What do you all think will become of Carter in September (really, October)?

Do you think he'll have kicked his habit? Knowing ER, he will have most likely triumphed it, but there could still be that battle....who knows...ER can be, at times, unpredictable?

What do you think his character will be like come Season 7?

-- Noah Wyle Fanatic (glitterprincess22@chickmail.com), May 21, 2000

Answers

I hope they show just a leetle of his time in the rehab center... I would like to see him recovoring and stuff. Also; I think that it would be kind of fast if he's on a plane going to rehab and then *poof* he's back and better than ever. Believe me, even in rehab there is a personal struggle, and I hope they show Carter at least some time in the rehab center before he comes back to the ER!

-- Marie (ILuvSnowB@aol.com), May 21, 2000.

I could go on forever on this question. I don't have much faith that we will see Carter in rehab; maybe a scene of him leaving the place, saying a weary goodbye as he leaves to return to the ER...sort of as a recap for those who wouldn't remember exactly what happened (like WE'LL forget) Not that I wouldn't want to see that, maybe they will show us a little of that. Who knows. I am expecting that everyone will be pretty nervous/anxious about his return (the way Doug dealt with Carol's return way in the beginning). Abby will be wondering how he'll be with her, everyone involved in the confrontation will wonder if he'll be resentful or thankful...I hope initially he is kind of nervous, shy, awkward, but then he is thankful. Though I am sure that as we go through the season, he will be watched carefully, and although Carter will understand, it will frustrate him.

I am wondering how his absence will be explained to the rest of the staff. I can't wait to see Mallucchi's reaction, the nurses' reactions. I want to see Deb be a friend to him and Benton stay pretty protective. I bet there will be a few specific situations where Mark or Kerry will have to mistrust Carter, not because he will do anything wrong, but because of what he just did this season. I hope he finally sits down and has a serious talk with someone (Deb, Mark, Kerry, Luka...Benton I'm sure)...yes, about Lucy and everything else. Maybe I am deadbeating that, but I'm going to because I liked Lucy and I want to! AND, finally, later on in the season, I would like 1) kind of a big realization by Carter and a sincere thanking to everyone for saving him (like Carol did) 2) a WOMAN in his life...come on look at him, it's time for him to have a nice, sensitive woman to help him through this and give him a normal love life!

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 22, 2000.

I think season seven will start on Carter's first day back at work some 1-3 months later depending on how long they make is rehab last. I don't think they will drag out this story for too much longer. I think we will Carter fully recovered by the time Nov sweeps is over. I think the staff will fully realize that he is okay by that and no longer treat him with special care. There will be some awkward moments until they reach that stage. We will probably see carter be awkward at first around everyone . We will try to see Carter regain confidence in his abilities. I think the Kerry/Mark will watch him very close at first and initially limit what type of cases Carter handles. I think carter will get a tad frustrated and tell them so. I think they will realise that Carter is trying hard and doing a good job and they risk causing him a setback if they don't give him more responsibilities such as running a trauma case . I think as they see Carter perform well , they will regain their trust in him and allow him to do more and more with confidence in his abilities.

I think something very positive will happen to carter during November sweeps that cause Carter and the staff to realise that he is trully okay and recovered from his PTSD/survivors guilt/drug use. After this Carter will get his full responsibilities back and be supervised like any other senior resident would. I do think we will see carter talk to a therapist and some of the staff during the first couple of episodes of season seven. However, I don't think TPTB are going to drag carter's full recovery on for too long. They will move on to other stuff after NOV in regards to Carter. That is fime with me. I don't want them to spend more than 4-6 episodes on carter's compolete recovery. I want to see Carter have other storylines. This will be Carter's final year of residency. I want to see him turn into a great teacher/leader so when the season ends Carter will get an attending/fellow slot with everyones complete blessings. I don't want there to be any doubt from anyone. It can't happen if they drag out the recovery too long I think they all think Carter is very good Dr. I think Carter will become even better personally and professionally as a result from these experieces.

I also would like to see Carter get involved in the community . He could take over running Carol's clinic which is being funded with Gamma's monery while still working in the ER. I would like for Carter to get involved in the Carter's family foundation and help people out that way. What about Carter becoming a Big Brother. I would like to see Carter get into a serious relationship. In short after a few initial episoded that dealsa bit with carter struggling and achieving full recovery, I want the rest of the season to deal with positive stuff for carter as mentioned above. I want this current storyline to end pretty quickly. I think if they drag it out too long the fans will start to get sick of it and their opinions of Carter will start to slide and TPTB risk losing vewiers they can't afford to lose. I think they know they dragged out Mark's recovery after his beating too long. I don't think they will make the same mistake with Carter.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), May 22, 2000.

As much I would like for Carter to go to rehab and just get better, I don't forsee it happening. Part of me wants him to be fine but the other part wants this to continue playing realistically, and him coming back fully recovered would not be realistic.

Something tells me when he comes back, he will not have full responsibility. Mark and Kerry are probably going to have to watch him closely, because being a doctor, drugs are everywhere and they know that he's used the hospital's drugs before. It doesn't matter how long you've been off it, seeing it again can tempt and I imagine it would be very easy for Carter to get his hands back on it.

