Ray Forgothislastname (Shane West) was amazing. I loved him. He was the new cool doctor, but like Ross, he wasn't just 'cool.' He was affable, charming, hardworking, great with friendship and romance (loved the chemistry with Neela), and still amazing in his cameos after he got thrown under a bus.
Linda Cardellini's character wasn't that great, but she's worth noting because she's Linda Cardellini and the reason I started watching the show on a timely basis. I loved her in earlier roles. But yeah, whenever there's an episode revolving around her character, it sucks. It's not Cardellini's fault. She makes her way the best she can with what plots she gets, but there's only so many times we can watch her son be a jackass or her boyfriend come back and do something incredibly stupid.
And now I'm remembering Susan Lewis finally. She was the original problem family character. Her sister was a dingbat and her mother was... I don't remember much about her mother, but she was crazy. And Susan had to constantly take care of them and deal with their failures and the heartache with it. She was a very sunny and optimistic character, so it worked. Whenever I hear "Blackbird," I think of Susan Lewis and her sister. Linda Cardellini was the third real Problem Family character, but I guess she didn't make it work as well as Susan Lewis (probably because her sister wasn't kidnapping her with a gun).
The second Problem Family character was Dr. Abby Lockhart. I wanted to save her for later, but I guess now's a good time. I love Maura Tierney. I loved her Newsradio and in Liar Liar. I enjoyed her a lot when I first started watching ER. But watching a lot of it... Abby's just such a drain. Sally Field's her crazy mother and she's awesome. But unlike Susan Lewis who deals with it with some hope and courage and love because she's family, Abby's always, always, always a downer. She'll be incredibly sarcastic and defeatist all the time. Whether it's with her mother or relationship or drinking problem or anything. Abby brought down the show. She was essentially the star of the middle seasons and she was like a black hole of energy. And it hurts that she has ties with practically everyone on the cast. She and Carter are good friends. She and Cardellini are good friends. She and Rasgotra and great friends. She hooks up with Kovac. She's mentored by Kerry Weaver. She and Pratt are probably good friends, but I don't remember any scenes between them like the many she has with those other people. She's just dour. And it doesn't help that most of the most offending disaster plots take place during her run on the show.
