ER: "Motherhood" Summary/Review
sc...@cc.memphis.edu
this weeks episode of ER (which I really enjoyed) such a big thing. Just
wondering. Susan Cohn
Kim Rivers
I have to mention this. For all the "Well, Doug was scared that the relation-
ship was moving too quickly" (and it was the excuse he gave, the really lame
"Well, it's your fault because you asked me if I wanted to move in with you!"):
Remember, Diane said something to the extent of "if and when we decide you
might want to move in". She didn't put pressure on Doug at all. She said
if and when, not "Hey, move in with me now". Doug was the one who was
wondering when he didn't have to sneak out of the bedroom would be. :)
Doug made his own pressure here. Diane wasn't pushing him, she was just looking
ahead, like most people do. I will be disappointed (but not surprised) if
we do see Doug/Carol together -- I don't buy the "soul mate" stuff because
we really haven't seen it. Whatever relationship they had was done prior
to the pilot episode, and other than Doug doing a lot of pining, and the
to be expected sparks here and there, I don't see that they are destined for
each other. (I suppose that since Carol is one of my least favorite characters,
that probably affects my judgment, but on the other hand, it would be
so terribly predicatable to match them up. LIke it's predictable to
match Susan and Mark up, or for Chloe to leave the kid with Susan. Sometimes,
it's nice to see the less-predictable happen on TV). I'd like to see Carol
marry Tag and be reasonably happy about it. As for Doug, I thought he was
doing well in the Diane relationship -- it was
a good match of personalities.
My two cents,
kim
--
-- I work for Digital. I don't speak for 'em.
ca...@lehigh.edu
pinwall) writes:
>> Two main characters made two big mistakes in this episode. The
>>first mistake was Carter's. What was he thinking? Why would he
>>possibly give Mark a definite "no" on the ER sub-I without having heard
>>about the surgical yet? Had it been me, I definitely would have kept my
>>options open until I knew for sure I wasn't sunk. Pure lack of
>>forethought on Mr. Carter's part.
>
>Not so much lack of forethought as an attempt to emulate his mentor.
>Think about it: would Benton have hedged his bets or would he have gone
>solely for the surgical sub-I (especially since Benton would be confident
>enough to think it was a lock)?
To be fair, though, Carter was Benton's choice and Benton's actions that day
showing his confidence in Carter may have allowed Carter to become
overly optimistic in assessing his cahnces. And, Carter only gave Mark a
definite answer after he had developed a good feeling about Benton and the
Surgical sub-I and only when Mark pressed him for his answer.
--Cheryl
>
>I wonder how the hell they're gonna get out of this one. On St.
>Elsewhere, when the logical progression of the characters' education
>required a few of them to leave the show, and one of the main characters,
>Boomer, looked like he hadn't made the 2nd-year residency cut, the
>writers killed off one of the other residents. Maybe the recipient of the
>ER sub-I will croke next week.
>
>> The other big mistake was Doug's, and, inexplicably, it was him
>>that disappointed me more, even though he's got a history of this sort
>>of thing. I was really hoping that the writers had his character on the
>>road to respectability, and then he goes and pulls something like this.
>>Frankly, I'm not quite sure I buy it, from a writing standpoint; in any
>>event, it was a major slip, and Doug should have been wary enough to
>>voice his feelings about moving in, and let it go at that. I find it
>>hard to believe that Linda, as sexy as she is, was that much of a
>>temptation. And on Mother's Day, for crying out loud!
>>
>Speaking of which, what happens to Jake? Diane and Doug talked about not
>letting Jake get too attached to Doug unless he was in it for the long
>haul - suddenly, Doug's out of the picture and Jake's left without a
>father figure again. I'd like to see some kind of closure between Jake
>and Doug next week if possible.
>
>
>> Quentin Tarantino's much-publicized turn behind the "ER" camera
>>came out to be pretty much what I expected: a competent, individual job
>>of directing, with almost no trademark frills. That's good, I think; if
>>this episode had somehow turned out to be one long Pulp Fiction in-joke,
>>it would have been seriously disappointing. Tarantino's work on the
>
>There were several in-jokes, however. As you mentioned below, there was
>the scene with the gangbanger with the severed ear. In addition, we had
>that hilarious shot of Carol and Susan walking down the hallway wearing
>sunglasses and moving like the Reservoir Dogs. Even the teaser had a bit
>of Tarantino in it - when Chloe kept demanding that someone play her
>music during the delivery, I was waiting for some really obscure 70s tune
>(even, dare I say, "Stuck in the Middle With You"). Basically, the only
>thing that was missing was Ving Rhames making an appearance as Walt and
>wearing a bandaid on the back of his head, Marcellus Wallace-style. Of
>course, considering the gravity of Peter's storyline, that probably would
>have been a very bad idea.
