into med school and, then, managed to graduate; there is no way she wasn't employable in a job with a future of some sort

I think the most annoying thing about this Neela storyline is how it ended. She didn't come to some realization that she really loved practising medicine. She just realized that she was somehow only qualified to either be a hospital doctor or a convenience store clerk, and being a clerk sucked more. For all I know she still hates medicine. How hard would it have been to have an episode where she saves someone's life, or she starts reading Abby's doctor books and gets really into it, or she is watching Jeapordy and aces all the questions in the medical category.

[doodlebug]

10 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I think the most annoying thing about this Neela storyline is how it ended. She didn't come to some realization that she really loved practising medicine. She just realized that she was somehow only qualified to either be a hospital doctor or a convenience store clerk, and being a clerk sucked more. For all I know she still hates medicine. How hard would it have been to have an episode where she saves someone's life, or she starts reading Abby's doctor books and gets really into it, or she is watching Jeapordy and aces all the questions in the medical category.

For that matter, Neela switched to surgery from ER.  Why not have her realize she liked working with her hands, that she saw that this was a special skill and one she could master?  Maybe she hadn't been in the right area of medicine and it would've been nice to see her realize that and embrace the life of a surgeon.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 1/28/2021 at 12:56 PM, doodlebug said:

For that matter, Neela switched to surgery from ER.  Why not have her realize she liked working with her hands, that she saw that this was a special skill and one she could master?  Maybe she hadn't been in the right area of medicine and it would've been nice to see her realize that and embrace the life of a surgeon.

I didn't actually realize Neela became a surgeon until I read it like a week ago. The funny thing is the start of season 11 is when Corday leaves so having her realize she really liked surgery and was good at it then would have been a smart way to maintain a link with that world.

[debraran]

2 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I didn't actually realize Neela became a surgeon until I read it like a week ago. The funny thing is the start of season 11 is when Corday leaves so having her realize she really liked surgery and was good at it then would have been a smart way to maintain a link with that world.

I agree. It wasn't the actress's fault she didn't get much to work with script-wise. I found the "everyone loves her worse than St Abby" Gallant was rushed and I wished he stayed on but not with her. Gates and Ray were somewhat immature so that's fine, but her not being able to figure it out her feelings was junior high. I like Ray more and was glad she seemed to end up with him. Dubanko fawning over her was ridiculous, not once, not twice but three or four times. Then the female med student hits on her and Simon. What was her perfume??? : )

.

Edited January 29, 2021 by debraran

[readster]

15 hours ago, debraran said:

I agree. It wasn't the actress's fault she didn't get much to work with script-wise. I found the "everyone loves her worse than St Abby" Gallant was rushed and I wished he stayed on but not with her. Gates and Ray were somewhat immature so that's fine, but her not being able to figure it out her feelings was junior high. I like Ray more and was glad she seemed to end up with him. Dubanko fawning over her was ridiculous, not once, not twice but three or four times. Then the female med student hits on her and Simon. What was her perfume??? : )

.

I agree because I liked the actress and they finally moved her to some good storylines with going to surgery, but it still still so badly handled storywise. Hell, when she got trampled on by the crowd when the moron decided to set off fireworks by a war protest and she gets stomped almost to death. I remember my parents and I going: "Oh, so it's gone from all about Abby to all about Neela, oh please!"

[Kel Varnsen]

About half way through 11 now. Man this social worker lady is super annoying. Especially with how hard she comes into Carter. I mean I get that he is the one who is supposed to be committed or not and I am pretty indifferent to Kem. But at the same time every one in the hospital knows he is in some sort of serious long distance relationship and he just went through a pretty serious trauma with his son.  Plus people at the hospital seem to like Kem. So the way she is flirting with him, without somehow becoming the subject of a ton of gossip (not to mention how everyone seems cool with her) seems ridiculous. 

Also just watched Chen's last ep last night. Man this season is not good for characters with a last name starting with C.

Also of course Abby gets kidnapped by gang members and for some reason they decide to let her go even after she saw their face and they threatened to kill her.

