Five Points: ER – Another Thursday at County

by Richard Keller

NBC

ER fanatics, hear me out! I realize that reading a review of ER can be somewhat tedious. Especially reviews that I write since I’m a long-winded fart that likes to hear the constant clicking of the keyboard. So, instead of giving you an all-out, full-bore review of this week’s episode of ER I thought I’d give you a launchpad of sorts to enhance your debating skills.

It will give you a chance to chew over the major plot points of the episode and talk about them with other commenters. This, in turn, will imbibe in you a sense of community that has been lost due to the ever-increasing drone of technology. That sense of community will, in turn, make you a better person, which will make those around you better people. Soon enough, peace will rule throughout the world, the financial crisis will be resolved, and cattle and gorillas will end their thousands-year battle over South African grazing rights. Okay, I made that part up about resolving the financial crisis.

So, before you throw those sticks and stones that may break my bones, here are five points about this week’s ER.

Angela Bassett introduction as Dr. Banfield: Why, why, why does every outsider who comes into the County General emergency room need to be a right git! It started with Dr. Weaver in the second season and continues now with Dr. Banfield in the show’s last. Everyone thinks they need to micromanage everyone and get into their faces in order to be respected and get the job done. The troops over in the trenches have done just fine without these people, thank you very much!

It’s hard to gauge Bassett’s character right now. She’s the stereotypical hard-ass with that dash of compassion that we’ve seen come in and go out of the emergency room doors for a decade and a half now. With this season of ER ending in February it’s not easy to tell if viewers will ever get to know Dr. Banfield, though we may get some insight into her life later this season in a flashback episode featuring Anthony Edwards. This is the problem with adding new characters to a show that is ending its run. And, speaking of that…

The new interns: Four new young guns that we may or may not see more of this season were introduced to us viewers. Each had their uniqueness to them, but they all had one thing in common: they were wimps. Well, the three emergency medicine interns were…the surgical intern was actually okay. Hey, you’re interns who decided to do your training in a county-run hospital. If you can’t take the crap that is thrown at you then you shouldn’t even be there. It isn’t Princeton-Plainsboro after all.

The only intern that really stood out for me was Daria, played by Roswell’s Shiri Appleby. I can’t put a finger on it but with the hair, her glasses and her attitude this intern seemed an awful lot like a live-action version of MTV’s animated Daria, except grown-up, married, and with a career. It’s doubtful if that was intentional.

The new status quo of the ER: Who would’ve thunk it. With Pratt’s unfortunate demise in the series premiere Archie is now the senior Attending of the emergency room. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have much to work with now Pratt and Luka are gone and Abby isn’t far behind (next week is her last episode, to be exact). Who’s left is Tony, now a third year Resident, Brenner, and the interns. Carter is coming back later in the season, but for how long is unknown (and if he will even be working on the ER staff is unknown as well). Interesting times for County General indeed.

The bio-terrorist scare: Tony has really come along during his three years at County. He was very much the picture of cowboy doctor during his first year and has mellowed considerably since then. Some of it is growing up, some of it stems from his mandatory time in the ICU, some of it comes from being a responsible father figure, and the rest probably comes from his flowering relationship with Sam. Combined, it allowed him to be a calming influence for the interns who were pretty much freaking out and telling him he was doing a crummy job.

Brenner, Neela and Dubenko: When did Brenner become a nice guy? He was such a prat (not Pratt, like the doctor) towards the end of last season with him being on the phone all the time and sleeping with anything that moved in a skirt. Now, he’s compassionate and helpful and wants to have a serious relationship with Neela. Maybe Greg’s death caused him to shift his responsibilities around.

To be frank, Neela is being a bit of a baby about what happened between her and Brenner. It’s not like he forced himself on her. She was a willing party to the moment of passion that happened between them. It’s time for her to get past all of her other relationship problems and start thinking about how her actions are affecting others around her.

Finally, Dubenko. Leave the man alone, for Pete’s sake! He’s given a lot to County and he deserves a break to hang out in his underwear and drink beer. Maybe during that time he can grab a few cans of paint and make his apartment a bit brighter. Which brings me to another point: why does everyone on ER live in an apartment or house with dark walls of wood or brick. It’s so depressing. By some flower curtains or something! Brighten up your homes. It may make you feel better about the rest of what is going on in your lives.

That’s it for this week. Let me know if this is a review format you are interested in. Now, discuss!

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