Hissing At Abby
And at The Powers That Be (cut to spare non "ER" fans)
While looking over my "ER" tapes for quotes and such to use for my ship_manifesto essay, and I reached the end of season 9 and beginning of season 10, I found myself hissing at Abby once again. I hate it when TPTB take a character and then have them do stuff that makes them unlikable, and for me, everything they did with Abby from the time her brother Eric resurfaced until past the time when Carter came back with Kem, made her very unlikable to me. Up to that point I was a Carby, but once those episodes hit, the couple died for me because I couldn't find any way for Abby to really redeem herself for what she did and didn't do to Carter.
Granted, Carter wasn't the easiest person to get along with once his grandmother died, but to me, if you love someone, then that's one of the times when you have to try a bit harder to have some compassion and patience. It's not the time that you ignore them for a week and then throw a tantrum because they're going away and you don't know about it. It's not the time that you demand your key back and then refuse to listen to anything the other person has to say.
I can understand Abby leaving Carter alone at the end of the episode in which he buried his grandmother. After all, he did ask her to leave him alone, and he needed some time to himself. However, I can't understand her staying away. If their positions had been reversed, Carter would have left Abby alone for a few hours, keeping himself nearby and then coming back to her when she was done crying. With one exception, every time that Abby needed him, Carter was there, even when she told him that she didn't need him. The one exception was when his grandmother died and Eric called Abby to come to get him. Torn between leaving Carter and risking losing Eric again if she didn't show up, Abby promised to be back that same night, thinking it would be okay because Carter's father was on the way to Chicago. What she didn't know was that Jack's plane was delayed, so when she and Eric couldn't fly back to Chicago that same night, she didn't think it would be too hard on Carter.
None of that was her fault or his fault. Each one of them had some place that they needed to be. What I don't understand is why, when Abby had gotten Eric into a treatment center, didn't she go and stay at the Carter mansion? Nothing about that was ever mentioned, but based on Carter's actions in the past, I wouldn't doubt that he'd asked her to come out to stay. So, being home, Abby was there when Eric showed up on the day of Millicent's funeral, and Abby had two choices -- take Eric with her or miss the funeral while trying to get him into another place. And of course, Eric ruined the funeral when he got drunk, pissed on a tree and then fell into Millicent's grave. If I were Carter, I'd have been a lot more upset than he was shown being. I probably would have killed Eric right there.
During the week after the funeral, Carter and his father apparently made plans to go to Rio for two weeks. Now, either Abby knew that somehow and didn't care, or she didn't know it at all and didn't notice when Carter mentioned it while talking about going to the Congo. What was apparent was that the week had gone by and she hadn't been spending any of that time with Carter. They were on separate shifts, but it wouldn't have taken much for Abby to have gotten her shift changed to match Carter's, or for them to have managed to have spent some time together when neither one was working. Yes, Carter could have called her, but again, the time after a loved one has died is when a person has to be a little more understanding.
When Carter was in Africa, he was thinking of Abby. Abby was mentioned, and when Carter had a gun to his head, he most likely was thinking about how he wouldn't get to see her again. It was a very natural thing for Carter to go straight to Abby's place when he returned to Chicago (although the fact that the woman doesn't use the chain lock on her door is odd, but then Carter would have had to knock and wake her up, and TPTB couldn't let that happen). And as soon as he started to apologize to Abby and tell her what happened to him, she demanded her key back. Then she gathered his things, shoved them in a plastic bag with the note 'you forgot your stuff' and hanged it on the handle of his locker at work.
Now, I don't know about you, but where I'm from, both of those things means that she just broke up with him. Apparently it's not like that in the land where TPTB grew up (shakes head). Later, when Carter is once again trying to talk to Abby about Africa, she changes the topic to Luka, and then tells Carter that they don't have conversations any more. WTF was that? She didn't want to hear about what happened to him, she didn't want to help him figure out how the experience changed him. And even later, when he wrote the letter that officially ended things between them, she had the nerve to act as if she were the injured party. At no time did she act as if she wanted their relationship to be mended -- she was cold to Carter, and not very caring about what might have happened to him while away. At least, until he decided to go after Luka's body. At that point she started to get upset again, begging him not to go. After the way she treated him, was she really surprised that he left?
Again, TPTB did a character hatchet job on what I felt was a great couple and on a character that I'd come to like quite a bit. And to be honest, I don't think they've really redeemed themselves with her yet. Yes, they had her there to lend comfort to Carter when he and Kem lost the baby, but overall I haven't cared too much for Abby this season. It's like she's "Saint Abby, superdoctor" now. I don't like it when TPTB make any one of the doctors (or nurses) out to be that way. That was one of the reasons why I never liked Carol all that much, and I despise it when TPTB do that to any of the characters (and I think they've done it to nearly all of them at one time or another. The newbies haven't been hit with it yet, but their time is coming).
But yeah, when I look back at what could have been with Carter and Abby versus the way it ended up, I want to throttle the show's writers. Yes, I liked Kem and hope that she and Carter get back together, but that's only because I don't think they should ever let Abby and Carter get back together, not without her doing a lot of grovelling, and knowing TPTB, that would never happen.