[PepSinger]

19 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Also of course Abby gets kidnapped by gang members and for some reason they decide to let her go even after she saw their face and they threatened to kill her.

I despise that episode. Was it supposed to be Emmy bait for Maura?

 

On 1/29/2021 at 3:37 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

I didn't actually realize Neela became a surgeon until I read it like a week ago. The funny thing is the start of season 11 is when Corday leaves so having her realize she really liked surgery and was good at it then would have been a smart way to maintain a link with that world.

The surgery department became really weird after Corday left, and I did not like it.

[readster]

1 hour ago, PepSinger said:

I despise that episode. Was it supposed to be Emmy bait for Maura?

 

I'm still upset they burned that little kid's Teen Titans. That was a premium comic then. Then again, we are expecting they could start a fire on the south side and NO ONE would notice. 

[debraran]

What were they thinking with Simon Brenner? He's a nephew to Anspough and a jerk. Any first scene that opens up with him in bed with 2 women who can't get enough of him is time to see if you changed shows somehow. My friend said she thought he was more repugnant that Romano ever was, he was funny at least at times, and that was when she stopped watching many years ago. For me it must have been around this time because I only remembered re watching on Hulu, the Carter/Kidney show and the last one. Even Pratt's death is not in memory so I'll watch that again.

My daughter who is mixed found it repugnant along with myself how he treated the residents but especially the black woman he slept with and then insulted. He constantly calls her stupid and boring and not worth teaching. Then to add insult to injury Neela sleeps with him? What is that, she can have anyone and she sleeps with this guy? (I'd want him tested for STD's for sure)

I vaguely remember an abuse angle but it's so unwatchable. Sex dvds of Gates and Sam? Well Loves Labor Lost, Blizzard, Fathers and Son's etc. are still there to remember what great writing was. I never gave Archie a chance back then but he had a few good episodes and would have had more to work with if he came earlier in the show.

Edited February 1, 2021 by debraran

[doodlebug]

12 hours ago, PepSinger said:

I despise that episode. Was it supposed to be Emmy bait for Maura?

 

The surgery department became really weird after Corday left, and I did not like it.

Short answer: Virtually EVERYTHING that happened to Abby was supposed to be Emmy bait for Maura.  By  the time she became a regular, mid season 6, the show was starting to decline; TPTB brought her aboard hoping that she would bring some new attention.  Then, Sally Field guested and there was a ton of critical buzz as well as the first acting Emmy won by the show in years for Sally Field.  From that point on, it seemed like they thought there was something magical about MT as Abby and she was shoved down our throats as the best, most special, most lovable, prettiest, smartest and all around amazing character.  And, thus, we got unbelievable storylines like the ridiculous episode where Abby ends up enchanting a bunch of murderous gang bangers into releasing her unharmed.

[Kel Varnsen]

The frustrating thing for me is I liked nurse Abby (in the hospital only). But doctor Abby is super annoying. And yea a group of criminals who are ok with murdering people are ok with letting her go after she witnessed enough stuff to put them in prison a long time. The Emmy bait of it a is super annoying, especially after that boring-ass Ray Liotta episode that was clearly the show trying to say it was still relevant even after 11 years.

A  funny thing last night. In one ep Weaver is having a meeting with the attendings in a trauma room. All the rest of the cast is freaking out outside. But during the meeting if you look through the window in the other trauma room an extra is doing CPR on someone on top of a gurney. But none of the doctors with names even bothers to notice.

I also hated Dan Hedaya coming back. He was super annoying, and it was extra jarring since it was just a few months ago where I saw him help out Mark.

[PepSinger]

10 hours ago, debraran said:

My daughter who is mixed found it repugnant along with myself how he treated the residents but especially the black woman he slept with and then insulted. He constantly calls her stupid and boring and not worth teaching.

I watched that episode during the last rotation on Pop. Let me tell you this: if that had been me, I would've reported his ass to HR, or I would have made sure he needed a testicular retrieval operation. I was infuriated watching him treating her like shit. I LOATHED that character, and I don't give a shit if he was molested as a child. He's a horrid person and a shitty teacher.

I'm still mad. Can you tell?

