Remember the scene tonight where Carol told Luka "Don't just walk away, Luka!" after he was mad at her? Does anyone else remember the scene from last year (maybe in "The Storm Part 2") in Carol and Doug's apartment and they were discussing how he was in trouble with the whole case over the boy with ALD and Carol said how she could see Kerry and Mark's points and Doug went upstairs and Carol said "Doug, don't walk away!" I thought that was interesting.

Also, look at how the patients have influenced her decisions on a couple of occasions. Tonight it was the husband of the cancer patient who gave her the little talk about soul mates, and last season it was the schizophrenic lady with the baby who sort of affected her decision to keep her own baby and continue the pregnancy. (At first she had told Elizabeth she wasn't sure if she would continue the pregnancy, but then when she held the other lady's baby and listened to her talk about it and how glad she was to have a baby, I think that sort of influenced her decision.)

-- Melanie (msintn@hotmail.com), May 12, 2000

Answers

Melanie, you picked up on the same thing I did, but a totally different line! I have a post just before yours about that line and a couple others, but remember Doug said "don't just walk away" to Carol when she was yelling at him about the clinic and Ricky? I'm glad you pointed out the other line too. I'm SO glad we saw them together! What a great ending!

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 12, 2000.

Anybody else catch what the man was saying to her, about soulmates? It was eerily similar to what Linda(?) said to Carol years ago, about she being Doug's "Sleepless In Seattle." :-)

-- Arianne (CarolRossSusanGreene@yahoo.com), May 12, 2000.

Elaine, I read your post too, only after I had posted my message! I did not remember that line at first - was that the one where D & C were standing outside of the hospital, Carol was fussing at him, then she turned to walk back in and he said "don't walk away" ? I could only remember the one in the apartment, where Doug was annoyed that Carol could see their point, then he went upstairs and left her sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee in her hand. (The only reason I remember this so well was b/c it was just on the TNT reruns!!)

True, Arianne, what you said about Linda's comment and the man's comment tonight. The only difference was this man did not know about Carol and Doug. But you could tell the reason the writers put that conversation in there was to influence Carol to go to Doug!

-- Melanie (msintn@hotmail.com), May 12, 2000.

Arianne, I almost expected them to flash back to that! Of course, they don't do that, but it almost seemed like he quoted Linda word for word...I was surprised he didn't mention "sleepless in Seattle"..it would have fit huh? They can both sleep easy now...going home...beautiful song for the ending *wow* (my friend watching it with me said, "woudldn't it be funny if another woman answered the door at Doug's--harsh huh? Nah, he's been waiting for Carol...and his girls!)

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 12, 2000.

Elaine...my mom said the exact same thing about the woman answering the door, and I was petrified the plane was going to crash! We're not at all paranoid about this, are we? ; )

-- Becky (pattonrd@muohio.edu), May 12, 2000.

The light went on in Carol's head for many reasons last night.(not in proper order) 1. Kerri told Carol that if she couldn't respect her authority then maybe she should quit 2. the little redheaded daughter told her that she wanted her mommy, she wanted a WHOLE family. 3. Luka told her that he needed to get on with his life, hinting that she should too (in other words, stop moping and do something about it) 4. she realized that she just didn't feel THAT way about Luka 5. the husband of the cancer patient described to her how he just kept working when his wife was diagnosed with cancer and how wrong that was.

All of these things put together were like a freight train to the heart for Carol, she just needed to realize that when it comes to happiness, pride is not the most important thing. I'm glad she got over hers. Anyone noticed the way she just seemed to lighten up and lose 20lbs of frown?

-- Lauren (wardell@tc.gc.ca), May 12, 2000.

Those five different things you listed were exactly what I didn't like about this epi. The writers kept beating us over the head with it and treated us like we were too stupid to pick up what was going on.

Plus, the whole "whole family" thing is disgusting and insulting. Carol should have reassured her that she still is in a real family rather than using it as an excuse to get her own butt in gear.

-- Rusty Priske (rusty.priske@hrdc-drhc.gc.ca), May 12, 2000.

you've got to remember that they're writing to people at many levels, not everyone picks things up the way you do.

-- Lauren (wardell@tc.gc.ca), May 12, 2000.

Rusty do you have kids? Are you a single parent trying to manage a career?

-- Lauren (wardell@tc.gc.ca), May 12, 2000.

Rusty, I agree with you whole heartedly! If TPTB had not reunited Doug and Carol at the end, I'm not sure how kindly many of us would have treated this episode. The writers did seems to have enough faith in the audience that we understand Doug and Carol are reunited, and will raise their family together, without 3 pages of exposition! I suppose we can thank them for that.

-- Deb (KHege@AOL.com), May 13, 2000.