The main piece of advice I can give people who are about to watch the thirteenth season of this uber-long running medical drama is to be sure to re-watch the season 12 finale before you jump into this one. ER‘s previous season went out with one of the biggest bangs of the shows history and was a real nail biter for diehard fans as it left the fate of many series favorites in serious jeopardy.

Unfortunately, the conclusion to this awesome cliffhanger episode wasn’t nearly as satisfying; so you’re going to need that adrenaline boost of the finale to keep you interested in the beginning of this new year. Everything gets wrapped up too neatly and far too quickly for my taste.

For those of you not up to speed on current events in Chicago’s ER at County General let me bring you up to date. Nurse Samantha Taggart’s (Linda Cardellini) convict x-husband lied his way into the hospital and managed to take her and her son hostage and speed away… all of this not before shooting up the ER seriously wounding desk attendant Gerry (Abraham Benrubi), paralyzing Dr. Kovac (Goran Visnjic) with an injection called VEC and causing high risk pregnancy Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) to fall to the ground unconscious after being thrown into a wall mind you. Now Kovac is strapped to a bed unable to move starring at his dying girlfriend and unborn son as everyone else struggles to save Gerry and figure out exactly what has just happened. Oh, and Neela (Parminder Nagra) has just found out that her husband, Michael Gallant (Sharif Atkins) was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb. There’s really nothing but good times for the people who work in this hospital.

As with so many previous seasons this one abounds with special guest stars like Sally Field as Abby’s mom, John Mahoney as the drag queen life partner of a dying man, Forest Whitaker as a partially paralyzed man turned predator, Shawn Hatosy giving a fantastic performance as a man with multiple personalities, Annabella Sciorra as a cancer ridden photojournalist and Stacy Keach as Tony Gates’ alcoholic father.

Whitaker‘s recurring storyline is particularly interesting because it does a wonderful job of reminding the viewer of what it must be like on the other end of the conversation. We obviously relate first and foremost to the doctors because we see all of their struggles, their victories and their defeats. But it’s rare that the lens is turned around to the patient side of things. As great as it is to get that other perspective, those episodes are tough to watch because when you’re on that end you don’t want to be there. The docs choose to work in the ER but the patients are forced to be there; when you start sympathizing more with those people you don’t want

to spend as much time watching the show as you used.

In addition to all of the big name guests stars there’s also a Full House of new series regulars and recurring characters including cocky upstart paramedic-turned-doc Tony Gates played by John Stamos, ornery new doc Jane Figler (Sara Gilbert), Jesus-loving starry-eyed intern Hope (Busy Philips), Dr. Weaver’s new love interest news producer Courtney Brown (Michelle Hurd), Dr. Pratt’s gay brother Chaz (Sam Jones III), Stanley Tucci as the new chief of the ER and an all too brief visit from the underappreciated and under-acknowledged Kip Pardue as R.N. Ben Parker, a man with a military background, a way with the ladies and who sadly only lasts for 6 episodes.

The big disaster episode this season, Scoop and Run, was pretty well executed but again not as good as season’s past. The show finds Abby on a chopper that is called to the scene of an MVA where a bus is hanging off of the edge of a cliff. A mother is trapped at the front of the bus and it’s too unstable for the firemen to get aboard to save her; so does Abby tell the woman’s son that she can’t be saved? Or does she break the rules and save her herself nearly being killed in the process? I think you know the answer to that one. Once again Maura Tierney delivers a fantastic performance and proves why Abby is by far and away our favorite nurse-turned-doc.

On the downside, episodes like this definitely date the show as the primitive green screen FX needed for all of the action is more than noticeable. Fortunately, however, it doesn’t detract from the feeling of jeopardy that the sharp writing and great performances are able to evoke.

It’s important to keep in mind that this is the first year of the show where no original characters are featured; Last season even though he had left the show as a series regular, Noah Wyle did return for a few episodes cementing him as the last original regular to appear. Dr. Weaver, while a part of the show in the beginning wasn’t there from the very beginning so she doesn’t count. This was the real test to see if ER was strong enough to stand on its own merits without the names of its former stars. Considering the fact that the show ran for another 2 full years after this season, I’d say it succeeded. It’s never able to recapture the full magic of its early years but it hangs in admirably well.

Speaking of losing characters, this season saw the departure of Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes) in a wonderful episode called Breach of Trust. This episode not only dealt with her leaving the show but also put a very bright spotlight on the victims of Hurricane Katrina and how their suffering

continued for years after the disaster. Another stand out morality questioning episode was Crisis of Conscience where the issue of being paid for organ donation is raised as well as assisted suicide for financial benefit. These types of shows are definitely ER at its best.

Unfortunately, I don’t have all good things to say about this season because it definitely came up in the annoying column in more than a few ways. In fact, the majority of the continuing story arcs really sucked this year. At the top of the list is the new love triangle between Neela, Ray and Tony. They write this show as if Neela is the only eligible woman in the whole of Chicago and she most certainly isn’t. At times the show really could have been re-titled Everybody Loves Neela

Then we have Sam’s kid Alex (Dominic Janes) (the most annoying child character in the history of television) becoming a klepto, then a pyro and worst of all surviving it all! Of all the people who die on this show why he survives is beyond me.

Dr. Pratt learning to be “tolerant” of his younger brothers’ gayness just pissed me off. It’s as though straight people think they deserve some kind of medal for deciding NOT to hate and judge someone based on their sexual preference. It’s like a white guy waiting to be applauded for not judging a black guy for being black. It’s ridiculous.

Then we have new doc Tony Gates’ tumultuous home life with his best friends’ wife and kid and what happens to them when he decides it’s time to move on without them. There’s something about kids on this show in general that never works. They always come off like Alex, annoying, petulant and a wonderful argument for birth control. The same was true in earlier seasons with Mark Green’s (Anthony Edwards) daughter Rachel (Hallee Hirsh).

The season finale here was also pretty weak. It leaves you with some unanswered questions, but the power that’s normally associated with an ER finale is missing. It could also be the fact that the characters that may or may not have survived this year’s final trauma are the ones that we are hoping to lose!

Also missing from this 6 disc DVD set are any special features. Once again all we are given are deleted scenes on certain episodes and that’s all.

As seasons of this once powerful drama go thirteen was certainly not one of their finest, so unless you’re a diehard fan who must have the entire series on DVD I’d skip this one.