And in the End...
"And in the End..." | |
---|---|
John Wells[1] | |
Original air date | April 2, 2009 |
"And in the End..." is the
Plot
Dr.
Dr. Julia Wise (
An elderly patient named Beverly (
A married couple comes in with the woman going into labour with twins, and
Mark Greene's daughter Rachel (Hallee Hirsh) is visiting the hospital as a prospective medical student and is interviewing for a spot in the teaching program. She is interviewed primarily by Catherine Banfield (Angela Bassett), who confides to Carter afterwards that she made it through the first cut. Carter shows her around after her interview, giving her a few pointers she will need when she is accepted into medical school.
Carter opens his clinic for the underprivileged, with
Marjorie Manning (Beverly Polcyn), a previous elderly multiple sclerosis patient suffering sepsis and pulmonary edema, comes in with her husband, (Ernest Borgnine). Mr. Manning is initially unwilling to let Marjorie go, but, with guidance from Dr. Gates, he finally accepts the inevitable. Before Marjorie dies, her daughter arrives, and confides in Samantha Taggart (Linda Cardellini) that her mother was an incredibly difficult person who picked fights with and alienated everyone in her life, but she loved her mom anyway and was inspired by how her father was saint-like in putting up with her miserable behaviour. Sam looks saddened and ashamed, as she clearly sees the parallel between Marjorie and herself, and she ends up calling her own estranged mother after Marjorie has died.
It turns out it is Samantha's birthday. Her son, Alex (Dominic Janes), reveals her present: a vintage Ford Mustang restored by Alex and Tony, who both decided upon bright red as its color over cobalt blue. Later on, while they are walking back towards the ER, Sam surprises Tony by taking his hand in hers, symbolizing that she has gotten over her previous anger at him, and he smiles and locks his fingers with hers.
A young bride and her new mother-in-law (Marilu Henner) come in, in separate ambulances, with minor injuries sustained in a drunken brawl at their wedding reception and continue arguing all the way into the treatment rooms. The groom later arrives and is promptly torn between tending to his mother and his new wife.
The episode ends with the beginning of a disaster protocol: an industrial explosion, with a minimum of eight casualties. Dr. Carter, who has decided to stay up all night to wait for his call from Kem and is hanging around the ER with Susan and Rachel, is again pressed into service to assist. Dr. Morris is ordered by Dr. Banfield to triage patients as they arrive. The first patient was thrown 20 feet and is diagnosed as a possible lacerated spleen or liver, to be sent straight to the OR. The second patient has a compound leg fracture with no circulatory impairment, which Dr. Banfield takes herself for an orthopedic consult. The third patient was electrocuted and fell into asystole on the way in, and is declared DOA. The fourth patient has smoke inhalation, relatively minor burns and a pneumothorax, and is set up for a chest tube. The fifth patient had his left arm blown off below the elbow, with nothing left to save; Dr. Gates takes him in to repair the damage to what remains. Dr. Morris gives the sixth patient to Dr. Carter: third-degree burns over 90% surface area. As he runs the patient in, Dr. Carter asks Rachel to tag along saying "Dr. Greene, you comin'?", which she does enthusiastically. As Morris continues to triage patients, the original theme music plays and the point of view pulls back, revealing the entire hospital for the first and only time.
Production
The episode was structured "very much like the show's pilot. Like that first episode, it took place over the course of 24 hours, featured a dizzying number of cases — some comical, and some that were dead serious — and showed the life of the ER through eyes both inexperienced ... and jaded."
The episode featured full-length opening credits from the first season (albeit with shots and credits added for both the final regular cast, and five of the past stars that appeared) with music by James Newton Howard, the show's original composer.[1] That theme music also played as the camera pulled out and faded at the end of the last scene of the episode, which showed the entire exterior of County General Hospital for the only time in the history of the series, except in high tone and fully in 1080i HD.
