| Chaos Theory (season premiere) | Carter, Abby and others remain quarantined while County General's evacuation goes awry during the smallpox crisis. Meanwhile, a grieving Corday heads home to London, where her Americanized ways raise eyebrows among her U.K. colleagues.
| Dead Again | Local ER closings wreak havoc at County, as Carter tries to keep the peace; Kerry steps on a still-grieving Corday's toes; and a gutsy med student (Leslie Bibb) awaits her overdue orientation. Meanwhile, Pratt's inability to follow orders results in tragedy for a mother of two; Gallant drives everyone crazy during his psych rotation; and a gang-banger's girlfriend pays the price for his thug life.
| Insurrection | Carter takes drastic steps to improve security conditions at County after a frustrated patient takes matters into his own hands---violently; Meanwhile, Gallante tends to a hypochondriac who refuses to leave any symptom unchecked; Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) is keeping a secret about his home situation; and Kovac has an unhappy ex-lover to contend with.
| Walk like a Man | Tensions between meek med student Gallant (Sharif Atkins) and arrogant intern Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) reach a fever pitch as they battle over two troubled patients. The conflict begins after Pratt meddles in Army recruit Gallant's treatment of a suicidal soldier. But when Dr. Kayson (Sam Anderson), the chief cardiologist, refuses to help a known hypochondriac (Diane Delano), Gallant finally hits his limit and unloads on Pratt for having too much to say and too little to offer once the woman's symptoms prove to be legitimate. In other storylines, Abby tries to set the record straight with Carter about her drinking and Kerry makes a disastrous television appearance.
| A Hopeless Wound | Don Cheadle ("Ocean's 11," "The Rat Pack") checks in for a four-week guest role. He plays a gifted but somewhat old med-school student named Paul Nathan, whose first day is literally a trial by fire. After a Halloween-party blaze throws the ER into chaos, he is suddenly swept up in the race to save lives. But the pressure begins to take a toll, forcing Nathan to disclose a secret that leads several staffers to question his ability---and desire---to practice medicine. Meanwhile, Corday and Romano (Paul McCrane) clash over a mysterious infection that could cost their patient a limb; and Weaver refuses to give up on the infant victim of a home birth that went wrong.
| One Can Only Hope | Tensions between the nurses and doctors hit a fever pitch as a petition against Luka leaves the ER short-staffed; Abby's brother (Tom Everett Scott) returns with some all-too-familiar manic tendencies; Chen gives in to Pratt's less-than-tender loving care after a violent patient gets under her skin; and Nathan (Don Cheadle) irks---then impresses---Corday and Carter by talking a terminal patient out of giving up.
| Tell Me Where It Hurts | Kerry starts spreading her good news, as Abby gets heartbreaking information about her brother (Tom Everett Scott) and his exit from the military. Meanwhile, Kovac hits a new low in his search for a sexual high; Corday and Nathan reach an impasse regarding his future in medicine; and Chen helps Carter treat a Chinese immigrant being exploited by her employer.
| First Snowfall | Sally Field returns to the role that won her a guest-actress Emmy. Field is back for four episodes as Abby's bipolar mother, Maggie, who resurfaces after Abby's brother Eric (Tom Everett Scott) is arrested for going AWOL from the Air Force. The trio shares a less-than-loving reunion at Eric's Omaha military base, where old wounds and ugly accusations lead Maggie to spill a brutal truth about Eric's battle with mental illness---and why the terminally bitter Abby was kept in the dark about it. Back in Chicago, a blizzard hampers Nathan and Corday's desperate attempt to save a family torn apart by a drunk driver.
| Next of Kin | Harkins (Leslie Bibb) faces a tough call while treating a troubled teen involved in a car crash with her dad; Abby races to stop Maggie (Sally Field) from taking manic-depressive Eric out of treatment; and Kovac hits a new low when an elderly woman tips him for his medical services. Meanwhile, an abandoned baby dredges up painful memories for Chen; and Pratt goes to bat for Leon after he's fired for stealing from his job.
| Hindsight | Kovac spins out of control — literally — in a gutsy episode that's over before it's begun. Opening with a late-night car accident involving the increasingly self-destructive doc and med student Harkins, the hour unfolds backwards to recount the troubling events leading up to the crash. A boozy holiday party, rumors of an illicit tryst and a run-in with his ex, Abby, all plague Kovac, but it's his tragic misdiagnosis of a patient that ultimately sends him (and his hapless passenger) racing off on a reckless ride. Meanwhile, the ER is awash in Christmas casualties, including two feisty elves and the victims of a living Nativity brawl.
