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ER Season 11 Episode 9

Twas the Night

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8.6

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 12/9/04

Christmas Eve finds Chen unable to locate someone to cover her shift. Because she needs to care for her dad, she quits. Pratt visits her house and tries to talk her out of euthanizing her dad, but she ends up doing it anyway. Carter and Wendall share an awkward kiss. New med student Jake and Abby treat a man with lupus and a family living in their car. Carter forces Ray to miss his plane. Morris's girlfriend visits.moreless

Fan Episode Reviews (6)

Christmas Eve finds Chen unable to locate someone to cover her shift. Because she needs to care for her dad, she quits. Pratt visits her house and tries to talk her out of euthanizing her dad, but she ends up doing it anyway.moreless

10

By fomocaju, Oct 12, 2008

Christmas Eve finds Chen unable to locate someone to cover her shift. Because she needs to care for her dad, she quits. Pratt visits her house and tries to talk her out of euthanizing her dad, but she ends up doing it anyway. Carter and Wendall share an awkward kiss. New med student Jake and Abby treat a man with lupus and a family living in their car. Carter forces Ray to miss his plane. Morris's girlfriend visits.

Christmas Eve finds Chen unable to locate someone to cover her shift. Because she needs to care for her dad, she quits. Pratt visits her house and tries to talk her out of euthanizing her dad, but she ends up doing it anyway. Carter and Wendall share an awkward kiss. New med student Jake and Abby treat a man with lupus and a family living in their car. Carter forces Ray to miss his plane. Morris's girlfriend visits.moreless
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Everyone has their Christmas on their own way

8.5

By Parricida, Feb 29, 2008

This was very emotional episode, but also quite different from all the Christmas episodes they have had.

Maybe the most shocking and moving storyline was Deb's - they way she quit and then on the night, on the house Pratt and she.. it was so painful to watch and the decision she had to made. I do not know what to think or say...

But ER.. Carter.. even thought he got call from Kem.. he still kissed Wendall. Again, not to know what to think.. But Abby and Neela stealing presents - it was so sweet to watch.. and the song.. and all the homeless and that man and his wife.. who was very annoying. It was very well written episode.moreless
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Christmas eve in the ER.

8.7

By xcharmedkx, Apr 21, 2007

This was a good episode;

Chen is in a tough situation she can't get anyone to cover at work but she needs to be with her father.Resulting in her decision to quit.Pratt was great in this episode he was Chen's backbone i admire that he tried to stop her euthanizing her father but in the end it was what he wanted and Chen obliged.

Jake and Abby treated the family that were living in a car , it just proves that you can't always judge people from first glance you thought the mother was neglecting her children but there is always a deeper story.

Neela and Abby at the end was awesome without them half of them children would of been given nothing they truly showed the spirit of christmas.moreless
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Christmas, and the kindness of family and strangers.

9.1

By desert05, Aug 09, 2006

I'm always surprised to find this episode underrated. It seems to be such a powerful episode to me. Perhaps it's because it's not completely warm and fuzzy, and not the "traditional" Christmas episode.

It starts with Chen looking tired and completely stressed. It's obvious that she's been working at every possible moment to care for her invalid and ailing father. He's begged her one more time to end his suffering, but she tells him she can't. She goes to work, and tries to find someone to cover for her. Because it's Christmas Eve, and she's asked so many other times, no one is able to do it. She decides that she has to quit her job, rather than leave her father.

Pratt finds out she's quit and goes to her house. He tries to offer her other solutions, and to offer his support of her. I always found Pratt's actions in this episode to be one of his finest hours.

This is a hard episode to watch because it challenges the audience not to look away. I think when ER is working effectively as a drama, it's because of just that attitude. Whether it's a desperate woman setting herself alight, a much loved colleague wasting away with Huntington's Disease, or the attrocities across the ocean, ER often has the power to hold your head straight ahead and make you watch the very things that make us uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, at the ER, they're now overworked and short staffed. There's a homeless family with no place to go and a child worrying that Santa won't find him. The OR and ER work together with ease and committment, and we see Abby, along with the ER, working to get dialysis for a man when his "on call" doctor, clearly isn't.

In the end, with a beautiful set of scenes, we see the kindess of strangers helping a family to find a home for families coming from domestic violence, the staff handing out gifts for children who have no choice not to be home in their own beds, and a the relief and gratitude of a wife, who's husband will get the help he needs. We also see the "on call" doctor, finally owning up to his responsiblities. However, the main scenes, in my opinion, comes when Chen's father has a conversation totally in Chinese with Chen. Even if you don't speak a word of Chinese, you can understand everything being said. It's full of sadness, gratitude, and sweet goodbyes. In the end, that's the last moment Chen has with her father.

That moment still resonates with me, after all this time, and it's one that I think makes ER so powerful. That even though we may not fully agree with their actions, we know it's their decision, their lives.moreless
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ending made it worth it

8.5

By DanLC03, Dec 27, 2005

It was just an ok episode for most of the episode, but it has one of the greatest endings in ER history. In every Christmas episode there's a Christmas miracle, a sad storyline and a Scrooge-like character, this one had all three. The kid hit by the car surviving was the Christmas miracle. The sad and controversial storyline is with Chen's father. It's hard to imagine being in her situation, but she had to make a difficult decision to euthanize her father. The annoying temp was the "Scrooge-like" character, she was incredibly annoying. The ending of the episode is amazing with what Abby and Neela do for the kids in the ER. They probably wouldn't have been able to have any Christmas presents otherwise.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Goran Visnjic	Dr. Luka Kovac
Laura Innes	Dr. Kerry Weaver
Linda Cardellini	Nurse Sam Taggart
Maura Tierney	Dr. Abby Lockhart
Mekhi Phifer	Dr. Greg Pratt
Ming-Na	Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Henry O	Mr. Chen	Guest Star
Dale Dickey	Mrs. Price	Guest Star
Francesca Faridany	Carol Shoup-Sanders	Guest Star
Mädchen Amick	Wendall Meade	Recurring Role
Eion Bailey	Jake Scanlon	Recurring Role
Leland Orser	Dr. Dubenko	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- Music: "O Holy Night," composed by Adolphe Adam (sung by Hattie Winston)
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- In this episode we find out that Chen's address is 273 West Cedar Drive. In reality, there is no West Cedar Drive in the city of Chicago.
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QUOTES (5)
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- Dr. McPherson: Where's Lockhart?
  Abby: Dr. McPherson?
  Dr. McPherson: I didn't authorize dialysis for Sanders and you started it without my approval! I wanna speak to your Attending. (looks to see Carter off to the side)
  Abby: Your patient was drowning; he needed emergent dialysis. You're an Attending on-call, I covered your ass.
  Dr. McPherson: You can't just deceive Attendings when you don't agree with them!
  Abby: Well, if you report me for working the system, I'll report you for abandoning your patient.
  Ray: Go, Abby.
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- Abby: Next year I'm going to invent a family so I don't have to come on Christmas.
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- Abby: Margaret, if you turn off these lights one more time, I'm going to beat you to death with a fruitcake.
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- Neela: I have a plan.
  Abby: A sly & cunning plan?
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- Pratt: Is it Chinese to euthanise your elders?
  Chen: It's Chinese to respect them.
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NOTES (1)
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- This episode marks Ming-Na's final appearance as a series regular.
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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