Shirley returns. She is nuts. But her aggressiveness allows her to drive her way through everything. Mrs. Huffnagle dies and Craig realizes he has made a horrible mistake. Personally, I think her character had gone as far as it was possible.
3 Reviews
Represents the best of St Elsewhere
aroian-517488 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Mrs. Hufnagel's character had run its course. Any other show would've simply stopped having her as a recurring character. The writers of St Elsewhere not only came up with one of the best character deaths of all time, they also came up with the best line, "Hufnagel on the half shell." That alone would've been worthy of remembrance, but making all of this Dr. Craig's fault turned a funny script into something deadly serious, and sympathetic at the same time. Memorable characters, memorable plots, and switching from funny to deadly serious in a moment's notice. This episode epitomizes what was great about the show.
Florence Halop
jarrodmcdonald-18 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Not longer after this episode aired, Mark Harmon would be selected by People magazine as the sexiest male on the planet. (This would become an in-joke in a later episode of St. Elsewhere.)
Re: Nurse Shirley Daniels (Ellen Bry), she returns for one more guest appearance the following season. We will learn that Shirley did indeed go to prison (more her own choosing, since she could have easily beaten the charges against her). When she comes back to St. Eligius, it is as a patient, which I think is an interesting way to wrap up the character's long-term arc.
As for Mrs. Hufnagel, this isn't her last episode either. She appears once more. We find out that she bequeathed her estate to Dr. Elliott Axelrod (Stephen Furst), the only resident on staff that she developed any sort of real bond with, during her various stays at the hospital.
She has a very funny bit in a videotaped will, in which she informs Elliott, after her death, that he's her sole heir. Of course, there is a silly complication, because Mrs. H has a good-for-nothing nephew who thinks the old woman was off her rocker, and that he should have inherited everything.
The powers that be at NBC were so impressed with Florence Halop's work on St. Elsewhere, that she was suggested for a role on the network's popular sitcom Night Court. She replaced Selma Diamond who died of lung cancer. Though ironically, Halop would also die of lung cancer a short time later herself, and she was replaced by Marsha Warfield.
Re: Nurse Shirley Daniels (Ellen Bry), she returns for one more guest appearance the following season. We will learn that Shirley did indeed go to prison (more her own choosing, since she could have easily beaten the charges against her). When she comes back to St. Eligius, it is as a patient, which I think is an interesting way to wrap up the character's long-term arc.
As for Mrs. Hufnagel, this isn't her last episode either. She appears once more. We find out that she bequeathed her estate to Dr. Elliott Axelrod (Stephen Furst), the only resident on staff that she developed any sort of real bond with, during her various stays at the hospital.
She has a very funny bit in a videotaped will, in which she informs Elliott, after her death, that he's her sole heir. Of course, there is a silly complication, because Mrs. H has a good-for-nothing nephew who thinks the old woman was off her rocker, and that he should have inherited everything.
The powers that be at NBC were so impressed with Florence Halop's work on St. Elsewhere, that she was suggested for a role on the network's popular sitcom Night Court. She replaced Selma Diamond who died of lung cancer. Though ironically, Halop would also die of lung cancer a short time later herself, and she was replaced by Marsha Warfield.
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