Throughout the entire episode tonight, Weaver looked uneasy (and she puked.). So I'm wondering, was there something else up with her, or was she just upset to see her friends be in pain and trouble? Also, I like Mark and Lizzie much more as a couple than their parents. Any body else agree?

-- Rachie (nerys29@aol.com), February 17, 2000

Answers

I wonder what happened to Weaver's leg? Do you think maybe she attacked and that's why she got so upset?

Just a thought.

-- Jessie (haynes94@earthlink.net), February 17, 2000.

Weaver always had a limp.

I, for one, really liked the fact that Weaver was upset tonight. She usually seems much too cold for my liking. I would be worried if everyone in the ER wasn't affected.

-- (saiphfire@aol.com), February 17, 2000.

I think Carrie is overwhelmed by the tremendous responsibilty she feels towards the residents and the med students that work in the ER. In a way she is "in charge" of everything that goes on in the ER. Of course, she knew them on a personal level, especially since Carter was her tenant for a while too. Maybe it goes a lot deeper and there is another issue involoved, but I think she was just cracking up under the pressure of it all.

-- Monika (monika@medmail.com), February 17, 2000.

I am wondering if she was attacked because of the way she reacted to the psycho when he came in after being hit be the car. The other women didn't react the way she did? Also what do you think about almost letting the patient die on the table while tending to Carter?

-- Jim (jwlake@hotmail.com), February 18, 2000.

I think Carrie was really freaked. Just the fact that a patient could/would kill a doctor. It seemed to me that it could have been any of us was running through her head.

It was very nice to see her show emotion though, she is usually so mean and hateful.

-- Amber (ala20@email.com), February 18, 2000.

I think Weaver should have acted the way she did. She did have Carter living with her @ one time and when she walked into the Valentines party & realized what had happened she felt somewhat responsible. Where was everyone when this was happening right under their noses? She was bascially responsible for all these people and suddendly two were dying right before her. I think her reaction was what is should have been. By the way I think Mark & Lizzie make a great couple! Their parents have nothing in common.

-- annie (lilannie@uswest.net), February 18, 2000.

Dr. Morgenstern once asked Weaver if she ever thought about the personal lives of the person she was working on. Weaver said no. In this case, Weaver obviously HAD to think about it, and I think it was overwhelming for her.

-- MJB (mjb@msn.com), February 18, 2000.

I think Weaver is suffering from the trauma and, for her, is has to be worse than on the other's. She was true to her character in every way and the intensity of trying to save Lucy's life who have taken a physical toll. She had responsibility for the ER and now the public scrutiny and accountability for what happened. She has always been a perfectionist and as an orphan, she would probably substitute the staff as her 'family', plus she naturally will blame herself to a point. Many contributing factors/mistakes enabled the attack to occur and then cost precious time which might have saved Lucy. They all are responsible in some way mainly because they didn't have any self-discipline and their minds on their jobs. I thought that Weaver was actted the most natural of the staff who were present during the crisis. It didn't make sense that the others weren't in trauma themselves. It would seem that their entire world is shaken. I think in real life, they would be struggling. It could have been any of them instead of Carter and Lucy.

-- marvel (marvel.one@erols.com), February 18, 2000.

I agree with Monika, Kerry has a responsibility to her staff. I think it also has to do with her personal traits--she IS very much a perfectionist and the fact that loss of control happened so easily, that two lives were put in jeopardy with an entire room full of ER staff standing 20 feet away, was frightening and awful for her. I think it's the mix of self-responsibility (she feels she should always have control) and anger that OTHERS weren't more responsible (though it's not really like they could have known Lucy's patient was shizo or that if they did they would have assumed he was under restraints). Mark was right to force her to calm down and accept that they all played a part and neither she nor anyone else could have really foreseen this. Though I am still chewing on the fact that Carter and Lucy's childish--and some have said, uncharacteristic behavior that night since they HAD sort of smoothed things out-really contributed heavily to this -- but there are so many factors--the late psych examiner, Lucy's failure to get restraints on Paul regardless of Carter's dismissive/jerkish behavior, Carter's failure to listen to his student... etc. Anyway, off tangent.

I found Kerry oddly understandable in this episode in a way I never have before. I think, like someone else said, that she was forced to personalize her staff. I have always noticed that she deliberately distances herself from staff and patients, no matter how nice she is to them it's still obvious. I think she does it to be a better doctor and to maintain her notorious self/peripheral control, but tonight when the murderer himself was so close and so violent she was forced to recognize the personal ramifications of the situation -- nothing better than violence to wake you up to reality, to shake you up and make you forget all the barriers you've put up to being swayed by anything.

Kerry then looked to me like more of the mother figure she may really be but has been stifling --the straightline supervisor has become the caring leader, and is perhaps shocked into caring because of realizing she has been so inattentive, and realizing such distance isn't cool. On finally realizing, she vomited, couldn't handle things, made Mark handle it. And now perhaps a little more humbled in her clinical perfection, she softens and takes some of the blame and is actually fully involved in FEELING for Lucy when she pulls the cloth over her head . . .

