ER

Today I take you on a pop culture entry that I realize is somewhat lame, but I can't seem to help myself, the subject of which is the ER series finale. I agree with other people when they say it wasn't incredibly "wowing" or overly emotional, but I'm still okay with that. I very much appreciated just how much the episode nodded to the pilot - Rory Gilmore was obviously John Carter (witnessing a birth on her first day, not being sure that she can handle working there), Morris was in many of the scenarios Greene was in (woken by Lydia in the exam room, etc), and it was obvious in the end that Carter was going to come back and step into the mentor role that Mark had held.

Now I don't completely believe that Mark's daughter would have wound up as a med student, but I think the point is that Mark fixed her in the end, and they wanted her to be a symbol of him living on. That's okay with me. I would have loved a little more of the old cast and a little less of the new people, but some of that had to be done for the newer fans and to make those connections to Carter in the pilot. I sobbed like a little bitch with a skinned knee during the retrospective - I really liked the shots of the empty ER with scenes superimposed on the walls and floors, and they showed several moments on the show that I can never make it past without crying (don't even get me started on the episode with Mark's death - that turns into an ugly cry in about zero point five), and it was nice to hear them talk about the late Michael Crichton.

However, I barely got choked up during the actual episode. I think that was alright with me too. I was beyond thrilled that no staff member died, since there have been way too many of those over the years. I was also happy that it wasn't a stunt episode like an explosion in the ER or something along those lines. I typically love those types of episodes, but this was not the place for them. I would be interested to know what Michael Crichton (the series creator) would have written had he been alive, but I really don't think this episode would have disappointed him.

I haven't been a completely faithful ER fan these last few years - I caught an occasional episode here and there for the past few years, then watched this entire season because I knew it would be the last - but it has always held a place for me. When I was fourteen years old, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I had given up on wanting to be a teacher and wasn't really sure what I wanted to be. When I was even younger, I had sworn that I would never go into medicine, actually, even though I had always had some interest in disease. Then I started watching ER, and as I became more hooked on the show, I found myself wanting to understand what they were talking about. So I picked up a medical book. And another. And another. And somewhere along the line, I found out how much I loved it. I'm not saying I became a physician assistant because of ER, but it certainly helped me realize it. And for that (as lame as it sounds to be thanking a television show), I am grateful.