r/ershow

So I knew it would be going a bit downhill when almost all of the original characters left, (except for Weaver) but some of these episodes are just ridiculous. I’m on episode 9 where Abby is flying with the helicopter team, but when they show her holding onto a rope out of the helicopter to get to a bus wreck, I groaned. I like Abby’s character, but were they so desperate to write her into *another* episode, that they pulled this plot line out of the air? (No pun intended) There are so many other episodes where the acting from guest actors is just so bad. At this point I’m only watching to get through the show.

Lucy was practically a lead on Season 5 with the amount of stuff she was given and I like Kellie Martin, and yet, when Season 6 came out, I was struck by how uninteresting the character was when the focus wasn't on her.

True, she wasn't given a lot in the first half however regulars are given off seasons and still shine, Lucy got boring, and when Abby came in, it was made more obvious the disparity. The writers also left her hanging by not giving her a proper romantic interest after Noah Wyle refused to partner with her. ,

I have been a fan of ER for a long time but could never make it through those bad seasons at the end. Finally made it to the last episode and it was so good!

Of all the pointless recurring characters throughout the series, she’s the most confusing one to me. Anspaugh giving her the position on ‘seniority’ when in the end she had no real calls or saves throughout her tenure. Just an entry point for Pratt to eventually get the department head position which never happened anyway with Greg dying. The forced Dubenko scenes to compete with Greys were equally as unsexy as Sam and Tony. With this rage inducing drama ending, it only opened the door for Neela and Brenner. If I could do it all over again, I’d push Romano away and have the helicopter fall on me.

So I just got finished with the Clemente arc and, I really don't understand what they were going for.. at all.

When he first turned up it seemed like he'd be a great and competent foil to Kovac in the way Weaver was to Greene and I liked his character. But then in the space of 2-3 episodes he turns into a coke snorting trainwreck and then there's the whole sub-plot of the corrupt cop and the shooting that feels like it belongs in another show entirely and never seemingly gets resolved.

Finally, he just goes insane from paranoia/sleep deprivation and then the writers wash their hands of him. I know season 12/13 is peak schlock for ER but even this felt over the top.

How does everyone else here feel about the inclusion of Clemente and the arc of his character?

First-time viewer. This is the oddest season. Half of the characters are just not present:

Carter is in the Congo
Jing-Mei is in China
Susan is missing in many episodes
Weaver is barley around
Cooper disappeared
We see Gallant every once in a while.

I’m very curious on what was going on behind the scenes.

Obviously fantastic acting with how much I dislike her haha. But wow what a b*tch she is. So bitter and mean. Particularly against the other females. The episode where she’s trying to move in on Chen and Susan Lewis traumas. They’re telling her they have it under control and she keeps butting in.

Just watched the episode where a few of the doctors and Abby have to go get sexual harassment training for what they did with the blow up doll. During this they all have a conversation and reveal what ages and how they lost their virginity.

Carter reveals that he lost his virginity at 11 and everybody laughs. First red flag.

Carter then continues to say that he lost his virginity to someone who was employed by his parents who was 25 years old. I think Susan says something along the lines of " I hope she got one hell of a Christmas bonus".

He was molested and everybody just laughed at it. I know it's a show but it literally made me feel kind of sick. Imagine if Carter was one of the women doctors who said they lost their virginity at 11 to a 25-year-old man. I'm not quite sure they'd even feel comfortable putting that on the show let alone it being something comedic.

I love how the final few episodes we get to see some of the original cast. Seeing Carol and Doug going strong doing amazing was nice. Peter working still with Chole and Reese doing great. Kerry and Susan showing up to support Carter. Elizabeth and Rachel really did it for me. Getting to see almost a full circle of Mark Greenes daughter now becoming a medical student got me in my feels. Yes Mark Greene was my favorite character. I will say I wish Carters character got a happier ending. Maybe him and Kem tried for another kid or moved on from each other and he got a family in the end. To be honest though a lot of season 15 was hard to get through. Most of the characters that were left were not characters I really liked. Pratt was probably the last one I really enjoyed his character. All in all it was an INCREDIBLE show with amazing storyline and very talented cast. I will probably rewatch sometime. As for now it is on to the Pitt for me.

I’m thinking of the ER arc in season 13 which culminates into >!everyone kissing, or flirting, or fighting over Neela in episode 21 (Abby and Kovac’s wedding).!<

This is my second rewatch of the show. I know everyone hates this arc for a reason, it diminishes the roles of characters and dynamics that had huge potential (Neela, Ray, Neela + Lucien’s mentorship dynamic) and is just… frustrating. But, I’m realizing that it feels… so… so similar to Grey’s Anatomy.
This season came out in 2006, when Grey’s would have been a huge competitor to ER. Part of me thinks that this arc was a way for the writers to make fun of Grey’s Anatomy - specifically the various love triangles involving the show’s main character, Meredith Grey.