[debraran]

13 hours ago, PepSinger said:

I watched that episode during the last rotation on Pop. Let me tell you this: if that had been me, I would've reported his ass to HR, or I would have made sure he needed a testicular retrieval operation. I was infuriated watching him treating her like shit. I LOATHED that character, and I don't give a shit if he was molested as a child. He's a horrid person and a shitty teacher.

I'm still mad. Can you tell?

So am I, that went beyond anything Frank or Romano joked about. I kept thinking it would have an ending but after he threatened her with saying how it would look that she slept with him, she disappeared off the ER for a bit. He fawns over others but the insults and degrading talk was so awful, I don't know why the writers wrote it or why it didn't have a satisfying response. When he said he needed 2 bordeauxs and that didn't help, I thought, here comes a biting response but it was just so sad. Then he has Neela yell at him and she can't help but kiss him and sleep with him. Yuck! They threw in a few other docs showing Laverne how to do things and of course she wasn't stupid but his insults went beyond cruel. Few episodes later, her hair is straight and she makes a good call after a radiology rotation and he compliments her but she ignores him.  His sexual abuse I know wont touch me later or excuse this behavior.

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by debraran

[Dr.OO7]

4 hours ago, PepSinger said:

I watched that episode during the last rotation on Pop. Let me tell you this: if that had been me, I would've reported his ass to HR, or I would have made sure he needed a testicular retrieval operation. I was infuriated watching him treating her like shit. I LOATHED that character, and I don't give a shit if he was molested as a child. He's a horrid person and a shitty teacher.

I'm still mad. Can you tell?

So am I. It was just so stunningly cruel and completely uncalled for. Jeez, man, if all you wanted was a one night stand, just say so. There's no reason to treat the woman like a prostitute.

And the racial difference added some MAJOR unfortunate implications to his behavior.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Dr.OO7

[doodlebug]

15 hours ago, Dr.OO7 said:

So am I. It was just so stunningly cruel and completely uncalled for. Jeez, man, if all you wanted was a one night stand, just say so. There's no reason to treat the woman like a prostitute.

And the racial difference added some MAJOR unfortunate implications to his behavior.

It was also somewhat annoying when the show introduced the child molestation angle and seemed to imply that the reason he treated grown women so poorly was because he'd been abused as a kid.

[PepSinger]

3 hours ago, doodlebug said:

It was also somewhat annoying when the show introduced the child molestation angle and seemed to imply that the reason he treated grown women so poorly was because he'd been abused as a kid.

Exactly! That's why I noted it in my post. I saw through that bullshit.

[Birdie]

On 2/1/2021 at 10:19 AM, Kel Varnsen said:

boring-ass Ray Liotta episode

I thought that ep was boring as well. With the exception of the eps where Mark goes to California to his parents’ and even the Benton in Louisiana ep, I don’t enjoy the eps that are out of the ER and don’t include the whole cast. But I think Liotta won an Emmy for the guest appearance...? 🤷‍♀️ Not sure.

On 2/1/2021 at 10:19 AM, Kel Varnsen said:

I also hated Dan Hedaya coming back

I didn’t like his return either. His first arc with Mark wasn’t terrible; I though he and Edwards played well off each other. But his return and the spat with Susan didn’t do it for me.

And I agree with everything said about Brenner. The man was repugnant. And using the molestation angle to possibly “explain” his behavior - no, that doesn’t get to be explained away. It’s an insult to victims of molestation as well to insinuate that. Also, the fact that he’s Anspaugh’s nephew, who is Chief of Staff (?) or whatever (I think?), and he’s hired reeks of shady nepotism, no? Like he’d be teflon if Laverne ever did go forward and complain about his treatment of her. 

[Kel Varnsen]

4 hours ago, Birdie said:

didn’t like his return either. His first arc with Mark wasn’t terrible; I though he and Edwards played well off each other. But his return and the spat with Susan didn’t do it for me.

