ER – Haunted

NBC

(Season 15, Episode 5)

Now that we’ve said good-bye to a few current ER docs (Greg Pratt and Abby Lockhart) it’s time to say good-bye to those Interns, Residents and Attendings who left County General for one reason or another. In two weeks we’ll have a chance to say ta-ta to Mark Greene. This week, we waved both hello and good-bye to Dr. Ray Barnett.

For those of you who don’t remember Dr. Barnett’s fate, here’s a review: Ray liked Neela. Neela liked Tony and Ray. Neela kissed Ray but never followed through. Ray got drunk. Ray walked into the middle of the street. Ray got hit by a car and lost both of his legs below the knee. But, he’s much better now.

With that all out of the way, let’s discuss a few things that happened during this week’s ER.

The Return of Ray: It’s good to see Ray in a better place than he was when we first saw him in the hospital. Back then, it looked like he was out to kill someone, most likely Neela. Turns out that the only person he wanted to kill was himself.  Things turned out okay and even made Ray stronger.

It made him grow up as well. The Ray Barnett we knew was a very indecisive young man who wasn’t sure if he was a full-time rock star/part-time doctor or the other way around. He was just starting to figure it all out towards the end of his time in the ER when the whole Neela debacle and car accident took place. Now, despite the lost of his legs, he has his life in order.

By the way, the running prosthetics that Ray was shown wearing are absolutely real.

Neela and Ray: Part of me wanted to see those two crazy kids get together at the end of the episode. One of the reasons that Neela can’t make up her mind about who to fall in love with now is the feelings for Ray that were hanging in the air when he left. Other than Lucien, Ray was one of the people Neela should have hooked up with after Gallant passed away. Now that Ray has asked her to let it go maybe she can finally make a choice of suitor rather than just flitting around the place.

Ray and Tony and Simon: At first, I wondered why Tony and Ray were so cold to each other when they met. Then, as I was writing up this review I remember that Ray’s drunken rage at Abby and Luka’s wedding stemmed from Tony and Neela’s relationship at the time. As for Ray and Simon Brenner — well, I think that was more of a sizing-up experiment between the two than general hatred between one another. Though, Ray did say that Simon seemed like a dick when he first met him. Oh, speaking of Dr. Brenner….

The Earth-Two Simon Brenner: I believe I mentioned this last week, but I feel it has to be brought up again. Who the hell is this Simon Brenner? Apparently, the bastard we met last season was drugged, shunted to another universe, and replaced with another version who doesn’t treat woman as trash. Just take a look at the way he treated the intern (Olive? Olivia? There are so many I can’t keep track) with whom he slept with last season. All of a sudden she’s not unteachable. Same thing goes for people like Daria and Dr. Martin.

On second thought, it may not be an alternate version of Brenner. Maybe it’s just a reformed Simon who is now infatuated with Neela. It’s making him insecure and nervous, though. See his reaction when he inadvertently interrupted Neela and Ray from snogging? Let’s see how this develops.

Bad Parent Case 2,556: This episode’s bad parent was a boozing mother of two boys who decided to have sex with an 18-year-old high school student. Said student went to school with the other boys. Said student said the boy’s mother was a good lay. The younger of the two boys stabbed said student with a fork. And, so goes family life in America.

Simon got personal with this mother, who really didn’t think she was doing anything wrong. For a moment there he was channeling the rage of one Doug Ross, who always railed on bad parents when he was around. Strangely, Simon wasn’t the only one channeling Doug Ross this episode. See below.

Tony Gates = The New Doug Ross: Oh, like it isn’t obvious. Who else on the team really handles the kids like Tony does? We had another instance of this behavior in this week’s episode when he got trapped in the loading dock with a young boy who really wasn’t speaking that much. In the end, the young man opened up to Tony.

Now, while he’s good with children, he’s terrible with people beneath him. Particularly nurses. Particularly Sam. Not too sure when this all popped up, as Tony has been pretty decent to the rest of the staff. I don’t think it’s a control issue or jealousy. We’ll have to see how this all pans out in the next few episodes.

That’s it for this week. Please make sure to vote on Tuesday and come back next week when Greg’s brother Chazz joins the ranks of County General interns.

Clacked by Richard Keller
on Oct 31, 2008 @ 14:00 EST5EDT