Interesting ER Storyline

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/9/04 at 8:19pm

One of the female characters is gay. She had a relationship with another woman who, after being impregnated gave birth. Last night, the mother of the child was killed in an accident & the doctor character was there when she died in the operating room. A few days later, the doctor character went to the home of the parents of her dead partner who were caring for the child . They intend to keep the child as the dead woman was their blood relative. They slammed the door in the face of the grieving partner. She obviously will now fight for the child. It was very well done & it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 4/9/04 at 8:30pm

And that is exactly the kind of situation in which same sex marriage (as opposed to civil unions) will make all the difference. I didn't see the show, but I'll assume they are running this story line to highlight the issue.

[suddenlyseymour]

Posted: 4/9/04 at 9:12pm

that episode was very good

[Michelleruth]

Posted: 4/9/04 at 9:29pm

It was an excellent episode. Heartrenching to watch the woman screaming at the door for her child and being shut out.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/9/04 at 11:42pm

Really? I thought it was terribly, awfully written. It actually enraged me, but more for the cop out way ER deals with its big dramatic moments.

For example, earlier this season a helicopter fell on Robert Romano but nobody knew his body was under the wreck by the time the episode ended with all of the characters in maximum trauma. This was followed by several weeks of reruns. When ER returned with an "all-new" episode (as opposed to the "mostly new" episodes they need to distinguish these from), it picked up a few days later with people not feeling like going to his memorial service. I am wondering who is thinking about the dramatury of this crap.

Then there's the whole Dr Lesbia Weaver thing. At one point she wanted to have a child. And then the fetus died, helping us see her human side as she cried. Weeks later, with absolutely NO warning, her partner comes in to deliver this child that has never been mentioned. Oh yes, the very "private" Carrie would never talk about her partner being pregnant.

Then we don't really hear anything about the partner or the kid or really Carrie for weeks on end. Then last night we meet the partner's parents, including the mother who will not say "Say goodbye to your other mommy" about Carrie which signified to me, partner's about to die, family will not give Carrie visitation rights. This should have all taken at LEAST a few episodes to come to fruition.

Naturally, ten minutes later Carrie is screaming outside the door demanding the baby from the family who won't give her visitation rights.

I'm sorry, I know it's an important issue, but I didn't buy it. Carrie works in an ER and her partner is an EMT. Two groups of people who know ALL about next of kin rights. There is NO WAY those two would not have dealt with adoption immediately after the child was born. No way. Unless they forgot they had a kid the way they forgot to tell anybody they were pregnant in the first place.

I'm sure this episode will be followed by weeks of rerurns, then sweep month when they might think to mention this story line again. Or not. Who can say? It's ER. Things either happen too fast, or off screen. Bad. Bad drama.

[RobbO]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 2:12am

exactly, that's like saying that a police officer would break the law knowing the consequences - it would never happen.

or a doctor would smoke, because he/she knows the health risks - it would never happen.

or HIV counselors would have unsafe sex knowing the dangers - it would never happen.

okay, you get the point. yeah, one's a doctor and the other is an emt but they're also human. people get busy, put things off. they do not always do what is rational/right/expected. (perhaps during reruns they forgot to fill out the adoption papers... )

i won't defend the time compressions or short-cuts ER takes, but other than people being fallible it is also realistic that people did not want to go to a wake/funeral for romano - he was the most hated member at that hospital.

Updated On: 4/10/04 at 02:12 AM

[etoile]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 2:49am

This show ran out of steam at least three years ago. Put it to rest already.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 9:09am

Opinion noted. Think you are 100 % wrong but you are entitled to it

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 10:51am

Sorry RobbO, they're LESBIANS. And even though Carrie was late in coming out, her partner was not. Her partner, presumably, was connected to some form of gay and/or lesbian community in Chicago. There is no way that in the bliss of their relationship or at some point during the pregnancy, this issue did not come up. Course, we never SAW or even knew about the pregnancy, so how would we know. Maybe if they showed us the pregnancy and a moment where one of them said, "Nothing will ever happen to you..." "My family wouldn't keep the baby from you!" it would have at least covered the plot hole.

It just doesn't compare to law breaking or smoking. Gay and lesbian parenting is practically a cottage industry, presumably these women had access to the internet. These characters would never have been so willfully naive, and if they needed to be for the plot, THEN SHOW US!

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 10:58am

"[g]ay and lesbian parenting is practically a cottage industry"

now i get to cough!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 11:13am

Oh my god. There's magazines and websites and (naturally) pot luck support groups and EVERYTHING. For a while in the late '80s and early '90s there was a ton of pressure on lesbians to have kids.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 11:34am

i agree that er is spent. not only that, but that bonehead john wells has already run out of ideas on the west wing and has begun recycling old er plot devices already.

