The book and the beating

I’ve been a fan of ER since it originally aired, and “Random Acts” (S3E20) is certainly one of the most consequential episodes in the series:

*After a few unpleasant run-ins with current and former patients, Greene is attacked, leading to a PTSD breakdown which will take many episodes to resolve

*The character of Anna Delamico is introduced

*Greg Fisher confronts Jeannie about her feelings for Al, prompting her to formally end her relationship with Greg and go back to Al

*Doug treats the child of a wealthy associate of Anspaugh, causing Carol to reassess her feelings for him

*The staff finds a steamy romance novel that was clearly based on ER personnel and speculates on the author

*Carla is admitted to the hospital for complete bed rest after going into pre-term labor

*After successfully participating in a transplant procedure, Carter’s commitment to his patients caused Benton to question Carter’s priorities

After all of that, the most remarkable part of the episode is that the identity of Greene’s attacker and the book’s author are never confirmed. Having just watched this episode, here are my thoughts:

Kerry wrote the book.

Whoever attacked Greene was targeting him. That was not a random attack. It also wasn’t someone crazy or out of control. I think it was someone who was acting on behalf of Chris Law, with or without his knowledge/approval. But that wasn’t random.