ER: "Carter's Choice" Summary/Review

[Kryativ1]

"Carter's Choice" - Season 4, Episode 13 - Original Airdate January 29, 1997

Written & Directed By: John Wells

Plot 1 - Carter and the Rapist
Morning begins as Carter is trudging through the snowstorm, as "Walking on the
Sun" is playing. He sees things are slow in the ER and checks on Anna as she
is asleep. She wakes up and he agrees to go get her breakfast.
However they both quickly go attend to an incoming trauma, a guard with
multiple gunshot wounds. He had stopped the serial rapist from raping an
elderly woman, and was shot in the process. He had been shot almost twenty
minutes prior to arriving at the hospital; the ambulance was slowed down by the
storm. The police are hopeful about catching the guy, since they believe that
the guard shot him. Anna and Carter stabilize the guard, and prepare to
transfer him to the OR. However, he crashes as they are approaching the
elevator, and Mark goes with them back to the trauma. They are unable to save
him, and Mark tells a reluctant Carter to call it.
The attempted rape victim is brought in next. She has multiple contusions;
the rapist had "tried to strangle her, than pushed her down a flight of
stairs". Anna and Carter treat her, they discover that she wasn't raped.
Carter tells Anna that he hopes someone finds the rapist and "takes him out
back and shoots him and throws his body in a dumpster".
The rapist is eventually brought in; a nineteen-year-old guy named Jack
Miller. He has a gun shot wound to the chest and multiple dog bites from the
warehouse where he was hiding. The police comment that if the dogs hadn't been
called off that he wouldn't have lasted another twenty minutes. No one in the
ER is particularly anxious to treat him. Anna and Carter work on him and Anna
reminds Carter that he needs blood. Carter discovers that the blood is still
delayed at O'Hare airport due to the snowstorm, and that the remaining four
units of O negative are all that the ER has. He decides to auto-transfuse the
patient instead, using the blood draining out of him to put back in him. Anna
argues that it isn't enough blood, but Carter does it anyway. Mark checks on
them and seems surprised that Carter did that procedure. Mark assesses that
the patient is stable, and they transfer him up to the OR.
Chase arrives at the ER, clean and sober, and feeling better than the previous
episode. Chase thanks Carter and Anna; Anna says a quick hello and leaves.
Chase encourages Carter to go after her. Carter does, and he and Anna argue
over Jack's treatment. Anna asks him twice if he withheld treatment, and
Carter denies it.
Later that night, Anna finds Carter waiting for her at her apartment. Carter
tells her "I wanted him to die". Carter couldn't stand the thought of the
blood being used on the rapist, and not being there in case some deserving
patient showed up. Carter says, "If he died, I don't know how I'd feel, but I
can't say I'm sorry. Was that wrong?" Anna tells him no. Carter asks her if
she is sure, Anna takes his hand and says, "I'm not sure".

Plot 2 - Carol and Doug
Carol arrives for work as Greg's ambulance unit is bringing the attempted rape
victim in. Carol notices that Greg is upset, and asks him if he wants to talk
about it. Doug sees Carol standing in the hallway with Greg. Jerry calls Doug
to go up to pediatrics, and Carol turns as Doug's name is called and sees him
watching her and Greg.
Carol goes up to pediatrics and waits for Doug. He asks her if that was the
guy, and when she tells him it is, he becomes upset, even though Carol tells
him that she is not seeing Greg. Doug tells her that if she doesn't want a
commitment, if she wants to "screw around" fine, but not to humiliate him in
front of his friends. Carol is angered by that remark, and reminds Doug of the
number of women he was with all over the hospital. Carol exclaims "I'd have to
do the Bulls starting line up on the admit desk before I'd begin to be equal to
you". Doug asks her if this is about revenge, and this upsets Carol. Carol
tearfully tells Doug that "I've spent years trying to adjust to you" and now
she wants him to be patient with her. She wants to know if he is going to "be
a selfish bastard and refuse to give me the one thing I've asked for".
Carol's attentions are then turned to a young woman in labor. Her name is
Mary, and she and her husband Robert are mentally retarded. However, Robert
works and they have their own apartment. Mary refuses to have the baby at the
hospital, since she is afraid that her sister Judy will take it away from her.
Kerry and Carol convince her that they won't, and they deliver Mary's healthy
baby girl.
Judy arrives at the hospital as baby Madison is born, and afterwards, speaks
with Carol in the hall. Judy tells Carol that Robert's job is as a janitor in
his uncle's shop. Judy says, "they don't drive because neither can read well
enough to pass the test. They live alone, but I do their bills and remind them
to do their laundry". Carol uses the same line to Judy that she used to her,
"do you think you are qualified to make that assessment", regarding Mary and
Robert's ability to care for their baby.
Carol works with Mary and Robert, teaching them how to change diapers and
blanket the baby. Doug hears about what Carol is doing, and watches her with
the baby. Doug tells Carol that "he didn't mean to push her". Doug then says
"take as much time as you need, I'll wait" and kisses her on the forehead.