Plus it didn't really make sense that he would go from big shot powerful lawyer who makes Mark's lawsuit go away with a phone call, to Lionel Hutz style ambulance chaser begging for clients.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Kel Varnsen

[debraran]

4 hours ago, Birdie said:

I thought that ep was boring as well. With the exception of the eps where Mark goes to California to his parents’ and even the Benton in Louisiana ep, I don’t enjoy the eps that are out of the ER and don’t include the whole cast. But I think Liotta won an Emmy for the guest appearance...? 🤷‍♀️ Not sure.

I didn’t like his return either. His first arc with Mark wasn’t terrible; I though he and Edwards played well off each other. But his return and the spat with Susan didn’t do it for me.

And I agree with everything said about Brenner. The man was repugnant. And using the molestation angle to possibly “explain” his behavior - no, that doesn’t get to be explained away. It’s an insult to victims of molestation as well to insinuate that. Also, the fact that he’s Anspaugh’s nephew, who is Chief of Staff (?) or whatever (I think?), and he’s hired reeks of shady nepotism, no? Like he’d be teflon if Laverne ever did go forward and complain about his treatment of her. 

Re Brenner, he only was rude to Laverne, not the rest. With them he was just arrogant and conceited. Neela should have told him to take a hike, her character was such a wuss. He tells her she will wake up next to him after saying No and he'll remind her he was right. And she did it. 🤢

I thought the lawyer was also used better earlier and sometimes reusing a character doesn't have the same chemistry.

Edited February 2, 2021 by debraran

[doodlebug]

5 hours ago, Birdie said:

I thought that ep was boring as well. With the exception of the eps where Mark goes to California to his parents’ and even the Benton in Louisiana ep, I don’t enjoy the eps that are out of the ER and don’t include the whole cast. But I think Liotta won an Emmy for the guest appearance...? 🤷‍♀️ Not sure.

Yep, Liotta won an Emmy.  And I didn't love that episode, either.

[Hiyo]

“The surgery department became really weird after Corday left, and I did not like it.”

Hey, at least they kept the surgeons. Unless I’m mistaken, I believe Finch was the last pediatrician we saw on the show, and Jeanie the last PA, no? After that everyone was either a standard physician or a surgeon?

Edited February 7, 2021 by Hiyo

[debraran]

I think Jeanne was the last PA shown. I met my first int he 80's, he was in anesthesiology and on of the first at Yale.

I just watched Old Times, which I liked a lot. Carter gets a kidney and a mom a heart, and we get to see Doug and Carol and Benton and Carter's old chemistry. Susan Sarandon was wonderful too and by this time I remember Archie and Angela Bassett grew on me too. Good show all around

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by debraran

[Dr.OO7]

On 2/6/2021 at 7:46 PM, debraran said:

I just watched Old Times, which I liked a lot. Carter gets a kidney and a mom a heart, and we get to see Doug and Carol and Benton and Carter's old chemist

Watching the first three slip back into their roles as if it had been days instead of a decade since they'd played was wonderful. I just wish that Doug/Neela/Sam had come up with even ONE name in common besides Anspaugh and that we'd seen Doug and Carol's twins (I can't believe they'd be graduating from college this year) and/or heard that they'd had more kids.

 

[debraran]

36 minutes ago, Dr.OO7 said:

Watching the first three slip back into their roles as if it had been days instead of a decade since they'd played was wonderful. I just wish that Doug/Neela/Sam had come up with even ONE name in common besides Anspaugh and that we'd seen Doug and Carol's twins (I can't believe they'd be graduating from college this year) and/or heard that they'd had more kids.

 

Yes he could have asked about Jeanne or Halah or Jerry!  And he knew Carter.

I would have loved to see the nurses show a Xmas card with twins, it wasn’t like they were George Clooney’s real ones being hidden 🙂 

I wished on the last show that the drinks went on longer and Benton snd Elizabeth had a bit longer to talk.  Loved seeing them all but Kem was confusing. After 5 years you know whether you want marriage or another child.  Only thing that spoiled the end a bit for me but it did seem Carter decided to stay and mentor Rachel.  I’ll leave it at that in my mind. 

[Birdie]

20 hours ago, debraran said:

Carter decided to stay and mentor Rachel

I choose to believe this as it would come full circle as Mark did a fair share of mentoring Carter when the latter was a med student. 

