 Not Rated
Starring: Anthony Edwards, Noah Wyle, Laura Innes, Alex Kington
Created By: Michael Crichton
Sustaining quality storylines season after season is an
achievement for which every long-running television show strives. ER
is one of the few that gets it right. ER -The Complete Seventh
Season (which aired in 2000-2001) is six DVDs and 22 episodes of solid
storytelling, told in a fast pace, which mimics the emergency room
itself.
DVD features:
-
Outpatient Outtakes - Unaired scenes from most (but not all)
episodes. These are fun to watch if you are an ER junkie and
just can't get enough of the show.
- Cutups - Gag Reel. Nine minutes of the usual verbal and physical
bloopers with an occasional prank thrown in, obviously made to entertain cast
and crew at the season's wrap party, but entertaining to us mortals
nonetheless.
From the opening scene (which takes up where season six left off),
we feel the pressure facing Dr. John Carter as he returns to work after
suffering a near-fatal stabbing, and entering rehab for the related pain
medication addiction he suffered as a result. The story then jumps
forward three month's time, and the pace of Carter's life, and the show
itself, are ratcheted up a notch.
After six years of top television ratings, it would be
easy to understand if the show had started taking on a more
formulaic tone, but that is far from what we get in the seventh
season. Even though half of the original cast that began season one
at Chicago's fictional County General Hospital are no longer there, this is a
series which has managed to smoothly blend new and established characters in
storylines that make us care about all of them.
Starting with the first scene in
each episode, we become invested in both the personal and professional lives of
the doctors and nurses at County General, and guest stars often add to the
mix. As both patients and loved ones of the principal characters,
guest stars shine in their own right, enhancing the on-going stories.
For
example, James Cromwell poignantly plays a Catholic bishop who dies
slowly over the course of several episodes, which allows for revelations
about Dr. Luca Kovac's tragic past to be intertwined. Sally Field
returns in her Emmy-winning performance as Abby Lockhart's bipolar
mother, and Abby has to balance this family issue and her increasingly
complicated relationships with Drs. Carter and Kovac.
Television
veterans Tom Bosley and the late Tom Poston appear as battling senior citizens,
and Jim Belushi, in an unusual dramatic performance, plays a concerned father
who was in an auto accident with his son. Some storylines are more deeply
fleshed out than others, but each is given full respect for its topic,
and thus feels believable to the viewer.
This is the season that Dr.
Kerry Weaver, a disabled doctor in a position of power, has to confront her
homosexuality. The subject is treated with honesty and respect, and once
again shows why the ensemble cast of ER has endured: each
actor has a chance to shine in stories written specifically for his or her
character, and we really care about these medical professionals as
regular people.
As usual, the finale is full of heart-pounding action which sets us up to
wait in anticipation for season eight. We can't wait to see how these
characters grow, handle their personal dilemmas, and deal with very realistic
situations in future episodes. Whether adding to your collection of
ER seasons, or discovering the show for the first time, this is a DVD
set not to be missed.
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