DVD Review: ER - The Complete Ninth Season

Once the excitement in the season premiere simmers down, the show begins to return to its winning formula--new medical students and the requisite relationship issues. Abby and Carter start dating again, and are blissfully happy for about twenty minutes before the same problems and insecurities that ended their relationship the first time, begin to surface. Dr. Kovac (Goran Visnjic), newly single after his breakup with Abby has taken to partying hard and bedding a lot of women. Unfortunately for Dr. Kovac, his partners have included nurses at the hospital and the mothers of young patients. Surgeon Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston) also returns to County General, after a miserable summer as a doctor in her native England convinces her that running away is not going to make dealing with Mark's death any easier.

During season nine, ER's writers and producers effectively dealt with the loss of Eriq LaSalle and Anthony Edwards by creating a series of well crafted and gripping storylines for the regular actors on the show, and bringing in some notable guest stars to add to the quality of the production. Dr. Greg Pratt had always been presented as a brash know-it-all (sort of an early Dr. Peter Benton knockoff), but this season we are introduced to the doctors mentally handicapped brother Leon (Marcello Thedford) whom he's been taking care of for years. While the Leon storyline wasn't the strongest of the season, it did give viewers a look at a different side of Pratt and some understanding as to why he might be so driven to succeed.

Tom Everett Scott (That Thing You Do) has a recurring role as Abby's brother Eric. As it turns out, he suffers from the same manic depressive illness that made life with their mother (Sally Field makes a couple of guest appearances as well) so difficult. This season also features Don Cheadle in his Emmy nominated role as Paul Nathan, a man attempting to make a mid-life career change and become a surgeon, despite suffering from Parkinson's disease. I still think that Cheadle's portrayal of Paul Nathan is one of the most quietly affecting performances I've seen on television in the last decade.

All of those storylines--Pratt's brother, Abby's brother, Paul Nathan--helped keep ER grounded in a sense of reality the audience could relate to. Carter's fight for medical detectors in the hospital was the first real sign of a deep social conscience that would lead him to Africa and eventually away from the E.R. I found it interesting watching season nine, that Carter found it so easy to pull away from Abby as she struggled with her own demons, but has real trouble acknowledging his struggle to reconcile his background as a child of wealth with his need to help others. At season's end, he and Dr. Kovac decide to travel to Africa to help people there.

The other wonderful development during the ninth season of ER was the emotional growth of Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes). Though it was revealed she was a lesbian and had a partnership with EMT Sandy Lopez (Lisa Vidal), her personal life wasn't touched on very much. Things changed this season, when Weaver became pregnant and miscarried the baby. One of the more emotional scenes of the year has the usually iron-willed Weaver emotionally talking with her partner about how to move on. Also, with Weaver getting a new promotion in part because of Romano's accident, she learns more about balancing a lot of different responsibilities and the sacrifices that have to be made to make everything work effectively.

As solid as the ninth season was, I don't know what the creative team at ER was thinking when they decided Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) should impulsively marry an EMT. There was really nothing in her character that suggested she would do that, and besides, the guy was just so loutish; it just made no sense.

Dr. Lewis' impulsive marriage aside, season nine of ER was a strong. The series creative team made up for some significant cast losses by infusing some wonderfully woven story arch's with talented actors that brought a lot to the material. My diagnosis: ER hadn't jumped the shark, yet.

The Complete Ninth Season was shot in widescreen and the DVD transfer is in a matted widescreen format. Audio is available in Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound. Subtitles are available in English, both dialogue-only and a more complicated set for the hearing impaired, as well as French, Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese.
The special features on ER - The Complete Ninth Season are pretty much the same as the last few sets: deleted scenes (a whopping seventeen in this release!) and a Gag Reel that is incorrectly labeled as part of Disc Three (it's on Disc Six.)

Gag Reel (6:46) - Your basic flubs and mishaps from filming.

Outpatient Outtakes - Spread across the six discs are these deleted scenes. The visual quality of the scenes has improved dramatically from earlier seasons, as has the content included. With over seventeen episodes included in this feature, you get a good sense of just how much work hits the cutting room floor.