Okay, I have a zillion things to say, but since everyone has been posting, I will just comment on this and try to add my ECSTATIC other comments on other threads. Okay, first....YEA!!!!!!!!!!

Now, did anyone notice that there was a theme here between Carol and Doug's departures. I'll try to quote them (not exactly)

The Storm II:

Carol: Damn the consequences or anyone else who's involved?

Doug: Well Ricky was dying....(some other dialog)

Doug: I didn't want to get you involved

Carol: Oh but I was involved Doug.

Such Sweet Sorrow:

Luka: Damn the consequences..

Carol: In this case yes

Luka: you had every right to make that decision for yourself but not for me.

Coincidence? I think not. The Storm quotes are not at all accurate and maybe not even in the right order, but you get my point. I did not enjoy Carol taking advantage of him, but at least she said a considerate goodbye. Yea for Doug and Carol! Woo hoo.

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 11, 2000

Answers

Elaine, you are so correct!! Thanks for pointing that out! Yay, for Doug and Carol, I am so glad it ended the way it did, it was the only way to end her final episode! But I felt terrible for Luca, how sad. Poor guy, I just wanted to jump right into the show and give him one big hug and not to forget Carter!!

-- Paula (pbranden@dwave.net), May 11, 2000.

Just caught another one

Storm:

Doug: Carol don't just walk away

Carol: Why Doug?

Sweet Sorrow:

Carol: I'm sorry Luka....(walks away)...Luka don't just walk away

There's no way this was on purpose.

Paula: oh yeah, Luka needs a hug...but not as bad as Carter. Yeah for Deb for CARING! (except I resent her for that bipolar diagnosis..but I'll go off on that elsewhere!)

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 12, 2000.

Mr. O'Brien asking Carol if she believes in soulmates, was SO reminiscent of that woman (Linda? something like that) asking Carol if she believes in "one perfect person for everyone," like in "Sleepless In Seattle," and then telling Carol that, for Doug, it's her. :-)

-- Arianne (CarolRossSusanGreene@yahoo.com), May 12, 2000.

Elaine, I already went off on the bipolar thing on another thread. Come join the screamfest!

-- S. Trelles (trelles@ix.netcom.com), May 12, 2000.

I've resigned myself to C/D. Luka...geez Carol, rip the heart out, tear it up, hand it back to him. Thanks a lot. (Their dialog was SO similar to an amateur play I'm in, it was scary-but I loved it. Margulies and Visnijc are FANTASTIC actors.) Wells and Woodward have to get Luka together with somebody. Hm. Abby? Carol and Luka were so sweet together...but honestly, she needed to get off the show. Ever since All In the Family, her callous line has been ringing in my ears. "Out a resident and a med student." Grr.

-- Monica (Moni4987@teen.com), May 12, 2000.

YES! Thanks for posting that. I was thinking the same thing when I was watching that that exchange was just like Carol/Doug with Ricky. Man, I love this board; I wa going to post something similar.

-- Larry Brown (larrybro95@hotmail.com), May 12, 2000.

I didn't like the husband's last exchange with Carol. Something about him or the lines didn't ring true to me. I think they could have done away with this cancer mom dying storyline and had Carol run into Ally McBeal in the hallway.

-- maryann (map5860@aol.com), May 12, 2000.

I agree about Carol's last exchange with the husband. It was bad enough that the kid had to talk about "being a real family." The smarminess almos ruined the show for me. I don't like being hit over the head with melodramatic cr*p, and the writers threw out the smarm big time tonight. I prefer things to be a little more subtle.

However, it was worth it to see Carol and Doug. I never got into their romance all that much, but it was great to see how happy they looked. Carol really did look filled with joy when she made her decision.

On the other hand, Carter looked so incredibly bad. He looked just so sad, depressed, and tormented. It was such a touching contrast to Carol; when she's experiencing one of the happiest times of her life, Carter is going through the absolute worse time of his life.

Ha, now I'm about to get smarmy. I thought the title of the show was perfect. Such Sweet Sorrow was a great way to define the very bittersweet feel this episode had to it.

The writers still messed up a few times. They had characters explain a few things instead of trusting the audience to pick it up on their own: the dialoge felt ackward and out of place in a couple of scenes. With the exception of these few ackward moments, the show was otherwise top notch.

Loved the fantastic look on Malucci's face after facing the facts about how he is perceived. Loved Elizabeth dressing down Malucci and Abbey! Loved Elizabeth and Mark's scene. The writers did good with that one: Mark and Lizzie's scene wasn't long or overblown. It was short and low-key, but I thought it did more to further their characters' development than some of the overlong and overblown moments dealing with Carol's big decision.

Sorry about the long post. Please forgive any misspelled words, etc. It was a late night.

-- L. (bearcatiscool@yahoo.com), May 12, 2000.

L., you are so right. I was trying to decide which line was the cheesiest, but there were just to many to choose from. But like you said, since the rest of the show was so damn good (Doug!!!!!) , we'll overlook it.

-- joy (joygirl01@yahoo.com), May 12, 2000.