>
>>artistically successful scene is one of the last ones, with Peter and
>>Jeanie standing with backs facing the camera; a reflection of Peter's
>>face is seen in a window between them. (Eriq LaSalle's performance in
>>that scene, and throughout the episode, was also first-rate.)
>
>I usually can't praise LaSalle enough, but he topped himself tonight.
>Watching the usually stoic and supremely in-control Benton totally break
>down like that was really powerful - I shed a tear or two at that scene
>(not to mention the earlier one where Peter and his sister hugged, while
>the camera remained at a distant so we could barely even see Mrs. Benton).
>
>>
>> Over all, I'd rate this episode somewhere between adequate and
>>excellent, mainly because I'm always eager for plot advancement, which
>>was de-emphasized this week. Still, this was a fine, emotion-oriented
>>effort, and leaves me aching for next week's season finale.
>
>I'm not sure where you come up with the idea that the plot wasn't
>advanced much. Sure, there wasn't much on the Mark and Jen front (which I
>didn't care about, since that story totally disinterests me), but
>everyone other running storyline got a major kick in the ass. To wit:
>
> -Carter's season-long attempt to stay in the ER next year looks
> to be in major league trouble.
>
> -Doug's attempt at monogamy and responsibility came crashing down
> around him.
>
> -Peter's season-long quest to care for his mother finally ended, and
> a possible affair with Jeanie finally seems in the offing.
>
> -Chloe gave birth, and it looks like Susan will be stuck with her
> for a while to come.
>
>And even though we didn't see Tag, there were a lot of suggestions that
>next week's wedding will be a big fiasco. Quite frankly, I can't remember
>the last episode where so many major things happened to so many of the
>characters.
>
>> -A nice, subtle scene was the one with Susan and Carter in a
>> darkened room, both admiring the baby. I don't know if it was
>> done with Carter's aborted romantic intentions in mind, from
>> months back, but these two have a special chemistry that
>> wouldn't be out of place in such a relationship, written
>> correctly.
>
>And the normally humor-impaired Carter told a relatively funny joke about
>the constellations being named after the Three Stooges!
>
>>
>> -Of interest was the differing stories from Mark and Jenn
>> concerning their own wedding. Each one claims it was the other
>> who insisted on the Tag-like need for scale and opulence.
>> Who's lying?
>
>The tone of Mark's voice suggests that he was being sarcastic (at least,
>as sarcastic as "Saint" Mark gets).
>
>> -When waiting for Quentin Tarantino's name to show up on the
>> screen, I noticed that the episode was written by noneother
>> than Lydia Woodward, the actress who plays Lydia the nurse.
>> That was a pleasant surprise.
>
>I think she may have written some other episodes. I never connected the
>two names together before, but that's really neat.
>
>One other question: I realize that it was probably just a case of Michael
>Ironside being busy and CCH Pounder being free, but does it seem to
>anyone else like there's an effort being made to keep Dr. Hicks as the
>bad guy? First there was the rather brusque way she dealt with Peter
>while he was trading shifts to care for his mom, and now she's the one
>who axes Carter from the Surgical Sub-I. Just something to think about.
>
>-Alan Sepinwall
>-sepi...@mail.sas.upenn.edu
>-http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~sepinwal/
>
>RANDOM QUOTE:
>
>"I realized what caused me to be this messed up. It all started when I was
> a little kid. My uncle came to visit and he said, 'You're getting big. How
> old are you now?' I said that I was five. He said, 'Yeah? Well, when I was
> your age, I was seven.'"
> -Steven Wright
>
>
>
ca...@lehigh.edu
heele) writes:
>In article <3oum61$k...@netnews.upenn.edu>,
>Alan Sepinwall <sepi...@mail2.sas.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
>[much deletia]
>
>>One other question: I realize that it was probably just a case of Michael
>>Ironside being busy and CCH Pounder being free, but does it seem to
>>anyone else like there's an effort being made to keep Dr. Hicks as the
>>bad guy? First there was the rather brusque way she dealt with Peter
>>while he was trading shifts to care for his mom, and now she's the one
>>who axes Carter from the Surgical Sub-I. Just something to think about.
>
>absence was a way of leaving the door open for him to be the one who
>helps Carter find a way to stay in the ER. He seems to really like
>Carter, and must see a lot of good potential there. I'm guessing that
>he'll be playing a role in Carter's future in the ER.
And, Swift knows something that Hicks doesn't. He knows that the big donor
who sliced his hand cutting a bagel recently thinks very highly of "Johnny."
