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ER Season 14 Episode 7

Blackout

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8.6

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 11/8/07

A power outage strikes on an unusually hot day, bringing nursing home patients suffering from hyperthermia to the ER. Abby and Pratt disagree about diagnostic tests for a fussy baby. Morris and Pratt get their board results, and the ER staff celebrates at Ike's. Moretti and Abby's interactions intensify, and Abby finds herself at a dark and frightening crossroads.moreless

Fan Episode Reviews (13)

Electrical blackout floods the ER...alcohol blackout destroys Abby....

10

By soccermom, Jan 25, 2011

Okay...so I read every available spoiler I can find. I knew the episode was coming. I was dreading the show but I couldn't NOT watch it. My emotions are reeling right now and it's ALL Maura Tierney's fault. SHE is the one who wanted this story line. SHE is the who felt it was 'necessary.' And she is the one who turned in a totally astounding, incredibly beautiful and heart wrenching performance. There will be those who hate Abby for the way things played out. How could she freaking do it? Well, okay...back to the other stuff... Electrical brownouts bring old people and babies to the ER. Pratt passed his boards and we learned at the end that Morris didn't. Harold dings Morris' new car and second guesses Dubenko with a patient..hee. Moretti is angry at Abby for changing several of his orders on patients. Instead of her usual 'cooperative subordinate' persona, we get obnoxious and argumentative resident. Woo. Huge red flag that something is not right. Abby goes behind Greg's back and orders a chest xray and EKG on a troublesome infant he dismisses as 'colicky.' Work is followed by a celebration at Ike Ryan's. Loved the comraderie of the nurses. Chuny's name is actualy Ethel?? Gates and Julia were cute at the pool table and way too stupid earlier in the ER. Volunteer singers to ease the tension?? Come on. Abby comes late but is ahem..little looser than the others. She is overly flirty and playful. Terribly rude to Dubenko and Neela (her biggest supporters as a rule). Another red flag. Neela caught it and made sure Abby wasn't driving home. No, instead she finds herself waking up in Moretti's bed. There is no doubt as to what has happened. No doubt at all....to anyone except her. Abby's overwhelming panic at arriving home to a distraught babysitter and her sleeping child had my own heart in my throat. The subsequent scenes of her strapping the baby into the car, nearly having another accident, banging her head as she climbs into a cab and standing at the ticket counter demanding to purchase a ticket to Croatia....sheesh. This was cut throughout with the struggles of Pratt and Morris dealing with the infant having a heart attack - who would probably have died had Abby not ordered the tests that kept the family at the hospital. Thank God for Abby, they said. And then we see her sitting alone in the airport chairs, holding her baby, flashing back to the scene with Moretti...beautifully and heartbreakingly done.... wiping tears away from her face, rocking her baby and then profiled in contrast against the flashing arrival/departure sign. Damn. If there is anyone out there with a smidgeon of doubt as to the incredible raw acting talent of Maura Tierney....certainly it's laid to rest after this episode. I did not think she could surpass the astounding job she did in last year's 'Bloodline'....but I was wrong. I am definitely looking forward to seeeing how she handles the next few episodes...especially with Luka coming home to pitch his pennies into the pot. These two are going to totally rock it! Damn.moreless
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What they did to Abby?!

6.5

By Vampira_18, Sep 28, 2010

I watch ER since the season 6 and I like Maura Tierney's character. She is funny, has great lines and, to be honest, she is one of my favorites. I hated to watch this episode. I felt sad and disappointed when I saw Abby that way. What the producers had in their minds when they put her with Moretti?! I thought it was an alternate reality. Abby and Luka are a great couple and this beautiful relationship can't end this way. All these events really changed the way I see Abby. I hope that the producers would bring the old Abby back somehow.moreless
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Bottom for Abby

6.5

By Parricida, Sep 20, 2008

This was cruel episode. I really.. maybe it did all look so much like reality and it was so black and depressive and to see Abby, who has been quite good char and now that. It is just... cruel. The camera work was amazing and the way the showed that not normal Abby and... it was good. And the ending, how they did it.. the talking between Morris and Pratt and that Abby saved that baby's life...

Oh.. I really hope we could have somehow little better episodes. Not that story of this episode was strong but it is not an episode you would enjoy.moreless
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Probably one of the best episodes of a generally poor season. Abby finally reaches breaking point.

8.4

By LucyEA12345, Aug 01, 2008

Abby episodes are always good and Maura Tierny plays a drunken Abby very convincingly. It is quite upsetting to see how far she slips in this episode, actually cheating on Luka and almost putting her son in danger. I also can't believe how Moretti could take advantage of her like that. A bit of a nasty character!

This was quite an interesting and emotional episode. Like the ER of old, it had lots of little storylines and touches which made it enjoyable. Things like Harold crashing Morris's car might seem like superfluous details but all contribute to a memorable episode. The only problem is when the actors (Goran Visnjic for example) clearly want to take time out of the show it kind of messes with the narrative too much and you almost don't recognise the characters you have come to know and love.

