....going back to season 1 on DVD....
Mark is still very cut up by the deaths in Love's Labor Lost. Susan forces him to take the night off but he only gets as far as Doc MaGoo's.
It's the night of the full moon, when they get the really wierd stuff. A PCP gangbanger comes into trauma 1, smashing the big window between the two trauma rooms. A Auto-Versus-Pedestrian comes in. The kid is OK but the driver has a heart attack (trauma 2). A moonlighting doctor, Swift, arrives, who will be taking over from Morgenstern.
Benton's mother is still in hospital. Going to visit her, he finds her Jean already there and his mother in restraints. Jean ordered it, because Mrs Benton keeps trying to get out of bed.
Carter gets a girl obsessed with astrology. He was born on 4th June 1970.
Ross and Diane are dating, and having sex.
The Diaster Plan is activated when there is a fire in a nightclub. Ross, Benton and Mark are all paged to get in as quickly as possible. Ross and Benton make it. Mark is in a bar, playing a beat'emup game and doesn't hear his pager. Susan does her best to cover for him when it turns out that Swift triggered a practise drill to see how well his new ER does. (This reminds me of Clemente's arrival in season 12, where he pretends to be a patient in order to test his new colleagues.)
Benton has unstrapped his mother, but she falls from the bed and he has to accept that she is seriously ill.
Chen misapplies a treatment and nearly sets a guy on fire. There's another patient who claims to be a werewolf.
Mark and Doug ride home on the El. After Doug leaves him, Green gets off but just sits on the station bench. Jen arrives and forces Mark to eat some breakfast.
Carol asks Susan to bridesmaid.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Friday, May 26, 2006
12.20 Pratt in Africa
I know it had a real title but we're going to always call it that, let's be honest.
There is very little to say about this. Pratt goes to Africa. Genocide turns out to be a useful backdrop to his personal growth. The end.
There is very little to say about this. Pratt goes to Africa. Genocide turns out to be a useful backdrop to his personal growth. The end.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Friday, May 12, 2006
12.19 No Place to Hide
No Neela or Ray in the "previous on..." so even if I didn't already know this episode was light on them I could take a guess.
Clemente is paranoid, but Bobby really is out to get him. I assume the recovering Jodie is in a safe-house somewhere since she is the victim of a shooting by a policeman but this hasn't been mentioned. the focus is very much on Clemente's nerves.
Jane is back! I love Clemente's "Who are you? why did I never see you before?" because, well, Jane has been missing for an age.
Morris has taken the job, the money-grabbing freak. I'm sure the Morris/Albright shippers were delighted with them finally kissing in the dispensary but personally, it doesn't make up for the lack of Neela/Ray 'shippy goodness. Over on neela_ray someone pointed out that not only do they have very few scenes but that none of them are together. This is a nice way of driving home the sudden divide between them, just as the way each Neela scene was followed by a Ray scene in Lost in America links them together. very nice subtle use of storyline, ER writers!
Unlike Pratt going to Africa. I've worked out why I don't like these segments and it is the bloody music. It sets out to say "this is Important and Dramatic and Powerful" and goes against the normal style of ER. Remember when ER started and audiences reeled from the idea of handheld cameras and choppy editing? The Africa stuff is the antithesis of this so it becomes ponderous. Unlike Pratt, I read up on Darfur a couple of years ago and I've noticed that ER hasn't explained a key element - that the Jangaweed are militia employed by the government. So we get an info-dump and editorial on the airplane about how horrific it is, but the political reasons for the situation are not explored. Having said all that, I am glad the mob murder scene - in which Pratt witnesses a Jangaweed being cudgeled and stoned to death - was included because it stopped treated the IDP as noble and passive victims. The downside is that the mob was Muslim (and there were deliberate shots of Muslims at prayer earlier) and there is enough anti-Muslim bollocks coming out of the US right now without this.
I just think without giving the situation context, and with all that damn Stirring Music, the show makes its points (the situation in Darfur is genoicide) without providing real understanding (it is state-sanctioned genoicide on religious grounds). There's a phrase "war tourism" for how some people go to dangerous situations for kicks and without looking deeper into the cultural and political reasons for it - ER is treading very close to being "humanitarian tourism". I'm not sure I can bear to watch next week's episode...
Meanwhile, back in the shallow end of the ER pool...last week Luka said it would take Pratt about four weeks to get his jabs and the paperwork...which means Neela and Ray have been avoiding each other for four weeks. This seems to make sense, as Abby's pregnancy cushion got a whole lot bigger. I'm wondering if all the business with the girl and her granny is some kind of foreshadowing...OMG! They're going to kill Luka! OK, maybe not. I'm going to post my speculation re the season finale seperately on neela_ray in a bit.
Sam's ex is back, with an exploding appendix. Clemente nearly sent him back to jail but Neela went all caring liberal and spotted it in time.
Clemente is paranoid, but Bobby really is out to get him. I assume the recovering Jodie is in a safe-house somewhere since she is the victim of a shooting by a policeman but this hasn't been mentioned. the focus is very much on Clemente's nerves.
