‘ER’: Married? Yeah, married!

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So, Luka (Goran Visnjic) and Abby (Maura Tierney) finally tied the knot on “ER.” But “finally,” though, really means “thank goodness by law these two can’t break up again, at least without some difficulty” and not so much “Yay! They’re husband and wife!” because the original appeal of Luka and Abby was their combined torturedness when they began their first incarnation as a couple so many years ago. Watching them be blissfully married is kind of like a happy Elvis Costello song: it’s nice but it’s not the same without that bite of bitterness.

Once again, being a loyal fan didn’t seem to pay off for viewers of “ER.” Those of us who have watched since the beginning know that both Abby and Luka had been married before—and in Luka’s case, to a the mother of his children, all of whom were killed in war. You’d think he’d have at least some sort of flashback or pause to consider that or even say something to Abby about it.

And Abby has a schizophrenic mother, was held hostage in the back of a van last year, and had a baby recently who almost didn’t make it. And after all that she’s terrified about having a wedding? And no talk of Carter (Noah Wylie), of course. It was a relief to see that at least Abby’s character was still an alcoholic (she toasted with water to Luka’s champagne) and that Samantha (Linda Cardellini) was given approximately two seconds of face time to acknowledge the fact that she and Luka had a live-in relationship.

Some other things happened at the wedding, too, like everyone kissing Neela (Parminder Nagra) and Tony (John Stamos) being a putz and the Ray (Shane West) possibly getting hit by a truck but it all felt like boring filler, which, unfortunately, is probably the future of the show as Goran Visjnic exits after this season (ladies, on three: Nooooooo!!!). Although with Stanley Tucci coming in, and possibly Ray being out, things might be better than we think they are in the ol’ ER, and like the suckers we are we’ll give it a shot.

It’s still up in the air how Luka will make his exit from the show. Will Abby go with him? Or will one of them die? Britney-Spears-fast divorce? Now that would give it some bite.

(Photo courtesy NBC Universal)