| Four Corners (season premiere) | Jumping back and forth in time over a single day, this episode follows Carter as he deals with his chilly socialite parents (Michael Gross, Mary McDonnell) during his grandfather's funeral; Greene, who is hiding the role he played in a killer's death; and Weaver, who returns to work fearing she's been outed. Amid all of this, Cleo suffers the side effects of her HIV treatment; Benton's sister (Khandi Alexander) begins to unravel over the loss of her son; and the ER is filled with patients after a brawl erupts during a local talk show.
| The Longer You Stay | Gridlock in the ER leaves an off-duty Carter to handle Chen and Malucci's fatal error; Benton gets tragic news about Carla; Kovac ends it with Abby after she shows her true colors; and Mark begins to see the downside of being married to a fellow doctor. Meanwhile, a man from Kerry's past arrives with a lead on her birth mother.
| Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic | Weaver takes dire action after catching Malucci with his pants down; Greene's teen daughter drops by County with some unexpected news; an abandoned baby in Chen's care seems to have healing powers; and Abby ropes Carter into helping her fix a fishy mistake she made while clearing her stuff out of Luka's place.
| Never Say Never | Original ER cast member Sherry Stringfield returns as Dr. Susan Lewis. After admitting her feelings for Greene (Anthony Edwards) as she left for Phoenix in November of 1996, Lewis is back in Chicago to interview at another facility. But first, she stops by County to meet her now-married ex-crush for lunch and sees that a lot---including most of the staff---has changed since she's been gone. So when yet another physician at the hospital quits after a showdown with Kerry (Laura Innes), Greene decides to hire back his old friend without thinking about how the news will sit with his wife (Alex Kingston).
| Start All Over Again | On her first day back, Lewis puts her new job in jeopardy after clashing with Kerry over a pregnant teen who may be deported if her folks learn of her condition. Meanwhile, Corday comes under fire after losing a patient to an odd infection she may be spreading; Carter's grandmother arrives in need of medical care, but she's opposed to his aid; and Abby bristles at a newly emerging relationship in the ER.
| Supplies and Demands | Carter and Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) race to stop a possible outbreak after two college students test positive for meningitis; a specialist shadows Corday to find the root of the infection that has killed four of her elderly patients; Abby has a hard time letting Luka go, especially once his enigmatic lady friend (Julie Delpy) scores a job at the hospital; and Benton squares off with Roger over his expanded---and irritating----role in Reese's life.
| If I Should Fall from Grace |
Carter discovers the sad truth about what's ailing his grandmother (Frances Sternhagen); Roger sues Benton for custody of Reese; Nicole (Julie Delpy) gets a grim life lesson during her first day of training as a nurse's aide; and Corday gets a possible lead on why so many of her patients are dying.
| Partly Cloudy, Chance of Rain | As a storm soaks Chicago, Kerry and Gallant (Sharif Atkins) race to save a pregnant woman trapped in a crashed ambulance surrounded by live power lines; Carter's grandmother arrives with a mysterious injury and a morbid link to a hit-and-run victim; and Greene treats a teen taking the fall for losing his baby brother in a flooded river. Meanwhile, Benton's hopes of winning custody of Reese are dashed by a fateful DNA test; Cleo ends her days at County General; and Nicole gives Luka bad news after being busted for burglary.
| Quo Vadis? | This pivotal episode spins several staffers into new directions. For Benton (Eriq LaSalle), the change may not be a good one as his demanding schedule at the hospital gives Roger (Vondie Curtis-Hall) the upper hand in their court case for custody of Reese. Back at County General, however, things look up for Carter, who finally makes a move on Lewis after treating a newlywed's odd allergy, and for Kerry (Laura Innes), who catches a romantic break in the form of a flirty firefighter (Lisa Vidal). Meanwhile, Cleo tries to avoid goodbyes during her final shift; and Nicole (Julie Delpy) drops a new bombshell on Luka regarding the baby she's carrying.
| I'll Be Home for Christmas | Original cast member Eriq LaSalle scrubs in the ER for the last time after eight years, as Benton's custody battle for his hearing-impaired son reaches a dramatic climax. Backed into a corner by Romano, Benton must choose between practicing and parenting. But just as it starts to look like Roger (Vondie Curtis Hall) has the upper hand in court, Cleo (Michael Michelle) offers the desperate doc a chance to save his case...and possibly his career. Meanwhile, Carter's father (Michael Gross) drops a holiday bombshell; and the staff prays for a miracle after a boy is accidentally shot by his mom on Christmas Eve.
| Beyond Repair | As a cold front hits, Carter tries to hash things out with his mom (Mary McDonnell) and has a chilling run-in with a killer from his past; Kerry's closeted lifestyle sends Lopez packing; and Abby spends her birthday falling into a dangerous old habit. Meanwhile, Lewis tries to help a prisoner avoid a certain death sentence; and Mark finds cause for alarm among Rachel's things.
