i have a question about carter and benton's relationship...did it improve after season 4? i don't remember all of season five and four. i remember benton was angry at carter about leaving surgery, and they had the discussion where benton told carter to stop seeking his approval. but i don't particularly remember anything else until season 6, when benton came tearing down those stairs to help carter in all in the family. when exactly did their relationship improve?

-- Erin (earthgirl24@hotmail.com), June 25, 2000

Answers

They didn't really show much after that. Carter and Benton sort of went their separate ways when Carter went back to the ER in season 4. I think Carter had a conversation with Benton in Season 5, about Lucy where he wondered how Benton put up with him and Benton said "I never thought about you."

Which is why the events of the end of this past season sort of came as a welcome surprise. The way Benton responded to Carter -- who knew? For Benton to express any caring for Carter at all, has not been seen before. (Then again, Carter has never been in such deep s--- before.)

Personally I think one of the best things the writers could do for the health of the show is to find some way to get Carter and Benton interacting again. Certainly, it would be believable if Benton had to play some formal role in Carter's rehabilitation next season (such as, being one of a group of doctors whom Carter is required to have periodic meetings with).

-- Tracy (bankybooda@aol.com), June 25, 2000.

I don't think it would be believable at all for Benton to have a formal role in Carter's post rehab recovery. Benton is a trauma fellow . Carter will be in his last year of a an ER residency. IF Carter has any special restriction placed on him his first few months back it will be overseen by Kerry and Mark who are his bosses, not Benton. If Carter is required to see a counselor on an out patient basis , it will be with a psychiatrist or psychologist. Benton is not one of them. I doubt that they are going to drag out Carter's post rehab recovery for too long nor do I want them to. I think Carter will be well on the road of recovery when he returns and will already started dealing with the stabbing and resulting problems. I don't think that it will take carter too long to get back in the swing of things with him getting full diuties/responsibilities with no special restrictions placed on him. THey may or may not require Carter to have periodic drug test the first six months back. Again that will not be Benton's job.

I don't mind seeing Benton/Carter interacting with each other as colleagues/friends . However, I would like to see Carter interact with other characters such as Kerry and Mark and have a better relationship with them as well. I do not want to see Benton treat Carter like an medical student or junior resident again. Been there done that and it would be a step backward in my book. It is about time they started treating each other more like equals. Carter will either be an attending or fellow starting in season eight. I think it would be very unrealistic and unbelkievable if we asee carter being treated unlike a normal senior resident about to complete his residency and then be offered a position once he completes it. Thats why I want to see them completly wrap up this storyline absolutly no later than the first part of next season so we can see Carter perform well and get even better than he was before the attack so there will be no doubt that Carter deserves to given a position at county during season eight. They can't have carter being treated with kid gloves for most of the season and expect us to believe that he will be offered a fellow or attending job. WE will get tired of it if they drag it on too long.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), June 26, 2000.

First of all, I love the Carter/Benton relationship. I think that this season it developed into a friendly level instead of a professional level. He probably won't be directly involved professionally in Carter's recovery, but as a friend, he will, and that's what I want to see. After all, the way he confronted Carter wasn't on Mark and Kerry's level, it was on his own. As for Carter's recovery, I don't mind if it is dragged out a little bit. I loved this storyline and they should work it all they can. ANd I don't mean having him have mess up and having a hard time, I also mean showing him gain his confidence back and other's confidence in him back. I would like to see him deal with the things we didn't see, or didn't get much of. He needs closure with the attack and I want to see it.

As for past Benton/Carter, they did have that fight in season 4, but then in 5 he seemed to respect him as a doctor. THey didn't work together all that much, but when they did they usually complimented each other on their work. Though at the beginning of this season, Benton kind of laughed off Carter as in charge, but now I think he has every respect for him.

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), June 26, 2000.

I don't think Carter and Benton should go back to the same old relationship. Obviously, Carter is no longer his student. I personally think that Benton has a few things to learn from Carter. Personally I think Benton is the one in sore need of a decent storyline for next season, whether it's with Carter or not. Especially since Reese no longer seems to be in the picture. But Carter and Benton as "just colleagues" - well, they've been that for the past couple seasons and it hasn't been too interesting. Then again, for the past two seasons Carter and Benton themselves haven't been all that interesting. Do we really want to see obligatory scenes of Carter and Benton having coffee together... why not some conflict and growth. I think there is still room for these characters to have that, although on different ground than in the past.

-- Tracy (bankybooda@aol.com), June 26, 2000.

While I would absolutely LOVE more Benton/Carter scenes of them working together, etc., I do agree that it would be hard for TPTB to conjure up instances where the both work together professionally. I also don't think that Benton should be a formal part of the rehab either-- there are professionals who can do that. So what that leaves us with really is the "obligatory cup of coffee" (as someone mentioned above). Personally I think that this itself is a great sub- storyline-- Benton by character isn't exactly a "friendly" chummy person; we do know that he cares for Carter, but he only gets into his friend and caring mode with him when Carter is in absolute danger, and then subsequently pulls through for him. It would be great to see him try and reach out to Carter post rehab, and to try and be more of a friend to him, because we know that it's hard for him to do that. I see a lot of growth for both characters as they try to become closer, or at least as they treat each other as equals.

-- samira (matb_west@chickmail.com), June 26, 2000.

When Carter was his student, Benton seemed to be interested only in Carter's career, but now we learn that he's also kind of "affected" to Carter himself. I don't think that Benton likes Carter any better than he did while he was his student-why would he? I think he always did like him, he just couldn't or didn't want to show it! There was an episode in season one when Carter had to fill in a form whether Benton was a good teacher or something like that, and he gave him terribly bad grades because he was so angry with him thinking Benton was hating him, until Dr. Hicks showed him Benton's surprising evaluation of Carter which finished "one of the best students I ever had the opportunity to work with" (or something like that...), and then Carter wrote a new, an honest and fair and of course much better one.

I like the development of their relationship, I knew it wouldn't end up like in season three, something just had to happen between them to "bring them back together"!!

-- Elisabeth (sweetliz141@aol.com), June 26, 2000.