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ER Season 1 Episode 18

Love's Labor Lost

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8.9

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 3/9/95

A routine day filled with ordinary traumas becomes nightmarish when a distracted Mark critically misdiagnoses a pregnant woman's delivery complication. A teenager is brought in after being accidentally poisoned. Benton grapples with his own demons in the wake of his mother's collapse.

Fan Episode Reviews (12)

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10

By JordanWelch, Aug 16, 2012

This was brilliant. it got great storyline, Editing, Directing, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.
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Greene is having problems at home, but has no idea how much worse things are about to get at work. In over his head with a delivery, Greene scrambles to get help and shows how helpless he is, how vulnerable doctors can be, and how unfair life can be.moreless

9.9

By comeondayday, May 06, 2011

The defining episode of the series (at least when it was good), this one, like so many episodes of early ER seemed to fuel itself to the point where my heart was beating and my jaw was hanging down to my chest. Rarely have I seen anthing so emotionally devastating as this episode. Greene is great, probably my favorite character, but I would not want him anywhere near the expectant mother of my child. He was in way over his head, and it makes me wonder how realistic was his plight? I'm guessing very, and that's what's really frightening.moreless
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Misdiagnose...

9.3

By Parricida, Jan 26, 2008

I was hoping something more, I do not know. Maybe I knew it should be so great and when I saw it, my hopes were too high.

I adore the motion, dynamic and action. The way they all tried to do the best to save the mother and the emotions and the way Mark's reactions and actions were shown - building from the start the logical schema what lead to the end - to the point when he is going to train and Lewis is yelling: "Is Jenn home?" Starting almost slowly to the moment the car drives in, and then.. slowing down again, making it ready for the last 20-15 minutes that really kept the eyes on screen. And superb acting. Bradley Whitford as the father was super, not mentioning all the main cast.

Great episode indeed, but..moreless
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In one of the best episodes of the series, Dr. Greene misdiagnoses a pregnant patient and now after the patient starts to seize it's up Greene to try and save her life and her baby.moreless

10

By DaVulture, Jun 10, 2007

Without a doubt one of the best medical episodes of the entire ER series. The main focus on the episode is obviously on Dr. Greene but the way the episode is shot you had no direction where things were going. First the story begins on Peter Benton and his mother then shifts to Dr. Greene taking care of this woman named Jodie O'Brien who is pregnant. After seemingly diagnosing her, everything seems fine but then she starts to seize and now Greene's in a dire situation. Things became worse when OB becomes full and Dr. Greene has to take care of this seizing woman and her worried husband who thinks Greene is trying to kill her. It was almost as though her husband Sean O'Brien wanted to literally kill Dr. Greene. So Dr. Greene with the help of Susan Lewis and Nurse Carol Hathaway along with med students Carter and Chen try to dig deep in surgery and save the woman's life. However after OB Doctor comes and tells Greene how foolish he was in his diagnosis things take their turn for the worse as Jodie O'Brien is the ER all butchered up as the Doctors try to save her life is slowly fading, despite Greene's best efforts and ability to bring out her baby and save it he is unable to save Jodie O'Brien as she dies on the operating room with Greene shocking her. The last few scenes are amazing as Greene silently and angrily goes upstairs and tells Sean O Brien that his wife is dead. What makes the scene so amazing is we don't hear any dialogue we just see the face of Sean O'Brien and Dr. Greene behind a soundless glass screen as he withers away in tears. The episode ends with two profound scenes with Greene coming back to the scene of the Jodie's death where Carter tells Greene he was amazed at what he did, but to Carter's surprise Greene just walks away without saying a word. The final scene is Greene in a train crying about his misdiagnoses leading to the death of an innocent woman. This episode features amazing acting by Anthony Edwards whose emotions are so visible in the episode that you can just feel him. Whatever the case it was a travesty that he didn't win an Emmy for his role because this just personifies excellence.moreless
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I not usually a huge fan episodes around a mother giving birth but this was better than the usual...

9.5

By abanana, Mar 12, 2007

I actually couldn't believe it when the mother died. But at least the baby was OK. This episode was a good one for Greene he was amazing and no matter what the people said, he was a hero in this episode. It wasn't his fault in fact, he did everything he could but I guess she wasn't meant to live through that night. But as if so many things could go wrong with one birth. And it ricked us (the reader) by making it look OK for so long and the making everything go wrong and then, it was OK again... but obviously not for long before she dieed. Poor Greene shouldnt be beating himself up over it. it wasnt his fault.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Anthony Edwards	Dr. Mark Greene
Eriq La Salle	Dr. Peter Benton
George Clooney	Dr. Doug Ross
Julianna Margulies	Nurse Carol Hathaway
Noah Wyle	John Carter
Sherry Stringfield	Dr. Susan Lewis

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Dennis Lipscomb	Dr. Wilson	Guest Star
Colleen Flynn	Jodi O'Brien	Guest Star
Bradley Whitford	Sean O'Brien	Guest Star
Abraham Benrubi	Jerry	Recurring Role
Amy Aquino	Dr. Janet Coburn	Recurring Role
Ming-Na	Deb Chen	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (4)
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- Carter: Hey! Word's out. You're going to be an ER Attending. Congratulations.
  Greene: Well, it's not a lock. Can I borrow your pen?
  Carter: Yeah. Lifetime of this, huh? Whew.
  Greene: Well, uh, you know, the ER, it's great. Your free time's your own.
  Carter: What free time?
  Greene: Well, after your residency. You get skilled in every aspect of medicine, you see a variety of cases, you have an immediate effect upon your patient's lives. But, mostly, it's, uh, it's like joining the circus.
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- Lewis: Get smart nurses and nod sagely.
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- Chen: What do you have?
  Carter: Elderly man with hemorrhoids.
  Chen: Oh, yuck. Everyone's so old and sick around here.
  Carter: Yeah. This is a hospital.
  Chen: Yeah, I guess.
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- Coburn: I've never seen such a chain of errors in judgment.
  Greene: What do you mean? I did exactly what you said.
  Coburn: You miss a preeclampsia, you underestimate a fetal weight, you miss a placental abruption (points to the ultrasound image) right there, you do an ill-advised forceps delivery on a baby that's too big, and then you do a hack job of a C-section.
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NOTES (5)
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- In this episode, Amy Aquino makes her first appearance as Dr. Janet Coburn, Chief of Obstetrics. She would go on to be a recurring member of the supporting cast throughout the fifteen seasons of the series.
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- During a 1998 interview on Larry King Live, George Clooney mentioned that this was his favorite ER episode of all time up to that moment.
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- During the filming of the episode, Noah Wyle was suffering from mononucleosis and had to be hooked up to the set's real IVs in order to finish shooting.
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- Guest star Bradley Whitford went on to star on The West Wing, another NBC show produced by John Wells.
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- This episode won Emmy Awards for Writing (Lance Gentile), Directing (Mimi Leder), Editing for a Single Camera Production, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing. In addition, Colleen Flynn was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Jodie O'Brien.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Title: "Love's Labor Lost"
  The title of this episode is a reference to William Shakespeare's comedy of errors, Love's Labour's Lost.
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