ER 2/02/06 "Body and Soul" [Text View]

atrac

02-03-2006, 12:52 AM

I haven't watched this show for a long time, but the previews of James Woods in tonight's episode made me curious. Honestly, I was expecting a corny and "over the top" performance from Woods. I mean, isn't the cliche that if an actor plays a handicapped person he or she will win an award?

Well, after seeing Mr. Woods tonight, I'd give him an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. He nailed this role. He made me cry. It was just as good as Ray Liotta's guest starring role last year on ER.

The episode itself was very well written and the structure of it made it quite interesting (taking the direction of the character development backwards). They also chose to take it subtle instead of banging the viewer over the head with plot details.

I'm glad I decided to check this one out.

TiVo'Brien

02-03-2006, 07:59 AM

Agreed. Finally a good episode.

coolpenguin

02-03-2006, 08:07 AM

Haven't watched it yet. I'm hoping it's a lot better than the Ray Liotta episode as that was one of my least favorite ER episodes ever. Call me crazy, I didn't like it at all.

JDHutt25

02-03-2006, 08:08 AM

I thought this was definitely one of the best episodes in awhile. I really like James Woods, and he was very good in this.

5thcrewman

02-03-2006, 08:10 AM

They should name a high school after that guy!

JETarpon

02-03-2006, 08:10 AM

This may have been the most boring episode of ER I've seen in years.

I love James Woods, but I hate it when they have a big name actor for one episode just to make an Emmy episode.

bdlucas

02-03-2006, 09:31 AM

I thought it was a great episode, well-structured, like a short story. The thing that held it together of course was the mystery about why Abby took such an interest in him. Only thing they could have done better is to bring this question to the front a little eariler - it was fairly late in the episode before it occurred to me to that ther might be an explanation other than her pigheadedness. Or maybe I'm just dense :)

coolpenguin

02-03-2006, 01:54 PM

I think this was a very boring and painful episode to sit through. I almost turned it off and deleted it before it ended. I think of these as "filler" episodes-they don't fit, only used for sweeps. Very annoying. I felt no connection to how he "touched" Abby.

Deekeryu

02-03-2006, 03:00 PM

I enjoyed this episode. The acting by James Wood was very good. I liked the thing going back and forth from past to present.

The guy who got killed by the helicopter directed this episode.

Spire

02-03-2006, 03:21 PM

It was shameless Emmy-bait, but surprisingly effective. The flashback structure worked very well, and James Woods was fantastic. Maura Tierney, who is possibly the best actor on the show, was great too.

The one problem I had was the rapid-fire nature of his Woods' character's conversations with other people, especially Abby towards the end. There's no way he could get those words out even remotely that fast using just eye movements -- even using all the tricks in the book (stored phrases, predictive text, macros, etc.).

I understand that the ridiculous speed of conversation was exercising dramatic license for the benefit of TV, but I think it could have been done more realistically with just as good an effect -- or possibly even better.

What's it really like to communicate with a great mind with advanced ALS? Check out this Stephen Hawking interview from The Guardian from September of last year:

Return of the Time Lord (http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/scienceandnature/story/0,6000,1579384,00.html)

newsposter

02-04-2006, 08:05 AM

doesn't this show have any fresh ideas? last season i hope because i'll watch til the bitter end

TIVOSciolist

02-04-2006, 05:03 PM

I haven't watched this show for a long time, but the previews of James Woods in tonight's episode made me curious. Honestly, I was expecting a corny and "over the top" performance from Woods. I mean, isn't the cliche that if an actor plays a handicapped person he or she will win an award?

Well, after seeing Mr. Woods tonight, I'd give him an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. He nailed this role. He made me cry. It was just as good as Ray Liotta's guest starring role last year on ER.

I gave up on ER a couple of years ago when it became too much of a soap opera. However, I tuned in because of the massive promotion (including seeing James Woods on the "Today" show.)

I enjoyed it very much. Good acting and good story. Made me appreciate more how lucky I am to be in good health.

I'm also glad that they were able to keep all of the regular characters' personal "baggage" out of this episode. They can bring that all back next week when I return to not watching.

aindik

02-05-2006, 02:48 AM

The guy who got killed by the helicopter directed this episode.

And the writers made sure his character got a mention in one of the flashbacks.

jschuur

02-05-2006, 03:12 AM

S. Stiffler

02-05-2006, 04:23 AM

'No Trake'...

ER is pretty good with their medical terminology and realistic situations, but I wish the computer or the person typing it (Woods) would have spelled trach correctly. Anyone catch that?

They do have a good medical advisor helping with the show. I was impressed when they mentioned using BiPAP as an alternative to intubation...Someone must know the difference between BiPAP and CPAP.

bdlucas

02-05-2006, 09:25 AM

Just to prove that medical dramas aren't above product placement, there was a well positioned sticker for Eye Response Technologies (http://www.eyeresponse.com/Disabilities/ERTonER.aspx) on that laptop that powered the computer voice & wheel chair.
Probably just quid pro quo for borrowing the rig. I don't imagine that a company like that is probably exactly raking in the dough, so it doesn't bother me a bit.

