Carter's look of guilt in the men's room

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I haven't read every thread, so forgive me if I missed this one. Am I the only one that felt Carter thought he was alone in the men's room near the beginning of the show? That looked like a guilty start to me when he realized he was not the only one there. Then he killed time until the other guy left. In the next scene we see him roaming down the hall SINGING, mood completely changed. Maybe I spent too much time in the 70's, but that looked to me like a drug induced personality change.

-- Nancy Wilson (nwilson@wko.com), May 12, 2000

Answers

I noticed that too. And especially when he was with the two people in the exam room. But his face in next weeks previews after punching Benton, looked a lot different from what we usually see. It was almost a little scary to see him like that. I wonder where they are going with that storyline....

-- Aimee (aimeefield@hotmail.com), May 12, 2000.

Nancy, I was thinking the same thing. I think the point they are trying to hint at, without directly showing us, is that Carter is taking SOMETHING, whether he knows he's addicted or not (I know, he's a doctor, but he's not exactly thinking straight)...the next time we saw him, he was running around, laughing, whistling, singing. Deb took it that he is having bipolar mood swings, but I hope they drop this and just realize it is that he is taking something.

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

My thoughts exactly. Actually, when he came out of the bathroom singing, my thought was "Woooah, Carter! What did you just smoke for breakfast??" Makes much more sense than Bipolar disorder! Sorry I'm harping on this so much guys. I'm just annoyed that TPTB would even consider taking the story to that level. Have to say, though, even if they do, I can't conceive of too many people pulling it off better than Noah Wyle. Those men's room scenes were...absolutely stunning.

-- S. Trelles (trelles@ix.netcom.com), May 12, 2000.

I was questioning the bathroom scene too. It was strange how they focused on the other man in the room also. At first I thought that maybe they were going to show Carter, apprehensive, by someone coming up behind him, but as he just stood there making small talk until the man left it had me wondering. His personality was totally different in the next scene with the handling of his two patients. It would make sense that he was killing time until the other man left to perhaps take something. But if he was taking something, don't you think he would have done so before he came to work especially with him feeling as lousy as he did? Unless he is trying to see if he can get by without some help somedays. I'm not familiar with the bipolar thing, but can someone's moods swing so drastically in such a short amount of time? My money is on the drug thing for now, especially after the second bathroom scene with him crying. He seemed to be conscious of his wrong actions. Would he be so if he was bipolar?

-- SB (SB@aol.com), May 13, 2000.

My instincts were that he was taking drugs in this epi too. I think they threw the bi-polar thing out there as a smokescreen. I just wanted to cry everytime I saw Carter in this episode! Please bring back our old Carter -- please someone help him!!

-- amanda (amanda.rehm@home.com), May 13, 2000.


I think you are right Amanda, about the bipolar issue. I do think they may be using it as a smoke screen. My reasons for this is that Carter's friends and colleagues would not suspect him as using drugs or self prescribed medications to help him deal with the physical and emotional pain that he is experiencing, so they would be looking for some logical medical/emotional/psychological explanation as to why he is acting the way he is. In doing so the bipolar explanation could be a smoke screen the writers put in to cover for the real issue of his irrational behavior and actions. I guess and hope we will all find out next week the cause. Also, why would the writers throw in the scene/storyline a few weeks ago about Carter signing off on all of Cleo's/Benton's prescriptions, unless the they are really trying to keep us guessing as to Carter's situation? Could there be two smoke screens, and something completely different is going on with him?

-- SB (SB@aol.com), May 13, 2000.

Remember part of what Deb asked: "Does it run in his family (referring to bipoloar disorder)?" Well, bipolar disorder doesn't, but we know what does.... remember cousin Chase?

-- Ann Azevedo (donnann@tiac.net), May 13, 2000.

Ann, I was surprised she'd asked about the family history too, because I didn't think bipolar ran in families (but I wasn't sure). Deb sure doesn't know much about mental illness does she, considering she reversed the order DSM, DMS too. You're right about addictive traits though (that they do).

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), May 13, 2000.

Actually, bipolar disorder definetly runs in the family. That is why I was a little afraid that they would just throw in, 'oh yeah, by the way, your mom/dad was bipolar, so that's probably what you've got, and it's been triggered by this traumatic event.' But I think we're safe now; read the Canadian previews on a thread below where they talk about what they figure is wrong with him.

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 13, 2000.

I think Carter has severe PTSD, survivor's guilt and chronic pain. All three of these conditions have caused Carter to start using drugs as a coping condition. Hopefully, he is not addicted to the drugs, yet or it will make the treatmant of what caused him to take drugs in the first place much more difficult. Poor guy. I hope he is not addicted to them and whatever happens in the finale will cause Carter to admit that he needs help. I really hope that the staff to support Carter and don't wind up giving him the cold shoulder.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), May 15, 2000.


Not the cold shoulder! Wow cruel could that be!? I am still angry that so many people believe he is fine. Actually, on the ER Daily News page, they sometimes have some funny comments about ER, and the one I was so grateful to was when they commented that Mark and Jing- Mei (yes, I'm trying to use her real name now) finally admitted to knowing that Carter is having problems. The critic/writer compared it to the similar shock ER fans experienced when Mark stated that Doug had been seeing his daughters: Somewhat like "What! Mark and others KNOW that he is having a hard time; they KNOW that he feels guilty about Lucy...could've fooled us!" My reaction exactly!

The address for this page has been on here before, but it is a pretty good page so I'll give it again

http://home.twcny.rr.com/edgerton/er/index.html

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 15, 2000.


Just wanted to mention that the part I was talking about above is from something like Fridays news...if you want to read it go to a link that says something like "yesterday's news" and go to that day.

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 15, 2000.

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