Kem was always so damn flaky to me. So wishy washy about things, demanding way more of Carter than he did her. He’d try and talk to her and she’d just whine and cry, “I can’t! I can’t!” Also, Kem was so up in Carter’s business regarding money (like when he said he’d pay for the woman with AIDS for meds when Kem wouldn’t put her in her program, bitching at him for doing so and mentioning also paying for her children’s meds). But she had no qualms with Carter dropping $9000+ on a plane ticket to Tokyo he wasn’t even going to use just because he had to see her off at her gate and not just in the airport lobby. Also, get a damn grip, Carter. 🙄

I saw the episode today where Banfield is taking hormones to try and have a baby. And she’s injecting them in the freaking public break room, and I’m thinking, “you can’t do this privately in the bathroom?” And then Neela calls her on it saying something like, “if you wanted it to be private you wouldn’t do it in the break room.” Banfield’s lame excuse is that “it’s 5:30 AM; I didn’t think anyone would be in here.” Uh. It’s a major trauma center ER - 24/7 service.

How many personal phone calls/letters/correspondence did staff receive at the very busy and public front desk? And Carol faxing the all important letter in the very public fax machine? And Benton, Carol, and Kerry getting caught doing ultrasounds on themselves?

[debraran]

1 hour ago, Birdie said:

I choose to believe this as it would come full circle as Mark did a fair share of mentoring Carter when the latter was a med student. 

Kem was always so damn flaky to me. So wishy washy about things, demanding way more of Carter than he did her. He’d try and talk to her and she’d just whine and cry, “I can’t! I can’t!” Also, Kem was so up in Carter’s business regarding money (like when he said he’d pay for the woman with AIDS for meds when Kem wouldn’t put her in her program, bitching at him for doing so and mentioning also paying for her children’s meds). But she had no qualms with Carter dropping $9000+ on a plane ticket to Tokyo he wasn’t even going to use just because he had to see her off at her gate and not just in the airport lobby. Also, get a damn grip, Carter. 🙄

I saw the episode today where Banfield is taking hormones to try and have a baby. And she’s injecting them in the freaking public break room, and I’m thinking, “you can’t do this privately in the bathroom?” And then Neela calls her on it saying something like, “if you wanted it to be private you wouldn’t do it in the break room.” Banfield’s lame excuse is that “it’s 5:30 AM; I didn’t think anyone would be in here.” Uh. It’s a major trauma center ER - 24/7 service.

How many personal phone calls/letters/correspondence did staff receive at the very busy and public front desk? And Carol faxing the all important letter in the very public fax machine? And Benton, Carol, and Kerry getting caught doing ultrasounds on themselves?

I had to laugh, re Banfield that was funny and didn't Kerry do that too when trying to get pregnant.? I can't remember, but with Banfield,  that might have been the Neela dream episode where we had to see 3 versions of her day. ( that was torture) ; )   Kem was written awful, always tilting her head like Doug, whining and obviously didn't love Carter, but probably fell in love with the idea when pregnant. The Paris episode was awful visiting her mother, Kem making fun of his money but using it. Can't quite see why he put up with it so long. Many fans wrote the ending better because like Carter or not, he deserved a happy ending.

I would have liked to see Banfield adopt the baby in another episode and the future olive complected, red haired kids of Archie and Rachel find her legs, but ER specials weren't in the stars.

Edited February 9, 2021 by debraran

[Kel Varnsen]

3 hours ago, debraran said:

Can't quite see why he put up with it so long. Many fans wrote the ending better because like Carter or not, he deserved a happy ending.

Last night I just watched the episode where Wendel the social worker finally ends it with Carter after he takes a call from Kem while they are in bed together and it makes no sense. First off Carter pick one of them. And for Wendel how do you not know that he was still involved with another woman when she gave birth to his baby at the hospital you work at?

[Birdie]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Last night I just watched the episode where Wendel the social worker finally ends it with Carter after he takes a call from Kem while they are in bed together and it makes no sense. First off Carter pick one of them. And for Wendel how do you not know that he was still involved with another woman when she gave birth to his baby at the hospital you work at?

