MASSIVE luby post ahead!
OK, because the ER celebratory mood took hold, I'm making a non-collage of Luby Moments of the Decade (...hell, it almost is, isn't it? When was MA - 2000?)
Then I felt like listing my favourite eps/scenes, which was massively difficult. I think this is it:
1. 5x7 Flight of Fancy - 7x12 The Human Shield.
Because they're basically the same scene (see educational collage anno Luby Day 2006), which is awesome of TPTB (for once). And because said scene is hauntingly beautiful. I so remember seeing THS for the first time - that last "....why we couldn't save her!" really punched me in the stomach.
...and the rest in no particular order, because it got too difficult.
9x12 I Do
Do I need to point out the most awesome part? Thought not.I remember being unspoiled for THAT and my reaction was a bit "....Oooohkay then, ER! Way to push the PG-13 rating. Also, HOT." But I actually love the entire ep - it's a bit silly and very feel-good. Which has not exactly been ER for the past, oh, ten years.
1-2x13 Bloodline - Graduation Day
"That's when I told him to wave to Mum." TEAR. And Abby rocking Joe at the end of GD is one of the most beautiful luby scenes ever. Also, the ILY of the decade.
15x13 Dying Is Easy
The proposal!
14x8 A Simple Twist of Fate (seriously, I had to check what the famed ASTOF acronym stands for here. Five years of using it and it doesn't stick? Whut.)
Anyway - ASTOF. Glorious. Was my favourite luby ep up until S12 came and made the world beautiful (S13 isn't nearly as awesome, it gets too sticky by the end.) I have my ASTOF icon and I don't know how many "Lalalalala "Lockdown" DID NOT HAPPEN"-fics I've read that started right after ASTOF, conveniently.
1x10 What Now?
It's ages since I've seen it, but Abby's reaction to Luka's supposed death? Yeah. Go away, Carter. One of the few good parts of S10, and very telling in hindsight (if I sound like a lunatic, I'm on a high right now. Bear with me.)
14x7 A Walk In the Woods (can you believe that I'm writing down most of these episode numbers straight from the top of my head? Still?)
"I'm glad..." Another major classic, obviously. It was, incidentally, the first luby episode I ever watched on TV. And yes, I did miss the beginning, why do you ask... (I was a shipper before I'd ever seen them kiss - I watched mid-S8 at the time).
20x9 Foreign Affairs
The chocked up "...take care of yourself. I mean it." makes ME choke up. Still. They both look so worn out and half-dead, and yet so brilliant. This is perhaps the end of the Original Angsty Luby - INN and so are obviously angsty too, but in a whole different way.
14x12 Quintessence of Dust
The whole amnio scene is too sweet for words, really. Classic Newer Luby, IMO.
10x12 All About Christmas Eve
"I'm pregnant."
*jaw drops*
Hee! So wish I could have seen my reaction if I'd got a sneak peak of this one in circa 2004.
14x13 Murmurs of the Heart (no, here I don't know the numbers anymore, go figure)
This is almost THS-levels of punching-gut. I have an animated icon of Abby running up and the hug, but it's too large for LJ. Which BUGS.
21x13 I Don't
Of course. But it's not THAT high up - I've only watched it twice, I think. TPTB had pissed me off too much by this episode for me to get REALLY worked up, and I would have written it a whole lot differently. But - what the hell, THEY GOT MARRIED!!!
10x9 Hindsight
HINDSIGHT. Just, yes please.
And then there's everything else.
"He doesn't have to remember losing his son everyday" in Family Business
The entire Bishop arc.
"You have a feather"
"You mean, like a date?"
The morning scene in Secrets and Lies and the script note that made a thousand lubies go insane (used to have an "It's still there, what they had. They both feel it" - icon, I did.)
"And you only have to sleep with me on the weekends!"
"I love you more than I can say, LET'S GET OUT OF CHICAGO" (paraphrasing, ahem) from the S14 finale.
"It seems we always find each other."
