Hey, a Ray "previously on...".
It's two weeks on from Christmas. Abby has to make a decision about the baby. Luka is leaving it up to her, but clearly does want it. Abby is the kind of person not to take the tree down by Twelth Night - no wonder she's always had bad luck.
Kerry slipped on the ice in the ambulance bay and gets to be a patient for the day.
Neela: I'm just trying to be professional.
Kerry: It's annoying.
Ray asks for a few weeks off. His band has got a chance at a record deal. He's so wonderfully delighted at the mere idea.
Ray: Kerry...
Kerry: Back off, Elvis.
Gods, I love it when they write Kerry as a humourous bitch. She's so wonderfully sharp.
Jodie and Clemente are being all East coast Latino at each other, which is enjoyable, if rather unusual for ER. Suddenly there are two cops who seems to have walked out of a bad film noir, all gravelly voiced and low-browed, giving him a hard time about parking violations. Presumably by parking his "big soldier" from last week in the Newark cop's wife.
The baby decision thing means this episode is laden with cases which cause Abby to have flashbacks: a mother whose son is permenantly disabled; a runaway boy; a guy with an inherited diesease ("screwed by genetics"). I notice they are all male, suggesting the baby will be a boy.
Meanwhile Neela and Luka deal with a teenage pregnancy, the result of a date rape. The girl is Catholic, and guilting about the idea of an abortion. IT's pretty clear that Luka's arguing with Neela is coming from a personal place, but it's not from the religion point of view but because he thinks Abby is off getting an abortion, and he goes ahead and treats the girl regardless of his personal opinion.
Albright is back, calling Morris "red" and calling Clemente on being on "the cusp of sexual harassment". Dr Cruella, indeed.
Ray tries sweetening Kerry with good food. When she says he is a good doctor (yay! sweet smile of satisfaction!) he threatens to resign if he can't get the time off. Kerry calls him on it. Oops.
Sam: Ray's on his way out.
Morris: He quit.
Neela: I don't think he meant to.
Jodie taught Neela to tie a knot in a cherry stem using only her tongue. I'm just going to leave that mental image there. Maybe there could be cocktails with cherries and knot-tying in a fic...
Brett has a good line in understatement: "You've been pretty busy with this doctor thing." This is lining up to be the Ray equivilent of Neela's Jumbomart time, isn't it?
Oh god. The bad modern pop ballad is back. I have no idea who it is but it's the usual twee piano crap which owes too much to Coldplay and their ilk. It might even by Coldplay. Ack.
On first view, I wasn't madly keen on this episode as it seemed rather big on the babies theme and nothing aggravates me more than an episode which tries too hard. However, on a repeat view, this episode works rather well as the non-baby stuff is written with a sharp wit. There's not of fast-talking etc. Also, more Ray than we've had for ages.
Friday, March 17, 2006
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3 comments:
Hey, a Ray "previously on...". Yay!
I love it when they write Kerry as a humourous bitch. She's so wonderfully sharp. Oh, I know, Kerry's accrued a lot of good will for her barbs.
Jodie and Clemente are being all East coast Latino at each other, which is enjoyable, if rather unusual for ER.
They were entertaining, weren't they? I doubt that I'll get invested, in fact, I may get irritated by their complete self-destructiveness quite soon, but for now, they can stay :)
I notice they are all male, suggesting the baby will be a boy.
Ooh, didn't notice that.
The girl is Catholic,
Where did you get that from? Christian yes, but she could have been Protestant.
IT's pretty clear that Luka's arguing with Neela is coming from a personal place,
I did think that Neela came off as fairly determined on her pov too, a bit too much so, though I appreciate they were trying to set up a conflict. However, I couldn't help but think that the girl should have more than a few hours to digest her pregnancy and work out her feelings, and that everyone should have cooled off and backed off and given her an appointment with a councillor. Of course this would have been far less dramatic. Only main or recurring characters get the lesiure of that much time.
Albright is back, calling Morris "red" missed that. Okay, his 'Missy' was still inappropriate, but less so.
When she says he is a good doctor (yay! sweet smile of satisfaction!)
Heh, and didn't you call it?
he threatens to resign if he can't get the time off. Kerry calls him on it. Oops.
