The End of an ERa

Yesterday the final new episode of long running TV show ER was broadcast. Though the Lost One can't rightly say he was a fan (He's seen only a handful of episodes in the last half decade plus), the end did stir up a startling amount of emotions. So, cause the Lost One is feeling maudlin, he's going to subject you to this post. Sorry.

The First thing to know is that while he hasn't watched for a while, in the beginning, he did. Those of you old enough to remember it's beginning will recall the East coast/West Coast style rivalry that was being set up twixt, ER and Chicago Hope (Wha? The Lost One knows, right? So here's a link to explain). It was an easy choice really, whiny over educated sawbones, or fast-paced hero viewing created by the author of Jurassic Park? Yeah, it was that easy.

Still, it's not the memory of the shows he watched, but instead the Lost One remembers random things like calling his friend Elizabeth "Angel" Wolf, "Lizzie" during high school (Just Like Dr. Romano [Y'know, before the Lost One figured out he was a douche]), the article on the new hit medical drama he read while waiting for the bus to take him to the mall, or the time he found the ugly truth about racism in America, when he discovered there were actually people agitating against an interracial couple on ER (The shock? It was Actor Eriq La Salle an American of African descent who was opposed). Each memory takes an added flavor from the show to memories for which the show only provides a backdrop. Yet, they make the memory that much more intense.

And so, while he outgrew the show years ago, The Lost One bids a fond farewell to it, since it was with him in his childhood. Funny, the show ended it's run by recreating a scene from it's premiere, implying that while the show was ending, the drama at the hospital never would. A good metaphor for childhood, we all leave it, but it continues without us.