Middle of Nowhere

Almost all Peter Benton ... this episode focuses on dr. Benton signing up for a."locum tenens," which is when a doctor goes elsewhere to fill in for another doctor. At the last minute, he finds out he's going to a very small southern town. Upon arrival, his rental car breaks down, and he soon learns racism is very much alive in this area. As he meets the woman he's supposed to replace, and starts taking care of the community, you see a personal growth in peter benton. He faces some hatred, even danger, but learns to do his best despite the challenges. When he saves a white boy, the people start coming around. And when he delivers a breach baby, more respect is gained.

To me, this episode takes a cold surgeon and turns him into a better human and doctor. I liked this episode for that.

It's great to go back to an old TV favourite and watch with new perspective.

This is the worst episode of the series. The writers ruined the Peter Benton character for this, which is strange seeing as it was all about him! He suddenly becomes passive, friendly, talkative, etc. Each story-line was rushed and packed in. This felt like a filler episode, as though they just took a rejected script and went with it because there was nothing else.

Adding insult to injury is the interaction between Benton and Jeannie. They haven't interacted all season and suddenly they have a heart to heart? The writers did a disservice to both these interesting characters.

This episode feels like a bunch of mismatched puzzle pieces thrown together.

Disappointing, to say the least.

How to deal with the aftermath of George Clooney's exit? Follow Benton to Nowheresville, USA.

I'm not American. This ep seems to perpetuate many stereotypes, particularly race and education. Even disregarding those issues, any episode not set in the ER is against the vibe of the show. You call a show ER, you set it in an ER. Not at Greene's parents' house, not Las Vegas, not Mississippi. This ep feels like it's filler for the viewer to delay their processing of Doug's departure, and by focusing on Benton seems like he's trying to fill that spot. It doesn't work. Benton learns patients are people? Whoop Dee doo.

This episode all the stereotypes and ironies of a black fish out of water in a shallow white pond. I like the plot that humanizes Benton and shows more facets of his personality, but the point could've been made without banjos and harmonicas. By far one of the worst concepts the show has to offer.

One could almost imagine throwing Benton into this setting could lead to a sort of spinoff to the show. It never happened, but it would have been interesting. Benton, as a way to earn some extra money, goes to a tiny town in Mississippi, where he is immediately met with three things: distrust, lack of facilities, and racism. There is a nurse practitioner taking care of all the medical treatment in the town. He tries to keep up, but it's all new to him and he doesn't even have the trust of the black folks.

There are several nice moments in this show, including his affection for a young girl who is a diabetic but has more problems yet. I like it.

Oh, by the way, racism still exists. Not just in the South but all over the place.