Luka leaving in The Honeymoon's Over - it is sweeter than the entire damn wedding, IMO. Bittersweet, yes, but sweet.
"Thank you, Luka. I always thought it was my fault we broke up but now I know it was you." Abby FTW!
And everything else.
Of course. There'd be no start without this one would there? So much hee, and the callback in "The Chicago Way" SEVEN SEASONS LATER made it even better.
Heee!
Two of these, because I've always loved them and this scene so:
Just gorgeous.
And then, of course AWITW. I love the Bishop arc, I love how it all climaxed in The Crossing and I love, love this moment.
Witch Hunt. I remember how THRILLED I was when I finally got this one in dvd quality - caps, finally! It's an extremely cute scene and, since I'm nothing if not superficial - Goran looks awesome in it.
Ooooh, thank you caps, had forgotten this moment! "Could you leave me alone? Please? - I can't do that..." So good. This whole episode is great-ish (do love the days of Luka-Carter rivalry) and these moments need videos, really.
ASTOF. Oh, ASTOF. The episode that fed a thousand fics, for about four years.
SAAAAAAAL! OK so only one A there, but it needs many. I killed my tape of this with too many viewings, seriously. We have the morning scene, we have the fencing and we have Hamlet in Croatian. Oh yes.
Just, beautiful.
Sad, sad eyes.
"Do you even CARE?"
Oh yes, he does.
"We don't talk much anymore... why is that?"
"I miss you, Abby." (I had FORGOTTEN this! God!)
Snowglobe!
Finally...
He's not really dead! But this was heart-wrenching.
See! Just almost! Aw with the grins...
SH, and what I feel is the beginning of the Health(ier) Luby Era.
Aww.
... he just had to realise not to date Sam first. Took about three ages, but finally...
... although there was a return to the toxic bachelor syndrome first. Abby is made of so much win in these episodes. ("I would [recognise you if you had three-degree-burns]. Maybe.")
Then several episodes of patients dropping, throwing and air-bombing everyone with HEAVY anvils, and then...
(Ahem, sorry for the spammage.)
I absolutely ABUSED this promo when it came, and had a cap from it as my wallpaper for a week before it aired. Good - no make that AMAZING - times.
And, of course:
"We should just be friends."
"Yeah, totally."
"This will work out great."
Yeah. About that.
It only took about seven years for this scene to air! Good - make that hot stuff.
...and because these caps are awesome.
And this episode was, too.
"What if I forget it in the supermarket...?" Bhawawa.
"Imagine if we were rats, and I'd pop this thing out in like nine weeks?" Don't worry Abby, your show would never have that.
Secret baby shopping. ("Trust me, Luka, EVERY woman who works at the hospital knows who you are!") Well if they don't know, they did in S9...
So extremely un-lubylike happiness!
Here, too. Joe's OK!
... and Maggie's gonna be a grandma! God I wish we had seen the other end of this conversation....
But who does the worrying? And will there be a baptism? And, for some IDIOTIC reason, should Luka go to Africa?
Guess not. DUH.
I used to feel like there was too LITTLE squee-and-aww worthy moments in late S12. I must not have seen S13-14 by then. Really.
"Is that some sort of Croatian mating ritual?"
Of cribs and scary pandas. And really unexpected proposals.
And REALLY FUCKING UNNECESSARY drama.
It's a boy!
The following aren't all mine, because I gave up on L-A.com and stopped capping after S12. Snagged from ERHangout.com - and here I thought all ER sites were dead!
Baby Joe!
Awww. Finally safe and sound.
The Kovacs!
Freakily good episode, this was. Also the first use of the "husband" word, I might add.
"...what if Joe didn't have a father, and we didn't have each other... Have you ever wanted something so much that it just scared the hell out of you?" Abby FTW, yet again.
"He doesn't have to remember losing his son every day..." Also, chicken!mum Abby was adorable. "You're acting like a mother. A slightly crazy one..."
And then, finally. "If there was ever anything that was NOT rushed into, it's you and me being together forever." Amen to that.