While looking over my "ER" tapes for quotes and such to use for my ship_manifesto essay, and I reached the end of season 9 and beginning of season 10, I found myself hissing at Abby once again. I hate it when TPTB take a character and then have them do stuff that makes them unlikable, and for me, everything they did with Abby from the time her brother Eric resurfaced until past the time when Carter came back with Kem, made her very unlikable to me. Up to that point I was a Carby, but once those episodes hit, the couple died for me because I couldn't find any way for Abby to really redeem herself for what she did and didn't do to Carter.
Granted, Carter wasn't the easiest person to get along with once his grandmother died, but to me, if you love someone, then that's one of the times when you have to try a bit harder to have some compassion and patience. It's not the time that you ignore them for a week and then throw a tantrum because they're going away and you don't know about it. It's not the time that you demand your key back and then refuse to listen to anything the other person has to say.
I can understand Abby leaving Carter alone at the end of the episode in which he buried his grandmother. After all, he did ask her to leave him alone, and he needed some time to himself. However, I can't understand her staying away. If their positions had been reversed, Carter would have left Abby alone for a few hours, keeping himself nearby and then coming back to her when she was done crying. With one exception, every time that Abby needed him, Carter was there, even when she told him that she didn't need him. The one exception was when his grandmother died and Eric called Abby to come to get him. Torn between leaving Carter and risking losing Eric again if she didn't show up, Abby promised to be back that same night, thinking it would be okay because Carter's father was on the way to Chicago. What she didn't know was that Jack's plane was delayed, so when she and Eric couldn't fly back to Chicago that same night, she didn't think it would be too hard on Carter.
None of that was her fault or his fault. Each one of them had some place that they needed to be. What I don't understand is why, when Abby had gotten Eric into a treatment center, didn't she go and stay at the Carter mansion? Nothing about that was ever mentioned, but based on Carter's actions in the past, I wouldn't doubt that he'd asked her to come out to stay. So, being home, Abby was there when Eric showed up on the day of Millicent's funeral, and Abby had two choices -- take Eric with her or miss the funeral while trying to get him into another place. And of course, Eric ruined the funeral when he got drunk, pissed on a tree and then fell into Millicent's grave. If I were Carter, I'd have been a lot more upset than he was shown being. I probably would have killed Eric right there.
During the week after the funeral, Carter and his father apparently made plans to go to Rio for two weeks. Now, either Abby knew that somehow and didn't care, or she didn't know it at all and didn't notice when Carter mentioned it while talking about going to the Congo. What was apparent was that the week had gone by and she hadn't been spending any of that time with Carter. They were on separate shifts, but it wouldn't have taken much for Abby to have gotten her shift changed to match Carter's, or for them to have managed to have spent some time together when neither one was working. Yes, Carter could have called her, but again, the time after a loved one has died is when a person has to be a little more understanding.
When Carter was in Africa, he was thinking of Abby. Abby was mentioned, and when Carter had a gun to his head, he most likely was thinking about how he wouldn't get to see her again. It was a very natural thing for Carter to go straight to Abby's place when he returned to Chicago (although the fact that the woman doesn't use the chain lock on her door is odd, but then Carter would have had to knock and wake her up, and TPTB couldn't let that happen). And as soon as he started to apologize to Abby and tell her what happened to him, she demanded her key back. Then she gathered his things, shoved them in a plastic bag with the note 'you forgot your stuff' and hanged it on the handle of his locker at work.
Now, I don't know about you, but where I'm from, both of those things means that she just broke up with him. Apparently it's not like that in the land where TPTB grew up (shakes head). Later, when Carter is once again trying to talk to Abby about Africa, she changes the topic to Luka, and then tells Carter that they don't have conversations any more. WTF was that? She didn't want to hear about what happened to him, she didn't want to help him figure out how the experience changed him. And even later, when he wrote the letter that officially ended things between them, she had the nerve to act as if she were the injured party. At no time did she act as if she wanted their relationship to be mended -- she was cold to Carter, and not very caring about what might have happened to him while away. At least, until he decided to go after Luka's body. At that point she started to get upset again, begging him not to go. After the way she treated him, was she really surprised that he left?
Again, TPTB did a character hatchet job on what I felt was a great couple and on a character that I'd come to like quite a bit. And to be honest, I don't think they've really redeemed themselves with her yet. Yes, they had her there to lend comfort to Carter when he and Kem lost the baby, but overall I haven't cared too much for Abby this season. It's like she's "Saint Abby, superdoctor" now. I don't like it when TPTB make any one of the doctors (or nurses) out to be that way. That was one of the reasons why I never liked Carol all that much, and I despise it when TPTB do that to any of the characters (and I think they've done it to nearly all of them at one time or another. The newbies haven't been hit with it yet, but their time is coming).
But yeah, when I look back at what could have been with Carter and Abby versus the way it ended up, I want to throttle the show's writers. Yes, I liked Kem and hope that she and Carter get back together, but that's only because I don't think they should ever let Abby and Carter get back together, not without her doing a lot of grovelling, and knowing TPTB, that would never happen.