| A Little Help from My Friends | Luka pays the price for his misdiagnosis that left a patient with brain damage; Abby covers for an ailing Kerry; Carter pushes his way into Pratt's life after he's caught carrying a gun to work; Gallant tends to a recovering Harkins on the eve of her release from County; and Lewis refuses to allow the psych department to ignore the unsettling cause of a patient's crippling depression.
| A Saint in the City | Ethical crises abound after Kerry agrees to hide a politician's STD; Kovac plays God to get a critical patient into surgery; and Pratt ignores a dying mother's orders in hopes of keeping her kids out of foster care. Meanwhile, Carter's family fortunes fail to pay off for an ailing doctor (Edward Asner) running a local clinic.
| No Good Deed Goes Unpunished |
Carter's plan to help an ailing doctor (Edward Asner) leads to a dead-end---and a decision about his own career path; Pratt intervenes after a burglary lands Leon's pal in the ER, along with the cop he shot; Kerry's ethics are tested even further while setting up a photo-op for a politician (Bruce Weitz) hiding a severe condition; Corday is caught off guard by a hot-shot new surgeon (Bruno Campos); and Romano risks his standing at County by overseeing an operation he's incapable of completing.
| No Strings Attached | A downed plane over the Great Lakes sends Abby's world into a tailspin; Romano's surgical career is altered forever; a teen is suspected of intentionally running down her classmates; and a terminal patient helps Lewis weigh the pros and cons of a blind date. Meanwhile, Pratt has an unexpected reaction to Chen's revelation about her baby.
| A Boy Falling Out of the Sky | Carter comes to the rescue when the stalled search for Abby's brother---and the arrival of her mother (Sally Field)---pushes the nurse to her limit. Meanwhile, Kovac comes back to work just in time to save an overdose case from frying his own brain; and Pratt digs himself into a deeper hole with Chen (Ming-Na) during his stint with the EMTs.
| A Thousand Cranes | Three persons are murdered during a holdup at Doc Magoo's, and Chen's partial description of one of the perps leads to an unpleasant morning for Pratt and Gallant (Mekhi Phifer, Sharif Atkins); Lewis befriends a teenage cancer patient (Patrick Fugit), despite his mother's disapproval; and Carter decides to propose to Abby, who's having difficulty finding someone to give her mother (Sally Field) a ride to the bus station for her trip back to Wisconsin.
| The Advocate | A favor for a popular but closeted politician has dire results for Kerry — and a patient; Carter and Abby come to terms with their ailing romance; Kovac finds an unusual outlet for his inner demons; and Romano's days as Chief of Staff begin to wane.
| Finders Keepers | Heads roll and hearts break after Romano is demoted to the ER, where a mom-to-be hears grim news about her own health; Pratt's faux pas spoils Chen's birthday; and Luka implores Kerry and Corday to help him arrange a pro-bono operation for a dying Croatian child. Meanwhile, a patient's broken wrist leads to tragic complications — and a change of perspective for a County newlywed.
| Things Change | Weaver treats a lethargic 6-week-old baby; Lewis works with a mentally ill man who took too much of his anti-psychotic medication; and a Croatian physician observes surgery on a young boy with a congenital heart problem.
| Foreign Affairs | Carter makes a dramatic decision after Abby's brother causes a stir at the funeral for Carter's grandmother; Kovac breaks every rule in the book to save a dying Croatian boy who's been smuggled into the country for treatment; Lewis waffles on whether she wants to end things with her "husband" (Donal Logue); and Romano reaches the end of the rope concerning his injured arm.
| When Night Meets Day | Chaotic shifts for Carter and Pratt play out on opposite sides of a solar eclipse that sends a flood of cultists to County after a mass-suicide attempt; and ends with both of the overworked docs reconsidering their futures. Meanwhile, an expectant mother is the victim of a horrifying crime; and Romano undergoes an amputation.
| Kisangani | Two of County's doctors are under fire and in over their heads. After weeks of professional and personal setbacks, Carter leaves the ER---and Abby----behind to join the equally troubled Kovac on a relief mission in war-torn Africa. But upon arrival, the hellish conditions, lack of supplies and rampant disease soon have him clamoring for the comforts (and even the chaos) of Chicago. In time, these unlikely allies realize they are exactly where they're needed most, especially after a skirmish between local rebels and the African government's Army triggers the docs' bloody battle to save a child caught in the crossfire. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