Silly boy. Thought so when he started calling her Kerry, like since when has he had that right?
Neela: I don't think he meant to. I loved and clung to that as a shipper. Proof that she can read him, does know him etc. etc. Of course, they didn't follow that up in any way.
Jodie taught Neela to tie a knot in a cherry stem using only her tongue. I'm just going to leave that mental image there. Maybe there could be cocktails with cherries and knot-tying in a fic...
Issue a challenge up at neela_ray.
This is lining up to be the Ray equivilent of Neela's Jumbomart time, isn't it?
Ohh. Well, it depends on whether Neela gets to do surgery or not. I don't know. I'm unspoilt.
On first view, I wasn't madly keen on this episode as it seemed rather big on the babies theme and nothing aggravates me more than an episode which tries too hard. However, on a repeat view, this episode works rather well as the non-baby stuff is written with a sharp wit. There's not of fast-talking etc. Also, more Ray than we've had for ages.
I've only seen it once, and it didn't quite hang together. I rather liked the flash-backs, mainly because I could wallow in having known Luka and Abby, but, somehow it didn't all work. Kerry's hip problem got to me too.
I doubt that I'll get invested, in fact, I may get irritated by their complete self-destructiveness quite soon, but for now, they can stay :)
Yes, I'm definitely seeing them as a "this season only" thing. And they make a great impulsive/self-destructive contrast to the adult sensible Luka/Abby thing. More so than the Neela/Michael thing, in fact. It's like they are the first Luka/Abby relationship from the outside.
The girl is Catholic,
Where did you get that from? Christian yes, but she could have been Protestant.
You may well be right. I think I was assuming based on that being Neela's objections to Luka.
I did think that Neela came off as fairly determined on her pov too, a bit too much so, though I appreciate they were trying to set up a conflict. However, I couldn't help but think that the girl should have more than a few hours to digest her pregnancy and work out her feelings, and that everyone should have cooled off and backed off and given her an appointment with a councillor. Of course this would have been far less dramatic.
Yes, Neela was very determined. Ther determination is in character, but it seemed unusual for her to be so didactic about it. And, yes, the reality would be less dramatic televisually!
When she says he is a good doctor (yay! sweet smile of satisfaction!)
Heh, and didn't you call it?
Watching this season in tandem with season 1, the most obvious comparision is Carter who starts out as a klutz planning to be a surgeon (the fame, the glory, the glamour, the money) but turns out to be really good at dealing with people in distress and becomes an excellent ER doc. The details are different (Ray wants fame and glory via the band) but the basic trajectory seems similar.
Neela: I don't think he meant to. I loved and clung to that as a shipper. Proof that she can read him, does know him etc. etc. Of course, they didn't follow that up in any way.
I was just delighted that we had Ray and Nella on screen at the same time, talking to each other. Hurrah! Apart from anything else, there's a lot of fun in their dialogues and they way PN and SW play it. It's just such a good dynamic.
I intend to write some cherry stem PWP myself...
I tend to give episodes two goes before I decide on them: often on first watch I'm thinking "enough with the babies!" and on rewatch I catch a lot more detail and other story strands.
Yeah, you're right about Clemente/Jodie working as a contrast. Far more so than Neela/Gallant, who, depending on where they go with Gallant dealing with life after his Iraqi experiences is a case of two normally sensible and together people making a really bad decision.
it seemed unusual for her to be so didactic about it. I think that was the issue. It wasn't entirely out of character, but it did feel as if they'd made it too unswerving a reaction for the sake of the confrontation.
The Carter-Ray comparison's interesting. Ray definitely has the potential, we see him handling patients much better, he's definitely on a learning trajectory. It will be interesting to see where they take his character.
anything else, there's a lot of fun in their dialogues and they way PN and SW play it. It's just such a good dynamic. Oh ys, I could gush about it for hours, but it really appeals to me.
I intend to write some cherry stem PWP myself...
Very cool. Am looking forward to it.
As for the rewatching an ep, I haven't got there yet - though I probably will for the fabled 12.16 that seems to have got fandom alight (don't spoil me). I still can't quite believe I'm this fannish about ER. Not that I haven't watched it avidly, but there you go. And in part that avid watching has been because of the details and nuances.
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