About Carter's Return

Other than to confirm he will be back for four episodes this season there has not been any other information as to why Carter is coming back and how his return will play into the current storylines. I was thinking it might have something to do with the Carter Foundation and their annual financial contribution to Cook County General. County's tight budget has always been a background issue over the past seasons, maybe their financial problems could finally come to a crucial point where the the County board gives the hospital an ultimatum to either make drastic budget cuts (which means cutting of job positions throughout the hospital) or they will have to close the hospital's doors for good. I can see the hospital staff going into major upheaval and the TPTB having to make some serious financial decisions. They may consider looking for corporate funding which would mean they would no longer be a County-run hospital and therefore may not be able to offer free/low-cost healthcare to their patients as they've always done in the past. The board may contact Carter to come back to the States to discuss his family possibly increasing their annual contribution. Carter will be torn between wanting to return to his already established new life over in Africa and the missionary work he is doing over there with his girlfriend Kem and his underlying loyalty to the hospital that gave him his start in medicine.

I don't know it's just an idea but hopefully they won't wait too long to give the viewers some advance notice of how Carter will be written back into the show. As I've said before, Carter's individual story for me has been completed but as they are bringing him back as a way to bring the show full circle then I think his role should be about how he helps the hospital out and not about his own personal issues whatever they may be at the present time.

Whatever his role in the final season of "ER", I don't want it to become the main focus but rather just another facet of the season. There are too many other currently storylines that deserve proper screen time attention (such as our beloved Ray and Neela's unresolved romance/relationship).

GO REELA!

Peace,
Sem1973

I loved carter, he was great you know? however, he's been gone for too long, his character isn't as big as it used to be. mainly because his character was wrapped around luka and abby, pratt and plenty of others, carter was there with neela inthe past but ehh, sure, give him some screen time, but give reela plenty of time to give us reela fans what we want for their begining/ending on ER. i am excited about his return, however, i'm not as excited over reela's second episode, i cant help myself!

I meant I'm MORE excited for reelas 2nd episode, oops typo!

I'm curious, I heard carter was married in one of those africa episodes, do you think his "wife" or whatever she is Kem will be back?