Starring
- Noah Wyle as Dr. John Carter
- Laura Innes as Dr. Kerry Weaver
- Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis
- Dr. Simon Brenner
- Alex Kingston as Dr. Elizabeth Corday
- Parminder Nagra as Dr. Neela Rasgotra
- John Stamos as Dr. Tony Gates
- Linda Cardellini as Nurse Samantha Taggart
- Dr. Archie Morris
- Eriq La Salle as Dr. Peter Benton
- Angela Bassett as Dr. Catherine Banfield
Guest starring
Doctors
- Alexis Bledel as Dr. Julia Wise - Intern
- Emily Rose as Dr. Tracy Martin - Intern
- Victor Rasuk as Dr. Ryan Sanchez - Intern
- Bresha Webb as Dr. Laverne St. John - Intern
Nurses
- Ellen Crawford as Nurse Lydia Wright - first on-screen appearance since 2003
- Deezer D as Nurse Malik McGrath
- Lily Mariye as Nurse Lily Jarvik
- Yvette Freeman as Nurse Haleh Adams
- Laura Cerón as Nurse Chuny Marquez
- Angel Laketa Moore as Nurse Dawn Archer
- Nasim Pedrad as Nurse Suri
Staff
- Frank Martin
- Jerry Markovic
- Sam Jones III as Charles "Chaz" Pratt Jr.
Paramedics
- Loui Liberti as Paramedic Bardelli
- Monte Russell as Paramedic Zadro White
- Emily Wagner as Paramedic Doris Pickman
- Brian Lester as Paramedic Brian Dumar
- Lyn Alicia Henderson as Paramedic Pamela Olbes
- Demitrius Navarro as Paramedic Morales
- Michele C. Bonilla as Paramedic Harms
- Brendan Patrick Connor as Paramedic Reidy
Reception
Ratings
According to
The series finale of ER scored the highest 18-49 rating for a drama series finale since The X-Files wrapped with a 6.3 on May 19, 2002. In total viewers, ER assembled the biggest overall audience for a drama series finale since Murder, She Wrote concluded with 16.5 million on May 19, 1996.
In Canada, the finale fared even better on a percentage basis with 2.768 million viewers. With ten times less the population, this equates to roughly 27.68 million American viewers.[6]
Critical reception
In his review in the then-St. Petersburg Times, Eric Deggans called the final episode "a welcome reminder of why the show has lasted 15 years on network television — and proof of why it's now time for the show to go." He continued, "Thanks to cameo appearances by most key actors whose characters remain alive... the episode had the feel of a friendly class reunion... Once upon a time, the cases that filled Thursday's episode would have felt groundbreaking and fresh... But on Thursday, these contrivances felt like shadows echoing other, better episodes long past... Wells echoed the series most consistent theme by showing old and new doctors uniting to handle yet another emergency at the finale's end. But Thursday's episode also proved that NBC's ER called it quits at just the right time, because TV series — unlike medical institutions — should never go on forever."[7]
Ken Tucker of
In 2010, Time magazine ranked the episode as #10 on its list of the most anticipated TV finales.[10]
Awards
At the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards Rod Holcomb won the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for his work on this episode, while Ernest Borgnine was nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d "'ER': The series finale, but life goes on". Zap2it. 2 April 2009. Archived from the original on 5 April 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
- ^ "'E.R.' Finale Based on Death of Producer's 17-Year-Old Niece". FOX News. April 2, 2009. Archived from the original on 5 April 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2009.
- ^ "TV ratings: 'ER' finale goes out on top". Zap2it. April 3, 2009. Archived from the original on 6 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
- ^ "Ratings: 'ER' finale dominates Thursday". Entertainment Weekly. April 3, 2009. Archived from the original on April 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ "Updated Thursday Ratings: ER finale draws 16.2 million viewers". tvbythenumbers.com. April 3, 2009. Archived from the original on 5 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ http://www.playbackonline.ca/hotsheet/top20tv.html. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
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(help) - ^ "ER' pulls the plug in style". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on 2009-04-06. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ Nick McMaster (3 April 2009). "ER Finale Did What Show Did Best: Critics". Newser.
- ^ Noel Murray (2009-04-02). "ER". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 6 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Laura (May 23, 2010). "The Lost Finale: Top 10 Most Anticipated TV Endings". Time.com. Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ^ "61st Emmy Awards Nominees and Winners". Emmys.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.