Episode 1: Chaos Theory; Written by Jack Orman & R. Scott Gemmill; Directed by Jonathan Kaplan; 9/26/02
No admittance. No exit. Doctors inside the ER face a two-week quarantine. Meanwhile, add an unexpected name to the list of evacuated emergency patients: Dr. Robert Romano.
Episode 2: Dead Again; Written by Dee Johnson; Directed by Richard Thorpe; 10/3/02
Sorry, no room for patients. Sorry, you have to take them anyway. The closure of another hospital creates gridlock at County General. Pratt overrides an experienced cardiologiest's judgment.
Episode 3: Insurrection; Written by Yahlin Chang & Jack Orman; Directed by Charles Haid; 10/10/02
What do you have to do to get metal detectors installed in the ER - pull a gun? After a patient puts a weapon to Chen's head, Carter leads an impromptu walkout to protest the lack of security.
Episode 4: Walk Like a Man; Written by David Zabel; Directed by Felix Enriquex Alcala; 10/17/02
Pushed too far: Gallant's fists shake hands with Pratt's face. Pushing too hard: Weaver makes some uncharacteristic errors. Pushing away: Carter withdraws from Abby because of her social drinking.
Episode 5: A Hopeless Wound; Written by Julie Hebert & Joe Sachs; Directed by Laura Innes; 10/31/02
A ghost walks: It's Carter in Halloween garb. Also, costumed victims arrive after an apartment fire. Romano's injury haunts his recall and his judgment, and surgical intern Paul Nathan reports for work.
Episode 6: One Can Only Hope; Written by Bruce Miller; Directed by Jonathan Kaplan; 11/7/02
The last thing to go is hope - something Nathan won't let an ailing 26-year-old woman relinquish. Abby hopes her brother's suddenly eccentric behavior isn't a precursor of her family's mental problems.
Episode 7: Tell Me Where It Hurts; Written by R. Scott Gemmill; Directed by Richard Thorpe; 11/14/02
The plight of Abby's brother is underscored when the MPs come looks for him. Corday admires Nathan's nerve and talent but knows he can't be a hands-on doctor. Weaver learns she pregnant.
Episode 8: First Snowfall; Written and Directed by Jack Orman; 11/21/02
One instant they're a family building a snowman. The next, they're victims of a DUI motorist. And in the ER moments that follow, a father must make heart-rending choices. Also: Abby finds she's not alone when she visits her brother at a Nebraska military base.
Episode 9: Next of Kin; Written by Dee Johnson; Directed by Paul McCrane; 12/5/02
the closer you are, the greater the turmoil. Abby's brother pushes her away. A child with a painful double life doesn't want to see his mother after his father dies. Pratt protects Leon from a misunderstanding world.
Episode 10: Hindsight; Written by David Zabel; Directed by David Nutter; 12/12/02
A reverse-timeline tale chronicles the whilrwind of events leading to Christmas - and to the accident that occurs when Kovac is at the wheel and med student Harkins is his passenger.
Episode 11: A Little Help from My Friends; Written by Julie Hebert; Directed by Alan J. Levi; 1/9/03
Beep! Beep! Beep! Pratt sets off the new metal detector. But it's not his cellphone as Pratt claims - it's a gun. Weaver faces a medical crisis and ultracompetitive math students OD on Ritalin.
Episode 12: A Saint in the City; Written by Bruce Miller; Directed by Peggy Rajski; 1/16/03
Amid the daily ER losses, some hopeful beginnings: Leon gets a new job as a trash collector at County General. And Carter strikes up a friendship with a crusty older doctor who runs an urban clinic.
Episode 13: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished; Written by R. Scott Gemmill; Directed by Nelson McCormick; 1/30/03
Pratt brings in a young street thug shot in a holdup...and starts weaving a web of lies. A brash doctor asks Corday for a date. Abby reunited with her brother and Carter considers working in Africa.
Episode 14: No Strings Attached; Written by Dee Johnson; Directed by Jonathan Kaplan; 2/6/03
The next step. Weaver gets promoted. Romano gets demoted. Chen and Pratt kick their relationship up a notch. Lewis has a date with a hunky vegan. Abby handles bad news by buying a bottle of booze.
Episode 15: A Boy Falling Out of the Sky; Writers: Yahlin Chang/ R. Scott Gemmill; Director: Charles Haid; 2/13/03
With her brother missing and her mentally disturbed mother making demands, Abby may have more than she can handle. Also overwhelmed: Pratt, when the homeless man he pronounced dead starts kicking.
Episode 16: A Thousand Cranes; Teleplay by David Zabel; Story: Jacy Young; Director: Jonathan Kaplan; 2/20/03
A bloody robbery homicide at Doc Magoo's shocks the County General staff - especially Pratt and Gallant, who are apprehended as suspects largely because of their race.
Episode 17: The Advocate; Written by Joe Sachs; Directed by Julie Hebert; 3/13/03;
Weaver ascending: She gets the promotion she's always dreamed of. Weaver descending: She compromises her ethics and risks her career to do Alderman Bright's bidding.
Episode 18: Finders Keepers; Written by Dee Johnson; Directed by T.R. Babu Subramaniam; 4/3/03
"This is my ER now!" Enraged at being demoted to Chief of Emergency Medicine, Romano makes everyone's life miserable. And for Lewis, what happened in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas.
Episode 19: Things Change; Written by R. Scott Gemmill; Directed by Richard Thorpe; 4/24/03
Kovac's surgeon friend from Croatia arrives to observe conditions in the ER. With out-of-control Romano in charge and a deranged patient on the loose, there's plenty to see.
Episode 20: Foreign Affairs; Written by David Zabel; Directed by Jonathan Kaplan; 5/1/03
Kovac scrambles to find a volunteer team to perform surgery on a desperately ill Croatian boy. Abby's brother disrupts Millicent Carter's funeral. Romano makes a life-altering decision.
Episode 21: When Night Meets Day; Written and Directed by Jack Orman; 5/8/03
time is fluid in a special episode that jumps between Carter on the day shift and Pratt (in his last night in the ER) on the nigh shift as they handle an onrush of cases ranging from petty to life threatening.
Episode 22: Kisangani; Written by Jack Orman; Directed by Christopher Chulack; 5/15/03
Not County General. Joining Kovac as a volunteer in Africa, Carter finds an under-resourced hospital, an overworked staff, diseases unknown in the U.S. and the senseless terrors of war.
