This may turn out to be the lamest post ever on this blog but I’m going to admit it.
The last few nights, at midnight, after the other half has gone to bed, I’ve been secretly bawling my eyes out. And the reason why is..
They’ve been re-running the episodes where Dr Mark Greene dies.
What is it about Anthony Edwards that makes him so capable of creating characters who, when they die, you just can’t help but cry? Is there anyone reading this who did not shed a tear when Goose was killed in Top Gun? If there is, probably you didn’t see the movie, right? And that was a short movie, ER was 177 episodes.
It’s not just about the character of Dr Greene, it was about the history of the show. I was a fan of the show from the beginning and to watch the relationships build between Dr Green and people like Carter was a thing of beauty. And I guess because I knew the show so well, I recognised a lot of the things they did during these final Dr Greene episodes, the passing of the baton from Dr Greene to Dr Carter, the scenes which were in the pilot where Dr Carter said the exact same things to a new medical student that Dr Greene had once said to him so many years before. The little things that mean a lot.
So when they played all these episodes the first time, it was on channel Nine (we call it Nein here) and really they messed it up, they played episodes out of order, they would play a new one one week, and the next week just grab any old episode to drag out the season. It didn’t really have much impact on me. In fact I didn’t manage to catch all the episodes. So much did I miss, that I thought the pay tv people were playing them out of order! But I have checked, and they are in order.
Anyway, I don’t think any of this will make much sense to someone who wasn’t a fan of the show, or to people who didn’t like Dr Greene as a character. And it’s not like it’s making me sad when the show itself isn’t on. And it’s just tv, and this is just a character and not a real person, and terrible things happen to people every day, and stuff. But I figured I would mention it, try to get it out of my system or something.
What I loved most about Dr Greene as a character was his compassion, his patience, and his passion. So I’m sad that they killed him off when he decided to leave the show. And I didn’t really watch much of the show after that happened. But I have some of the DVD’s – seasons one and two, which are just incredible writing wise and acting wise etc – and also contain George Clooney and Julianna Margulies and all the other good cast members, and you could tell they were all enjoying what they were doing as far as making this series. They’re so cheap now, I might collect the rest of the series, up until his departure anyway.
So goodbye, Dr Greene.. when that song by Iz cuts in at 2:56, that is when I haz a sad.
Sorry the video is not the best, I had to replace it when the previous one was taken down. :)
Ah yes. Teaching his daughter how to drive a stick shift, for instance…
“ER was never the same without Mark Greene.” There, I said it. Those were good, tears-worthy episodes. You can cry with your head held high.
So to speak.
:)
Sorry for your grief. Don’t think I’ve seen this show but once or twice, so I must have missed his demise. If it’s on reruns, maybe I’ll see it.