So, the long running series ER came to an end last week. I never considered myself a hardcore ER person (in fact, in truth, in the beginning I preferred Chicago Hope) but when I stopped to reflect I realized I hadn’t really missed an episode in about 8 years. That is a long time.  Sara, the one who really got me watching regularly, estimates that she has been watching ER for 15 years, which is over half of her life. So the series finale ended up being a bigger deal than I anticipated.

I personally thought they handled it really well. I really loved how they went back to the original intro, even (I’m assuming) shooting footage to insert the newer characters seamlessly. They also went for some odd, dated looking camera work towards the beginning of the episode as an homage to the origins of the series. I also appreciate how they worked in all the old characters over the season. I was really glad that George Clooney made a (brief) appearance in appreciation of the show that launched his mega career. And Julianna Margulies, of course, in appreciation of the show that ultimately launched Ghost Ship.

But by far the best part of the series finale was the re-inclusion of the Eriq La Salle random karate move into the opening credits. This is far and away my favorite part of ER. It was just so unnecessary and unrelated to the show and perfectly timed to the music. I remember when he left ER I said sadly to Sara, “Does this mean they will remove the karate chop from the intro?” Of course eventually they removed the intro all together. So when they showed it in the series finale, I almost jumped out of my chair in joy. No joke! I think I gave some sort of involuntary double fist air pump with a “YES!” when it came on. The rest of the episode went down hill after that.

For some reason it was hearing the music that really meant something to me. They just never play that ER music anymore and hearing it really brought me back. The only thing I didn’t like about the episode was the very, very end when they all like ran outside in this pose like “we’re ready to take on the world” and stood like they were going to take a group picture or something. That was a little cheesy. But overall I enjoyed it and I have found myself thinking about it many times since then, more than I ever guessed I would have.

So, ER, good on you, thanks for the memories.