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ER - why could they never let Carter be happy. SPOILERS

136 replies

Fifireee · 31/08/2023 20:10

SPOILERS I’m rewatching ER for the billionth time. I need a portable c spine, Chem 7 and an intubation kit.

Why could Carter never be allowed to be happy?!
Why did they let Mark die (sob).
Poor Carter.
I have an irrational dislike of Thandie Newton because she (I know she didn’t really) broke his heart and he never found love again.
I’ve got to series 10 so it will start to get rubbish soon.

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AndrewGarfieldsLaptop · 31/08/2023 21:12

I always love a rewatch of ER

Petrarkanian · 31/08/2023 21:14

I want to re watch it now, what is it on please?

sunshineandshowers40 · 31/08/2023 21:15

I also loved Carter and Benton's friendship.

Beckafett · 31/08/2023 21:15

Oh my goodness I NEED this post. I rewatched every series when I was pregnant: on mat leave with my eldest; now 12. Gave all my dvds away and am now rewatching from the start on all4.
anyone remember the Ewan mcgregor episode??

NotMadeOfStone · 31/08/2023 21:19

Ha, just started watching again for maybe the 10th time.

I was in hard love with Carter from episode one. Kem never made sense to me; she was so rigid and they made a not very believable couple.

I loved him and Abby together; Luka was the worlds most boring man to my 15 year old self!

Ah, Carter. Set the blueprint for every man I've fancied since. Seriously, you could line up their photos and easily trace all my past lives back to Carter. 😁

NotMadeOfStone · 31/08/2023 21:22

Past loves, not past lives!

tigger1001 · 31/08/2023 21:27

I never got carter and Kem either. Really thought he deserved to be happy and he wouldn't be with her. It was all about what she wanted with zero compromise.

I liked Abby up until she cheated on Luka. Can't watch these episodes. I get it that it was the addiction but again they just couldn't let a character be happy.

Loved er though. One of my all time favourite tv shows. It really was groundbreaking. And there are just certain episodes I vividly remember, marks death. Carter and Lucy being stabbed etc

Turtles4543 · 31/08/2023 21:29

Beckafett · 31/08/2023 21:15

Oh my goodness I NEED this post. I rewatched every series when I was pregnant: on mat leave with my eldest; now 12. Gave all my dvds away and am now rewatching from the start on all4.
anyone remember the Ewan mcgregor episode??

I do, with Carol.
And how Carol worked so hard when the twins were so little.

NotMadeOfStone · 31/08/2023 21:32

The episode with Ray Liotta is an absolute heartbreak every time.

Pratt dying.

Carol dancing after standing her fiancé up at the altar! She looked so beautiful.

Carter and Lucy being stabbed.

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Fifireee · 31/08/2023 21:33

HeyJackKerouac · 31/08/2023 21:10

I loved it the first time around and rewatched the whole thing a few years ago. On the second watch I realised that Carter really was the heart of the programme. Totally agree that thandie newton character was awful and not right for him. I have never watched anything with thandie Newton in it from that day to this and that will be the case until I die.

Exactly. I just can’t. She was and will always be wrong!!

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Beckafett · 31/08/2023 21:35

I can’t wait to enjoy it all again, and watch it from a different adult perspective

Strictlyfanoftenyears · 31/08/2023 21:36

I hated Luca and Abby together, presumably Carter was meant to be the star, but it was always Mark who was lead man. The episode where the baby got stuck still traumatises me though. So hard hitting, they never scared of storylines like that.

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 31/08/2023 21:36

I love er!! Its really held up well given that its almost 30 years old. It tackled a lot of heavy subject matter when Friends was getting laughs from Ross's gay ex-wife. The main characters had story lines with gay relationships, a doctor who had HIV, racism profiling by the police, addiction, suicide, still birth, and then all the patients story lines that covered too many issues to list!

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Fifireee · 31/08/2023 21:36

Yes
Carter and Benton.
Lucy and Romano
Mark!
So many good characters. I think being a teenager it really impacted on me.
I didn’t like Doug - he was arrogant and ruined Carole’s clinic.

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NotMadeOfStone · 31/08/2023 21:39

The thing I always felt raised it above every other show at the time was that every single extra was incredible, as good as the main cast. So the spell was never broken.

I remember watching a documentary about the making, and I think Noah Wyle said he was a bit of a dick to the actor who played Lucy, he said they were all pretty arrogant at that point and treated her like a newbie. But they didn't know her sister had just died before she came on set. That's quite sad really.

I think I've got that right anyway!

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 31/08/2023 21:41

Strictlyfanoftenyears · 31/08/2023 21:36

I hated Luca and Abby together, presumably Carter was meant to be the star, but it was always Mark who was lead man. The episode where the baby got stuck still traumatises me though. So hard hitting, they never scared of storylines like that.

Edited

Yes! I still remember the shock when we realised it was Gant when his pager was going off while they were working on the train victim, proper jaw dropping shock for a 15 year old.

And the Lucy & Carter storyline 😓

OnTheBoardwalk · 31/08/2023 21:42

You see the only time I felt for Abby was when she cheated on Luka. She wasn’t in a state to consent to it and he knew it

TaigaSno · 31/08/2023 21:44

I've never got over Mark's death 💔 how he was trying to get his daughter back on track before he went, and the letter that was read out to his friends. Saddest moment on tv ever!

CliffsofMohair · 31/08/2023 21:48

mumberry84 · 31/08/2023 21:05

..... mark?

Show quote history

25? years on I still well up when that song comes on the radio. It’s a Pavlovian response at that stage.

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Fifireee · 31/08/2023 21:48

@NotMadeOfStone I’ll have to find that.
@TheLovleyChebbyMcGee Mark was a great character. The scenes with his dad were incredible. Every actor was outstanding. The only bad episode was the one where Susan was going after her sister and it was linked to another series not on UK TV.

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Humidititties · 31/08/2023 21:49

Couldn't abide Abby, far too complicated, Carter had a very lucky escape. I loved Archie and Ray, and when Ray had his accident 😔

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Fifireee · 31/08/2023 21:59

@Humidititties I loved Archie.

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Fifireee · 31/08/2023 22:00

@Humidititties Archie was so good because he was so useless when he started and the episode with the tank was very funny.

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hexsnidgett · 31/08/2023 22:00

Oh man. Mark Green,the tears!

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 31/08/2023 22:02

Mark was my favourite character, and I like that he was flawed, it made him balanced and more real.

Its funny how my opinions on the characters changed though from when I first watched it at aged 14 to when I rematch it aged approx 37. Doug became an arsehole and Kerry became totally reasonable!