feeling listless

TV In the final episode of this season of e.r., Carter finally took the voluntership in Africa which had been hinted at for weeks. Luca was already there and being swamped and what with the death of his Gran, weird funeral and all it was the classic chance to get away from it all. Not all of us would pick a war zone, but there he was getting off the worst airline in the world for a few weeks of stress and madness to a soundtrack by Youssou N’dor.

This was another in a series of episodes which played about with the format of what has become a fairly standard medical drama. In seasons past these have included a live episode, a story set entirely in a hostage situation in a convenience store, a road trip and time moving backwards. Of late, these haven’t strayed too far from the medical room (for budgetary reasons presumably) so this was a welcome return to the fish out of water scenario.

Problem. Most of the above situations came out of the character, the place they are in the series, a way of continuing their arc. This episode hardly seemed to be about Carter at all. He became an observer in a place, as situations drifted on about him. Cleverly, as he tried to adjust to life in this new clinic, we saw glimpses of the boy we saw in the pilot ten years ago, that same helplessness in the face of ‘alien’ medicine. But the life and death situations seemed little different to those at home – he was simply stripped of his drugs and technology. What was this about? You should be happy with what you’ve got? Why go all the way to Africa to tell that story?

One saving grace was the strength of the new characters. Angelique the on-site NGO was a cunning riff on Weaver – the issue here wasn’t whether they could afford nurses, it was whether they had enough light for the two operations which needed to be performed. And Gillian, a French Canadian who had new main character printed on her forehead. Certainly one of the best written in sometime, she was sassy and sarcastic and it will be a shame if this is her only time around the block (best line to John and Luca “I’m going to bed. I’m hoping one of you will be joining me…”_. For some reason she had qualities which reminded me of George Clooney’s Ross and I relish the thoughts of her facing down the real Weaver sometime soon.

But having introduced the locale and the characters, nothing seemed to propel the story forward, we were simply seeing glimpses of his time there. Other than being scared out of his wits, the Carter who arrived at the start of the episode didn’t seem terribly different to the one who left in the end. Same haunted expression. Perhaps if this had instead been a ‘Heart of Darkness’ style draft through the jungle looking for Luca this might have worked. But throughout it seemed like the John Boorman film ‘Beyond Rangoon’ in which a political situation was seen through the eyes of Patricia Arquette.

[Speaking of Luca, what is it with him? He’s gone from the scared man grieving his family to an inveterate womanizer and back again. Now he’s in a remote part of Africa disease dodging and he still manages it. How is that possible? Are there any women in the world who can’t fall for his charms? I mean even Weaver’s been known to give him the odd googly eye.]

The most exciting moment came during the climax when a remote clinic was attacked by soldiers. Carter without much French to answer for himself somehow ended up with the barrel of a gun to his head, only to find himself saved because he had unsuccessfully treated the brother of one of the troopers. It felt hollow somehow, as though it had been inserted because of the need for an exciting climax to the season. But it wasn’t about the character trying to deal with something, and in a show which for years has only been about that it felt wrong.

All of which suggests I didn’t enjoy the episode. On it’s own terms it was a stunning piece of television, every bit as good as earlier similar stories. But as an episode of e.r. in this season, and considering the first episode (the one with the quarantine) and everything else, it didn’t ring true, and importantly didn’t suggest were the series would be going next season, a finger prodding the reset switch like mad.

[Television Without Pity: ER: Season 9 Episode 22 for a full synopsis]