Plot 3 - Corday and Benton
Corday greets Benton in surgery by teasing him about his hangover, and
tricking him with a handbuzzer. Benton tells her he is late because he was
talking to Carla regarding Reese. Benton says that Carla wants to put Reese in
daycare, and he is against it. Corday tells him she was raised by a series of
nannies, then sent to boarding school. Benton had been checking on nannies,
but was amazed at the prices.
Benton later checks around the ER, to see what various people use for
childcare. He hears nightmare sitter stories from Connie, and a general
acceptance of daycare. Benton explains that his mother stayed home, to which
Doug responds "you are the product of a bygone era".
Corday then joins Benton for lunch, offering him a choice of sandwiches. She
tells him point blank that since they both have crazy schedules, and don't get
much of a chance to meet other people, would he consider a casual sexual
relationship. Benton laughs to which Corday excitedly responds that she "made
him blush". Benton tells her that he would not be comfortable with that.
Later that day Carla finds Benton at the hospital to see if he had filled out
the paperwork so Reese could start in the daycare. Benton says that he hasn't
and Carla becomes upset. Benton says that he is checking out other options,
and goes out to the car to see Reese. Reese is at the car with Roger, Carla's
new boyfriend. Carla tells Benton that Roger is a good man, and Reese loves
him. She says he can call her if he wants to talk about it and they both look
rather uncomfortable.
Corday is leaving for the day, and she sees Benton waiting for her. Benton
asks to join her for a round of darts "just darts". Corday teases him that
"you don't know what you are missing". She then mentions that darts usually
involve wagering, to which Benton suggests a "penny a point".

Plot 4 - SPG
Anspaugh meets Kerry on the way to work and tells her that the board will
begin negotiations with SPG next week for ER management. Kerry tells him that
she is uncomfortable with that, and she has changed her mind about SPG.
Anspaugh tells her that it was her recommendation to begin with that started
this whole thing, and if she wants to change her mind she can go to the board
and tell them herself.
Kerry spends the day recruiting other attendings to go to the board meeting,
including Mark. Ellis finds out about this, and confronts Kerry. Ellis tells
her that "I've spent months working on this, if you had any problems you should
have come to me". Kerry tells him that "I'm willing to make hard choices, but
not to endanger patients". Ellis is affronted that Kerry thinks he is
unethical, and Kerry angrily tells him "you used me to get this deal … don't
underestimate me again".
Later that night, Ellis finds Kerry and tells her that he has withdrawn SPG's
contract proposal. He also tells her "I never used you or underestimated you -
you underestimated yourself".

Plot 5 - Cynthia
Cynthia's landlord wants her to sign a six-month lease on her apartment at
$500 per month (she had previously been paying $450 on a month to month basis).
She hints to Mark that it would be silly to sign a lease since she is spending
every night at his apartment. Mark tells her to sign the lease and he will
help her with rent.
Cynthia is crying in the break room, and Doug walks in on her. He
half-heartedly asks her if she is OK, and winds up listening to her sob story
about her relationship with Mark. She is confused about "mixed signals" and
tells him "we try to talk, usually we end up having sex instead". She wails
"is it me?" Doug tells her to talk to Mark, and later gives Mark the same
advice.
Cynthia winds up leaving before her shift is over, because she is so upset.
Mark tells Doug that he will talk to her.

Miscellaneous Thread
Jerry had been working the night shift since the unfortunate weapons incident.
He appeals to Kerry to get back on the day shift. Randi is snowed in and
can't come into work, so Kerry asks him to pull a double. Jerry agrees and
Kerry tells him that he is back on day shift.

