"Ruby Redux"

Boy, ER is really making a lot of references to previous seasons this year.

So the big new cast member I saw in the previews, is that a permenant thing or a 6 week deal like most of the other big stars that have come through the doors of the ER?

Permenant would be sweet. Definitely put ER back in the can't miss category.

I know, I know. Very lame, and very poor attempt at humor. But, you know someone was going to say it, and I just wanted to get it out of the way...

(Side note: Think he'll bring Lane Dixon with him?)

What the hell? I watched because I saw a commercial that was back tonight but it didn't happen.

Those guest-starring appearance will show up in the May sweep episodes.

A Romano-directed episode, not bad.

Neelah was barely in the opening segment and then disappeared.

Carter comes to grips with an elderly man who knows that Carter did not put his wife first when Carter was a student 10 years ago, and was instructed to cut loose the wife from a medical study. Red Button was good as Rubideux. Carter tried side-stepping Rubideux, but finally steps up as the attending and give him all his option given his medical condition. Poor Abby, she got chased off by Rubineux, but she never gave up looking out for him when the surgeon couldn't wait to cut him open. Tierney looks good with the longer, darker hair, too.

Morris as chief resident - ugh.

Sam's pregnancy was telegraphed from the first time they mentioned her spacing out on her nursing duties. The writing wasn't that subtle.

Brooke Harper (sorry, that's all I know of her from her Boston Public days) tricks Pratt into showing up for a Cease Fire meeting, and I believe it will motivate Pratt into looking for family member he hasn't seen before in a long time.

It looks like Carter's getting most of the meaty scenes has Wyle is stepping away from the show.

I thought I read that Noah Wyle would be making guest appearances over the next 2 yrs.
That seems appropriate considering there's only 3 more episodes left this season and his character still seems to be in a bad place.
I don't think 3 episodes is enough time to have Carter leave happily ever after.

Gonna be sad to see Carter go. He's the most gangsta doc I've ever seen, TV or real.

Ouch....This was no gem of a Ruby.
This was a terrible written ep.
Why wasn't Susan in with Ruby and Dr Kaison.
Susan had history with Kaison. He as a surgeon
and she with her medicine treatment.
Susan saved Kaisons life thru pushing drugs
and no surgery.
It was like they rehashed all the old episodes.
But forget the history with Susan.

I am just hoping that they do not bring
back abby's mom.

Its just sad to see such a wonderful drama
die slowly in the tar pit.

Ah, Mr. Rubadoux was in 4 episodes 9 years ago. I figured they must've been referring to an actual previous episode, but I was surprised that the name rang any bells with me. I don't remember the story at all, but as soon as he told the surgeon to call him Ruby, I knew I heard him say that before.

Good episode for Carter. I really liked the final scene.

Yeah, that was a great scene.

Agreed on all accounts.

I am not looking forward to Morris being Chief Resident - isn't this the same guy who wormed his way out of doing anything in regards to medicine just a couple of years ago? wtf? His character is like a punishment on the viewer. And making him CR is an insult to Pratt.

Sam's face-off w/ the store clerk was amusing.

Carter's final scene w/ the great Red Buttons was fantastic. Now I want to watch Hatari.

Coicidentally, my wife and I are working through season 2 on dvd and we just watched the first ep. with Ruby yesterday afternoon. I missed this episode though, I watched the delayed CSI instead.

Was this plausible? How would Ruby ever find out about the Carter not putting his wife first? The only people that would know that, would be Carter, Benson, and Vuesilich(sp?). Just seems like a far fetched idea to bring the character back.

Here are the two episodes that took place in:
Dead of Winter
True Lies

Great episodes from Season 2, when Carter was trying to impress Dr. Vucelich but lied to Ruby.

I have to agree, these last 5 minutes were some of the best ER in the last 2 seasons.

[QUOTE=B.A.]
And making him CR is an insult to Pratt.

QUOTE]

I thought that Pratt didnt want the job?

Thanks for the links. All I could remember was him loving Carter. I find it hard to beleive that Carter had no memory of him, it was such a hard case for him and he had outside contact with Ruby.

Well going by a patient number load from Pratt from an earlier episode can figure:

25 patients a day X 4 days a week = 100 patients a week

100 x 52 weeks per year = 5200 patients per year

5200 x 10 years since Ruby was there = 52,000 patients

So Carter has could have seen as many as 52,000 people in that span. That sounds high. Even if you drop the patient load to 15 per day, that is still 31,200 people in 10 years.

I wouldn't find it unbelievable that he didn't remember him.

[QUOTE=Gasspasser]Morris is inept as a doctor, but could be a decent admin, as long as he's not practicing medine. They set him up to be logistically-minded, which is needed in keeping the schedule/rotations running on time in the ER.

But, he's still a weasel, and when life and death decisions need to be made, he might not hold up under the pressure should he be CR of the ER next season.

Pratt's not a admin-redtape kind of guy.

Re: Morris

Think about it- Weaver, Romano, Morris... they're the characters you're supposed to hate.

Ruby's problem with Carter was that Carter wasn't honest with Ruby -- he didn't let Ruby know that the odds were that Ruby's wife would never get better, and basically led Ruby to believe that his wife had a chance to improve. Ruby got mad at Carter for not being honest about the fact that his wife was dying. So it wasn't really about Carter putting the study before Ruby's interests or anything like that.

In terms of Vueselich's study, the fact that he dropped Ruby didn't affect her or her health. Basically, Vueselich performed the surgery on Ruby's wife, but when it became apparent that she was going to die anyway, he declared that she was not a propper candidate for the study after all due to some other health problem. So she still got the surgery -- she just didn't show up as a bad result in Vueselich's paper on the study (or she wouldn't have -- I haven't rewatched the post-Ruby episodes to find out if Benton is able to stop Vueselich from rigging the study group).

Pretty good episode

I rememered the character but I couldn't remember what his story was. The scene at the end with Carter and him was well done.

Loved the look Sam shot the checkout lady

Poor Susan, liked her line to Carter in during Morris's presentation

"911 from the ER"

"Liar"

I know that he has seen a ton of people since, but at the time Carter was young, and this was probably his first time dealing with a situation like this, he even gave him his pager number and talked to him outside of work. He was personally involved with Ruby and that is what made the lie harder for him to admit/accept, I still say that Carter would not have forgotten Ruby or his wife, it would be like a doctors first kill, you do not forget.

Finally watched. That last scene - wow. Powerful stuff. Stuff nominations are made of.

I find the parallels between Ruby and his wife very interesting. He has a grudge against Carter because he lied and didn't lay down the risks, and on the other hand Abbey is trying to do just that about his condition/surgery, but Ruby would rather listen to the lying docs that haven't layed down the risks.

As well as the parallel between "intern" Carter not having to worry about accepting the blame for Ruby's wife, the attending does. Then the sudden realization Ray is doing the exact same thing.

I thought it was a very well written episode. A high note for Carter to go out on. Definitely one of the best of the season.