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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.

OP posts:
superoz · 01/09/2023 01:00

Oh yes loved ER, rewatched it all during lockdown on All4 and cried buckets when Mark died. They really did Lizzie’s character a massive disservice afterwards though, she lost her spark.

Going to go against popular opinion, I preferred Luka. But did feel sorry for Carter at the end when it hadn’t worked out with Kem.

Romano was great, but died stupidly.

The later seasons were not so great and it got more soapy and boring, skipped a few episodes and don’t even notice. The final season was great though I’m sure Doug and Carol would have found out they had saved Carter!

noodlezoodle · 01/09/2023 02:54

Thewrongdress · 31/08/2023 21:03

I cried and cried when Pratt died. He was so brave.

Edited

Oh me too! His final scenes, and Mark's - heartbreaking.

Looks like I'm overdue a rewatch!

MrsJamin · 01/09/2023 05:17

Get a gurney!
Flipping love ER. We rewatched it in lockdown too!
My favourites were carter (africa ruined his storyline though😔), abby and her mum, and Lucy. Couldn't stand the Ray seasons really, partly because he was a terrible actor, like utterly dreadful. Neela was fab though.
The reunion they did online when in lockdown was just wonderful - it's two hours long but you won't regret watching it! https://www.youtube.com/live/TWtWk9kSMPs

Before you continue to YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/live/TWtWk9kSMPs

ElizabethBest · 01/09/2023 05:33

I bloody love ER. It saved my DS’s life. I rewatched the entire thing in the last weeks of mat leave and first few weeks trapped under a newborn, and when DS stopped breathing I was able to successfully resuscitate him because I’d so very recently seen it done on ER.

Willmafrockfit · 01/09/2023 05:37

i loved mark greene
loved luka
not that fussed about carter
i must rewatch - it was always so frantic
i remember a baby being born and they Had to save the mother, she was their priority.

Willmafrockfit · 01/09/2023 05:44

that is amazing @ElizabethBest Flowers

swedex · 01/09/2023 05:53

Reading this I need to go back to it! I restarted last year and got to Abby and Stanley tucci and it really made me cross so stopped watching!

BethDuttonsTwin · 01/09/2023 05:54

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.

That was a show called Third Watch and they showed it during the day in around 2004, I remember loving the one where Susan showed up. Third Watch was actually really good too, similarly fantastic, well written, complicated characters and gripping plot lines. Not quite as good as ER but a genuine can’t miss for me.

BethDuttonsTwin · 01/09/2023 05:55

Never cried so much before or since at a fictional characters death as I did at Mark dying. I was sad for days afterwards.

Shimmyshimmycocobop · 01/09/2023 06:05

My favourite show, possibly of all time. Loved Mark Green, still cry buckets at the episode where he died, my dc laugh at me but I think ds1 also loves it too.

As a pp said it still stands up so well. Always thought I had an irrational dislike of Thandie Newton but of course it was because of how cold she was to Carter. 🤦‍♀️

Original poster
Fifireee · 01/09/2023 06:25

NotMadeOfStone · 31/08/2023 23:37

Romano when he secretly signed something to Rhys behind Benton's back!

I watched that episode last week and googled what Romano said and it’s
look after your dad.

OP posts:
Original poster
Fifireee · 01/09/2023 06:26

@Needmorelego I'll check that out.

OP posts:
Original poster
Fifireee · 01/09/2023 06:37

I think Mark is my all time favourite character in any TV show ever.
The episode after the stabbing when you're waiting for Lucy and Carter to be found was just incredible. When Benton comes running down to check Carter.
Also the episode where Benton's nephew dies and he has to come out and tell his sister - her performance made me sob.

On this rerun I've not watched the episode where Mark dies because I just can't!!

Neela is a great character.

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Shimmyshimmycocobop · 01/09/2023 06:48

Stand out episodes were Lucy and Carter getting stabbed and then having to wait a week for them to be found.

I was gripped by the woman dying during childbirth in the first season, had never seen anything like it on tv before. And of course poor Gant, storyline nicked by Grays Anatomy years later.

I also loved Sally Field and thought she played a person with bipolar really well. She was a more likable character than Abby.

lastminutewednesday · 01/09/2023 07:22

I lived ER. I watched four episodes of it whilst I was in
Labour with dd1 but not yet time to go to hospital. Specifically remember watching the one with Don Cheadle as the medical student who killed himself as he had Parkinson's or something?

And the scene where carter gets stabbed and then sees Lucy on the floor was amazing!

