DaveAbbyLuver

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Have at it, guys.

G-UNIT

Solid episode. I have one question though. Was that technically assisted suicide by Gates? Does anyone have any input on that? Anyway, Joshua's story was extremely touching and I cried when he was dying. Unfortunately, I still don't buy the forced and contrived attempt of the Gates redemption theme. Harold the geek and the plastic vagina was, well let me see if I can find the word..........Ah yeah, Pathetic!!!!!!!! Moretti's son seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Speaking of breakdowns, Abby is really scaring me; she looks like she's on the edge. Skye and the micro-penis joke to Morris was classic. Boy, Sam sure saved the day with that suicidal maniac girl. Talk about being deperate for attention. Then again, her father marrying another woman eight months after her mom died was pretty suspect. Finally, I think that a lot of Moretti's changes to the ER have had a good influence and has improved a lot of things but I get the feeling that he may not be around that long.

dubenko_junkie

Ugh Harold.

That is all.

Mackiaveli

Yes, Harold is very annoying. Neela has my sympathies for having to be his mentor at work. TPTB need to tone Harold down or make him walk the plank. I enjoyed Neela, Sam, Pratt, Morris, etc tonight. Even Gates came off okay which I suppose is because he fits with children stories. The patient stories were well done. This episode was more solid than last week. The next few episodes for sweeps although not perfect sound good.

Ashlali

I don't know it says something when his character is only somewhat redeemable when interacting with children...someone on that lower level I guess. Though some of theses kids/teens seem even more mature/worldly wise than him.
Why can he not connect with the adults?

bigred08

I didn't really like this episode...it seemed like there weren't really conclusions to all the stories, though I suppose it is setting things up (e.g. Abby).
Gates irritates me at how he handles things, regardless of whether he is right or wrong. I can understand the rational behind not intubating the kid, and if the ethics committee really did back that decision, there is no problem in my view, but telling off Sam like that was uncalled for. If the ethics committee really did support him, what's wrong with Sam calling? Sure, it's a nurse going against a doctor, but it's seriously a life and death decision!
Moretti's son is odd. I'm guessing the kid is going to be Moretti's exit arc (I haven't read spoilers--but Tucci isn't listed as main cast, so that means he eventually has to go!).
Harold cracked me up. However, I believe it was the new attending that pointed out that there is a difference between being academically mature (i.e. smart) and emotionally mature...it applied to both Gates' patient and Harold. No doubt Harold is smart, but is he emotionally mature enough to be an intern?
Abby...Abby's making me nervous. Are they really going to let her bottom out before she seeks help? I wish Carter were around for her (as a friend)...I think he'd push her more than Coburn is.
No, basically it was a DNR order. I don't know the technicalities on that--apparently they decided he was a "mature minor" and could make that type of decision. It wasn't that Gates killed him, he just let him die. It's a fine, but important, line.
I wonder why Alex's school was calling Sam...
Intonation is important in that sentence...(I don't know how you meant it, so don't take this the wrong way...) Are you saying she was attention seeking (in a bad way i.e. doing it just for attention) or that it was a cry for help?

That's my 2 cents...sorry it's so long, as usual...

Sandalwood

I get that, but I don't agree with hiding that decision from the mom and making it seem like it was the doc's decision. That's less than honest.


Re Heather talking about her dad leaving her to go to NY with his new wife, I presume this is to get Sam thinking about abandoning Alex at that school because she couldn't cope?

dubenko_junkie

Sam didn't abandon Alex at that school, she sent him there to get the help he needed. There was quite a bit cut from the script as far as what made it on screen tonight, originally we were to get an actual progress report on how well Alex is doing at school.

As for Gates, while yes he has an obligation to heed a patient's request, the patient was still a minor and the parent should not have been deceived. They pulled the rug out from under her instead of saying "Look, Josh knows this is the end stage, he's chosen not to be intubated...this is how it will work..."

Sandalwood

Right, but Sam may feel like she did. In that scene with Heather (when she was explaining about her dad), Sam seemed to be deep in thought. I got the impression that she wasn't thinking just about Heather's situation but her own life too -- and what Alex must be feeling about being left at that school (would he hate her for it?). Perhaps her fears would have been quelled if we had seen her get that progress report from the school. But I guess the writers want to leave that an open-ended question for now.

G-UNIT

Clearly her desperate need for attention was a cry for help, but unfortunately, she came across as more obnoxious than sympathetic. I'm not quite sure exactly what message TPTB were trying to get across in terms of her not getting the attention she wanted. Were they trying to say that doctors are so detached from human emotion that they would be blind to the fact that someone needed help emotionally? It was very interesting that the suicidal girls story was paralleled with the potentially suicidal son's(Moretti) and the questionable assisted suicide with Josh and Gates and Neela wanting to commit suicide after listening to "Where's the g-spot?" Harold all night long(ok I'm just kidding on that one). Interestingly enough Moretti clearly knew it was something wrong with his son as opposed to none of the staff catching on to what was going on with Heather. He is the one who has been trying to get the staff to be more attentive and look deeper into patient cases. Perhaps, he is right in his strategy. Maybe this incident is a wake up call for all of the staff.

GalaxyDuster

That episode was pretty good. I enjoyed Pratt and Morris studying (and the squeaky good luck charm).

Gates... ugh. Gates. Regardless of whatever he did, the way he talked to Sam made me want to rip him out of my TV screen and start beating him. WHAT A SELF-ABSORBED JERK!!!!!!

Watching the kid die was pretty sad, though. He was a great actor, and an interesting character. I liked the way the Chaplain sat down with the family and held the boy's hand along with his mother. That was just the right touch.

Abby... poor Abby.

Moretti's son... WTF? Something is wrong with him. He reminded me of Abby's bi-polar brother. I felt like we didn't get enough information, but Moretti looked pretty unhappy under his weak smile.

The "pay attention to me" girl was annoying. I'm so tired of teenage boo-hoo stories. "Oh, rich daddy doesn't pay enough attention to me, boo-hoo." Boo-frickedy-hoo-hoo! I wanted to strangle her. I liked the fact that Sam saved her, though; you could tell it made her think of Alex.

Looking forward to next week, as usual.

DaveAbbyLuver

Ratings info from Marc Berman of Mediaweek, taken from PI Feedback. Oi, not good, folks. Especially when you consider that it was the first week of November sweeps.

I'm not sure, but I do believe this may be the lowest rated November sweeps episode in ER history. The show's still breaking records all right, but probably not the ones TPTB were hoping for.

~Ash

Genocidal Smasher

This episode bored me. I was watching all the stories but it still felt like nothing was happening.

miranacro01

sorry, i didnt now wherw to ak .....where is kovač???????

GalaxyDuster

The ratings are not as good as they ever were, but take a look at the rank... it's still second. That's not terrible. I want them to finish, don't get me wrong. This should definitely be the last season. But ER is not exactly finishing in last place.