"You know, being married isn't going to change the fact that I don't cook. Or sow. Or keep track of your socks."
"Unless you don't want me to meet your family because I'm hideously ugly by Croatian standards?"
Then a lot of suckage that I haven't watched happened, so we're not caring about that. Nope, we're not. Instead we go straight to this:
"Do you know I love you more than I can say?"
Away from Chicago. Finally, I've said many, many times -- but damn if I won't miss these two.
Yeah. Now I've spent waaaay too much time on this tonight and am so not going to grammar class tomorrow morning. But I don't think I care. It's luby, and it's ending tonight. Right now.
*******
Thank you, Goran, Maura, even TPTB (sometimes). You've given me -- us -- so many wonderful moments of squeeage, of ranting, of desperate and happy sighs. Personally, you -- through Luka and Abby, ever the masters of angst -- have helped me through times in my life that I'd rather not revisit. I've met amazing people through luby and bittersweet as it is, this ending is so far beyond anything I could ever have imagined on May 8th, 2005:
God, ASTOF is so fucking good. WHY TPTB, WHY?! Why didn't you realize what you had on your hands?! Why the fucknot?
Pardon my French, but it pretty much covers it, doesn't it?
And then, on September 25th, 2005:
My God, in light of recent luby events, how am I supposed to sleep?! Pun sorta intended. I don't care about spoilers since everyone I know is almost a luby and oh my god. OH MY GOD.
HEEE. That REALLY covers it all. I revisited my inner ER fangirl tonight, and it was many kinds of awesome.
säg minns du hur det är jag brukar vara
minns du hur stabil jag var igår
nu är jag påväg att lösas upp till ingenting
för dagen har varit prövande och svår
kanske onödigt svår
Bärga vad du kan från det här vraket
se på mig kisande, se mitt bättre jag
Se med blida ögon, klarögt vaken
inse att jag bara haft en liten motig dag
och det kan vem som helst ha
men du kan enkelt göra allting bra
-- Vraket, Lisa Ekdahl
Also: follow the compass! Always.
Then I felt like listing my favourite eps/scenes, which was massively difficult. I think this is it:
1. 5x7 Flight of Fancy - 7x12 The Human Shield.
Because they're basically the same scene (see educational collage anno Luby Day 2006), which is awesome of TPTB (for once). And because said scene is hauntingly beautiful. I so remember seeing THS for the first time - that last "....why we couldn't save her!" really punched me in the stomach.
...and the rest in no particular order, because it got too difficult.
9x12 I Do
Do I need to point out the most awesome part? Thought not.I remember being unspoiled for THAT and my reaction was a bit "....Oooohkay then, ER! Way to push the PG-13 rating. Also, HOT." But I actually love the entire ep - it's a bit silly and very feel-good. Which has not exactly been ER for the past, oh, ten years.
1-2x13 Bloodline - Graduation Day
"That's when I told him to wave to Mum." TEAR. And Abby rocking Joe at the end of GD is one of the most beautiful luby scenes ever. Also, the ILY of the decade.
15x13 Dying Is Easy
The proposal!
14x8 A Simple Twist of Fate (seriously, I had to check what the famed ASTOF acronym stands for here. Five years of using it and it doesn't stick? Whut.)
Anyway - ASTOF. Glorious. Was my favourite luby ep up until S12 came and made the world beautiful (S13 isn't nearly as awesome, it gets too sticky by the end.) I have my ASTOF icon and I don't know how many "Lalalalala "Lockdown" DID NOT HAPPEN"-fics I've read that started right after ASTOF, conveniently.
1x10 What Now?
It's ages since I've seen it, but Abby's reaction to Luka's supposed death? Yeah. Go away, Carter. One of the few good parts of S10, and very telling in hindsight (if I sound like a lunatic, I'm on a high right now. Bear with me.)
14x7 A Walk In the Woods (can you believe that I'm writing down most of these episode numbers straight from the top of my head? Still?)
