Spoiler: ER - Human organs for transplant

Even though NBC refused all week to confirm whether or not George Clooney would appear on this week's ER, the speculation was correct, Dr. Ross was on tonight's episode. What I do not understand is why NBC was so secretive about the date of his appearance. Everyone knew he had filmed an episode, so wouldn't it have benefited the network to advertise his guest spot? Wouldn't Clooney's return have boosted ratings and drawn in viewers? I think people knew so watched tonight regardless, but I don't understand the need for secrecy.

As for the episode in particular, it kind of bothered me that none of the special guests this week - Julianna Margulies, Eriq La Salle, George Clooney, Noah Wyle and even Susan Sarandon - were at County. All of their storylines happened elsewhere, which to me was not as interesting since we did not get the chance to see the returning doctors at their old digs.

Other than this minor aspect that bothered me, tonight's episode was overall pretty good. Here is a list of some of the highlights.

- A baby was brought in to the ER by a younger woman who said she found the baby outside her apartment and he looked sick. She hands him to the doctors and slips out. The doctors figure the baby is sick because the parent was mixing formula with water to stretch the formula longer and were able to make him better. With no information about how to find the baby's parents, child services were called in. In the meantime, Banfield was named the baby's protective custodian. The woman who brought the baby in eventually returned to make sure the baby was OK and it was found out that she is the mother. She then quickly runs off again, but not before telling Banfield to make sure he has a good home. My guess? Banfield is going to adopt this baby in the coming episodes. We'll have to wait and see if I am right.
- At the end of last week's episode, Neela and Sam flew to Seattle to retrieve a heart for Joanie, the mom who has been on the show for a few weeks. While they are there they also pick up a kidney for Carter, who is also waiting for a transplant. I will talk more about John in a minute, but Neela and Sam successfully get the organs to their respective recipients, even after a plane mishap that momentarily had them stranded in Seattle with only hours before the organs became unusable.
- While in Seattle, we are given a glimpse of the storyline there. The organ donor is a 16-year-old boy who was riding his bike and was killed by a drunk driver. Sarandon is his grandmother and she originally agreed to donate his organs. But when she was saying goodbye to him, he squeezed her hand, which was explained to be a spasm and not a true sign that he was still alive. In Seattle is Clooney and Margulies, the duo working side-by-side on this case, trying to get Sarandon to agree to donate the organs. Dr. Ross finally does get the grandmother to agree to donate the organs through pointing out to her that her grandson was a generous kid who can continue being generous by saving other people's lives. On a side note, there was a cute scene where Clooney strikes up conversation with Neela and Sam asking them if so-and-so still works at the ER. They do not recognize many names, which only goes to show how much has changed since the time he was on the show.
- La Salle works at Northwestern and stops by to visit with Carter while they are awaiting the arrival of the kidney. We are again told that John did not tell anyone about his kidney failure and La Salle points out that he should not be going through the surgery alone. So he agrees to sit in on the surgery and be there when he wakes up. While in the operating room, La Salle forces the surgeon to slow down and go through a check list, something he does not usually do, and in the end it saves John's life because a material they ended up needing was not in the room before the check was completed. When Carter wakes up he asks La Salle for his cell phone and he finally calls Kem. Though I do think it is weird that he only calls her once the news will be good, at least he seems to be making an attempt to let her back into his life.

I do not yet know how I feel about the guest appearances this week. I think La Salle's performance was more important to the overall composition of the episode, but the roles played by Clooney and Margulies could have easily been played by any other person. I liked that they made an appearance on the show as ER is on its way out, but I think they could have been written in in a more interesting way. I kept thinking that Clooney and Margulies were going to find out that the kidney was going to Carter and were going to get on the plane with Neela and Sam to visit him. I think that would have made the episode better.

As for previews, I think it is odd that with only three episodes left, Neela is having her farewell episode next week instead of just waiting until the end. Why leave early at this point? But there was an Abby returns tease so that could make the episode interesting. Here's to three more great episodes.

Your turn. Did you enjoy the return of old favorites? What would you like to see happen on the last three episodes?