Okay, this goes all the way back to Be Still My Heart, and it is very trivial, but it is bothering me and so I've decided to comment on it finally. First of all I have to say that I, like many people, hate how they had Carter be such a jerk to Lucy all of the time, esp. since this is so out of character. Now I have been looking back and noticing them together, and I honestly wish that at one point the writers had had Lucy explode in one of the MANY times Carter ignores her and say 'I am your student, you are my teacher, I know you CAN be nice, knock this off and LISTEN to me, TEACH me, I am asking for your help, HELP me'...and then Carter regains respect for her and they become friends. Now that I have gone off on that...in the past, when Lucy has not gotten something done, Carter usually charged into the room and started in on her. However, just before he is stabbed and sees Lucy, he walks casually into the room, smiling, seemingly not frustrated and no where near ready to yell at Lucy again, and then he picks up Lucy's valentine from Yosh, and smiles at it, as if actually being thoughtful of Lucy. Now maybe I just noticed this because it's my own wishful thinking, but did anyone else notice that he did not have his usual out-to-yell-at-Lucy look on his face then? It is really sad, because of course he never gets a chance to be nice to her again.

Or maybe this is old news and no one cares anymore. :)

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), March 03, 2000

Answers

I still care Elaine. And if you want to know what that card said, there's a tread on the ER website (ERTV), that says what it is.

-- Shauna (shauna@yahoo.com), March 03, 2000.

it seemed to me that it was the end of his shift, and he wasnt so stressed out anymore, cuz he would be going home soon, and finally had the time to help lucy out with the patient.so maybe that is why he was smilin?

-- Alexis (lexicat1@webtv.net), March 03, 2000.

I really think he was smiling at the card because it reminded him of the older woman that Abby was working on that had passed away. He had seen that same card in her room earlier. Just a thought.... --Michelle

-- Michelle (michellek@penchart.com), March 03, 2000.

Shauna, where in ERTV do I go to read what it said on the card? I went there and couldn't find it. :( Thanks for your help!

-- Nica (nicamom@yahoo.com), March 03, 2000.

I can't seem to get into the site at all today - but the tread is on the message board. It's named something like "Lucy's Valentine card". I hope that helps.

-- Shauna (shauna_h16@yhoo.com), March 03, 2000.

In response to Lucy finally confronting Carter about his flip attitude to her: There was an episode last season where Lucy composed a letter to Carter in her palm pilot, she stated that she was learning and it was his responsibility to give her guidance, etc. Carter found her palm pilot and read the letter. I think he would have respected her more had she confronted him verbally instead of writing a letter. I realize he was snooping, but information after the fact is still information. Plus, in last night's rerun on TNT, "Masquerade" Lucy showed up at the ER with her friend, she was drunk. She knew she was drunk and yet still thought she could help. She should have known better than to even attempt to try to treat a patient when she was intoxicated. Carter and Lucy had a rocky relationship from the start. Sorry this is so long, but I kept thinking of things to add.

-- Carin (cdenisehaze@usa.net), March 03, 2000.

I believe that Lucy's having ADD is a factor in Carter and Lucy's strained relationship. I have some experience with ADD with a juvenile in my family and while most people with ADD are very bright alot of them have trouble with impulse control. I can see many instances when Lucy impulsively does things i.e. talking to the bereaved family members of a patient just lost in the ER, rushing around the city to find the missing father of a little girl or not getting Malik (like she was told to do) and deciding to have another "go" herself with Paul Sobricki. Some of these things worked out and some did not. Carter does not know how to deal with this behavior. I believe he is lulled into a false sense of security with her because she is so "book smart" and then is constantly amazed when she does something "dumb" that most people would not do. I think that Lucy, like many people with ADD, gets so intent on what she is doing that she does not notice alot of the "normal goings-on" in the ER in the way that people relate to one another, to the patients and how responsibility is shared out. This is why Lucy felt that she never "fit in" and is also why Carter should have supervised her alot more closely than he did. I hope these ramblings are clear to someone.

-- maryann (map5860@aol.com), March 03, 2000.

Maryanne... I think what you were trying to point out that YES, Carter needed to be a better teacher to Lucy, BUT Lucy needed to be a better student. Listening and obeying was not Lucy's strong suit. She challenged everyone in authority at the hospital including, Romano, Mark Greene, Carol and Carter. In the end if she had listened to Carter and gotten Malik, MAYBE, things would have been different.

-- judie (jasbel95@aol.com), March 04, 2000.

Okay so I agree that perhaps Lucy wasn't a good listener at times, but really Carter was generally really horrible to her. The major problem that Lucy had (towards the beginning) was that she would jump to conclusions and not ask for clarification. I find it then ironic that Carter then yelled at the for asking to many questions etc. I think that Carter was not someone you would want to approach for fear of having your head bit off. Also if you remember Lucy was "journaling" in her palmpilot. I don't think the intention was to share her thoughts until it was suggested that she talk to Carter. Anyway Lucy may not have been perfect, but if any of my teachers treated me the way that Carter treated Lucy (particulary in season 5) I would have filed a formal complaint.

-- Emma (webbef@hotmail.com), March 04, 2000.

I agree with you, Emma. There were plenty of times when Carter just didn't explain things very well to Lucy, because he just expected her to know. Other characters seemed to do the same thing. I am thinking of an episode where Carol told Lucy to put a mask on a man who was spitting, but Carol said, "Here Lucy, put this on." And she put it on her face, and Carol said "No Lucy! On him!" But the way Carol said it, it did sound like she meant for Lucy to put it on herself. ANyway, Carter seemed to be acting worse around her more in this season, for some reason. I'm wondering if they are changing Carter's character to where he starts to become more of a know-it-all because HE is not the lowly little medical student anymore.

-- melanie (msintn@hotmail.com), March 05, 2000.

In response to the original question. Look very closely at Carter as he is preparing to go into Curtain Area 3 to check on Lucy. He's walking down the hallway, rolling up his sleeves, very relaxed and then he makes a slight pause, takes a deep breath and his face takes on a serious tone...you just know he's gearing up for another confrontation with Lucy. I know it sounds like I watched that scene alot, but I didn't, I actually noticed it on my first viewing of "Be Still My Heart" and I loved it. It was sooo convincing and sooo Carter, in regards to Lucy. He did return to smiling once he spotted the Valentine on the floor, but if you get a chance to see that Eppy again, take a close look at that quick mood change right before Carter enters the room. It's so sad that Carter was so short with Lucy all the time and especially on her last day. I was always hoping that Lucy and Carter would get together at some point. What a shocking end to their rocky relationship. Here's hoping Carter will be feeling a lot of guilt for the way he treated Lucy for a long time to come. I know I'm gonna miss her for a long time. Thank goodness Season 5 reruns are showing now.

-- Jenny (jsteele@mail.ucf.edu), March 06, 2000.

I think Carter's confused look when he first goes into the room is because he thought Lucy and her patient were in there and he gets in there and it's all quiet and dark.

-- Dena (Dnahltz@aol.com), March 20, 2000.