Three Rivers - news, links, discussion - part 11 *SPOILERS*

[darkstarrising]

Too many characters.
Too many characters.
Too many characters.
Too many characters.
Too many characters.

and not enough development

[francis]

Ooh, just had a delicious twisty thought about the firefighters' story. It was either here or in the quandry thread, but since it comes from the Three Rivers story... Food for thought. Captain recipient has a new career as spokesman for Donate Life America. He repeatedly publicly states he would give his left kidney for any one of the crew. Remember the firefighter who got tested then said he couldn't go through with it? OK, so down the road he's burned in a fire. One of the dangers of burns is renal failure. The guy needs a kidney. Everyone on the crew gets tested except for the two lung donors, because they figure they couldn't possibly be a match. Except for this fire department anomoly of three AB negative potential donors, no one has a spare kidney lying around. What do you do? Doctor? Guy who needs kidney? Captain recipient, if you find out he was a match and wouldn't do it for you? How would it affect the dynamic of the crew if they found out?

Sorry, just occurred to me as a cool possibility as a follow-on for a later episode. Alas, the world may never know.

Oh, good thought. Well, the two who already donated a part of their lung wouldn't possibly be approached again anyway. There could have been other causes besides the blood type why he couldn't donate, the medical staff didn't need to explain that to the others, right? And then there must be others who can donate a kidney, and with dialysis you would have more time to wait for a match.
I actually think it's a bit of a misconception (and vey much made too easy in the show) that it's only about blood type. There are dozens of other factors.

[redwinter101]

Info on tonight's episode, from a CBS press release:

"Case Histories" – Andy is upset when his rival, an arrogant heart surgeon with no bedside manner, returns to the hospital, on THREE RIVERS, Saturday, June 26 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network. Oded Fehr ("Charmed") guest stars as Dr. Luc Bovell, a heart surgeon.

SERIES REGULARS:
Dr. Andy Yablonski..... Alex O'Loughlin
Dr. Miranda Foster..... Katherine Moennig
Dr. David Lee..... Daniel Henney
Ryan Abbott..... Christopher J. Hanke
Dr. Sophia Jordon..... Alfre Woodard
Pam Acosta..... Justina Machado
Lisa Reed..... Amber Clayton

GUEST CAST:
Luc..... Oded Fehr
Sanegun..... Susan Park
Lester..... Gregg Henry
Jill...... Emily Foxler
Bobby..... Luke Edwards
Jimmy Dugan..... Michael Cassady
Dr. Guerreri..... David Starzyk
Nurse Alicia..... Teri Reeves
Nurse Rehka..... Devika Parikh
EMT..... Louie Alegria
Vanessa..... Mercedes Masohn
Security Guard..... Keith Burke
Nurse Williams..... Sabra Williams
Tech..... Brian Michael Jones

WRITTEN BY: Paul Holahan

DIRECTED BY: Sunil Nayar

[wpgrace]

Looking forward to 2 more Dr. Andy's....

Kinda wondering if they will have made ANY effort to wrap up the series and do any kind of satisfying finale thing... and kinda doubting it, given the tin ear these producers have shown so far... but we'll see over the next couple of weeks.

[r1015bill]

They do deal with Kuol next week.

And going back to my general rant... They are adding another doctor character this week? We already have way more characters than can be developed!

[wpgrace]

They do deal with Kuol next week.

And going back to my general rant... They are adding another doctor character this week? We already have way more characters than can be developed!

And they are bringing Alfre back... so you will need to double-rant tomorrow.

[r1015bill]

I can cut and paste with the best of them!

[jmc]

I stumbled into a reality show Thursday night called Boston Medical on ABC. One of their stories was a double lung transplant. Very interesting and answered some of the questions I had had about the medicine part of TR. Pretty cool!

[darkstarrising]

They do deal with Kuol next week.

And going back to my general rant... They are adding another doctor character this week? We already have way more characters than can be developed!

If I recall correctly, they were bringing this other doctor in to act as a 'romantic foil' for Andy - perhaps giving Andy a little competition for Lisa's affections. They were supposed to see how it worked out, then decide if he'd be a recurring character. Since they shot this episode after they knew they were being canceled, my guess is they re-wrote the episode a bit, since his being 'recurring' was something of a moot point.