"I'm glad..." Another major classic, obviously. It was, incidentally, the first luby episode I ever watched on TV. And yes, I did miss the beginning, why do you ask... (I was a shipper before I'd ever seen them kiss - I watched mid-S8 at the time).
20x9 Foreign Affairs
The chocked up "...take care of yourself. I mean it." makes ME choke up. Still. They both look so worn out and half-dead, and yet so brilliant. This is perhaps the end of the Original Angsty Luby - INN and so are obviously angsty too, but in a whole different way.
14x12 Quintessence of Dust
The whole amnio scene is too sweet for words, really. Classic Newer Luby, IMO.
10x12 All About Christmas Eve
"I'm pregnant."
*jaw drops*
Hee! So wish I could have seen my reaction if I'd got a sneak peak of this one in circa 2004.
14x13 Murmurs of the Heart (no, here I don't know the numbers anymore, go figure)
This is almost THS-levels of punching-gut. I have an animated icon of Abby running up and the hug, but it's too large for LJ. Which BUGS.
21x13 I Don't
Of course. But it's not THAT high up - I've only watched it twice, I think. TPTB had pissed me off too much by this episode for me to get REALLY worked up, and I would have written it a whole lot differently. But - what the hell, THEY GOT MARRIED!!!
10x9 Hindsight
HINDSIGHT. Just, yes please.
And then there's everything else.
"He doesn't have to remember losing his son everyday" in Family Business
The entire Bishop arc.
"You have a feather"
"You mean, like a date?"
The morning scene in Secrets and Lies and the script note that made a thousand lubies go insane (used to have an "It's still there, what they had. They both feel it" - icon, I did.)
"And you only have to sleep with me on the weekends!"
"I love you more than I can say, LET'S GET OUT OF CHICAGO" (paraphrasing, ahem) from the S14 finale.
"It seems we always find each other."
Luka leaving in The Honeymoon's Over - it is sweeter than the entire damn wedding, IMO. Bittersweet, yes, but sweet.
"Thank you, Luka. I always thought it was my fault we broke up but now I know it was you." Abby FTW!
And everything else.
Of course. There'd be no start without this one would there? So much hee, and the callback in "The Chicago Way" SEVEN SEASONS LATER made it even better.
Heee!
Two of these, because I've always loved them and this scene so:
Just gorgeous.
And then, of course AWITW. I love the Bishop arc, I love how it all climaxed in The Crossing and I love, love this moment.
Witch Hunt. I remember how THRILLED I was when I finally got this one in dvd quality - caps, finally! It's an extremely cute scene and, since I'm nothing if not superficial - Goran looks awesome in it.
Ooooh, thank you caps, had forgotten this moment! "Could you leave me alone? Please? - I can't do that..." So good. This whole episode is great-ish (do love the days of Luka-Carter rivalry) and these moments need videos, really.
ASTOF. Oh, ASTOF. The episode that fed a thousand fics, for about four years.
SAAAAAAAL! OK so only one A there, but it needs many. I killed my tape of this with too many viewings, seriously. We have the morning scene, we have the fencing and we have Hamlet in Croatian. Oh yes.
Just, beautiful.
Sad, sad eyes.
"Do you even CARE?"
Oh yes, he does.
"We don't talk much anymore... why is that?"
"I miss you, Abby." (I had FORGOTTEN this! God!)
Snowglobe!
Finally...
He's not really dead! But this was heart-wrenching.
See! Just almost! Aw with the grins...
SH, and what I feel is the beginning of the Health(ier) Luby Era.
Aww.
... he just had to realise not to date Sam first. Took about three ages, but finally...
... although there was a return to the toxic bachelor syndrome first. Abby is made of so much win in these episodes. ("I would [recognise you if you had three-degree-burns]. Maybe.")
Then several episodes of patients dropping, throwing and air-bombing everyone with HEAVY anvils, and then...
(Ahem, sorry for the spammage.)