Jane is back! I love Clemente's "Who are you? why did I never see you before?" because, well, Jane has been missing for an age.
Morris has taken the job, the money-grabbing freak. I'm sure the Morris/Albright shippers were delighted with them finally kissing in the dispensary but personally, it doesn't make up for the lack of Neela/Ray 'shippy goodness. Over on neela_ray someone pointed out that not only do they have very few scenes but that none of them are together. This is a nice way of driving home the sudden divide between them, just as the way each Neela scene was followed by a Ray scene in Lost in America links them together. very nice subtle use of storyline, ER writers!
Unlike Pratt going to Africa. I've worked out why I don't like these segments and it is the bloody music. It sets out to say "this is Important and Dramatic and Powerful" and goes against the normal style of ER. Remember when ER started and audiences reeled from the idea of handheld cameras and choppy editing? The Africa stuff is the antithesis of this so it becomes ponderous. Unlike Pratt, I read up on Darfur a couple of years ago and I've noticed that ER hasn't explained a key element - that the Jangaweed are militia employed by the government. So we get an info-dump and editorial on the airplane about how horrific it is, but the political reasons for the situation are not explored. Having said all that, I am glad the mob murder scene - in which Pratt witnesses a Jangaweed being cudgeled and stoned to death - was included because it stopped treated the IDP as noble and passive victims. The downside is that the mob was Muslim (and there were deliberate shots of Muslims at prayer earlier) and there is enough anti-Muslim bollocks coming out of the US right now without this.
I just think without giving the situation context, and with all that damn Stirring Music, the show makes its points (the situation in Darfur is genoicide) without providing real understanding (it is state-sanctioned genoicide on religious grounds). There's a phrase "war tourism" for how some people go to dangerous situations for kicks and without looking deeper into the cultural and political reasons for it - ER is treading very close to being "humanitarian tourism". I'm not sure I can bear to watch next week's episode...
Meanwhile, back in the shallow end of the ER pool...last week Luka said it would take Pratt about four weeks to get his jabs and the paperwork...which means Neela and Ray have been avoiding each other for four weeks. This seems to make sense, as Abby's pregnancy cushion got a whole lot bigger. I'm wondering if all the business with the girl and her granny is some kind of foreshadowing...OMG! They're going to kill Luka! OK, maybe not. I'm going to post my speculation re the season finale seperately on neela_ray in a bit.
Sam's ex is back, with an exploding appendix. Clemente nearly sent him back to jail but Neela went all caring liberal and spotted it in time.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
The Roomie Awards
And whilst we're about it....
I've been nominated in The Roomie Awards!
I'm up for Best Post-Ep fic for Passing in the Night and Best Author (crikey). See the noms here. Someone was asking me about Ray/Neela fic: that noms list is a good place to start.
Voting ends 13th May. Eep!
I've been nominated in The Roomie Awards!
I'm up for Best Post-Ep fic for Passing in the Night and Best Author (crikey). See the noms here. Someone was asking me about Ray/Neela fic: that noms list is a good place to start.
Voting ends 13th May. Eep!
fic :: Lost & Found
Title:Lost & Found
Author: SpikeDru
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never were, never will be.
Spoilers: 12.18 Strange Bedfellows
Content Warning: not even a swear word.
This is a double drabble brought on by Strange Bedfellows and posted to the neela_ray group on LJ.
Author: SpikeDru
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: Not mine. Never were, never will be.
Spoilers: 12.18 Strange Bedfellows
Content Warning: not even a swear word.
This is a double drabble brought on by Strange Bedfellows and posted to the neela_ray group on LJ.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
12.18 Strange Bedfellows
Whoa! Hello hot Neela and Ray tension! Wowser. I mean, yes, I have been shipping them, but I wasn't expecting that scene in the hallway, or down by the taxi, to have such punch to it. Sizzling.
The Gallants come to visit Neela and are textbook parents-in-law from hell. Not because they are judging Neela but because they are making her an unwilling confidente to their secret marital breakdown. Given Neela is clearly starting to think "WTF have I done, getting married?", with the whole Mikey not telling her stuff and Ray being all nekkid and caring, having a supposed great relationship fall apart in front of her can't be good. Hence her fleeing the scene before any potential infidelity could happen. And just, just, in time. I love the way Ray leans forward as Neela admits to sleeping in his shirt (and, hey! Passing in the Night has been Jossed!), and that he comes close to actually saying what he feels.
If you look at it from Ray's POV, he's developed a crush on his best friend and, on discovering the crush, she has walked away. Neela never says anything beyond "You know why" when he asks why she is moving out. He knows he fancies her but has he even got a clue that the reason she's running is not just because of his feelings, but because she has also realised she is getting way too close to him. She likes to sleep in his t-shirt (and it was a detail she hid from him, like a secret hugged close as she fell asleep alone each night) which is pretty damn intimite. No wonder everyone assumed they had slept together.
