On the Beach

I watched this back in 2002 as a kid and now again almost 20 years later. The most emotional tv episode ever made.

I first saw this when i was 21, my father had been diagnosed with prostate cancer (certainly not the type Dr Greene had) but I had buried the feelings I had about it. When I saw this particular episode, it allowed me to get in contact with those emotions. I watched this episode today and one particular scene hit me really hard. You see when my father died of cancer he had a stroke, so when Greene starts telling his daughter about the one thing he feels he needs to impart to his daughter is generosity, to be generous of time and love, and he is slurring his words it really hit home. This is one of the few episodes of television dealing with death that really hits the nail on the head. That really depicts the sadness and the reality of death, especially by cancer. Some body really did their homework, and they really treated it all with incredible dignity.

This episode and the finale of Six Feet Under, the most emotional television I've seen.

This is essentially a bottle episode,, nearly the entire episode takes place in Hawaii. Mark trying to make up for lost, and disappearing, time with his daughter. His body starts to fail as he succumbs to his illness. His struggle to connect with Rachel is the conflict, as is Elizabeth trying to hold everything together. When Rachel puts those headphones on her dad... I can't even.

Obviously Anthony Edwards is the star, and Alex Kingston is great as always, but.... Hallee Hirsh, who was relatively inexperienced up to this point was fantastic. Such a heavy and difficult role for a teenager, she holds her own.

This is a top three episode of ER, honestly probably the best. Absolute tear jerker, just brutal.

I remember watching this in 2002 and I didn't start crying until I heard the song Somewhere Over Rainbow. Just watched again in 2021 and I started crying when Mark was singing to his youngest daughter.

It evoked many more emotions now than it did back in 2002. I balled and it actually felt good.

Wonderful episode with fantastic writing and great imagery.

Cried, cried, cried, cried my f-ing eye balls out! I'm still crying writing this. Previous episode was just a trailer of what is coming next. I don't think I cried to anything this much (and I watched the entire series of Six Feet Under-if you know what I mean). The dream sequence at the ends, all the dialogs, everything was just amazing. Just a big WOW!

With the amazing writing by John Wells this has been an historic episode of ER. If I write more, I will cry more. I was like "enough!!!". If a show makes you this much sentimental, it worths something. One thing I didn't like! Where the f-ck was Julianna Margulies and George Clooney?! This is their (at least Doug's) best friend for Christ's sake! It just gets me furious! Okay, I'm crying again, now thinking of the funeral. Goodbye, Mark Greene, you will be missed! :( My point is I wish I could give it more than 10/10.