emERgency (ER)

Member Name: LastLine

Product:	ER
Date:	05/06/09 (6 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap to buy, some brilliant actors, and amazing stories

Disadvantages: It's over!

ER has lasted for 15 years before finally closing the doors on County General Hospital for the last time this year.

The series starts in season one at a very slow pace. It could spend the whole episode focusing on the attack on a young person and the treatment and legal sides that follow this up, giving a fascinating view into the life of a Doctor in an Emergency Room. As time went on and writers, actors and directors became more confident in what they were writing the stories became more adventerous and stories such as the one above would be handled as a subplot to an episode rather than the only plot. This wasn't a bad thing as it allowed us to see the doctor's develop as characters, and develop they did. Taking John Carter for an example, one of the show's longest standing characters, who appears as ain intern in the first show, learns and progresses up a career ladder, is attacked by a patient,acquires a narcotics habbit, gets married, moves to africa, has a baby, and eventually returns to the ER in the end. Of course he's not the only one to make a journey, over the years we see dozens of characters come into and leave the ER each of whom you are made to love or hate for one reason or another. At the end of series 15 (the final one) the cast couldn't be much more different to that of season 1, and yet it still feels strangely familiar, if a little busier.

The show packs some powerful emotional moments over the years, few stronger than the death of Dr. Mark Greene to an inoperable brain tumor, but also counterpoints this with comic moments, such as the death of Dr Romano to a falling helicopter, and the subsequent siege of the ER by tank.

ER isn't just a medical drama, it's a drama of a whole.Not one for those that can't stand the sight of fake blood, but otherwise try it. It's a bargain on DVD these days so there's no excuse not to.

Summary: If you watch one medical drama, make it this one.