And In The End...

ER finally breathed its last on UK television screens last Thursday. As the summation of fifteen years it was a restrained finale, with little of the sentimentality that has marred the show in its later seasons.

The plot is reminiscent of an episode from season one or two; plenty of plot threads, long takes down the hospital corridors, the focus spread evenly between the characters, some screwball humour, tragic deaths and uplifting survival stories. There were even a few more definite nods to early seasons: the opening shot of Lydia (hooray - Lydia's back!) waking up Morris is stolen from the pilot episode, as is the clock counting down twenty-four hours. The one new character, medical intern Julia Wise (Alexis Bledel), was clearly meant to remind us of Carter's early days in the ER and her motivational talk with Brenner echoed a similar conversation Carter had with Greene back in the day. We also got the opening credits back, which was a lovely lovely touch.

Throughout Season 15, we've seen the return of several old characters. This has, for the most part, worked well. The focus has been, wisely, kept on current cast members, ensuring that Season 15 never felt like one long goodbye. The one exception to this was Alex Kingston's misjudged reappearance as a wise advisor to Neela and I was pleased to see her redeem herself here. Although it was great to see Kerry and Susan again, the brief sequence that Corday and Benton got to themselves was one the episode's highlights. THE CHEMISTRY'S STILL THERE. DUMP CLEO, BENTON! I NEVER LIKED HER ANYWAY.

I was thankful that there was at least one happy ending. Despite furiously hating Gates for quite some time now, the moment when Sam held his hands was perfect. We assume that they get back together but the point wasn't rammed home. The reappearance of Rachel Greene was also a real pleasure. Frank's face when she tells him that she's Mark's daughter made we well up. It also added a great deal to what was the main theme of the episode, that of rotation, of looking back whilst still looking forward. Mark may be dead but, as Carter says, there's another "Dr. Greene" at County General. The death of the pregnant woman but the survival of the twins she gave birth to, which may have been a reference to seminal Season 1 episode Love's Labours Lost. The appearance of Julia Wise, a character that we immediately identified and sympathised with, mostly due to Bledel's standout performance. The disaster that we never get to see. The final shot of County General as the familiar credits return...

As a longtime fan of the show, even during its later seasons, I really don't think I could fault And In The End... Sad without being sentimental, providing us with some closure but not so much as to feel like a frantic tying-up of loose ends. Excellent performances all round. It was pretty much everything I loved about the show giftwrapped into a single episode.