Dennis Wilkinson

02-05-2006, 09:58 AM

ER is pretty good with their medical terminology and realistic situations, but I wish the computer or the person typing it (Woods) would have spelled trach correctly. Anyone catch that?

I noticed it, but I thought it was intentional -- I figured the text-to-speech unit might not pronounce "trach" correctly with a long "A" sound, but that "trake" would be pronounced correctly despite the misspelling (my wife worked for several years as a rehabilitation engineer who set up systems like that for her clients, and she has a relative who uses one today. Intentional misspelling to get the right pronunciation is fairly common.)

dnemec123

02-05-2006, 10:04 AM

I noticed it, but I thought it was intentional -- I figured the text-to-speech unit might not pronounce "trach" correctly with a long "A" sound, but that "trake" would be pronounced correctly despite the misspelling (my wife worked for several years as a rehabilitation engineer who set up systems like that for her clients, and she has a relative who uses one today. Intentional misspelling to get the right pronunciation is fairly common.)
This is how I took it as well. My wife and I thought it was a good episode too.

Me too! Me too! :)

Dale

bdlucas

02-05-2006, 10:39 AM

I noticed it, but I thought it was intentional -- I figured the text-to-speech unit might not pronounce "trach" correctly with a long "A" sound, but that "trake" would be pronounced correctly despite the misspelling (my wife worked for several years as a rehabilitation engineer who set up systems like that for her clients, and she has a relative who uses one today. Intentional misspelling to get the right pronunciation is fairly common.)
I think that's probably right. Speech synthesizers can be amusing, like when they pronounce "Poughkeepsie" as "Puff-keep-see", or "Ibuprofen" as "Ih-BUPP-row-fen".

Agatha Mystery

02-05-2006, 05:49 PM

So, they never really answered it....after the $10 bet, did James Woods go back into the hospital for treatment, or did he still go home? And was Abby's skating at the rink an homage to his death or something else?

knuckles

02-05-2006, 06:19 PM

atrac

02-05-2006, 07:03 PM

The ending is definitely up to many interpretations. Personally, I took it that he did go back in for treatment (her speech to him convinced him, hence his "you've become a good doctor" comment) and she went ice skating to drive home the idea that he and she became close (he asked her when they first met and she was trying to drop his class if she ice skated and she said "no." I took it that he ended up teaching her how to ice skate as well and that became a part of their "teacher/student relationship).

I'd love to see some other ideas as well.

Jeeters

02-05-2006, 07:33 PM

I haven't watched this show for a long time, but the previews of James Woods in tonight's episode made me curious. Honestly, I was expecting a corny and "over the top" performance from Woods. I mean, isn't the cliche that if an actor plays a handicapped person he or she will win an award?

Well, after seeing Mr. Woods tonight, I'd give him an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. He nailed this role. He made me cry. It was just as good as Ray Liotta's guest starring role last year on ER.I found this episode kinda boring. Only liked the end classroom scene with him and Abby.

He had a much better performance as a guy with severe Parkinson's in "This Girls Life" a couple years ago that was a much more impressive performance, too, imo. Admittedly, his role in this episode of ER was more limited since he was a guy who really couldn't move.

anom

02-05-2006, 08:24 PM

With all of the flashbacks, I was waiting for them to bring back one or two of the old school ER characters for cameos, rather than just mentioning them in passing.

Steveknj

02-06-2006, 07:36 AM

This may have been the most boring episode of ER I've seen in years.

I love James Woods, but I hate it when they have a big name actor for one episode just to make an Emmy episode.

I'm in agreement with you. I thought James Woods did an excellent job with the character, but, I thought the story was very boring. I just didn't really feel the sympathy for the character, and I didn't feel the connection that was supposed to be between him and Abbey. I think it would have been done better had they written the flashbacks from beginning to end, rather then end to beginning. It really made it hard to follow the relationships were developed. I sat there scratching my head trying to figure out everything. I think the writers just try and be too creative sometimes.

Steveknj

02-06-2006, 07:38 AM

tms317

02-06-2006, 09:57 AM

They should name a high school after that guy!

I can't believe no-one caught this reference...
Good one!!! Love that show!

efilippi

02-06-2006, 10:29 AM

I was really taken by the role of the assistant to Woods. I suppose this happens, a woman (in this case) obviously in love with a guy way above her, who considers her nothing much more than a paid helper. Very sad.

tms317

02-06-2006, 10:36 AM

I'm pretty sure that assistant woman was the same person who played the "profiler" on that serious a few years ago. I know they tried to age her for the 'flashback' effect, but she looked awful.