ER - Time of Death, 1/13/05

Cafe Society
1

There’s an old saying about how if you put a frog into boiling water, he’ll jump out immediately, but if you put him in cool water and slowly turn the heat up, he’ll boil before he realizes what’s happening. What they don’t mention is what happens if you put him in cool water and slowly turn the heat up, but then when it starts getting really warm you dump in 5 gallons of boiling water.

Well, in my case, the frog jumped right out of the pot.

Yes, the frog is me, the pot is ER, and the 5 gallons of boiling water is last night’s episode.

I’ve been watching ER from the very beginning and I’m aware that the quality has slowly been falling over the last few years. But last night’s episode (“Skin”) was nothing but pure, unadulterated shit (I was gonna say “crap”, but that just wasn’t strong enough.) The acting was horrible, the script was atrocious, the characters were stereotypes. As I’m watching it, I keep asking myself, “Are these actors supposed to be be portraying humans?”

There’s not a single sympathetic character on the show. Even Carter, usually my favorite, has been turned into a fairly minor character who seems limited to glaring and walking around angrily. The med students … man, if any one of those hacks came near me, I’d scream and run away. The whole story line of Neela last night was rediculous; yes, we know she’s not good with patients. She’s never been good with patients. But she’s never been the cold, robotic, useless bitch she was last night. Who wrote this crap?? So, let’s recap: Kerry, bitchy and mostly absent. Carter, pining, moody, and ineffectual. Abby, never interesting. Pratt, jerk. Chen, gone. Susan, turning into a shrew. Med students, completely incompetent to change bed pans, let alone practice medicine.

This show used to have humor. It used to have drama. It used to have medical knowledge. It used to have characters you cared about and could identify with. Now it just full of triggers for melodramatic situations and characters I care nothing about.

RIP, ER.

Anyone up for frisbee on Thursday nights? I seem to have an extra hour of free time.

2

Wow, it was that bad, huh?

At the start of the episode, as soon as Abby was pulled into the SUV, I rolled my eyes so hard I got a really good look at my tonsils and I changed the channel.

3

I used to watch ER, then took a break, and haven’t been able to get back into it. Like you, I find the characters to be incredibly lacking as of late, and the plots for each episode seem to just be tiring or too overblown.

I am curious about last night’s episode, so if someone can fill me in…

the commercials show Abby in the back of some station waggon or something, being led out into the street by some guy with a gun, and then the guy shooting someone. Was this Abby, or someone she was with? It looked like she may have been in the back trying to help someone who’d been shot, but I couldn’t really tell, and well…I just really didn’t care enough to watch the entire episode to find out.

4

I generally still enjoy ER, although I often feel a little bit like a SNL fan: always griping that it isn’t what it was when it was good, when secretly I fear maybe it was never as good as I remember.

But last night was the most spectacular piece of crap hack writing I’ve ever seen from the land of Hackywood.

Yes, I agree with everything in the OP about last night’s ep. There was, strangely enough, zero dramatic tension when our protaganist was kidnapped at gunpoint and forced into an SUV by two Black Guys and threatened with death if she didn’t save the life of the severely wounded Black Gangster riding in back. Now, tell me: how do you make that set up boring? There’s conflict, there’s suspence, there’s lives (two of them) in danger, there’s racial stereotyping and a scene with a drive-through. How awful does your writing and directing have to be to make this boring? Well, they managed to do it.

Neela’s never been a heartless bitch. She’s nervous as all hell when it comes to expressing sympathy. She’s uncomfortable in the presence of emotion from other people. But that scene with the “what are the organic causes of crying?” What? She’s never been unaware of patient’s emotional states, just uncomfortable with them. Which is more interesting, IMHO.

But the thing that really got my goat (El Elvis Rojo here’s your answer) was

the kitten shooting. That’s right. Big Bad Black Guy runs over a kitten with the SUV. Stops. And gets out to shoot it in the head. So that promo shot of Abby being hustled out of the car and BBBG shooting her? Totally doctored from several scenes throughout the ep. He was shooting a kitten. A mother-freaking kitten. Look, if you want to make a point about euthanasia and how he showed more compassion to the kitten than his friend, go ahead. But that’s not what it felt like. It felt like you filmed that shot for the sole purpose of having a gun shot scene to put in your misleading promo.

This was the hackiest hackfest of hacktastica possible. Where the hell is my old SNL? I mean. ER?

5

Get ready,


It was a cat. No, seriously. She was in the SUV cause some gang members took her to “fix” their buddy, and they ran over a cat, so the guy shot it to put it out of it’s misery..

Oh, and Neela, Abby, Rock Star Dock, etc… aren’t med students, they are first year residents.

6

[spoiler]Abby was in the back of the car, treating a gang-banger who had been shot. Apparently they didn’t want him to go to the hospital because he’d be arrested.