Review
Certainly not a boring episode! To begin with, Carter and his choice; I'm
still not sure why it was Carter's call, and not Mark or another attending.
But it was an interesting ethical debate, and the fact that we saw the
potential victim and the death of the guard before we saw the rapist added to
that. There was also the fact that the entire staff, plus police felt the same
about the rapist, and there was a somber non-hurried feel to the trauma, as
opposed to the usual frantic pace. This episode, plus the previous one, "Sharp
Relief", allowed Noah Wyle to demonstrate some fine acting. They are
definitely expanding the role of Carter from the bumbling med student he was.
At least Carol and Doug have reached some sort of understanding. Their
argument scene was very powerful, and I could see both of their points.
Hopefully things will work out with these two. I was glad to see that George
Clooney was in more than two scenes. Hopefully he will be full time with ER
until the end of the season. I thought the scenes with the mentally
handicapped couple were good. Since Carol said that Mary was a patient of hers
at the clinic, perhaps we will see more of this storyline as they bring the
baby in for checks. I hope they don't go the other route, and the baby is
brought into the ER for some reason, and the sister pops up again trying to say
that they are unable to care for the baby.
I had been asked for some time to revive the tradition that Scott started of
"line of the week". I had been hesitant, but this episode provided such a
great one to start with that I couldn't resist. It has to be Corday saying to
Benton "I must say I do enjoy a good hunk of rare meat every so often". The
close second to this would be her saying "How long has it been since you've had
something juicy?" Of course Benton's naïve response is "six years". This
scene was so filled with double entendre regarding the food that it was
absolutely delicious to watch! I won't even go into the food that Corday
offered that Benton refused! This has to be one of the sharpest written and
well-acted scenes that I have seen, and Alex Kingston was brilliant. Of
course, her dialogue, if said by Romano, would be construed as sexist.
However, I enjoyed the scene, and would rather see a continued
friendship/flirting relationship between Benton and Corday than a typical
ho-hum pairing. I also liked the fact that they are touching on Benton's
parenting responsibilities regarding childcare, and being the non-custodial
parent. The decision regarding working mothers and childcare is never an easy
one, and I'm glad to see it getting some attention. Also, you could tell that
Benton was hurt by Carla's comment that Reese loved Roger. I'm sure he is
threatened by another daddy figure in his son's life, and it would be
interesting to see this develop.
I hope this is finally the end of the long, dragged out SPG debate. However,
I really enjoyed the scenes between Kerry and Ellis in this episode, and I was
never a big fan of either. Laura Innes showed perhaps her finest acting to
date in the initial scene with Ellis. I also liked Ellis' comment at the end
that she "underestimates herself". While Kerry is shown as extremely confident
regarding work, she is insecure regarding relationships. I think what Ellis
did showed that he did care for her, and would actually like to see him pop
back up to rekindle the romance with Kerry, without the SPG factor (and I never
thought I would say that!).
If there was a line of the week, there was also a "look of the week". It had
to be Doug's expression as he's trying to leave the break room and Cynthia
wails "noooooo". That scene was classic as Doug kept looking out the window,
trying desperately to escape from hearing Cynthia whine. The Cynthia storyline
is really getting old, and I will be happy to see it end.
The Chicago area news was showing promos during ER about "guess this week's
geographical error"! This time it was the supposed address that the couple
lived at "5214 E. Chestnut St.". According to their calculations, that would
be about one mile into Lake Michigan. The newscasters offered to send the ER
writers a new city map! Despite this little error, this was a very nicely
written and acted episode.

[Barry Margolin]

In article <19980130151...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
krya...@aol.com (Kryativ1) wrote:

> The Chicago area news was showing promos during ER about "guess
this week's
>geographical error"! This time it was the supposed address that the couple
>lived at "5214 E. Chestnut St.". According to their calculations, that would
>be about one mile into Lake Michigan. The newscasters offered to send the ER
>writers a new city map! Despite this little error, this was a very nicely
>written and acted episode.

It seems like I've heard about problems like this many times before, and
not just with Chicago; I think some Manhattan-based shows have given
addresses that would be in the East River or Hudson River. Perhaps the
writers do it intentionally, so that they don't give someone's actual
address.

--
Barry Margolin, bar...@bbnplanet.com
GTE Internetworking, Cambridge, MA
Support the anti-spam movement; see <http://www.cauce.org/>

[Jerry B. Ray]

In article <barmar-3001...@barmar.ne.mediaone.net>,
Barry Margolin <bar...@bbnplanet.com> wrote:

>It seems like I've heard about problems like this many times before, and
>not just with Chicago; I think some Manhattan-based shows have given
>addresses that would be in the East River or Hudson River. Perhaps the
>writers do it intentionally, so that they don't give someone's actual
>address.

Yep, that actually makes perfect sense. Sorta like the "555" telephone
numbers.

I can't believe people would actually go to the trouble of
verifying addresses, when people gave me all sorts of attitude
when I mentioned that the "Atlanta General" hospital referred
to in a recent episode doesn't really exist under that name...

JRjr
--
%%%%% vap...@prism.gatech.edu %%%%%%%% Jerry B. Ray, Jr. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"I am so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat in me for a month.
I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis."
-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

[Ann Keitz]

On Fri, 30 Jan 1998 23:35:45 -0500, bar...@bbnplanet.com (Barry Margolin) wrote:

>In article <19980130151...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
>krya...@aol.com (Kryativ1) wrote:
>

>> The Chicago area news was showing promos during ER about "guess
>this week's
>>geographical error"! This time it was the supposed address that the couple
>>lived at "5214 E. Chestnut St.". According to their calculations, that would
>>be about one mile into Lake Michigan. The newscasters offered to send the ER
>>writers a new city map! Despite this little error, this was a very nicely
>>written and acted episode.
>

>It seems like I've heard about problems like this many times before, and
>not just with Chicago; I think some Manhattan-based shows have given
>addresses that would be in the East River or Hudson River. Perhaps the
>writers do it intentionally, so that they don't give someone's actual
>address.

That is exactly what they do! I heard this from a friend who works on a TV show
after another mutual friend teased him for putting a character's apartment in
Lake Michigan.

Another thing they have to be careful about is giving fictional characters the
names of real people in the town where the show is set.

Ann C. Keitz
Webmaster, Viewers for Quality Television
http://www.vqt.org/