I know this angle was only featured in the promo and not the actual episode, but them being positioned like a Yin Yang, and wearing white/black is kind of sending me.
Opposite, yet complimentary? Check. Interconnected? Check, because from that point onward, Carter was both physically and mentally scarred in such a way that would never let him forget or even get away from Lucy's memory. Sobriki even attacked them with the same knife, so their blood was literally intermingled. Although Lucy wasn't mentioned every single season thereafter, he suffered a kidney complication in the final season, which was a direct result of that night, and further proved it was the one event he could never fully escape.
another important angle from which everyone should remember to approach lore analysis and storytelling discussion is, “is this detail actually important or is it just a joke?”
my favorite recent example of this is when, in one of the newer FNAF games, a character claimed to have invented not just the word recycling but the concept of recycling itself. more than a few people took this bit of obvious corporate bullshitting (the only concept FNAF writers are good at consistently exploring, imo) as a piece of canon information about the game world and timeline.
I'm only on S12 so things might change, but I really like Ray. It's kinda frustrating that they just keep writing in cocky, confident, funny guys who try their hardest but don't have the best technical skills and you originally think they're an asshole until a certain patient they go the extra mile for makes you realize that they actually do care. As soon as one leaves, they bring another one in and they never last long, barring Pratt who grew enough to break out of the mold.
I also think he handled the Zoe thing as well as he could have. He met her outside a club or whatever it was, she said she was a student, he made assumptions he shouldn't have, but he broke it off as soon as he found out. Even when she tried to get back with him and went to the hospital he had no interest in her and made sure she knew it, there was no speech about how he wishes things were different, if it weren't for her dad, they'll get back together when she's older, etc. That storyline actually didn't make me dislike Ray, it just made me feel sorry for Zoe.
I'm a Pitt wanderer who clicked so hard and stumbled across The Most Certain Way and boy has it been a ride. Such a gem it made me start ER HA! I started it for Anna so it was only a little confusing. Having read your story and seen the show I'm so touched by the little acts of care Anna does, her helping look after Chase, not just for John but also just out of her own kindness. She's so surly it kind of catches you off guard but you did such a beautiful job of capturing her softness. Your dialogue is authentic and so moving, the pacing just keeps me obsessed for more, I'm gushing, much like Carter, with warmth over baby Bea. I can almost picture her in dungarees running her father ragged. I'm so unsatisfied with the way ER left John Carter and this story is such a comfort to me. Kudos to you, you fabulous human being!
Um, well, THIS IS THE BEST COMPLIMENT YOU COULD HAVE PAID ME! I mean, I'm sorry I misled you, and that Anna's not as central to the show as my fancies wish, but I'm so, so glad that she lured you into the show successfully!
How is it? Are you enjoying it? Did you love it? Do you miss Anna forever, cause I do!
I'm so happy you see those little kindnesses, because yes, I absolutely agree with you -- she can come off as a bit gruff, defensive. I feel like, you know, she grew up the eldest sister of seven brothers. You don't have a lot of room for weakness, and you're kind of always on guard, always suspicious of mischief, or trouble. And Carter is, of course, the youngest in his family. I'm sure she took one look at him and knew. She read him so fast.
But ultimately, he is not like her brothers at all. He doesn't have that security of relationship, that dynamic and brawling but happy and open family to fall back on. I think that makes him a lot softer than she's used to. He's definitely a lot needier. A lot more insecure. A lot more uncertain about how to ask for things, and, especially initially, has a hard time relating to women without it being romantic or sexual. I think that probably puts her off a bit, at first. But then when she sees how compassionate he is, how passionate in general she's like, "Oh, okay...I'm beginning to...get this." And I think she's attracted to him because of that as opposed to any overtures he makes.
Which I think, surprises him. That she comes to him when he's not even trying. And in the show, we see that. She's there when he's at his worst. When he's pushing too hard with Chase, when he's crying at his bedside, when he hesitates in his treatment of the rapist, when he gets arrested. She likes who reveals himself to be. Not who he presents. Which, again, I think is something he struggles with. @maisiec33 and I were discussing the idea that Carter really fears the possibility that if he's not a doctor, he's not anything. That he ties his identity so closely to medicine because he's afraid that whatever thing his family has raised him to be is ugly and bad, or maybe doesn't exist at all. So his facade is really integral to him. And Anna really isn't a fan of that facade. She doesn't like the lying. And that's terrifying for him.
But she thinks that there's something worthwhile there, in the ugly, scary parts of himself he doesn't quite trust. The imperfect parts.
And that's 100% why I ship them, and why I love them so much in the show. I just feel like she's the only partner of his that holds him accountable without making him feel guilty, or defensive, or scared, or resentful.
And for her, I think he's someone that requires her to be more sensitive. He makes her softer. I said he's different from her brothers, because I think even though she's tender with him, it's not motherly. She doesn't want to mother him. She wants to hold him.
And I think THAT is the thing that scares her. The vulnerability of investing in someone else without defense, without a bluff of self-sufficiency and independence. He needs things that she wants to give him, but has to overcome her own resistance to that kind of emotional honesty in order to do so.
Wait, what were we talking about?
Right! Her kindness.
Because ultimately, she's a doctor. She's a pediatrician. There is a deep commitment to kindness and compassion there in her professional work that I think Carter lets her have in her personal life as well. And I'm so happy that those moments on the show resonated with you, and how she appears in my fic! That's such a massive feather to put in my cap.
And I have to say...
I'm really fond of Bea. I think she's absolutely going to have this Carter wrapped around her finger. She's gonna be the Rachel Greene of the ER. She's gonna be sitting at that desk, wearing his lab coat, getting change for the vending machine. She's gonna know everyone's locker combos. She's gonna ask for a tour of the OR for her sixth birthday. He's gonna be like, "Do you wanna see a real life liver?" and she's going to be THRILLED.
Between you and me and the rest of tumblr, yeah...
I have never felt so betrayed by a piece of media as I did/do by ER. It's not even that I hate how his story ended so much as it just fills me with such a deep sadness that I can't bear it. It doesn't feel fair.
I know it's fiction. I know that, whatever, blah blah blah.
But it feels so unfair for a character who so deeply wanted to be accepted and loved to end up alone, broken-hearted, and trapped in a marriage not unlike his parents.
Like that just...I know that's not the story they meant for me to read, but that's how I've read it.
I hope I've given him a softer landing here, and I'm so glad it's brought you comfort.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING TO TALK TO ME (it's given me a push to write, which I always say, but truly I always mean it. Nothing's more motivating than knowing I'm not alone on this ship, and that I've got to stop daydreaming and start steering it)!
(And honestly, I'm not above him and Anna having like, five kids. She comes from a big family. He needs one. They're both a bit bananas anyway <3)
