As the Day She Was Born
While much of the focus tonight was on Neela, it seemed like almost everyone at County was dealing with some sort of personal or professional crisis.
Let's start with Neela walking around the ER naked. No great surprise that this was a dream that reflected her own insecurities about her birthday, her decisions and her life in general. Unfortunately, both Harold and Tony were on the receiving end of her bad day. When Harold came clean about his decision to change specialties, Neela went straight from surprised to unsupportive to downright bullying the poor kid. Next up for a haranguing was Tony. While she did make some valid points about his tendency to jump from relationship to relationship, she was pretty tough on him and somewhat hypocritical given her personal track record with men. I loved that Dubenko was the one who set her straight in the end, reminding her of the unique talents she possesses and offering the saddest (and most inedible) birthday confection I've ever seen.
Since I've never been a big fan of the Tony/Sarah drama, the story with the ailing grandfather left me kind of cold. I was really annoyed at the way the grandmother dismissed Tony's authority as a doctor throughout the entire ordeal. (Though it was nice to see
Six Feet Under's
Frances Conroy keeping busy playing yet another edgy matriarch.) Tony really was quite the trooper tonight fielding hits from every angle and taking it all in stride. At least things seem to be progressing well with Sam, who was busy herself dealing with the difficult case of a father who appeared to be the victim of an abusive son. Thankfully, in this case, Sam's instincts were incorrect.
Archie and Frank provided their usual dose of comic relief as they battled over what turned out to be Frank's hurt feelings. Watching Pratt put his management skills to good use as he helped the "pen-tapping garden gnome" and portly desk clerk come to terms with their feelings was a highlight. It was a much needed lighter moment for Pratt who also learned of Bettina's health issues and faced her lack of confidence in his ability to deal.
We also saw the kick-off of a storyline featuring former
Sopranos star
Aida Turturro. It has been reported that she will be around for several episodes so I'm curious to see where things will go with this story. I am also hopeful that tonight's Neela-centric episode may be leading us to a reunion with Ray. Hey, a girl can hope, right?
One final thing- how miserable did Abby, Luka and Joe look in that terribly fake photo at the beginning of the episode? I hope this is not a sign of things to come for our favorite family.
Need more
ER, STAT? Check out the
Online Video Guide for interviews and clips.
