snip
>
> THere are private treatment centers that tend to have beds available.
> (THey have good insurance, so she doens't need to wait for a bed to
> open at County.) And you'll recall that Carter got a bed at a rehab
> place with just a few hours notice.
The place Carter went is based on a real place in Atlanta that specializes
in addicted physicians. In real life, there is a waiting list and it
takes
several weeks minimum for get to the top of the list. I have two friends
who've been inpatients there, both waited for weeks for a bed. And that
IS
a private facility. As is Hazelden and Betty Ford and a whole lot of
other
places which also have a wait list. In real life, Abby wasn't going to be
admitted anywhere immediately. If anything, the good private facilities
have a longer wait than the public ones.
>
> She could've told him, gone
>> to Croatia for a couple of days to make an appearance at the funeral
and
>> then gone; but that would've made sense, so it didn't happen.
>
>
> And if she had gone, and been drunk at the funeral (very likely, since
> she can't stop drinking), you would have suggested that she went to
> the funeral just to embarrass Luka, and she SHOULD have stayed home/
> checked herself into rehab.
>>
Or maybe she could've pulled her selfish head out of her butt long enough
to
behave like a decent human being. Not likely, I realize, and, since Abby,
even when sober, is known for her lack of manners at funerals, it's just
as
well she didn't go. However, Abby was managing to go to work despite
being
in the midst of a major binge. If she could contain herself long enough
to
work 8 hours or more in the ER, then surely she could abstain for a few
hours for her husband's sake to go to Mass with him.
>> Abby has never been one to sympathize with anyone else, it would be out
>> of
>> character in some ways for her to be invested in how Luka is feeling,
how
>> his father's illness and death have affected him.
>
> She often sympathizes with others. But right now, the bottle is
> trumping everything else.
>
When, exactly, have we seen her ever sympathize with others? Sure,
sometimes she acts like she gives half a dam* about patients, but, when it
comes to her friends and family, we sure don't see her being sup****tive in
a
crisis very often. When Carter's grandmother died, her excuse was that
she
was worried about Eric. She's always got a reason why her personal issues
make it impossible for her to care about anyone else. That she would have
no
concern whatsoever about her HUSBAND at a time like this, drinking or not,
is pretty sad and doesn't say much for her prognosis.
>
snip
>
> And even weirder, that Abby, who you claim never cares about anyone
> else, OFTEN shows concern for her patients, her friends, and others
> when they are dealing with problems. Just this moment, however, she
> is not capable of caring about anything but where her next drink is
> coming from. Alcoholism being like that.
Amazingly enough, even in the midst of relapse, most alcoholics do indeed
have moments where they can empathize with others. The problem is that
Abby
doesn't do it when she isn't drinking, so there's no reason she'd be any
different now.
Once again, examples please. When Neela was hurt, we saw her behave like
a
complete a** in order to assert her dominance in the ER, but that was just
more Abby Always Knows Best and must be obeyed, not so much concern for
Neela, IMO or she wouldn't have been screeching at the chief of surgery
and
her boss. When Neela was discharged, it was pretty clear that Abby's
major
motivation for having her stay was so that she wouldn't be alone with the
baby and not so much for Neela's well being. Hell, Neela was babysitting
for her kid almost immediately postop.
>
>>
>> snip
>> We know his father was the first one he told about Abby's pregnancy.
>> Luka
>> mentioned his father fairly frequently on the show, at least compared
to
>> other characters. Then, when his father was sick, he rushed to be with
>> him.
>> I think that qualifies as 'close'. Just because he lived on another
>> continent doesn't mean they weren't in contact and weren't close.
>
> I think there is a wide range of relation****ps that parents and adult
> children can have. They certainly aren't estranged or distant, and
> yes, they are in touch, but no, I never got the idea that they were
> extremely close. The simple fact that, until Tata got sick, Luka
> clearly HADN'T been back to Croatia in several years (he'd never
> brought Abby or Joe to meet his family), indicates that they aren't
> terribly close.
>
This is true, but, when his father got sick, Luka returned immediately and
Abby didn't question even for a moment that he needed to go, indicating to
me anyway, that he was close enough to his father to want to be there in a
crisis and his wife knew it. I agree, we should've heard more about
Luka's
father over the years, he should've visited Chicago as nearly every other
parent on the show has. To me, the fact that we didn't get a whole lot of
info about his relation****p with his Dad is more a function of the fact
that, for the past several years, Luka's character has only existed
onscreen
in order to give Abby a relation****p. Luka started out as a real boy on
the
show, he was reduced to a cardboard cutout by the end of his run whose
only
role was to react to Abby's drama.
>
>>
>> Luka's face at the end of the scene in their apartment seemed to
indicate
>> that he has very mixed feelings and is uncertain what he wants to do.
>> The
>> fact that he agreed to take Joe and leave her alone to go to rehab
>> without a
>> single word of protest (this is the guy who wanted to go with her when
>> she
>> had the abortion he didn't want her to have)
>
> HE has to go to the funeral. Abby can't go.
I've already explained that I disagree. However, to me, the Luka we've
seen
over the past few years, Abby's little manservant. would've offered to
stay
behind with her, telling her he had been with his father when he was
alive,
had recently seen everyone he needed to see and that his father would want
him to remain with her and help her. Sorta like Abby implied to Carter
that
he didn't have to hang around Chicago after his Gamma died when he could
be
gallivanting all over Iowa looking for her brother with her. Life is for
the living and all that.
Or, he could've promised her he would be back ASAP, that he would not
tarry
this time, that he and Joe needed to be there with her and give her all
their sup****t. Rehab centers are very family centered and it would be an
im****tant part of the process for Luka to participate in family sessions
with her in order to understand how he has enabled her drinking and what
he
needed to do in order to help her. Instead, we know he leaves and is gone
for months once again.
>
>
> Well, they have to write him out of the show. But I think, at this
> particular moment, the characters don't know what's in store.
>
> Naomi
There's no reason TPTB couldn't have him offscreen and Abby tell us he is
working at another hospital and helping with Joe or mention he went with
her
to marital counselling. The fact he is gone and apparently neither he nor
Abby are doing anything to salvage their trainwreck of a marriage doesn't
bode well. From what we have, it's not certain they are actually talking
about the situation at all. Abby tells Pratt that Luka calls her every
single day, but her attitude in the scene is evasive and anxious, making
it
seem like she is not telling the truth. I have no doubt that, if the show
ends this year, we will be subjected to a bogus reunion between them and
TPTB actually expect that we'd buy them as living happily ever after from
there, but how could anyone think this marriage has any sort of a future
with what we've seen thus far? These are two terribly mismatched people
who
bring out the worst in one another. That won't change unless they both
want
to work at it together and not on different continents.
Sharon
|
