askye-

At the end of ER, Neela leaves Ray and takes a taxi home. The taxi is blocked by an anti-war protest. She gets out and walks through the protest. John Stamos (can't remember his character's name) is looking for her and finds each other. As he is calling to her, a fight breaks out and she gets trampled, seemingly.

What happened to the other guy, the cute hip doctor who liked her as well?

He's the one who was hit by the truck two weeks ago. This week, Neela found out where he was, went to visit him in the hospital, and both his legs had been amputated below the knee. He was very bitter (obviously), and told her that he was sick of being jerked around. His mother and sister came to bring him back home, and his sister told Neela something like, "This is all your fault, you selfish bitch."

Oh! And to throw in just a few more anvils leading Neela to the protest, there was a drug-seeking guy in the ER who'd had a breakdown after witnessing US interrogators torturing Iraq prisoners in Iraq, where he'd been a translator.

Jeff Buckley died in '97.

Okay, somebody needs to put a bug in Jeff Buckley's ear

So many gross morbid jokes, so little time.

Kristen, on your first CSI point: Jorja Fox and George Eads both went on strike between seasons 4 and 5, but were brought to their senses pretty quickly when it became obvious that the producers had no problems with replacing them. They were written out of the first few eps of the season since they weren't around.

ER really seems to like smushing and amputation for characters.

er: So, the cliffhanger is - is Neela dead?

GA: Okay, somehow I didn't interpret this correctly: Mere broke up with Derek when she walked away from the altar to go help Cristina after Burke left?

That was my impression, sumi. Which, I don't get, maybe.

I mean, I think I get it but, but maybe I missed something.

I thought he had broken up with her a couple of weeks ago with the whole, "You didn't swim" thing. And, IMHO, he's being an asshole. Yeah, she's Meh and she's generally a selfish drama queen, but dude. Her mother just died. Granted, Ellis was overbearing and horrid to Mere, but still. Death of a parent horrifically bad. Mere (feels like she) killed her stepmother - a mother-figure that accepted Mere for Mere. And Mere's father has banished her from his life AGAIN for circumstances that were NOT Meredith's doing. Yeah, she's selfish and a giant drama queen, but fuck dude. Give her a break. His whole, "You're the love of my life, I won't send you away, blah blah blah." was so ill-timed, I don't know what.

And I'm fucking pissed at Burke, but am still unsure of what Cristina meant when she said, "I'm free." and then broke down crying. Free of the accoutrements that she didn't want any part of in the first place or relief at being free of Burke??

I read it as Christina being free of all the things that came with loving Burke that she was ambivalent about - the relationship, the family, the settled life, the neat apartment, the wedding. All the conventional things women are supposed to want, or provide, that were never a part of her.

I can see that.