Yeah, Wendell ends it because Carter doesn’t love her - or at least can’t say he does. I’m not sure how long the two had been dating before she told him she loves him in that ep. It may have felt to Carter a bit premature? I don’t know  

And Carter’s like, “I had a baby with her. I’m just supposed to cut her out of my life?” Yes, Carter, people do it all the time. You are not beholden to her for life because she birthed your stillborn child. If he’s going to date another woman, there need to be boundaries. Answering the call in the middle of the night IN BED with your current girlfriend was a dick move. 

I’m with Wendell; I wouldn’t stand for it either.

 
But I think she still had an inkling there was something there with Kem because of the previous phone calls he received, but she never expected him to take a call while she was in bed next to him.

[Kel Varnsen]

My issue with Wendell is yes Carter was shitty. But at the same time Kem leaves for Africa in episode 1 of season 11. Carter spends the next few episodes drunk and depressed about what happened. He still keeps in contact with her and when Morris creepily prints pics of her he gets mad at him for having pics of his girlfriend.

Then Wendell shows up and comes at him hard. Considering that Carter's entire life is the hospital and two of his exes work in the ER it surprises me that she doesn't know what is up with his relationship with Kem and his trauma from the baby. But they hang out and she buys him a Christmas present and they flirt all the time. Did she never think to ask him if he still had a girlfriend? Did she never hear any gossip about him, or get warned by Abby or someone that he is going through a lot?

If she wants to be some kind of affair on the side or at best a rebound girlfriend that is fine. But she should at least have the self awareness to realize that not act like they are like the perfect couple.

[doodlebug]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

My issue with Wendell is yes Carter was shitty. But at the same time Kem leaves for Africa in episode 1 of season 11. Carter spends the next few episodes drunk and depressed about what happened. He still keeps in contact with her and when Morris creepily prints pics of her he gets mad at him for having pics of his girlfriend.

Then Wendell shows up and comes at him hard. Considering that Carter's entire life is the hospital and two of his exes work in the ER it surprises me that she doesn't know what is up with his relationship with Kem and his trauma from the baby. But they hang out and she buys him a Christmas present and they flirt all the time. Did she never think to ask him if he still had a girlfriend? Did she never hear any gossip about him, or get warned by Abby or someone that he is going through a lot?

If she wants to be some kind of affair on the side or at best a rebound girlfriend that is fine. But she should at least have the self awareness to realize that not act like they are like the perfect couple.

That's the thing.  As I recall, Carter and Kem's son was stillborn in May or June and Wendel started flirting with him only about 6 months later.  Kem was barely out of the picture at the time.  If Wendel really expected that he could let go of a relationship that essentially ended with the death of their child only a few months earlier, she was pretty naive.  Even if the baby had never existed, Carter returned to Chicago with a woman who moved to a different continent with him; surely Wendel must've suspected that the relationship with Kem had to have been pretty intense and expecting him to declare his love for her after such a relatively short period of time was naive at best.

And, yeah, I find it hard to believe that no one at County tipped Wendel off as to the circumstances surrounding Carter's single status before she started pursuing him.  You'd think she would've asked around.  Carter was a grown man, an attending, in his mid 30's; surely he had a past and she would've wanted to know about it.  In the 'getting to know you' stage of the relationship, Carter would've hopefully shared that information and she would've realized that he probably needed to take things slow and wasn't ready for commitment.

[Kel Varnsen]

The annoying thing is with some small tweaks or maybe an extra scene or two it would have made way more sense. They could have made it where they both agreed to be friends but we're super attracted to each other and ended up in bed. Or they could have had it where Carter lied to her and said his relationship with Kem was done. But to have it where she acts surprised that he still has a connection with his ex makes her seem like a dumbass at best when they were I think still together when she met Carter. Was she really thinking they had some long term viable thing going?

Because you know Carter's love life would be a big topic of hospital gossip considering by my count he has had at least 7 hospital connected relationships before her (Harper, Keaton, Susan, Abby, the insurance lady, the 19 year old social work student and Lucy (the exam room hookup)). And the fact that he is loaded.