I'm interested to know how they're going to play this out. I hope they don't just drop it when season seven starts and Carter is back and fine. That wouldn't seem right.

-- Joanne (bucklind@hotmail.com), May 23, 2000.

I think Carter is going to have a tough road back. Not only is he going to have to regain the confidence of his co-workers and superiors but he is going to have to regain confidence in himself. As I have mentioned on another thread there is a good chance that his status as a resident will be in jeopardy. I will be greatly disappointed if they just put him back in to the hospital being the same goofy old, happy, freewheeling Dr. Carter of yesteryear. He has had a very serious traumatic event in his life and he can not, will not, must not be the same man he used to be...

-- Linda (l.brown@mindspring.com), May 23, 2000.

Carter will still be an resident. Carter can't be on the show if he is not an resident. I don't think he will be fully recovered by the time season seven starts, but he will be well on his way. I think they will spend the first 4-6 episodes of Carter regaining his confidence and the staff regaining their confidence in him. However, it would be unrealistic for them to drag this on for months and fans would get tired of it. Carter had a very short term drug problem. With proper therapy for that and his PTSD , it should not take long for him to completly recover because they caught it very early after the traumatic event. Carter will be closly monitered until the staff (mark/Kerry) are convinced that he is back to normal and fully recovered from the everything. Despite it being awkward at first, I think they will be very supportive. They may be a bit hesitant at first to let him do everything, but once he shows that he can do stuff just as good as before they will. I also think they will realise that can't discorage carter by not allowing him to handle some tougher stuff. I think he will gradually over the first 4-6 episode will get more and more responsibilities. If they drag his recovery on too long it will unrealistic for him to get an fellowship or attending slot next season. I think carter will proof himself once and all during Nov sweeps. People got very tired of them dragging on Mark's recovery for almost a year. Fans got tired anf Mark's popularity lessoned as a result. They can't afford to do that now. I believe that when Valentines day rolls around that he will have been fully recovered and back to full responsibilities for several months. I imagine Carter will be involved with other storylines that have nothing to do with his attack. They will probably be ones that involve him becoming an even better dr. and teacher than he was before so he can get a job at county when he completes his residency.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), May 23, 2000.

Right on Marie! I think he will eventually return to sweet little ol' trouble makin' Carter.

-- Sonya (carter'schick@hotmail.com), May 23, 2000.

I also would like to see a realistic portrayal of his first weeks back at work. Just because he's successfully completed rehab doesn't mean he can rejoin the real world without struggles. Because season 7 won't start until mid-October, I think November sweeps will be too soon (for me at least) to see a fully recovered Carter - maybe by the New Year? Even though I was not a big Lucy fan, I still think they need to address the fact Carter hasn't had a chance to grieve her death. The drug issue aside, Carter is still experiencing survivor's guilt & PTSD and unless he receives counciling for that in Atlanta, he will continue to struggle once he returns to Chicago. The scene towards the end with Romano, Kerry, Mark, & Elizabeth was interesting. I wonder how they will treat John upon his return? Elizabeth doesn't work very closely with him so I'm not sure about her. Mark ("I hear everything that happens") and Kerry will certainly keep a close eye on him. I see Romano being his usual cocky self - probably will give Carter a very hard time at one point and Benton will have to step in to defend his former student. Carter undoubtedly owes an apology to Abby & Deb - he attacked both so cruelly it was a shock. Totally out of character, which was heartbreaking. I would like to see his family, besides Gamma. Where the hell are his parents?!?! He has a sister, too - is she so preoccupied in Europe she can't visit her brother? I was reminded of this during the scene where Luka, Elizabeth, and Carter were helping the boy brought in from the school shooting and Carter said something like "it's been all over the news, I'm sure his father is looking for him." Now how sad is that? Of all people to say such a thing....

-- anne (sapphire_172@hotmail.com), May 24, 2000.

One thing I've been wondering about since this whole stabbing incident, is if we are going to see Carter confront or talk to Paul Sobriki. We saw him seek out his wife, but I just don't think that's enough. Sometimes victims talk to their attackers or at least find out what's happening to them. That might be an important part of his recovery. Also, the scene with Carter and Barbara Knight was very touching in "Be Patient." Maybe Carter will check up on her. That would be like the old selfless Carter. Opinions anyone?

-- darcyjo (chrisleeurie@aol.com), May 28, 2000.

Anne, I never thought of that, when he said "his father is probably looking for him." That is sad, where is *his* family!? Won't they care that his colleagues were the ones to send him to rehab when they had NO idea...that Peter went with him because his family couldn't care less? And I also think he needs to deal with the emotional part of the attack. I wish I knew whether the rest of the staff will find out about him. The thing is, I know Mark and Kerry may not tell them, but maybe they will, so that everyone is careful with him, or maybe because rumors were going around about Carter being gone for so long anyways. I hope that they realize that after he comes back, they need to talk to him about the attack, and about blaming himself about Lucy. I mean, they know that he does, and they need to give him *some* sort of comfort/assurance that it wasn't really his fault.

And darcyjo, I would love the reappearane of Lucy's mother, but I doubt it would happen. We can hope I guess.

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 28, 2000.