As leaked a few times early this week, remaining episodes of ER are possible to include appearances from some of the original cast members. Tonight's episode featured Dr. Green ( Anthony Edwards ).I haven't watched ER in so long I didn't even recognize any of the cast anymore.
Of course we all know that Dr. Green died from a brain tumor on a sandy beach somewhere. So, he obviously can't rise from the dead and suddenly burst into Trauma 1 demanding a liter of Type O with type and cross and a hemocrit and chem 7 . . . STAT!!
Luckily the entire episode was written with Dr. Banfield ( Angela Bassett ) and Dr Green in mind. Dr. Banfield used to have a son. Unbeknownst to her and her husband the boy had leukemia. Although he had suffered from seizures from time to time, he has a severe one. She, as a doctor feels she is in control of the situation and ignores her husband's demand to go the ER. When the boy recovers consciousness he vomits blood and they take him immediately.
Dr Green is the doctor who treats her son. The whole episode is done in flashback sequences as she faces the ordeal of trying to revive a young girl who has fallen into Lake Michigan and brought to the ER uncoscious and hypothermic. During the treatment the girl's mother is by Dr. Banfield's side questioning her every move as Dr. Banfield questioned Dr. Green's.
She is able to save the young girl only after remembering the fact that Dr. Green questioned whether or not her son could have gotten a hold of some prescription medications since he wasn't responding to the ER treatment. Evidently the girl did and Dr. Banfield is able to save her, unlike Dr. Green who was not able to save her son despite blowing off his chemo treatment much to the chagrin of Dr. Weaver ( Laura Innes ) and Dr. Romano ( Paul McCrane ) who also have cameo appearances. Dr. Banfield feels responsible for her son's death and has never really recovered from that fact.
It was a pretty touching episode and I must admit, episodes like this are what originally drew me to the series back in 1994. I look forward to more episodes provided they do feature some of the original cast.
Who would you like to see in the next episode of ER?