Neela is a surgical resident, just like Grey, who suddenly finds herself surrounded by people madly in love/lust with one another. All these men >!(and woman)!< claw for her affections. It feels like the writers were trying to exaggerate the things about Grey’s that made it popular:
The love triangles, the surgeon drama, the sex!

Then again, the show started focusing more on how rude/overdramatic/generally weird the surgical staff were when Grey’s started to get big.

I say this as a huge fan of both shows!

Did anyone else notice these parallels or am I trying to find purpose in a generally annoying and useless arc?

To this day, I cringe at this because it got ridiculous. I wish Neela's arc had been more than just men falling themselves over her. As annoying as Sam could be, her character had something deep and meaningful to work with.

In S14 when Luka's father died, he was in the US right? Abby comes home drunk expecting him to be asleep and he tells her he had been trying to reach her because his father died.

Then a few episodes later when he's visiting the hospice for a job interview he tells the interviewer that he was there when his father died.

Is it just an inconsistency in the writing or did I misunderstand something?

So I’m from the UK and ER used to be on Channel 4 (new episodes in the evenings, then re-runs during the day). So when I was revising for both GCSEs and A Levels ER was in the background.

As a teenager I loved Mark, Elizabeth and Luka and hated Kerry and Malucci. Was meh about Jeannie. Thought Doug was hard done by.

I learned about systemic racism, microaggressions and tokenism from Benton. The moment when the older Black woman said she wanted a white doctor stayed with me for years.

Now as an adult, Mark is insufferable, both before and after PTSD and the tumour. What happened to Elizabeth being fun and getting Peter to come out of his shell and standing up to Romano? She turned so ineffective and naggy. I’m on season 7 and Luka is so condescending and judgmental. Doug needed to respect the boundaries of the job.

Kerry is someone who genuinely believes following the rules is an act of care for her staff and patients. The way she is firm with Carter with his substance use, how she works with Jeannie to keep her in work, and how she calls for competency testing on Mark after his surgery. Yes she’s ambitious and political but it doesn’t make her a bad person and she shows how hard it is to manage a department.

Malucci’s grown on me. There’s a classism at play for doctors from working class backgrounds and he showed sensitivity when he needed and realised he fucked up with the comments he made about Jesse in front of Benton and named it.

Oh but Jeannie. She was the soul of the ER department. Kept her dignity and her vulnerability and was so strong and found her happiness.

I still sobbed when Lucy died and when Chen gave up her baby for adoption. I loved how complex stories unfolded.

Haleh is still the GOAT. Anspaugh is also a much needed antidote to the ridiculousness.

Just recently finished my 1st ever watch through. I kept a running list of some thoughts. Here are some that others may or may not agree on, but I’d like to hear feedback.

- Carol and Doug should have been at Mark’s funeral. That’s wild to me considering how close they all were. Even if they couldn’t get the actors they should have mentioned some condolences or some kind of sentiment coming from them.

- This one is a REALLY gonna ruffle feathers, but I would have loved to see Elizabeth and Robert Romano together. I know, I know, pitch fork mob incoming 🫣 but I felt so bad for the man. I mean he was the world’s biggest asshole 98% of the time, but the man was whipped by Lizzie for sure, and they had their moments of chemistry. He adored her and respected her as a surgeon first. Everyone deserves a little happiness— his was unfortunately flatted very abruptly 🫢

- I loved Sally Field as Maggie. Just an outstanding performance. She irritated me so bad at first but really turned herself around for the better. Great character development and display of how mental health affects families.

- Abby’s father. They built up to this storyline right before the wedding and it just disappeared!? Luka was very sus at Abby and I don’t think she ever told him anything. Why would they set that up just to never address it again?

- Deb Chen deserved better. I would’ve loved to have seen her flourish at county. She was given the short end of the stick IMO.

- So incredibly unfair for them to kill off Sandy. Kerry Weaver was one of my favs, she did not deserve that heartbreak one bit. Also everything she went through with her mother- just so unfair.

- Malucci should have stayed!!! He was a fav of mine. Archie Morris did wayyyy worse things and they flipped him for the better so quick.

- Morris was literally awful and then he wasn’t. No one remembers he was getting high asf while on the job? Man was fully lighting up at work 😂

- LUCY. My number 1 home girl. I will never live down what they did to you!!!! She would have been the BEST attending. And HOT take her and Carter were destined to be a power couple idc!! She is literally the only woman on the show he ever had real chemistry with and they only kissed once!
He never had chemistry with any other woman, not even his wife.