While driving around, the driver said “I think I hit something.” The gunshot victim’s younger brother got out, and said “It’s a cat. I think he’s still alive.” The driver got out and shot the cat, and then they drove along on their merry way.
[/spoiler]

7

I made a concious decision to quit watching this show about two years ago.

This is unusual for me. Normally, if I lose interest in a show, I just gradually stop watching without taking any particular action. But two years ago, I think it was the episode before Romano got killed, I realized that I had lost all interest in any of the characters, the plots, the romances, and I quite deliberately quit watching.

I havn’t seen it since.

I havn’t missed it.

8

Wait! I just remembered the one good moment of the show. When

the pre-op transexual requests another doctor, Dr. Rock Star actually finds the nads to ask her why. And she tell him (paraphrasing) “Because you have this act going on. It’s like you’re not comfortable in your own skin. I know how that feels, and it makes me uncomfortable.”

Finally! Someone nailed that nagging feeling I haven’t been able to identify in myself. He’s not a bad doc. I keep wondering why I don’t feel comfortable with him, even though he’s fairly charming, cute as all get-out and keeps the energy in the room moving. What’s not to like? Well, that’s exactly it. She was totally right.

But one perfect insight does not a show make. :frowning:

9

When I saw the episode description in the guide, I was sure it was a repeat. Wasn’t Abby kidnapped or held hostage once before?

I liked Susan and Kerry (not sure how to spell it) talking at the end, when Susan asked Kerry for some advice on being a boss, and Kerry told her to expect not to be liked and that she’d lose friends.

Susan didn’t buy it, and it could be interesting to see how (or if) she manages to be a good manager without turning into a bitch.

I don’t like how Carter has moved on so quickly toward another relationship. Did he and Kem actually decide to call it off? I don’t remember seeing a breakup episode. Weren’t they still “in love” when Kem decided to go back to Africa?

10

I thought Carter and Kem were still in touch; she called him a few episodes ago, didn’t she? However, Carter has totally ceased to interest me as a character so I find myself tuning him out most of the time.

I was pretty interested in Neela’s discourse on organic causes of crying.

11

Obviously, the notice sent to you of the show’s death got lost in the mail. This baby’s been cold in the ground for several years. Most of us have moved on (and have been enjoying trauma-free Thursday nights). Glad you can finally join us.

12

It was very, very, very much like the Carol episode a few years ago where Ewan McGregor guest starred. But that was done better.
It felt like a rerun

Neither do I. But I don’t think we’re supposed to notice, or care.

13

I’m expecting a yawn “twist” where Carter and Whatsername finally get it on, only to have Kim show up in the ambulance bay 10 minutes later with a wedding proposal.

14

It makes you wish the network execs had the sense that HBO has: Stop production before the series becomes trite, all the interesting characters move on, and all the good writers find other jobs.

Although in the case of The Sopranos, it may be too late.

ER and Third Watch, which were two of the more watchable programs, have both gone to hell in the last couple of seasons. Time to pull the plug, NBC. And for pity’s sake, no more goddamned Law and Order spinoffs!

15

I haven’t watched an episode of ER in years until last night. It wasn’t bad so much as it was just routine.

Staff member apparently in deadly danger heroically trying to save someone in the field? Check.

Technically skilled resident who has trouble dealing with patients? Check.

Arrogant young resident who doesn’t have time to deal with patients as people? Check.

Patient presenting with minor symptoms diagnosed with a life-threatening illness? Check.

Wise minority diagnosed with a deadly disease who provides a staff member with an important life lesson? Check.

It’s like they’ve used up all the stories, so they have to do mix and match from old storylines.

16

Well, I did notice the water getting warmer, but I just kept telling myself, “Hey, frog, it’ll get cooler soon. Surely it won’t get any hotter.”

Alas, I was O so wrong.

17

I really don’t care that he’s moved on so fast. In fact, I’m happy to see him with anyone but Kem. I hated that character so much that I was hoping for her to die in childbirth. That’s probably one of the meanest things I’ve ever said.

Despite the fact that I’m happy Carter has moved on, what is up with his new girlfriend’s name being “Wendell”?

18

The entire Abby situation felt like a remix of her former wife-beating neighbor attacking her and the episode when Carol Hathaway was in the right 7-11 at the wrong time. Except those two episodes were better.

The SNL metaphor is a good one, it never was substantially better than it is now, it’s we who’ve changed not the show. That said, however, I still enjoy it but that’s likely because my girlfriends and I have built a weekly tradition around watching it together. :slight_smile:

Rock-star doc has been paining me something fierce, how many times do we need to see cute smart Dr.Testosterone fall on his face and learn humility and be all the better for it? :rolleyes:

19

No, it was good. The episode when Mark died was a great piece of drama. His leaving the show was the end for me.

20

I haven’t watched ER since sometime in 2000. I think the “live episode” is the point where they started to go downhill.

It’s also interesting to watch how badly West Wing has fared under John Wells’ control. It’s amazing how quickly Wells can run a show into the ground.