PS: sorry so long

-- Miriam (thmilin@hotmail.com), February 18, 2000.

I thought Carrie's reaction was totally consistent with her character. Let's not forget that when Jeannie first learned that she was HIV positive, it was Carrie who was her confidante and champion. Although Carrie abrasive as an administrator, but she has always been very compassionate when it comes to her staff... I thought the peformance Laura Innes (is that the right name?)gave tonight was both moving and believable... and didn't she direct last week's episode?

-- L (lolabronx@hotmail.com), February 18, 2000.

Kerry had been acting as a sort of mentor for Lucy - she abruptly cut off that relationship when she became chief of the ER, but presumably before then they had worked closely together. Maybe Kerry was feeling guilty that she did end the mentor relationship....as for Carter, she has known him for what - four years now? The death of someone you've worked with for so long *should* affect you deeply (did you hear that Carol?)

On the other hand, her refusal to work on Paul did not seem characteristic. If anyone, it would be Kerry who would insist that every patient deserves the same effort/quality of care.

-- b. Thomas (kbnthomas@netzero.net), February 18, 2000.

I agree with the person who said it was mainly a control thing with Kerri. She left for a few hours and look what happened. . . she feels like suddenly, she has no control over anything. Look at the way she's sitting after hearing of Lucy's death, all slumped over. When she looks up at Mark, she looks. . . beaten.

Also, as far as her puking goes, remember, she was the one that found them. When most of the other people saw them (Benton, Mark, Elizabeth, etc.) they were lying on gurneys in trauma rooms, just like other patients. Kerri opened thew door to find them on the floor in puddles of blood. THAT'S got to be traumatic.

One more thingas far as Kerri having a limp from being attacked, remember that one episode when she found the little boy with the shunt wandering around in the street and later asked Carol if she thought the boy's parents had abandoned him because there was something wrong with him? I think we were meant to infer from that that she was thinking about her own life. . . which in turn means she's had the defect since birth or shortly after.

-- (jac301@is9.nyu.edu), February 18, 2000.

Weaver was uneasy and puked. Maybe it had something to do with, I dunno . . . CRACKING LUCY'S BREASTPLATE OPEN WITH A POWER TOOL?!?!?! I know she's used the sternal saw before and that they all see gory, hideous traumas all the time but, DAMN THAT WAS NASTY!!!! Even for E.R.! Did you hear the crackling sound!?!?! And to see/hear it on one of their own? How can you keep professional distance during THAT? I'm surprised the whole staff didn't start yacking (a la the movie "Stand By Me").

BTW,Miriam: "... no matter how nice she is to the staff"? WHEN!?!?! BTW, jac301: Congratulations on being one of the few people in the English-speaking world to use the word "infer" correctly. ;-)

-- Dao (ldao@tandberg.com), February 18, 2000.

I Really enjoyed the way Kerry's character was portrayed tonight. I think that she may have felt guilty for the way she had been treating those two (Carter and Lucy) recently. Remember she not only dropped her mentoring relationship with Lucy before it had really gotten started, but she also kicked Carter out of her house. Speaking of Carter, I hope that we find out where he is living now and I also hope that Gamma Carter and some of those other unfeeling relatives of his will come see him. I was thrilled with the way Benton reacted to Carter's situation. I hope that we see more of the fallout from this terrible situation in the next few weeks. I hope that repercussions from this episode will last throughout the season. Carter is my favorite character and I hope that we will get to see him dealing with all of the physical and psychological problems he is going to have as a result of this horribe event. By the way, I will miss Lucy. I wish that she and Carter could have had more scenes like that did in "The Good Fight."

-- Katrina (cattrek@ga.freei.net), February 18, 2000.

Dao, when I was speaking of Kerry being "nice" to staff, that at least she behaves with some semblance of politeness and attempts, on the surface, to be a truly *personally* invested doctor, when her true interest is only in being a *professionally* invested one. And that in terms of nice, I think that would be the word to use in THIS ER, b/c at least she's not Romano . . .

-- Miriam (thmilin@hotmail.com), February 19, 2000.

I had been thinking maybe Kerry's reaction was due to her being attacked by a patient at some point. I didn't remember the comment she made about the boy with the shunt. (I'm wondering if I should start taping the reruns...) Anyway, her reactions were totally uncharacteristic, even if she was the one that found the bodies and will probably have to take some responsiblity for the management of the ER in her absence. I don't remember ever seeing her actually FRIGHTENED by a patient as she seemed looking at Paul S. when she was going to have to start working on him, and he wasn't actually physically threatening at that point. And although she had always been fond of Lucy, her being the one to pull the sheet over Lucy after Romano sewed up her chest could partially be construed as though she were thinking "That could have been me [at the time I was attacked]." I'm not convinced beyond a doubt that this is the case, but it seems like a plausible inference...

-- carla (chloe4293@netscape.net), February 22, 2000.

Her name is spelled K-E-R-R-Y not C-A-R-R-I-E

-- (richarr@earthlink.net), July 26, 2001.