I am - Hercules!!

Peter Benton leaves “ER” for good tonight, and Mark Greene will be gone by season’s end. As the series begins its ninth season next September, only John Carter and Susan Lewis will remain from the original cast.

It’s pleasing to learn that Benton shares his final moments tonight with Carter, as the two characters share the same kind of link that defined the long, twisted Ross-Hathaway story. Here’s “Dmann” with the dtails:

”I’ll Be Home For Christmas”

It's not much of a secret to anyone who has been watching NBC in the last week, this is the last episode of ER for Eriq Lasalle, and his Dr. Peter Benton. For those keeping score, that leaves just Noah Wyle and Anthony Edwards (who will be leaving after this season) as original cast members who have been around for the full run of ER. Yes, I know Sherry Stringfield was an original cast member, but her leaving for several seasons negates that, sort of like Lecy Goranson leaving and then coming back as Becky on ROSANNE.

The episode takes place on December 13, 2001, which just shows how long in advance NBC makes up it’s schedules. The pre Christmas plots are in full effect, with Dr. Carter baffled about his father (Michael Gross) being in Chicago for the holiday for the first time in years. Euro-Clooney Dr. Kovach is still fretting over his dissappeared frenchie girlfriend (Julie Delpy) and Dr Weaver is flirting with the cutie Ambulance driver.

Dr. Benton is the focus, such as it is on ER. The show goes to a scene with his story line every other shot, and it works. The scene where Benton’s son, Reese is signing about how he loves both his Daddies is rather touching. This is by far, the strongest story that ER has had all year, it’s developed at a good pace, and never seemed to stoop to melodrama. It all comes down to a conflict between the hours he needs to spend for his job at the Hospital, and the hours he needs to spend on being a good father. He chooses to be a father, which is a hard decision, but handled a lot more realistically than I would have expected. Dr. Benton simply does what he has to do. There’s no big moment like when Nurse Hathaway met Clooney in Portland. It appears that Michael Michelle is leaving the show as well, being Benton’s love interest and all.

The story line with Dr. Carter and his Father is also strong this week, with Dad dropping a little info that gives Carter a bit of a shake up. It’s nothing life threatening, but the news isn’t exactly happy, either. This allows Carter a moment to tell Dr. Susan that she is the only thing going right in his life right now. How cute, it's like a regular old romance, only on TV!! I like it.

Dr. Weaver’s lesbian courtship is fun, and not overblown. For a show on NBC, a network that continually hypes every hint of lesbian kissing on FRIENDS, this storyline has been as low key as any on TV, save Willow and Tara on BUFFY.

The stuff with Dr. Kovach, Abby and Delpy is so tired, this is a story that in past years would have been resolved in a week or two, tops, but it continues to drag and drag and drag, not to mention taking time away from other, more interesting stories. It all comes down to Dr. Kovach and how big his heart is, and how he wants to save everyone, in every way. The way they beat us over the head with this is totally un necessarry.

Dr. Corday-Green is seen in one small scene with Dr. Benton, and Dr Green isn’t seen until the last part of the show, in one of the few medical action scenes. Speaking of which

There is a little medical action in this episode is minimal, and almost seems thrown in, as if they realized that it IS a medical show, and ya know, it needs a touch of medical action. It is a medical show, and they need the medical action, but both of the medical scenes seem prefunctory, and frankly, I could have done without either of them. ER manages, in one surgery scene, to be more preachy about guns than an entire season of WEST WING. I know that trauma surgeons are actually this way, but it feels tacked on. They just had to have Dr. Benton go with a bang. Thankfully, they let it all end with a little scene between Dr. Benton and Dr. Carter the former Mentor and student, which feels right.

“I’ll Be Home For Christmas” is by far the best ER of the season so far. Not great, but better than the earlier shows this season. I still wish they would just get back to medical action on this show, rather than having it JUST be about the soap opera of the doctors lives.

Dmann’s rating for “ER”?

***

The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:

• ***** better than we deserve
• **** better than most motion pictures
• *** actually worth your valuable time
• ** as horrible as most stuff on TV
• * makes you quietly pray for bulletins

DMANN OUT !!!

“ER” airs 10 p.m. Thursdays on the WB.

I am - Hercules!!

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