Gee, that Neela-Ray reunion seemed awfully familiar

When you have a show that runs as long as ER, certain plot points end up being rehashed from time to time. This is logical; if, in the 15 seasons the show has been on the air,  you had only one instance of a child abuser, or a drug addict, or a crazy guy with something up his butt the emergency room would be an awfully dull place. But, that’s just for patients. Rehashing is verboten when you’re dealing with important story threads for major cast members.

Or is it? In the latest episode of the series we saw a plot point that seemed awfully familiar. Particularly to those of us who have watched the series since its inception.

It involved Neela and the start of her life outside of County General. After hopping on a flight to Baton Rouge, she and Ray Barnett finally got together after three seasons of romantic torture. The last scene was of Neela, walking into Ray’s clinic without his knowing, and Ray being subsequently surprised that she was right in front of him. There was a brief exchange of words — something like Ray saying, “So, you’re finally here.” and Neela responding, “Finally.” — then the screen faded to black and a giant “Awww” echoed throughout America.

A similar display of events played out on the show almost 10 years ago. In the season six episode “Such Sweet Sorrow,” a then-confused Carol Hathaway decided that life was just too damn short after watching a terminal cancer patient say farewell to her family. Saying good-bye to Mark Greene and Luka (her current paramour at the time), she took a last minute flight to Seattle. In the final scene we saw Carol walking up to an unsuspecting gentleman who was none other than Doug Ross. Their eyes met, he mumbled something, they kissed, and a giant “Awww” echoed throughout America.

While the characters and locations were different, the results were nearly identical. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that Ray and Neela’s reunion had the feeling of Doug and Carol’s. However, I tend to believe the writers thought that if it worked on the heartstrings of viewers a decade ago it would do the same thing today. Being we’re a more cynical group of snots than we were 10 years ago, I’m not too sure if it had the same affect.

There’s a lesson to be learned here. No matter how long a show has been running, there is never a good time to reuse important plot points for a different set of characters. Face it, thanks to the Cyberweb there will always be some jerk-off (me, in this case) who will bring it up somewhere and, in turn, cause a wave of anger and riot amongst the public. Be warned.

Clacked by Richard Keller
on Mar 24, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT