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.
Friday, May 12, 2006
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Clemente is paranoid, but Bobby really is out to get him. And the goldfish of Chicago.
You're right about Jodie's status being up in the air - Clemente leaving her caring but unanswered messages and telling everyone that she was 'great' made me wonder.
There are Morris/Allbright shippers? Okay.
I think that's a fair analysis of the problems with thePratt in Darfur storyline. Like you, I was glad that they showed that the situation was more complicated than it seemed to be at first, by having Pratt witness the beating up of the traitor, but, even so, it was lacking a lot of context.
Oh, thanks for the pick up on the timeline. I thought that Neelas pick up was in part down to her stint in surgery, as much as thinking of Sam.
They can't kill Luka!!! He's too pretty. And central and interesting a character, it'd leave them without a grown up man - well, obviously Darfur will have an effect on Pratt, but still. I'd always thought the baby might be the goner, but it'd be a lot too similar to Carter losing his child. I don't know.
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