I absolutely ABUSED this promo when it came, and had a cap from it as my wallpaper for a week before it aired. Good - no make that AMAZING - times.
And, of course:
"We should just be friends."
"Yeah, totally."
"This will work out great."
Yeah. About that.
It only took about seven years for this scene to air! Good - make that hot stuff.
...and because these caps are awesome.
And this episode was, too.
"What if I forget it in the supermarket...?" Bhawawa.
"Imagine if we were rats, and I'd pop this thing out in like nine weeks?" Don't worry Abby, your show would never have that.
Secret baby shopping. ("Trust me, Luka, EVERY woman who works at the hospital knows who you are!") Well if they don't know, they did in S9...
So extremely un-lubylike happiness!
Here, too. Joe's OK!
... and Maggie's gonna be a grandma! God I wish we had seen the other end of this conversation....
But who does the worrying? And will there be a baptism? And, for some IDIOTIC reason, should Luka go to Africa?
Guess not. DUH.
I used to feel like there was too LITTLE squee-and-aww worthy moments in late S12. I must not have seen S13-14 by then. Really.
"Is that some sort of Croatian mating ritual?"
Of cribs and scary pandas. And really unexpected proposals.
And REALLY FUCKING UNNECESSARY drama.
It's a boy!
The following aren't all mine, because I gave up on L-A.com and stopped capping after S12. Snagged from ERHangout.com - and here I thought all ER sites were dead!
Baby Joe!
Awww. Finally safe and sound.
The Kovacs!
Freakily good episode, this was. Also the first use of the "husband" word, I might add.
"...what if Joe didn't have a father, and we didn't have each other... Have you ever wanted something so much that it just scared the hell out of you?" Abby FTW, yet again.
"He doesn't have to remember losing his son every day..." Also, chicken!mum Abby was adorable. "You're acting like a mother. A slightly crazy one..."
And then, finally. "If there was ever anything that was NOT rushed into, it's you and me being together forever." Amen to that.
"You know, being married isn't going to change the fact that I don't cook. Or sow. Or keep track of your socks."
"Unless you don't want me to meet your family because I'm hideously ugly by Croatian standards?"
Then a lot of suckage that I haven't watched happened, so we're not caring about that. Nope, we're not. Instead we go straight to this:
Click to view
"Do you know I love you more than I can say?"
Away from Chicago. Finally, I've said many, many times -- but damn if I won't miss these two.
Yeah. Now I've spent waaaay too much time on this tonight and am so not going to grammar class tomorrow morning. But I don't think I care. It's luby, and it's ending tonight. Right now.
*******
Thank you, Goran, Maura, even TPTB (sometimes). You've given me -- us -- so many wonderful moments of squeeage, of ranting, of desperate and happy sighs. Personally, you -- through Luka and Abby, ever the masters of angst -- have helped me through times in my life that I'd rather not revisit. I've met amazing people through luby and bittersweet as it is, this ending is so far beyond anything I could ever have imagined on May 8th, 2005:
God, ASTOF is so fucking good. WHY TPTB, WHY?! Why didn't you realize what you had on your hands?! Why the fucknot?
Pardon my French, but it pretty much covers it, doesn't it?
And then, on September 25th, 2005:
My God, in light of recent luby events, how am I supposed to sleep?! Pun sorta intended. I don't care about spoilers since everyone I know is almost a luby and oh my god. OH MY GOD.
HEEE. That REALLY covers it all. I revisited my inner ER fangirl tonight, and it was many kinds of awesome.
säg minns du hur det är jag brukar vara
minns du hur stabil jag var igår
nu är jag påväg att lösas upp till ingenting
för dagen har varit prövande och svår
kanske onödigt svår
Bärga vad du kan från det här vraket
se på mig kisande, se mitt bättre jag
Se med blida ögon, klarögt vaken
inse att jag bara haft en liten motig dag
och det kan vem som helst ha
men du kan enkelt göra allting bra
-- Vraket, Lisa Ekdahl
Also: follow the compass! Always.