Doug Ross's non-appearancegreenspun.com : LUSENET : ER Discussions : One Thread |
Here's a question to strike a nerve in a lot of people. How will you feel if Doug Ross does not make an appearance in one of the upcoming final episodes?
-- Lisa (lisayas@yahoo.com), April 26, 2000
Disappointed but I'll live. :)
-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), April 26, 2000.
I'd actually be surprised if he DID make an appearance. It doesn't seem likely, unless he and the network are trying to keep it very hush-hush and really surprise us. It seems like a lot of other tidbits about the season finale have leaked out. I'd love to see him, but I have mixed feelings about him and Carol being "a family." Despite his wonderful way with kids and the fact that he obviously loves Carol, if I was Carol, I don't think I could trust him. Why should she give up her life in Chicago, her house, etc.? And whatever happened to his other child? Does he ever see her/him?
-- Cindy (tailchasers@earthlink.net), April 26, 2000.
I also don't think he'll come back and agree that I don't think Carol should trust him - he gave her up for his job then wouldn't even return when he heard she was pregnant with TWINS - after so long of trying to conceive, to give up his children without coming back (perhaps this is why the writers put in a quick line about Doug seeing the kids)It's him who forced the change, not Carol, and he who should have given up his place in Seattle to give his children a father. I don't think he'll come back, but I also think that Carol's taking a big risk in throwing herself into his arms when she can't be sure he'll catch her - I guess it's a little different with the kids, but if they can't trust each other perhaps it's better for the babies not to have to live with them both at the same time.
-- juliet (Vizzn@AOL.com), April 26, 2000.
It's one thing for Carol and Doug to live close to one another so that both can be involved in the girls' lives. It's a different thing for Carol and Doug to pick up where they left off in their relationship as though nothing happened. All I really want is some sort of explanation of how this is going to work -- the roles they are going to play for their children, how they're going to work toward sharing places in each other's lives -- I want to believe in things, however they end up. In a way, I don't really want them to get married and ride off into the sunset, whether they are each other's great loves or not. Whether Clooney is there in the flesh is feeling a bit irrelevant to me.
-- nancy (ntc72@mailcity.com), April 26, 2000.
I am already disappointed, because I know that he most likely isn't coming back. There are NO indications, so if he does somehow appear, I will be VERY surprised (and happy). HOwever, I have been prepared for awhile that he won't so that's that. I think that the writers did horribly with Doug's character in season 5...I also believe that he should come back to HER, not make her give up EVERYTHING and move to Seattle, where Doug has been only a year, but what else can you do when both the characters are gone? I just wish we thought Carol WANTED to move on from Chicago; that it would have been a mutual decision. Anyways, it DOES NOT follow in Doug's "reforming"...the real Doug would have come to claim his family the moment he heard she was pregnant, he KNOWS Carol, that she'd want him there (remember the first scare, at the beginning of season 5...Carol: "I was just thinking how it would change my life..." Doug: "Change OUR lives") They wrote a very humbly reformed Doug out in a bad way and I was hoping they would bring him back to have them both go out in a good way. A simple, "he's been seeing them" does not make due.
-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), April 26, 2000.
I've been reading over all these threads the last few days talking about Doug's leaving like it was a choice he made willingly. Have you guys forgotten the mess his life was in when he left County? He narrowly missed being charged with murder, he'd ruined his career and reputation in the Chicago hospital system; he'd nearly destroyed Carol's career; he had pretty much destroyed the clinic she'd worked so hard to build; No matter how in love they were, his & Carol's relationship was ON THE ROCKS. Remember how hurt, upset and angry she was and when she told him that he was way too selfish, etc. The man needed a fresh start. He had no idea she was pregnant and neither did she. They needed time apart. The job offer came along at exactly the right time and he took it. As for him not coming back when he found out about Carol's condition - she told him NOT to and considering the fact that his butt was still very much in the dog house, he was right to respect her wishes if he ever hoped of having a happily ever after with her.
-- Linda (l.brown@mindspring.com), April 26, 2000.
Elaine, you took the words out of my mouth (again)!! Even Clooney was disappointed with how his character sulked off to Seattle with his tail between his legs. We're starting to see signs that Carol may be ready to leave Chicago (the fact that she's even THINKING about it), but I feel that it would show us so much if Doug returned and threw himself on his sword again, telling her that he'll give up whatever sort of a life he's begun to make for himself in Seattle -- just to be with her.It is more plausible for her to leave, knowing that Doug has been returning to Chicago periodically to see his children. Can she trust him again? Well, she's always had trust issues and certainly having him walk out like that destroyed the faith and trust in him that they'd built. Though we do know that Doug, at this point, is more or less willing to wait her insecurities out.
In short, I think it would be a great gesture for Doug to RETURN. I feel that this is what Carol has wanted all along, even though she cannot say it. Seeing that he is willing to take such a huge risk (possibly giving up his career for her), it seems to me that she'd realize Doug is committed to her and their children. It would be by far a more plausible exit if her were to return, no matter how little the screentime. Watching Ross & Hathaway ride off into the sunset together with their daughters would make it much easier for me to move on. I don't think that the last kiss we witness between the two of them should include heartbroken tears. After all, even if they do "ride off into the sunset" together, so to speak, we really don't know what will become of their relationship in the long-run.
I've rambled a bit, but in answer to the original question, I would be VERY disappointed if Clooney doesn't make an appearance for Margulies's exit, but not all that surprised.
-- Arianne (CarolRossSusanGreene@yahoo.com), April 26, 2000.
Linda, we must've posted at relatively the same time, but I agree with you also. While I still feel that as far as the trust in the relationship is concerned Doug needs to do something rather grande to demonstrate his committment, he left with good reason. Of course Carol doubts his love if she wasn't enough for him to stay, but as Doug said, his staying there would've helped to destroy their relationship. She told him not to return for the pregnancy (and, contrary to what people seem to believe, the fact that she was pregnant with multiples was NOT known at the time she told Doug), and while she did really want him to return, he respected her wishes, which is in a semi-twisted way rather noble of him.
-- Arianne (CarolRossSusanGreene@yahoo.com), April 26, 2000.
i would like to respond to juliet's comment regarding carol and doug "trying to conceive for so long". were they "trying"??? i thought they were planning to get married first.
-- Alexis (lexicat1@webtv.net), April 27, 2000.
They were most definitely trying, it was no accident, and there was no mention of marriage. Must have been ER's contorted way of doing what they've successfully done -- have Doug Ross/Clooney exit the show and hold on to viewers after he was gone through a Hathaway pregnancy.
-- Phyl (erfan@flash.net), April 27, 2000.
thanks phyl...i must've missed something, LOL.
-- Alexis (lexicat1@webtv.net), April 28, 2000.
I know that a big reason for Carol's pregnancy plot was due to Doug's departure, but it just makes me regret to have to imagine the scenes we missed of Doug in delivery with her, , celebrating with her and the whole staff, marrying her, leaving with her, together, as they should be. They were such a big part of the success of ER. They're characters deserve that.
-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), April 28, 2000.
I might have dreamed this: Carol did have a ring, didn't she? I thought I remembered Mark or someone commenting that she was still wearing it just after Doug left.
-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), April 28, 2000.