| A River in Egypt | Lopez takes drastic action to push Kerry out of the closet; Romano rehires a vengeful Chen (Ming-Na); Abby tries---and fails---to help her neighbor escape an abusive situation; and Mark makes a decision about Rachel's future in Chicago. Meanwhile, Carter gets roped into playing peacemaker between his mother (Mary McDonnell) and his absentee dad; and Lewis battles to keep an injured inmate safe from the men assigned to guard him.
| Damage Is Done | Mark faces the awful truth about Rachel after Ella's rushed to County for what he fears may be a drug overdose; Abby puts herself in the line of fire by taking in her battered neighbor (Christina Hendricks); and Carter's mother (Mary McDonnell) reaches out to a dying child in hopes of righting a past wrong. Meanwhile, Kerry takes the low road to punish Susan for accepting a promotion; and Chen decides it's time to lose the gloves in her dealings with a duplicitous colleague.
| A Simple Twist of Fate | Four of the County General staffers face life-altering complications. As baby Ella fights for her life after swallowing Rachel's secret stash of Ecstasy, a shattered Corday (Alex Kingston) lashes out at the teen in a move that rocks the Greene house. Meanwhile, Abby (Maura Tierney) pays a steep price for saving her neighbor from a violent situation; a dying patient's plight leads Carter to confront his mother (Mary McDonnell) about their painful family past; and Mark (Anthony Edwards) sees his worst nightmare resurfacing.
| It's All in Your Head | Greene keeps Corday in the dark after dire news forces him to seek emergency treatment---and another woman's assistance; Chen is baffled by a coma patient in the early stages of labor; and Abby learns that her home is no longer safe from her violent neighbor. Meanwhile, the ER is flooded with families, each torn apart by the mistakes of one member.
| Secrets and Lies | A mishap with a dominatrix patient's bag of tricks lands Luka, Abby, Lewis, Carter and Gallant in a sexual harassment class, where tensions run high among various couplings. And by the the end of the day, one pair is forced to face the truth about their dead-in-the-water romance.
| Bygones | Romano forces Corday to work in the ER, where she begins to realize that Susan may hold the key to her estranged husband's disturbing behavior; Weaver tries to keep it together after Lopez is reported to have been lost in a school fire; a pair of college students are rushed into surgery following a knife attack on campus that hits close to home for one of the County staffers; and Abby settles into life at Luka's while she searches for a new home.
| Orion in the Sky | Training a zealous intern (Mekhi Phifer) leads Greene to a life-altering realization about the future of his own medical care---and his ability to provide it to others. Elsewhere, a junkie gets a lesson in life's hardships after she goes into premature labor; a museum worker displays signs of a legendary ailment usually attributed to the undead; and Corday is forced to give in to a terminal patient's demands to die with dignity.
| Brothers and Sisters | This tense episode launches a crossover storyline with Third Watch. It begins when Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) receives a cryptic call from her young niece that leaves her fearing the worst about her troubled sister, Chloe (Kathleen Wilhoite). Lewis traces the call to a New York hotel, but when help arrives, the room is empty. Desperate, she flies to Manhattan and enlists Third Watch cops Yokas and Bosco (Molly Price, Jason Wiles) to search for her loved ones, but what they discover only leads to more questions. Back at County General, Carter realizes that Abby has picked up an old habit; and Corday makes a dramatic decision about her future with the ailing Mark.
| The Letter | A letter from Mark prompts Carter to confront Abby about her drinking, while Kerry sees the note as a reason to check her health and try her hand at romance. Meanwhile, a car crash reveals a shocking truth about Lewis's teen patient; and Pratt gets bad news about where he'll be spending his internship.
| On the Beach | Anthony Edwards plays Dr. Mark Greene for the last time. In the affecting episode (written and directed by executive producer John Wells), Mark is in Hawaii after leaving County General to enjoy what little time he has left. With him is his daughter Rachel (Hallee Hirsh), and Mark hopes the trip will give the often antagonistic pair a chance to reconnect and heal some old wounds before it's too late. Then the unexpected arrival of Corday (Alex Kingston) and baby Ella allows the weakening Mark to see his fractured family reunited.
| Lockdown (season finale) | The drama ends its eighth season with the ER in a state of emergency. The usual chaos at County General quickly goes from frenzied to frightening when two children are brought in with symptoms eerily similar to smallpox. Racing to stem a possible plague---and national panic---Carter immediately orders an ER lockdown, with Kerry (Laura Innes) outside and a waiting room full of anxious patients inside. As Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) attempts to contact the CDC about a vaccine, one patient's condition continues to detoriorate, while two of County's newest residents begin to show symptoms of exposure. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