While Carter wouldn't use mony and power to influence his staying around, I
wouldn't rule out having others pull strings for him. This would make an
interesting conflict for Carter if he learned abotu the machinations later on
next season.
--Cheryl
>
>Ta,
>ECS
>
>--
>**********************************************************************
>E. Christian Scheele "Start out depressed, and everything's
>jor...@teleport.com sort of a pleasant surprise."
> -- Lloyd Dobler, "Say Anything"
>
ca...@lehigh.edu
:
>Good question. TV Guide descibes the season finale as "Carter's last day
>in the ER". Wonder what they'll do with him?
>
Sounds like a possible cliff-hanger to keep viewers guessing all summer???
--Cheryl
Dee Kilgore
>From: ca...@Lehigh.EDU
>Subject: Re: ER: "Motherhood" Summary/Review
>Date: 15 May 1995 13:26:00 -0400
>--Cheryl
It would be very suprising for them to take Carter off of the show because he
seems to be one of the better characters. He takes everything in stride. It
was great when they showed the competitive side of Carter with the other
female student (I can't remember her name). Sometimes he really got the best
of her. What was her name and whatever happened to her?? Did she leave when
she made that critical mistake with the one patient?
Don Weinman
>It would be very suprising for them to take Carter off of the show
because he
>seems to be one of the better characters. He takes everything in
stride. It
>was great when they showed the competitive side of Carter with the
other
>female student (I can't remember her name). Sometimes he really got
the best
>of her. What was her name and whatever happened to her?? Did she
leave when
>she made that critical mistake with the one patient?
Yes, she gave up medicine! An interesting scene in that episode was
Carter going to her home which turned out to be that of a very wealthy
family. Carter tried in vain to persuade her to stay. But the
interesting part was how much at home Carter seemed to be in the milieu
of extreme wealth. This forshadowed the later revealed information
about his own background.
DPW
David Kosenko
Cheryl writes:
|> And, Swift knows something that Hicks doesn't. He knows that the big donor
|> who sliced his hand cutting a bagel recently thinks very highly of "Johnny."
|> While Carter wouldn't use mony and power to influence his staying around, I
|> wouldn't rule out having others pull strings for him. This would make an
|> interesting conflict for Carter if he learned abotu the machinations
later on
|> next season.
Another possibly interesting angle on this: Mark has already offered the
ER sub-I to someone else. Presumably, Swift has input into this, with
possibly veto power. Given what's said above, and give the already tense
situation between Swift and Mark, having Swift nix Mark's current choice
in favor of Carter would add additional tension to the Mark/Swift
relationship, add a new tension ala Mark/Carter, and possibly even do
some damage with Swift/Carter if Carter, being the seemingly good guy,
gets annoyed at Swift's pulling strings.
Dave Kosenko
Disclaimer: All opinions expressed in this message are well-reasoned and
insightful; needless to say, they are not those of Informix Software, its
partners or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itching for a fight.
****************************************************************************
"I look back with some satisfaction on what an idiot I was when I was 25,
but when I do that, I'm assuming I'm no longer an idiot." - Andy Rooney
ca...@lehigh.edu
A. Peronto) writes:
>We recently found out that Carter's father is a very wealthy man.
>So how about Carter cries to his dad about what happened & his dad
>pulls some strings to get Carter back on the ER sub-I?
>
>Julie
This would be out of character for Carter. But, as I said before, it doesn't
mean that others wouldn't try to influence the situation without his knowledge.
--Cheryl
>
>
reechieep
>
>reechieep wrote:
>: I lost track of who wrote what in this thread, but I just want to second
>: (or is it third?) that the whole Doug-cheats-on-Diane story line didn't
>: ring true. IMHO the writers never successfully established that Doug
>: was a flandering louse. Beside which, Doug had talked the whole "living
>: in" thing through with his wise friend Mark and seemed pretty emotionally
>: stable about it all. Plus, Diane *told* Doug she knew he wasn't ready yet--
>: so why would he freake out and hook up with Linda?
David wrote:
>
>Did anyone else see any evidence that based on the basketball conversation
>with Mark, Doug _planned_ to mess things up? It just looked to me as though
>he decided to not move in with Diane yet.
Reechieep replies:
I never meant to imply that Doug _planned_ to mess things up with Diane.
I meant to indicate that the b-ball game had helped Doug sort things
out and decided that he wasn't ready to move in, but that that was okay.
Matt Ackeret
David Kosenko <da...@informix.com> wrote:
>Another possibly interesting angle on this: Mark has already offered the
>ER sub-I to someone else. Presumably, Swift has input into this, with
What is "sub-I"? Is it "sub-internship" which just means that it's
an internship while they're still a student?
--
unk...@guest.apple.com Apple II Forever
These opinions are mine, not Apple's.