I work at a hospital and many women keep their maiden names professionally or they hyphenate...especially when they are married to doctors at the hospital. It was obvious Doug and Carol were married, they both were wearing wedding rings.

I think it's funny that some people say that they haven't watched in a long time and although it was nice to see thier old favorites, the rest of the show stunk. Well OF COURSE. Those people invested time and emotion with the "old characters" and aren't even familiar with the new ones. So why would they be even slightly interested in the new characters' storylines?

I thought this episode was fabulous... by far the best episode of ER since season 8's "On the Beach." I loved seeing Doug and Carol again, although I do wish they had known at the end of the episode that the kidney went to Carter and it would have been nice to see Kate and Tess. I think the producers/writers intentionally didn't have them find out, though, because I suspect that this is going to lead into more storylines for the series finale.

To those who asked: Carol and Doug are married. Both characters were wearing wedding rings in the episode. I like that Carol didn't change her last name and this has actually been a pattern with ER characters who get married (i.e. Elizabeth remained "Elizabeth Corday" after marrying Mark, Abby was still "Abby Lockhart" after marrying Luka).

And, also, Doug wouldn't have asked about Frank because Frank first appeared in the season 6 episode "Such Sweet Sorrow" (or well, he was in the pilot, but he was a patient then). So Doug never knew Frank as the desk clerk.

it was a stroke of genius to end it the way it ended. especially if this had been the series finale as planned. i like that they kept that element of mystery. their lives touched one more time, but they might never know it.

brilliant episode, i wish it could have been this high caliber forever.

Congratulations on a very good article Bob. You expressed everything I thought about the episode and even gave an explaination why Doug and Carol didn't find out. Well done, love it.

This is the first episode of ER in years that I'll be watching again right now. It's like a good movie.

Great episode! One thing though that I was disappointed in was that I was wanting to see Doug and Carol's twins. A photo on the night stand at the end would have been great. Or maybe the mention of them having another child.

LOVED seeing Ernst Borgnine. He's been a favorite actor mine for decades!!

Last night was superb: I thought Benton/Carter and Doug/Carol acted wonderfully. I got all discombombulated and my heart, all quaky, at seeing all these old faces. It would have been perfect to have a reunion of all of them, but it would have been a tad unrealistic. This way was well written, well acted and still satisfying. Not sure if Carol and Doug got married either (Carol may have chosen to keep her name) but I am just glad they were still together, because there was a point there when i thought they weren't! And I didn't know how much I missed Benton and Carter, until I saw their grins at each other. Oh, the flood of memories. Truly great episode!

i felt the episode was mediocre. but clooney and margulies provided enough 'must see' content. look, i was just happy clooney returned. back when it was a maybe/maybe not issue i was adamant that he had to return, out of deep gratitude, because if not for 'er' he is not where he is today. period.

i always applauded clooney for not breaking his 5-year contract (when he easily could have b/c the film career had begun) with the show, and his return - with margulies - was a nice wrap-up.

overall the episode didn't feel forced, and there were some good moments, but by no means was it a special episode. just ok. and that's ok.

Last night was the first time I've watched an entire ER episode in years. It was great to see where the old timers are and so forth.

As for the rest of the ER show, it should have been euthanized a long time ago. NBC needs a great show on Thursdays at 10 PM. I'd watch it.

This. Episode. Was. Great.

I wonder if this was the "original" design for the last episode, since NBC decided to give the show a few extra episodes mid-way through the season. It certainly looked as though it could have been the intention to focus on the original characters, but I'm glad that we now have the chance to go back and wind up all of the stories concerning the current characters.