Season 7, Episode 4

"Benton Backwards"

Well. This goes to prove that you can pack a lot into an hour. Or fourty-three minutes, once you take the commercials out.

So much to talk about. I'll start with Deb and her dying pediatric patient. While I felt very sorry for the mother of this dying child, my real complaint about this storyline was that we never got to see how it was resolved -- or even if it was resolved. Sure, Deb's trying to do the "right thing". All right, I'll gripe about one more thing: we've seen this kind of plot before. But we've also seen it get resolved with some kind of outcome, either good and touching, or sad and moving. There was no outcome to this. Or maybe the whole thing was a set-up for the patient's mother to tell Deb, "Wait till you're a mother." That was the only good thing about this plot for me -- not the line, but the look on Deb's face after it was said. I wanted to see more going on with Deb; she's grown on me a lot this season. (And grown in general. All right, I wasn't going to make that pun, but I had to.) And I guess Romano didn't tell Deb's parents that she's pregnant. I'm shocked, actually.

Let's move on to Romano, shall we? My, my, he is not well liked. We already knew that, of course. Even without the spoilers I heard, it wouldn't have surprised me to know that he was going to blackball Peter all across Chicago. He's the type of guy to do this kind of thing, for payback. And yes, as Peter told him (so wonderfully, too), Romano's a prick. And yes, as Elizabeth said, he's a turd too. But to be honest, his little moments of showing up just as Peter was getting turned down (by Kerry, for example) were not all that annoying -- just cloying. I figured that he should just put a sign around his neck saying "What are you doing here, Peter? Begging for a job because I've just made your life hell?" I missed the snarky Romano this week.

Peter. Peter, my friend, you need to remember that you were being just as obnoxious with Carla when Roger wanted to move to Germany. No need to get so pissed at her. Although she is very much of an obnoxious little turd all on her own. I'm not a huge fan of Carla's; I never have been, and I don't think this is because of the character, I think it's because of the actress. I've seen Lisa Nicole Carson too much on Ally McBeal and although I'm sure being on two highly rated shows is lucrative, I just can't warm up to her on ER. Sad, too.

While we're on the subject of Peter, let's talk about his family for a second. Reese, smiling. Oh, that lit up my evening, I'll tell you. This boy is a complete doll. And Jackie -- worried about her son, very good. I've always loved Jackie, and the only thing I have to pick a bone with the fact that she seems to be all right with Cleo. Not that it's Jackie's fault; I hand that over to the writers. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Jackie's son (did we ever get his name?) and Peter were fantastic. I know from spoilers that there will be more interaction for Peter with this storyline, and I'm looking forward to it. The kid who played Peter's nephew was very good; I enjoyed him a lot.

And on the opposite end of the enjoyment spectrum: Cleo. I've tried to warm up to her. I really, really have. And each time I sit down to watch ER I tell myself I'm going to try to get something good out of her character. But I can't. There's nothing that I enjoy about her -- except when she's not in a scene. Her behavior with Peter was just downright annoying. Her being upset about the chance that he's going to Philadelphia? Hello! She doesn't OWN him or anything.

And then we move onto the other major storyline: Abby and Luka and the mugging. Well. I knew it was coming. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. I will say that Abby and Luka make a good couple -- oops, they would have made a cute couple until Luka's repressed rage made its stunning debut. Abby seems like she's willing to stick by him, but we don't know yet if Luka will let her in emotionally (and if tonight was any indication, it's going to take him a while). I mentioned this in posts on the newsgroup, but I feel like as much as I want to care about what is happening to Luka right now, I'm not. Not because I don't care or because I'm heartless -- it's just that I feel like I don't have enough of a history with the character to be involved with him and to really get into his life. Maybe this will evolve over the season. I hope so.

What else? Oh, my, Carter. What a thing to go through -- another random act of senseless violence, right in front of his face. I didn't expect this, and the shooting was so cold-blooded that it really chilled me. Carter's reaction was perfect, just perfect. And his subsequent conversation with Gamma (who I was thrilled to see) was so wonderful. I love her character, and I love the fact that she has an obvious soft spot for her John. Even when Chase overdosed we didn't see this much emotion from her, and I was thrilled to see it here.

There was something about Mark, Dave and hockey. Yawn. Moving on.

Although while I'm talking about Mark, let me just say that I really was touched that he got the "cosmetologist" to work on that young beauty pageant contestant, even if the woman was a make-up artist to the dead. It was nice that Mark did that, and the young girl who played the patient was really nice. (And she looked familiar, too…although I'm not sure why.)

Kerry and her AWOL patient, and of course, Kim, the psych doc. Trivial things first: I liked the lilac shirt! Small details next: Interesting that Kerry called Kim down before the labs were back on her patient -- I would think that Kerry would wait before calling psych. But maybe she wanted to see the good doctor from upstairs. The scenes with Kerry and her patient were really quite wonderful, and I for one was glad to see that Kim managed to pull some strings to get the guy into another nursing home. And even more glad to see that Kerry "didn’t want to hear about it". The two characters have nice contrasts; Kim's more easygoing when it comes to rules and regulations, while Kerry isn't. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

The episode overall felt a little choppy and unbalanced, but I can't say it was terrible.

