Did anyone else notice the look on everyone's face when kerry was drilling Lucy's chest open. It was almost like the music stopped and they couldn't believe that this was happening to one of there closet friends. I thought it was a very emotional scene ecspecillay for Kerry because hse is the one that had to perform it. She almost looked uncertain before she did it, but she knew she had to.

-- Jess (Blondie716@aol.com), February 18, 2000

Answers

I was struck by that, too--just one of the many great moments the actors gave us in that episode. Those of us who have been watching the show for awhile remember when Kerry got that saw, and how gleeful she was--she couldn't wait for a hapless victim to come into the ER that she could try it out on. You could see on her face especially, but on all the others' too the realization that it is a very different thing when the person you're sawing open is someone you know and care about.

-- Mary (mslyman@erols.com), February 18, 2000.

Was that not painful to watch? I didn't even LIKE Kellie Martin on this show and I barely made it through that scene. (The blood on the front of her hospital gown when she had the CAT scan was pretty unsettling, too.) But one of the best things about this episode was the emotion showed by Weaver, Benton and Romano--three people who are nearly robotic at times.

-- Will (wharrison51@hotmail.com), February 19, 2000.

I think that was one of the most potent scenes in this entire epidode... and YES to Kerry and Benton and Romano actually having some humanity somewhere!!!

This episode was ER at it's best, and reminded me why I got hooked on the show in the first place.

-- Sandi (sthores2@css.edu), February 19, 2000.

I totally agree with all of you. But I have to ask, since Lizzy was there, and she is a surgeon, why wouldn't she have been the one to crack Lucy? Wouldn't she have more or better experience with that considering her specialty?

-- Anna (azuraine@yahoo.com), February 19, 2000.

The scene with the drill was so powerful. It even looked like her hands were trembling as she cut through Lucy's chest. It seemed like Kerry was doing her job but she was almost in a state of shock. And poor Lucy. Later, when Corday says to Romano that they sure had cut up the poor girls body- I was thinking the same thing. She was stabbed and cut up to pieces. It was a tender moment in the final scene to see the uppity Romano closing Lucy's chest. We've seen him interact with Lucy many times and it seemed like he truly was overcome with grief. Kerry, Romano and Peter were wonderful in their performances.

-- joan (joanofarc24@hotmail.com), February 19, 2000.

Anna, I'm not sure what the technical medical reason was that Kerry and not Elizabeth did the procedure. But I'll bet the writers' artistic reason was what I mentioned--the irony of Kerry, who lobbied for that saw and used it so gleefully in the past, now facing the prospect of using it on someone she knows and cares about.

-- Mary (mslyman@erols.com), February 19, 2000.

Regarding the above comment, if I remember correctly, Elizabeth and Mark had either just arrived or not yet arrived when they needed to crack her chest...I'm not sure how long it would take Liz to put on a gown, but there wasn't much time to wait for anything.

-- ivy rose (dani.shortnsweet@chickmail.com), February 19, 2000.