[doodlebug]

6 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

The annoying thing is with some small tweaks or maybe an extra scene or two it would have made way more sense. They could have made it where they both agreed to be friends but we're super attracted to each other and ended up in bed. Or they could have had it where Carter lied to her and said his relationship with Kem was done. But to have it where she acts surprised that he still has a connection with his ex makes her seem like a dumbass at best when they were I think still together when she met Carter. Was she really thinking they had some long term viable thing going?

Because you know Carter's love life would be a big topic of hospital gossip considering by my count he has had at least 7 hospital connected relationships before her (Harper, Keaton, Susan, Abby, the insurance lady, the 19 year old social work student and Lucy (the exam room hookup)). And the fact that he is loaded.

Not to mention the fact that, just a few months earlier, he suffered the tragic loss of his child at that very hospital.  No way Wendel wouldn't have had access to a lot of information that would've been a big red flag for someone looking for a committed relationship with him.

[Heathen]

20 hours ago, Birdie said:

I choose to believe this as it would come full circle as Mark did a fair share of mentoring Carter when the latter was a med student. 

Kem was always so damn flaky to me. So wishy washy about things, demanding way more of Carter than he did her. He’d try and talk to her and she’d just whine and cry, “I can’t! I can’t!” Also, Kem was so up in Carter’s business regarding money (like when he said he’d pay for the woman with AIDS for meds when Kem wouldn’t put her in her program, bitching at him for doing so and mentioning also paying for her children’s meds). But she had no qualms with Carter dropping $9000+ on a plane ticket to Tokyo he wasn’t even going to use just because he had to see her off at her gate and not just in the airport lobby. Also, get a damn grip, Carter. 🙄

I saw the episode today where Banfield is taking hormones to try and have a baby. And she’s injecting them in the freaking public break room, and I’m thinking, “you can’t do this privately in the bathroom?” And then Neela calls her on it saying something like, “if you wanted it to be private you wouldn’t do it in the break room.” Banfield’s lame excuse is that “it’s 5:30 AM; I didn’t think anyone would be in here.” Uh. It’s a major trauma center ER - 24/7 service.

How many personal phone calls/letters/correspondence did staff receive at the very busy and public front desk? And Carol faxing the all important letter in the very public fax machine? And Benton, Carol, and Kerry getting caught doing ultrasounds on themselves?

In all fairness, the Benton appendectomy storyline was pretty damn funny. "Maybe I'll staple my name into his belly." "Dr. Doyle, you want to suction out Dr. Benton?"

The Kem storyline was absurd. They should have put Carter with Debbie, the ICRC worker with whom he had actual chemistry. That pairing made sense. Carter + Kem never, ever did. 

Remember when Weaver was injecting hormones or fertility drugs in the restroom and dropped the syringe? 

[Heathen]

I liked Adele, the old social worker, a lot better than Wendall. Wendall was deeply annoying. 

[Birdie]

15 hours ago, Heathen said:

the Benton appendectomy storyline was pretty damn funny. "Maybe I'll staple my name into his belly." "Dr. Doyle, you want to suction out Dr. Benton?"

Lol, yeah, it was. And Carter trying to spin a tale of Benton apologizing for mistreating him as Benton is coming out of anesthesia. 😆

[ch1]

6 hours ago, Birdie said:

Lol, yeah, it was. And Carter trying to spin a tale of Benton apologizing for mistreating him as Benton is coming out of anesthesia. 😆

Whose Appy Now is one of my favorite episodes.  I lost count the number of times I watched “Oooh there is a God!”  NW was gold in that episode.

[Driad]

CCH Pounder (Dr. Hicks) was gold too.  I wish she had been in more episodes.

[Hiyo]

At least she got an Emmy nomination for her work on the show.

[Danny Franks]

1 hour ago, Driad said:

CCH Pounder (Dr. Hicks) was gold too.  I wish she had been in more episodes.

CCH Pounder and Amy Aquino should both have been in a lot more episodes. The actors and the characters were much more interesting than Anspaugh or Romano.