Carter was my first love as a teen. I also liked Luka. But both Benton and Carol the nurse used to annoy me intensely! I suppose much like a real hospital there are people you like and people you don't and that was the beauty of it.

Original poster
Fifireee · 01/09/2023 08:08

@Shimmyshimmycocobop Greys anatomy stole quite a few but your right the Gant one was very obvious.

OP posts:
ElizabethBest · 01/09/2023 09:07

@Willmafrockfit and that in turn made me completely career change and retrain, and now I work in maternal and paediatric patient safety 😊

tigger1001 · 01/09/2023 10:06

Fifireee · 01/09/2023 08:08

@Shimmyshimmycocobop Greys anatomy stole quite a few but your right the Gant one was very obvious.

I think that's what annoys me about Greys anatomy- just stolen story lines but then written in such a way it was soap opera like rather than gritty drama like er was

LyrasOxford · 01/09/2023 10:48

Oh I've found my people! No one I know in rl has ever watched it. So hard hitting and good at raising awareness for various issues.
Not a fan of Kem and Carter either but the stillbirth episode was heart breaking and very well done I thought.
Still remember watching the stabbing episode as a young teen and the shock when Carter realises Lucy is lying there!
Might go and re-watch (again)!

Needmorelego · 01/09/2023 11:42

The one thing that spoilt and annoyed me about the final episode was the fresh faced new doctor (essentially going full circle to what Carter was like in the beginning) was played by Rory from the Gilmore Girls. No offence to Alexis Beidel (spelling?) but she is now one of those actresses who whatever role she is in she will always be "Rory Gilmore".
I couldn't see her as her Dr character. She was "Dr Rory" 😂
They should have used an unknown actress.

mumberry84 · 01/09/2023 11:46

Needmorelego · 01/09/2023 11:42

The one thing that spoilt and annoyed me about the final episode was the fresh faced new doctor (essentially going full circle to what Carter was like in the beginning) was played by Rory from the Gilmore Girls. No offence to Alexis Beidel (spelling?) but she is now one of those actresses who whatever role she is in she will always be "Rory Gilmore".
I couldn't see her as her Dr character. She was "Dr Rory" 😂
They should have used an unknown actress.

Rachel Green's age annoys me in the last episode - does it make sense or I am being grumpy - I didn't think she'd be the right age yet to apply to med school

I do a big rewatch every few years and I've stalled in the Sam/Alex/Luca bore off. Carter will run to Paris soon to get Kem back and it's all a bit pants now

Needmorelego · 01/09/2023 11:58

@mumberry84 Rachel would have been in normal College. I'm not sure how far in advance you need to apply for Medical School in the US.
She was about 5 in the first series so 20 at the end? I think she was aged up a couple of years when they changed Actress.
I always want to yell at the screen when Dr Corday (and baby Ella) are boarding the train "for Heathrow" cos she's completely at the wrong station (Kings Cross rather than Paddington) 😂

MrsMariaReynolds · 01/09/2023 12:43

Dogsitterwoes · 31/08/2023 23:26

I loved ER but it jumped the shark for me when Romano was killed by a helicopter crashing on him in the street, a couple of seasons after his arm was chopped off by a helicopter. I mean, come on, had he offended the god of helicopters or something?

A well-worn joke between DH and I is to exclaim "Helicopter 2: Romano 0!" when things go tits up at home, usually involving disastrous attempts at DIY instead of medical emergencies, but still...a thing. 😁
God I love ER.

mumberry84 · 01/09/2023 12:51

Needmorelego · 01/09/2023 11:58

@mumberry84 Rachel would have been in normal College. I'm not sure how far in advance you need to apply for Medical School in the US.
She was about 5 in the first series so 20 at the end? I think she was aged up a couple of years when they changed Actress.
I always want to yell at the screen when Dr Corday (and baby Ella) are boarding the train "for Heathrow" cos she's completely at the wrong station (Kings Cross rather than Paddington) 😂

Oh my god the scene when she's back in England and walks with her dad to meet her mum infuriates me with geographical wizardry of the south bank, first facing the wrong way, then tower bridge keeps moving, I was trying to get DH as annoyed as I was in a recent rewatch but he won't take it seriously. Something about helicopters jumping the shark 👀

Needmorelego · 01/09/2023 12:58

@mumberry84 yes Lizzie took the most bizarre route to get to whatever hospital she was working at (St Thomas's ?).
I expect Chicago citizens said the same thing about EL routes and stations and views from the hospital roof 😂