But I agree - too many characters and not enough development. We'll see how it goes.

[librarian_7]

It's not so much backstory, but...I'm liking Dr. Andy's characterization, in this. Somehow he seems like a more real person...

Lucky

[wpgrace]

The last few have been better with all the docs... they are interacting with one another, now, not just with the patients. So we're seeing more than just one side of them. And yes, tonite, we got more of that from Andy again. And it was better. He's really a cute guy... I mean his personality. I am so sorry we won't really get to know him.

It's just sad to me that it took them this long... and after it was already too late... to figure out that the one on one with the patients was just way too one dimensional for our doctors... tho may I also complain that, in the two stories that really featured Dr. Lee, both of the plot lines revolved around him being Korean American. Like they couldn't figure out ANY other story to tell about this guy other than that he wasn't Anglo??

And I sniffled at the ad for next week... "series finale." I am gonna miss Andy. WHAT does the countdown clock for H50 read now?????

[darkstarrising]

I liked this episode as well, for all the reasons you've stated. Andy's personality came through and he wasn't so perfect, which made him all the more lovable. He didn't like Luc, didn't respect him and he wasn't above letting people know that. I loved when he rolled his eyes....a simple gesture that said so much.

Dr. Luc was appropriately obnoxious and it was gratifying to see Dr. Jordan put him in his place. Lisa resisted his 'charms', despite his best efforts, but the confrontation with Andy, indicating Lisa was with him, was the real put down. Seems Lisa and Andy are now an item. Would have liked to see more of where their relationship would have gone. Too bad, we'll never find out.

Dr. Lee's story was sweet, but it only cracked open the story on this man. Why wouldn't he embrace his heritage? Was there another reason other than 'he wanted to fit in'? We'll never know.

Miranda - she wouldn't give up on her patient and you got the feeling that at one point in her life, she could identify with her. So what happened that got her on the path she's on today? Again, we'll never know.

As for the promo for the series finale - I thought I'd be excited, but it didn't do much for me. Dr. Jordan going out on a date? So long as Kuol gets his heart, I'll be happy.

[jen]

I realize that this will get several pieces of virtual rotten fruit and vegetables thrown in my direction, but I will admit that while I watched TR for Alex, I never understood how or why they could get so many things so wrong and miss so many opportunities. The character of the Sudanese man waiting for the heart transplant was a masterful subplot. The actor who played him was quite extraordinary, as well.

Alex had already proven how well he could play an emotionally vulnerable, sympathetic character in Mick, and here they just didn't give him enough to work with or room to show his strengths. There was no clear antagonist for him to play against, and now, after TR is cancelled, we see a much, much better product onscreen.

Unbelievable!

Of course, all of this is entirely subjective and just my opinion.

Shutting up now...

Jenna

[wpgrace]

I loved when he rolled his eyes....a simple gesture that said so much.

Oh, Dark! That eye roll!!! I LOVED that eye roll!!! Delightful and darling, that eye roll!!!!
Alex smiley...

And jen, Sweetie... I think we all actually agree with you. Alex coulda really rocked this role... if they'd given him something to really work with. They didn't. A bit more in these last eps than at the beginning... but still not much and certainly not enough. Wasted opportunity for all.

[darkstarrising]

One other thing I forgot about tonight's episode.....I think this was the only one that we never met any donor.....nobody died in this episode. And that absence didn't hurt the story one bit. I think it was Alle or Lilly that stated one of the problem's with the show's writing was that it was heavy-handed. Yes, people die in most cases in order for their organs to be donated, but we get that. It didn't have to be front and center every week.

grace, the eyeroll was swoonworthy

and jen, no rotten vegies from me. Andy became more human, more believable and sympathetic when he was confronted with an obstacle of some sort, sometimes ones he couldn't overcome.

He wanted to reconcile with Rena, yet finally accepted it would never happen.

He tried to distance himself from his own past - every time Uncle Mike showed up, you could see Andy tense and get worried. Would his own past catch up with him? (and yes, when I typed Mike just now, I typed Mick - Freudian slip of the fingers.)

He dislikes Luc and Luc's methods, but had to concede that he needed Luc and his approach to save his patient.

And the one that means the most to me - Andy's struggle to get Kuol his heart, which may get thwarted by non other than Uncle Mike.