30 Days of ER: Day 15: Most Underrated Episode

Honestly, this is one of my favorite episodes and I never hear anyone talk about it. Everyone talks about Be Still My Heart/All in the Family, Bloodlines, The Letter/On the Beach, but this season 2 oldie is way too underrated: A Shift in the Night :)

I mean, come on, how can you not love it? Mark is going crazy on his fourth graveyard and just takes everyone and a crap load of supplies and goes running through the waiting room, not even working up every patient. And this is after the car accident victims outside, the other good traumas of the night, and the consistent nagging of Ruth Huggins. I haven’t watched this episode in at least 3-4 months and I still remember this woman’s name lol Her and her son who cut his hand dinner time and wasn’t seen until 2 am when they couldn’t close the wound because the risk of infection was too high after hours of being open. So this was just a fabulous episode- there is no disputing it. And there’s not much more that needs to be said is there? And I just love the scene where Mark screams at Peter as he goes into the elevator with the MVA trauma kid. 

*Appreciate the fact that the picture is of Doug and his whiplash at the beginning of the episode when Mark steals his shoes :3

30 Days of ER: Day 14: Least Favorite Character Exit

Well tumblr is finally deciding to let me post this xD I know my last least favorite was about Dave Malucci, but so is this one :p He was my least favorite character exit. It was about time he left, but they did it so weird. He and Chen fucked up the aortic dissection guy by giving him clot-busting thrombolitics which just made him bleed out into his chest, and that got him in a bad position. Then a week later he performs an intubation in a busted elevator all because he had to follow the hot paramedic chick. It was because he got on that the elevator stopped and the guy ended up on the floor in need of an endotracheal tube. But no, he doesn’t let that get him down, he has to go screw around with the paramedic in the rig (OF ALL PLACES) while he’s on call. If they got slammed with traumas, where was he? Was he going to come inside from the ambulance bay to help? Probably not. He couldn’t just give her his number for a booty call later? Nope, had to be then and there. Kerry was 100% right for firing him, but what makes me truly hate Dave’s exit is the mention of his kid. As he goes to walk out he’s yelling at Kerry and tells her he has a kid to support. Where the fuck did this come from? Malucci has a kid? I mean, of course he would make a dumb mistake like that, but really? He left all the time whenever he wanted and was late without giving an answer, why didn’t he just say he had a kid so they could cut him some slack? But I’m totally with Kerry on this, he should have thought about his need to support his child before he fucked up like that. Screwing around with the paramedic on the premises, while on call, and also helping kill an aortic dissection patient when he missed the sign in the x-ray that Carter caught immediately. That says a lot about his character, and it was time he left.

30 Days of ER: Day 13: Favorite Kiss. So my favorite kiss I actually narrowed down to one, the one Carter and Abby share in the Season 8 finale, Lockdown. Not only is that a great episode, despite Mark being gone, the kiss is somewhat spontaneous and somewhat what everyone was looking and hoping for. I was quite excited, and also wished for Abby to be me :3

30 Days of ER: Day 12: Favorite Actor turned Director

Okay so I gotta say, my favorite actor turned director was Laura Innes. She did so many good episodes: Be Still My Heart (season 6), Sailing Away (season 7), and If I Should Fall From Grace (season 8). I know no justifications are needed for Be Still My Heart, but I absolutely loved Sailing Away and the generous side of Carter it showed as well as it gave us even more of a perspective as to what Abby has to deal with with Maggie. If I Should Fall From Grace was interesting, I enjoyed the patient Grace. A medical student who knows what she’s doing but is majorly fucked in the head. And it’s also Gallant’s first day!!! I love how he spends the end of it helping Grace study for exams :p

That moment when I’m doing AP US History homework, and because I’m thinking of ER and just don’t want to do my work, this is my essay:

b.         There are two kinds of doctors: the kind that gets rid of their feelings and the kind that keeps them. The kind that get rid took part in the American Revolution. The kind that keeps their feelings took part in Shays’ Rebellion. It’s a pain in the ass, and they all wanted to quit and do something else. But Peter Benton used to get sick all the time, so the Revolution just didn’t even matter, that was the role of African Americans. Mark Greene wrote all the state constitutions because he is brilliant and amazing, and Carter wrote the Articles of Confederation because he’s very diplomatic. The End.

I should get a fucking 100 for this  

30 Days of ER: Day 11: Favorite Character Exit

This is a very tough category to make a decision about. First of all, there’s Mark, who’s send off was the biggest deal ever on ER. The way they went about it was brilliant. They tell you in The Letter, and sort of make light of the situation, and we’re sitting there like “That’s it?! What the fuck are you doing? This is Mark Greene, how could you not give him the proper tribute he deserves?” Then they hit you with feels in On The Beach. I still cannot watch it without bawling. The episode was quite the emotional send off. 

Second of all, there’s Carol, whose send off was absolutely beautiful. She had her revelation about Doug, and she knew what she had to do, and she just did it. She reunited with him in Seattle, giving her something she truly wanted, and giving Kate and Tess their father. The greatest thing is that her goodbye to the show was a whole new chapter in Carol’s life, and it was nice to picture them living sort of like ‘happily ever after.’ 

Third of all, there’s Carter. His last episode is another that makes me cry. Not because it’s sad, it’s nice. Except I really just like the ending of the episode. Carter is walking around, reflecting on everything the original cast said to him when he was a med student. He reads the letter he wrote to himself when he worked under Mark. It’s just so sentimental. Carter also attempts to pass the torch of ‘You set the tone’ to Morris, but I am convinced that the torch ended with Carter. Yeah, Morris became chief, I still don’t think he ever measured up to Morgenstern, Mark, or Carter standards. There’s also that slide show of all the old pictures from way back when. I love that. But when everyone has to leave him at dinner and run back to the hospital, it’s so symbolic. Ray is dealing with that collapsed porch at the party, and the staff is running to County to help the incoming wounded, symbolizing that life goes on. It’s like what Mark says in his letter: “As much as a part of me would like to believe that the ER can’t go on without me, the smarter part realizes that you are an incredible group of doctors and nurses who approach every day with such skill, compassion, and thoroughness, that when it comes to patient care, I know my absence will hardly be felt.” As untrue as that quote is because we all feel it, it relates <3

And as cute as Susan’s leaving the first time was, and I loveee Abby’s scene with the wall before she leaves, those are my top faves: Mark, Carter, and Carol. 

30 Days of ER: Day 10: Favorite Entrance 

How could you not love Dr. Carter’s entrance? Putting the fact that I am biased aside, he entered in the Pilot, and so did we as viewers. He was this innocent, clueless, yet smart medical student who was being shown the ropes just as we were. And nothing is more adorable than the scene where Mark rolls back his chair, and Susan, Doug, and Peter all stop to just observe the new meat. We watched Carter grow from a med student to an intern, to intern again, to resident, to chief resident, to attending, and so on. His entrance is the most nostalgic and surreal :D

“See, there’s two kinds of doctors. There’s the kind that gets rid of their feelings, and the kind that keeps them. If you’re gonna keep your feelings, you’re gonna get sick from time to time - that’s just how it works. People come in here, and they’re sick, and dying, and bleeding, and they need our help. And helping them is more important than how we feel.”

               - Mark Greene, 1x01/John Carter, 8x20

(Source: hydroxicacid)