| Locker Watch |


A chronicle of the shifting lockers in the ER from seasons 6 through 8. For seasons 1 through 5 visit The ER Page.

The lockers in the doctors’ lounge have always contained several mysteries. Why do some nurses have lockers? Why do surgeons have lockers in the ER and on their own floor? Why do only some medical students get lockers? Why are there so few lockers? Why do they open backwards? And why do they keep shifting??

I began watching the lockers in season 6, and I noticed all those strange happenings. Here is a list of what I’ve seen:

All directions assume you are standing in the doctors' lounge, facing the large row of lockers. The door is to your left. The lockers have handles on the left and swing open to the right.

There is a group of three lockers to the left, and twelve straight across.

In “Sins of the Fathers,” the lockers were first used. The first locker on the left was used by Elizabeth Corday, and the tenth main locker by Mark Greene. There was a nametag on the eleventh locker with a name that started with ‘B’ (but shorter than Benton or Boulet).

In the “Peace of Wild Things,” Jeanie Boulet used a locker towards the middle of the main batch. Directly to the left of her locker was one belonging to Conni Oligario, and left of that was John Carter. To the right of Jeanie’s locker was Chuny Marquez.

In “How the Finch Stole Christmas,” Carter uses a locker somewhere in the middle of the main row.

In “The Domino Heart,” we get two views of the lockers. The first time the ninth locker belongs to Conni, the tenth to Dave Malucci, and the eleventh to Jing-Mei Chen. The second time we are in the lounge, the eighth locker is visible and is assigned to Carter, but the ninth locker now belongs to Lucy Knight.

In “Abby Road,” the fourth locker is Chuny’s, the fifth is Mark Greene’s, the sixth belongs to Cleo Finch, the seventh to Luka Kovac, the eighth has a nametag with the name of an unknown doctor (it appears to read ‘Howe’), and the ninth belongs to Carter.

In “All in the Family,” the first locker to the left is owned by Elizabeth, and the second in that same row is used by Carol Hathaway. The ninth locker belongs to Kerry Weaver.

In “Be Patient,” the third locker is Lucy’s, and oddly enough, it opens backwards (to the left).

In “Under Control,” Carter uses the sixth locker.

In “Viable Options,” the third locker is opened backwards by an unidentified doctor. The fifth locker belongs to Mark, and the eighth to Carter.

In “Match Made in Heaven,” the first two lockers to the left belong to Elizabeth and Carol, respectively. Luka uses the twelfth locker.

In “The Fastest Year,” the eighth locker belongs to Mark, the ninth to Abby Lockhart, the tenth to Kerry, and the eleventh to that unknown doctor (‘Howe’).

In “Such Sweet Sorrow,” the fourth locker is Carter’s and the sixth Chen’s. Carol does not appear to have a locker now, since she retrieves her belongings from under the desk.

In “May Day,” Carter has a locker near the middle of the main row (sixth to eighth).

Season 7 brought a big change in the lockers. The row to the left was eliminated, and a new row was added directly across from the main row. The main row now contained eight lockers, and the new row four.

In “Mars Attacks,” the fifth locker is Mark’s, which opens backwards, the seventh belongs to Chen, and the eighth was Carter’s.

In “Benton Backwards,” another unknown doctor has a locker. The name ‘Wentraub’ appears on the sixth locker, the seventh is Mark’s and the eighth is Chen’s. Later in that same episode, the fourth and fifth lockers are visible (Carter and Conni, respectively), and the seventh locker is now used by Kerry.

In “Flight of Fancy,” the first locker on the row opposite the main row has the name of another unknown doctor, ‘Brown’. (This locker is also visible in “Sailing Away” and “Never Say Never.”) The seventh locker in the main row belongs to Abby, and the eighth to Carter.

In “The Visit,” Chen has two different lockers – first the sixth, and later the seventh. Locker eight belongs to Abby.

In “Rescue Me,” Peter Benton has a locker in the middle of the main row (fourth to seventh). Wentraub’s locker appears again, two to the left of Benton’s locker.

In “The Greatest of Gifts,” the eighth locker belongs to Abby.

But in “Surrender,” number eight is Carter’s.

In “Where the Heart Is,” the fifth locker is Peter’s and the sixth is Carter’s.

The setup of the lockers in the lounge remained the same in season 8 as they were in season 7.

In “Four Corners,” the fifth locker is Mark’s, the sixth is Carter’s, the seventh Kerry’s, and the eighth Cleo’s.

In “Never Say Never,” the third locker is Peter’s, the fourth is Dave’s, the fifth belongs to Mark, the sixth to Carter, and the seventh to Kerry.

In “Start All Over Again,” the third is still Peter’s, but the fourth locker has Chen’s nametag (and is given to Susan Lewis).

Abby uses the eighth locker in “Supplies and Demands.”

In “Partly Cloudy, Chance of Rain,” the eighth locker now belongs to Cleo.

In “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” the second locker is Kerry’s, the third belongs to Carter, the fifth to Peter, and the sixth to Susan.

The lockers are visible twice in “Beyond Repair.” The first time, the eighth locker is Abby’s. The second time, the fourth is Carter’s, the fifth Peter’s (even though he has left), the sixth Susan’s, and the seventh Abby’s.

In “Damage is Done,” the seventh locker is Kerry’s and the eighth is Carter’s.

In “A Simple Twist of Fate,” the first locker belongs to Mark, the second to Abby, the third to Susan, and the fourth to Kerry.

In “Secrets and Lies,” Kerry now uses the eighth locker. However, Mark uses the eighth locker in “Orion in the Sky,” and it opens backwards.

In “Brothers and Sisters,” all the lockers are positioned backwards. The seventh is Carter’s and the eighth Mark’s.

In “The Letter,” the fifth locker is Chen’s, the seventh Carter’s, and the eighth Mark’s.