Maura Tierney‘s Dr. Abby Lockhart quietly left County General last night, as she and her husband Luka departed for a fresh start in Boston. Here’s a clip of her farewell scene, which is characteristically low-key:
EW’s PopWatch blog has a very funny run-down of her character’s time on the series (read her Wikipedia entry for a more thorough overview):
Abby Lockhart was born from a one-ep guest spot as Carol Hathaway’s OB nurse way back in 1999. She then entered med school, helped John Carter through his weird post-stabbing-of-Lucy addiction to pills, went back to nursing after her deadbeat ex stole her money, dealt with her bipolar brother and way more bipolar mom (Sally Field!), eventually got her medical degree, struggled with alcoholism, dated Luka Kovac, dated Carter, dated this sort of Paul Rudd-lookin’ med student named Jake, fell in love with Luka, got pregnant, had his baby, nearly died in childbirth, struggled with alcoholism again, slept with Stanley Tucci, got back together with Luka for the most part, and recently survived a mob-related ambulance bombing. And that’s leaving out the majority of the weekly attacks, storms, helicopter crashes, hijackings, kidnappings, run-ins with Forest Whitaker, and assorted other catastrophes she’s endured over the past nine years. There really isn’t room on the internets for all of it.
Abby was pretty well-liked by the other characters over the years, and by the audience. She was also one of prickly Dr. Kerry Weaver’s only friends at County General, proving that Abby really could get along with just about everyone, and usually did. (Abby’s closest friend the last few seasons was Dr. Neela Rasgostra – another reason I liked Abby.)
Here’s a short pictorial of Dr. Abby Lockhart’s different looks through the years.
What’s your favorite Abby look? Personally I prefer this one, from our 2007 Hot 100 (OK, so technically that’s cheating since it’s a photo of Tierney out of character, but it gives me an excuse to post the photo again!):
If you’re still watching ER (and I’ll admit I gave up awhile back), what’s your favorite Abby Lockhart moment?