Miscellaneous Comments:

• Carter and the shooting. The shooter's absolute coldness with which she came in and shot and then walked out reminded me of the coldness in Paul Sobricki's eyes right before he stabbed Carter. Truly chilling. And Noah Wyle was fantastic as everyone converged on the scene, looking like he was almost stumbling to get out of the room, struggling to get his goggles and gloves off in disgust, his voice breaking as he spoke. Really nice job.
• As much as I love Haleh, and was glad to see so much of her, I missed Chuny tonight, and I would have loved to have seen more of Lily. And where was Yosh? I know I didn't like his new haircut, but that's no reason to not be in an episode…
• So nice to see Peter going to Elizabeth -- and Elizabeth admitting that she was avoiding him, then finally talking to him and letting her feelings about Romano's actions be known. (And I love how she said "turd" in that British accent of hers.) I also like how these two have stayed friends. I always thought it would be awkward for them later, but I'm glad to see it isn't.
• In a related note, what was with Cleo giving the eye when Peter and Elizabeth hugged? Come on, Cleo, ENOUGH already! Get over it! Elizabeth is ENGAGED and her and Peter are Just Friends. The jealous expression does not suit you. Come to think of it, most of your expressions, blank as they may be, don't suit you. Get off my TV screen.
• Cute moment: Mark realizing that he's impressed Malucci with his crutch-hockey shot.
• I could have done without the pigeons. Or rather, if the scene had been shorter, maybe, it wouldn't have felt so gimmicky to me.
• I liked the scene with Luka and Carter in the bathroom, where Luka told Carter to go home. Very nice job by both actors. I felt Noah was fantastic, trying to get the blood off.
• My favorite subtle moment of the evening: Carter drawing up the lidocaine for the guy who cut his hand on a can, and the look on his face as he looked at the needle for a split-second too long. My second favorite subtle moment: the look on Abby's face when she walks in and sees Carter with the needle in his hand. Both Maura Tierney and Noah Wyle did a lot with their facial expressions in this scene, and it really worked for me.
• What got me down: Peter going back to Romano at the end. Defeated.
• Kerry and the AWOL vet: the look on her face when he hugged her and said, "Don't let them take me" -- it changed from shock (from his forceful hug) to a fierce sadness as she hugged him back. Laura Innes makes me proud to be a fan of hers with little moments like these.
• God, did Luka pound that guy into the ground. Each time he lifted his head to pound it down again, you could see the blood on the pavement. That guy's skull must have looked like a broken eggshell. Say it with me now: Luka Has Big Issues.
• Question to the doctor, you know the one: 5 foot 4, red hair, walks with a crutch. When you wear a shirt unbuttoned with a tank underneath, and someone compliments you on the color of your shirt, why do you then spend the next 30 seconds self-consciously touching the collar and lapels of said shirt?
• Carter and Kerry in the lounge, at the lockers. Nice to see Kerry putting lipstick on -- nice color, BTW. And nice to see you getting dolled up to sit next to your friend Kim from psych. But aside from that. This was such a great scene, and altogether too short for my liking. Kerry really is trying to talk to Carter, to get through to him, to let him know that she cares. Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of the time, based just on who she is, she's unable to communicate her feelings well. It doesn't help, of course, that she keeps running into a brick wall, aka Carter, King of Controlled Feelings and "I'm Fine". Their last two lines, "Have a nice night" and "You too" were so good, and Kerry's reply came almost right on top of his line, which at first I thought was Laura rushing her line, but then I realized that wasn't the case at all. It was her trying to match his "everything's fine" tone and mood. Just perfect. I just wish these two could work towards resolving some of the issues between them. They used to be friends; Carter used to be so much more casual with Kerry and I always loved that. Now it's like they've never really known each other at all. And that makes me so sad. With that said, I have to say, Noah and Laura really shine in their scenes together. It's no secret that I love them both (hey, you're reading this review on Laura Innes Online, what did you expect?) but I really love how they work together. There's so much going on under the surface when they share a scene, and to me, that is damn fine acting.
• And since this review is for Laura Innes Online, I'll go on talking about Laura and Kerry in this episode. I had a revelation this afternoon when I re-watched the episode. Kim's character reminds me of a much more easygoing Doug Ross. She breaks rules, which is so not Kerry -- and check out the line, "I don't want to hear about it" that Kerry tosses back at her when she realizes what Kim has done. What was even more interesting was Kim's response: "But it was what you wanted, right?" Made me wonder if Kim did this to impress Kerry at all, to win points, as it is. The only thing that worries me about the developing relationship between these two is that I fear Kerry's gonna get her heart broken yet again. Kim seems like the type to be fun and flirtatious, and maybe that will be all the relationship will mean to her -- and with Kerry having to deal with issues of her sexuality, and the assumption that she's pretty lonely, I have a feeling the end of the relationship will not be easy for her. Then again, they haven't even started the relationship yet, so I may not have a clue what I'm talking about her. The seriously biased part of me is holding out for Kerry to end up with Carter when the dust settles, but these reviews should remain unbiased, so I'll just pretend I never said that.

Next week on ER: Mark goes down in a helicopter, and Peter takes over Kerry's job for the day (while Laura Innes is off directing The West Wing). In the words of EpneBelle from the alt.tv.er newsgroup: "I'm SO sick of Mark playing "hero". Gimme a break. That chopper can't land hard enough for me." I couldn't have said it better myself.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!