Also, other things happened.
Oh, alright. Pratt played around on Olivia and got caught. Luka and Abby had a mini-crisis over his urge to go to Africa again which Luka solved by sending Pratt instead. Can he even do that? Can you imagine the conversation with Kerry when he explains why his team is down one doctor? "He's in Africa. Yes, the same Africa I nearly died in. Yes, with Carter, who also nearly died there. I'm sure he will be fine." I can imagine Kerry's opinion on that.
I did love how the Luka/Abby scene was played when she decided she just had to tell him how she felt. I loved the way Maura made Abby stutter and gabble and tie herself up in knots of not wanting to tell Luka what to do but also wanting to say how she felt. It was a very real emotive scene.
As was the sexy nearly-kiss at the end. Whew! There are some good actors on this show.
The Gallants come to visit Neela and are textbook parents-in-law from hell. Not because they are judging Neela but because they are making her an unwilling confidente to their secret marital breakdown. Given Neela is clearly starting to think "WTF have I done, getting married?", with the whole Mikey not telling her stuff and Ray being all nekkid and caring, having a supposed great relationship fall apart in front of her can't be good. Hence her fleeing the scene before any potential infidelity could happen. And just, just, in time. I love the way Ray leans forward as Neela admits to sleeping in his shirt (and, hey! Passing in the Night has been Jossed!), and that he comes close to actually saying what he feels.
If you look at it from Ray's POV, he's developed a crush on his best friend and, on discovering the crush, she has walked away. Neela never says anything beyond "You know why" when he asks why she is moving out. He knows he fancies her but has he even got a clue that the reason she's running is not just because of his feelings, but because she has also realised she is getting way too close to him. She likes to sleep in his t-shirt (and it was a detail she hid from him, like a secret hugged close as she fell asleep alone each night) which is pretty damn intimite. No wonder everyone assumed they had slept together.
Also, other things happened.
Oh, alright. Pratt played around on Olivia and got caught. Luka and Abby had a mini-crisis over his urge to go to Africa again which Luka solved by sending Pratt instead. Can he even do that? Can you imagine the conversation with Kerry when he explains why his team is down one doctor? "He's in Africa. Yes, the same Africa I nearly died in. Yes, with Carter, who also nearly died there. I'm sure he will be fine." I can imagine Kerry's opinion on that.
I did love how the Luka/Abby scene was played when she decided she just had to tell him how she felt. I loved the way Maura made Abby stutter and gabble and tie herself up in knots of not wanting to tell Luka what to do but also wanting to say how she felt. It was a very real emotive scene.
As was the sexy nearly-kiss at the end. Whew! There are some good actors on this show.
12.16 Out on a Limb
I saw this when it was on, but Real Life has been being v. busy so here I am. I can't recall that much, which is bad. Reading the synopsis on Parminder Online, I am mostly thinking 'meh'.
Kerry finally agrees to surgery. Within the context of the show, this was well done. I liked her doubts about how she will define herself after this. Outside the context, a small bit of me snarks that she is only being fixed due to House cornering the market in grouchy doctors with walking sticks.
The Pratt is a prat storyline isn't really grabbing me. I feel like they just don't know what to do with him, and need someone to argue with Luka now Clemente is off.
Abby and the baby is, well, meh.
Neela cooks bad cookies. In light of subsequent episodes, I am starting to think Neela cannot actually cook. This would be a great reversal of things, if Ray is the one who can cook. Neela also sucks at Socialising 101, resulting in her cold-shouldering by the serviceperson's spouses gang. Yay for Neela's Britishness, in terms of how she swears at the cookie tasters, but boo for hitting us over the head with the political thing. If we had seen any sign of this gang before, or if there had been anyone there who looked like they wanted to agree it would have been a little more subtle.
All is forgiven however, for the Roomie love is coming out. I like that he was secretly watching Ghost, and that he taped the poker. I like that she just settles. I see this ending badly.
Kerry finally agrees to surgery. Within the context of the show, this was well done. I liked her doubts about how she will define herself after this. Outside the context, a small bit of me snarks that she is only being fixed due to House cornering the market in grouchy doctors with walking sticks.
The Pratt is a prat storyline isn't really grabbing me. I feel like they just don't know what to do with him, and need someone to argue with Luka now Clemente is off.
Abby and the baby is, well, meh.
Neela cooks bad cookies. In light of subsequent episodes, I am starting to think Neela cannot actually cook. This would be a great reversal of things, if Ray is the one who can cook. Neela also sucks at Socialising 101, resulting in her cold-shouldering by the serviceperson's spouses gang. Yay for Neela's Britishness, in terms of how she swears at the cookie tasters, but boo for hitting us over the head with the political thing. If we had seen any sign of this gang before, or if there had been anyone there who looked like they wanted to agree it would have been a little more subtle.
All is forgiven however, for the Roomie love is coming out. I like that he was secretly watching Ghost, and that he taped the poker. I like that she just settles. I see this ending badly.
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