It was fun to see Chuny bring up Mark Green and Doug Ross - kind of sad to remember how much better the show used to be though.moreless
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9.4

By Shana868, Feb 28, 2008

Loved this ep, it was brilliant, finally some real action after episodes of wavering.

Maura's acting was just amazing. I loved drunk Abby at the bar - it seemed so realistic. And the scene when she came home to the babysitter really struck a chord too. We really got a full range of emotions this episode.

Obviously Morris failed, but how can he keep it a secret? Surely the hospital i.e. Moretti finds out his score?

I like the potential new BF of Sam. However, I don't really like her two-timing two men, it's out of character. ER seems to have a history of making characters multiple date at once for not much good reason (Greene and Elizabeth spring to mind).

The bar scene was really nice. It was good to see everyone hanging out in a sociable setting. There were also so many one-liners and in-jokes and side-jokes this episode that I can't really count them.

So annoyed at how they're wasting Harold. I thought he showed such promise in his first ep, and ever since then it has been just down-hill.

Likewise, I want Neela to get some really gritty surgery storylines any time soon...

I'm quite pissed off about Abby/Moretti. The storyline doesn't really do either of them any favours. Personally I haven't really seen any chemistry there at all. Sure, Abby could have got drunk and slept with someone, but did it have to be Moretti? Also, it paints him in such a bad light. Sure he may not know she is an alcoholic, but he has seen how much she has been struggling recently, he saw just how drunk and unlike herself she was and it seems he really took advantage of her. He is painted as such a rational figure that him sleeping with a completely wasted woman doesn't feel like ignorance on his part. On the other hand, we didn't exactly get to see the actual build-up to her going home with him, so I don't know how unfair my reaction is, as Abby could have been equally to blame. Which pretty much means that I'm just annoyed at the ER writers!!! Cause I guess Moretti did obviously think Abby was maybe just having marriage problems, and then she did raise the subject of his flirting, potentially suggesting she wasn't impartial to it...

Hope and Morris broke-up? I assume this is because the actress has left the show? Feels like the 101 scenes regarding Morris and women in the last few episodes were kind of pointless for him. Interesting to see where his future romance life will go. Hope worked for him quite well last season, but I don't just want to see Morris and Pratt shoved into comfortable mature 'I'm a settled adult' relationships to highlight character development.

I think the baby's illness and Morris' comment about Abby's tutoring were a little OTT. They were both clearly included in the episode so we could all watch and see just how amazing a doc Abby is, and how sad it is she is having problems yada yada yada. It wasn't necessary for us to see Abby shine medically for us to empathise with the character though, and I don't think she would be so competent on the job when she's clearly drinking constantly now.

I wonder if the ending means that we'll see Abby in Croatia next ep? Or more likely we'll have a couple with her missing? Unless there is a time jump.

Interesting that they chose to use a big situation - city-wide power-cuts, in an episode where they didn't play a huge part. The episode so revolved around Abby and we didn't get an idea of the medical consequences of the power cuts. It was more used to aide the social storylines. Normally this would provide a host of episode material in the form of patients and hospital disasters, but there was so much going on already that it became quite irrelevant.

Loved the happy singing volunteers.

Gates and Chaplin mildly interesting. Quite predictable route to go down but I think the romance will be good for his character.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Linda Cardellini	Nurse Sam Taggart
Parminder Nagra	Dr. Neela Rasgotra
Mekhi Phifer	Dr. Greg Pratt
John Stamos	Dr. Tony Gates
Maura Tierney	Dr. Abby Lockhart
Scott Grimes	Dr. Archie Morris

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Jesse Borrego	Javier	Guest Star
Betty Anderson	Willow	Guest Star
Tory Sparkman	Doris	Guest Star
Leland Orser	Dr. Lucien Dubenko	Recurring Role
Laura CerÃ³n	Chuny	Recurring Role
Yvette Freeman	Haleh	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- Chuny says that she remembers when Mark Greene and Doug Ross were running the place, and Sam says "Who?". This is an inside-joke about the longevity of ER and its numerous cast changes; most of the current characters don't know the original ones.
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- Goof: When Abby climbs into the cab with Joe, she cracks her right temple on the door frame, but when we see her at the ticket counter at the airport, the injury is to her left temple.
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QUOTES (4)
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- Chuny: I remember when Mark Green and Doug Ross were running the place.
  Sam: Who?
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- Chuny: My real name is Ethel...
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- Abby: I didn't go to med school to check boxes and push paper.
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- Morris: All this wasted energy is severely inflating my carbon footprint!
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NOTES (1)
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- Music: "One by One," Quick Step John; "I Got You (I Feel Good)," James Brown; "Under Pressure," Queen & David Bowie
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Abby: Truth is very inconvenient.
  Abby says this during a discussion about global warming. It's a reference to Al Gore's 2006 documentary about climate change, An Inconvenient Truth.
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