[ShortyMac]

2 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

CCH Pounder and Amy Aquino should both have been in a lot more episodes. The actors and the characters were much more interesting than Anspaugh or Romano.

I would have loved Hicks and Coburn as main characters.

[Kel Varnsen]

50 minutes ago, ShortyMac said:

I would have loved Hicks and Coburn as main characters.

Agreed with all the time spent in surgery how did we not get more of Hicks. Or was CCH Pounder busy with other things?

Also I would have loved if we saw more of the pathologist lady who ran the morgue. She always seemed super interesting. How did Abby and Neela not do a pathology rotation?

Also speaking of interesting actors how did I not know until last night that they recast Sam's dirtbag ex with Garrett Dilahunt. That guy is like my favourite character actor. He has amazing range and plays a dirtbag better than anyone on tv. The funny thing is I remember what happened to the character but had no idea that they recast him. 

[Heathen]

2 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Agreed with all the Time spent in surgery how did we not get more of Hicks. Or was CCH Pounder busy with other things?

Also I would have loved if we saw more of the pathologist lady who ran the morgue. She always seemed super interesting. How did Abby and Neela not do a pathology rotation?

Also speaking of interesting actors how did I not know until last night that they recast Sam's dirtbag ex with Garrett Dilahunt. That guy is like my favourite character actor. He has amazing range and plays a dirtbag better than anyone on tv. The funny thing is I remember what happened to the character but had no idea that they recast him. 

Garret Dillahunt was wicked, unintentionally funny in No County for Old Men. In ER, he was just creepy and gross-looking. 

He was on SVU as well, I think. In one of those six-degrees-of things, he's married to Michelle Hurd, who played Monique Jeffries on SVU and Kerry's last love interest, Courtney Brown, on ER. 

ETA: He's been on SVU and the original recipe L&O. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by Heathen
Thanks, Wikipedia

[SoMuchTV]

23 minutes ago, Heathen said:

Garret Dillahunt was wicked, unintentionally funny in No County for Old Men. In ER, he was just creepy and gross-looking. 

He was on SVU as well, I think. In one of those six-degrees-of things, he's married to Michelle Hurd, who played Monique Jeffries on SVU and Kerry's last love interest, Courtney Brown, on ER. 

ETA: He's been on SVU and the original recipe L&O. 

I only really know him from Raising Hope, so it’s funny to hear how creepy/evil he is!

I guess I had totally forgotten him from ER. 

[Kel Varnsen]

47 minutes ago, Heathen said:

Garret Dillahunt was wicked, unintentionally funny in No County for Old Men. In ER, he was just creepy and gross-looking. 

He played two different murderers on Deadwood, and yet a weird southern Gentleman on The Mindy Project. Oh and a freakin Terminator. Like I said the man has range. He was hilarious on Raising Hope but the only funny thing so far about his ER character is that he drives an El Camino, because if course he does.

[Kel Varnsen]

Just finished season 11 last night. I really hope they don't spend too much time going forward on building Carter's new hospital wing. Early on in my career I worked for an engineering company and one of the big jobs we did was a major expansion of a local hospital (it was mostly a research wing). I worked mostly in the construction administration side, and I expect that however they show a hospital being built bis going to really annoy me.

[Dr.OO7]

On 2/10/2021 at 6:14 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

How did Abby and Neela not do a pathology rotation?

Depending on the school, it might not be a requirement. I took it as an elective (although this show has never been big on realism as far as rotations go). 

Also, I guess it wouldn't be very interesting watching them spend their days assisting with autopsies, viewing slides, etc.

[Kel Varnsen]

1 minute ago, Dr.OO7 said:

Depending on the school, it might not be a requirement. I took it as an elective (although this show has never been big on realism as far as rotations go). 

Also, I guess it wouldn't be very interesting watching them spend their days assisting with autopsies, viewing slides, etc.

I wasn't thinking so much about realism, because this is obviously not that kind of show. More that I wanted to see more from the pathologist that we saw a few times. Plus they could link it to the ER by having them do autopsies on people who died there.