[Lorelai]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 11:34am

I agree that on ER things may happen off screen or too fast...but "or a doctor would smoke, because he/she knows the health risks - it would never happen."
What IS that? Who smokes BECAUSE of health risks. It's more proper to say that a doctor would smoke although he knows the health risks. Maybe I'm living in some alternate univerise than everyone else, but doctors DO smoke knowing the health risks. Even on the show they show one member or another smoking all the time.
I agree that the dialogue on ER is in need of a script doctor, but on what show so you see every single thing that happens? Think of shows like....Fraiser, for instance, where we never SAW what went on between Niles and Maris, but we sure did hear about it. On a good show, the dialogue brings the audience up to speed with what they don't show on screen because the script is handled in such a manner that would make reference to it in a believable and appropriate manner.
To say that what happened on the show could never happen is almost delusional. It HAS happened and I'm sure it will continue to happen...but, of course, that doesn't make it right.

Updated On: 4/10/04 at 11:34 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 11:36am

Uh, Bronte, that was the whole point of Maris, that we didn't see her. It was a gimmick. ER does it as a cop out. Why would they spend all that money to stage a helicopter crash and then not show the immediate aftermath.

I didn't say it never happens. I said it would never happen to these specific characters. They would NEVER have not set up legal protections for each oterh, never. YES, families treat their gay members and partners of their gay members like crap all the time. And it is SUCH a familiar story in the gay and lesbian world about parents keeping their kids partners out of their lives, that there isn't a sentient lesbian parent working the jobs these gals work that could be counted among their number and who would not have been prepared. I'm sorry there's just not.

Updated On: 4/10/04 at 11:36 AM

[Lorelai]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 11:46am

The "point" of the character of Maris was not that we didn't see her, it was the effect her character (yes, unseen) on the rest of the show. I mean, how many Maris jokes have we heard on Fraiser? How many stories did we hear of her doing awful things to Niles. The fact that she was unseen let the audience use their imagination when hearing all these things. I'm sure every people who is a fan of Frasier has their own opinion. I just kind of always considered Maris as a foil (one person who sets off the another by comparison) for Niles. But that's just me. Everyone's going to have a different opinion and they are more than entitled to have it.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 12:01pm

Yes, thank you for fleshing out exactly what I meant when I said that was the point. But that was the point.

ER just has the lazy habit of walking away from huge events, or having the big climax happen off screen. It is not the point of ER to not show things. But they end up doing it too much and it makes no dramatic sense, thanks to the inconsistency.

A genius Datalounge writer summarized it very succintly:

"And now, for your edification, the entire Kerry/Sandy relationship in 10 easy steps:

1. Wanna go ice fishing sometime?

2 What do you mean you're not out?

3. Outing kiss in front of coworkers: "I did you a favuh!"

4. Romantic kiss in front of cab. "You were right."

5. Next season: "We're pregnant."

6. We're not pregnant anymore.

7. No, YOU get pregnant!

8. Next season: "Our baby!"

9. Sandy dies.

10. The end."

Somebody else suggested it's the perfect Benton-like exit strategy for Laura Innes to leave the show. She fights for custody and wins it and leaves the ER to take care of the kid. (I predict this will be in three scenes in the last half of an episode.)

Updated On: 4/10/04 at 12:01 PM

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 8:51pm

Every single minute of that episode broke my heart.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/10/04 at 11:25pm

Did any single minute of it catch you off guard?

[ckeaton]

Posted: 4/11/04 at 10:17am

Sam Taggart (L. Cardelinni) is amazing. I must control the urge to throw myself in front of a fictional bus, so that a fake ambulance will take me to this very dramatic, but incredibly hot ER.

I thought that the Weaver story line was heart-wrenching, regardless of the lack of dramaturgy, or otherwise. After all, if they did plan for it, would we be talking about this issue right now? I think it's done it's job already.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/11/04 at 10:25am

You first paragraph cracked me up, C. Your second paragraph makes me wonder if the point of ER is to be quality television or an After School Special?

[sabrelady]

Posted: 4/11/04 at 12:16pm

the point of this E.R. is exciting interesting entertainment. As a result they keep raising the bar with the number & esoteric events that keep happening @ this hospital. It's ridiculous! The number of thoracotomys alone is beyond any standard that any health care profesional would see in a lifetime let alone repeatedly in the same E.R.. But as I've often said "it doesn't have to BE RIGHT for the camera just LOOK like its right."

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/11/04 at 12:24pm

But increasingly it hasn't even looked right. The helicopter crash happens outside the ER and they kept operating on patients while the place was burning and people were killed and Robert went missing and at the end of the day, Abby's like, "Wow! Another wacky day. See ya tomorrow." I mean!

[sabrelady]

Posted: 4/11/04 at 12:38pm

That episode sucked gas in a MAJOR way!!!( no pun)
The CGI was terrible too! Updated On: 4/11/04 at 12:38 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/11/04 at 2:59pm

I watched that. My friend and I looked at each other speechless and in shock when it was over... what a horrible thing for those writers to do!

[ckeaton]

Posted: 4/11/04 at 3:00pm

Namo, I did hear sappy music in my head when I wrote that second paragraph. I was trying to legitimize the post with it.

Maybe it did the opposite.