ER (season 10)

The tenth season of the American fictional drama television series ER first aired on September 25, 2003 and concluded on May 13, 2004. The tenth season consists of 22 episodes.

ER
Season 10
DVD cover
Starring
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes22
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseSeptember 25, 2003 
May 13, 2004
Season chronology

Plot

New characters arrive in the form of medical student Neela Rasgotra, hapless resident Archie Morris, and Nurse Samantha Taggart who fills the void left by Abby who returns to medical school. The aftermath of Kovač and Carter's mission in Africa becomes a key story throughout the season, a Thanksgiving tragedy sees the end of Romano, Lewis copes with an unexpected pregnancy, Pratt's professionalism is tested again by his colleagues, Gallant is deployed to Iraq and Chen and Weaver both deal with personal losses. Kovač returns from Africa, determined to settle his affairs and return. Sam and Kovač share a relationship but Sam's ex boyfriend arrives.

Cast

Main cast

Supporting cast

Special appearances

Episodes

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code
US viewers
(millions)
2021"Now What?"Jonathan KaplanJohn WellsSeptember 25, 2003 (2003-09-25)17600123.22[1]

The ER is undergoing extensive renovations. Carter returns from Africa to find a hostile Abby and they exchange numerous unhappy, bitter words. Meanwhile, a new medical student, Neela Rasgotra, causes a stir when she unexpectedly helps a patient - and angers Chen as Pratt flirts with her. Romano sports a new look after removal of his arm. Kerry delivers all of her statements by screaming at whoever is near her. When Neela informs the ER of Luka's supposed death in Africa, Carter returns to Africa in the hope of finding Luka's body.


NOTE: First Appearance of medical student (later Dr.) Neela Rasgotra.
2032"The Lost"Christopher ChulackJohn WellsOctober 2, 2003 (2003-10-02)17600220.77[2]
Carter returns to the Congo to search for Kovač's body and reunites with several associates. Kovač's story in the Congo after Carter's departure is told in flashbacks as he battles debilitating malaria while delaying evacuation and is captured by the rebels, who murder a number of Westerners and un-affiliated Congo citizens. Carter, however, learns that the rebels mistook Kovač for a priest, thanks to a cross necklace given to him by a patient, and left Kovač alive. After rescuing his friend, Carter arranges for Kovač's return to Chicago while volunteering to stay himself.
2043"Dear Abby"Christopher ChulackR. Scott GemmillOctober 9, 2003 (2003-10-09)17600320.05[3]

Abby's frustrating day starts with an awful round of managing triage and gets worse when she gets a special "Dear Abby" letter from Carter in the Congo while her fellow nurses threaten a walkout and her opinions are ignored. Romano's mood gets nastier when he is fitted with an antiquated hook for his missing arm. Pratt uneasily meets Chen's old-fashioned parents for dinner in what turns into the last supper of their relationship. Also, three new second-year residents join the staff - including bumbling Archie Morris and the self-assured Dr. "Coop".


NOTE: First Appearance of Dr. Archie Morris.
2054"Shifts Happen"Julie HébertDee JohnsonOctober 23, 2003 (2003-10-23)17600418.01[4]
Pratt and Weaver wind up on the wrong side of two judgment calls during a hellacious night shift that also finds Abby secretly seeking funds to return to medical school, leading to a frosty meeting with her ex-husband. Neela deals with a little girl who arrives with her beloved grandmother whose status is DNR. Corday warms up to Dr. Dorset.
2065"Out of Africa"Jonathan KaplanDavid ZabelOctober 30, 2003 (2003-10-30)17600519.91[5]

Kovač's first day back in the ER is a busy one. Lewis fears for a distraught architect, Ben Hollander (Bob Newhart), whose degenerating eyesight makes him despondent. A spirited new nurse, Samantha "Sam" Taggart, replaces Abby - who returns to medical school but also continues to work as a nurse to afford the tuition. Morris is left greatly overwhelmed by the chaos and grisly conditions of life in the ER, especially a case involving an injured child and his desperate, alcoholic mother.


NOTE: First Appearance of Nurse Sam Taggart.
2076"The Greater Good"Richard ThorpeR. Scott GemmillNovember 6, 2003 (2003-11-06)17600620.04[6]
Pratt and Kovač clash over a miscarriage-prone young woman who arrives to deliver a premature baby, as Kovač seeks to stop inefficient ER practices; Lewis goes above and beyond the call of duty to help Ben Hollander cope with his failing vision; and Coop makes a romantic play for Chen.
2087"Death and Taxes"Félix Enríquez AlcaláDee JohnsonNovember 13, 2003 (2003-11-13)17600720.66[7]
Lewis's busy workload threatens to keep her from an important date with Hollander, who makes a critical decision on his own; Kovač and Corday clash over the treatment of a patient with questionable symptoms; and Sam's son spends a day underfoot at the ER. Meanwhile, Gallant must gamble with a risky hospital transfer to help a young septic cancer patient, Romano lets Pratt know he's out to wreck his career as soon as he has enough information to do so, Chen gets bad news from China about her parents, and a young prison inmate is brought in for treatment and receives a worst-case diagnosis of AIDS after being raped. Romano, having previously been rude and possibly homophobic about treating the young man, is clearly upset about having to deliver the bad news. Abby works to treat a family involved in an accident with no apparent serious injuries only for the baby to be brought back with a skull fracture by the mother's boyfriend. While originally suspected to be a medical error, Abby and Lewis realize on review of the baby's test results that the boyfriend is abusive and call Social Services.
2098"Freefall"Christopher ChulackJoe SachsNovember 20, 2003 (2003-11-20)17600823.41[8]

A Thanksgiving helicopter tragedy high above the ER has the County staff racing to aid the survivors. Elsewhere, Romano "fires" the brash Pratt and catches Morris with cannabis. Lewis fears the worst about one of the possible casualties and she is right. Romano was in the ambulance bay and the chopper lands on him, inflicting fatal injuries. Also, Kovač enjoys Thanksgiving dinner with Sam and her son Alex.


NOTE: Final Regular Appearance of Dr. Robert Romano.
2109"Missing"Jonathan KaplanDavid ZabelDecember 4, 2003 (2003-12-04)17600920.72[9]
Two distinct cultures collide when Neela treats two Amish teenagers involved in a car accident. Corday is the only person who is mourning the loss of Romano. Elsewhere, Sam clashes with sympathetic Kovač when he pays too much attention to her trouble-prone son Alex, Gallant is happy when his sister visits but she is more interested in hanging out with Pratt, and Abby is pained when an unconscious 5-year-old girl cannot be traced to any parent or guardian.
21110"Makemba"Christopher ChulackJohn WellsDecember 11, 2003 (2003-12-11)17601219.72[10]
On Christmas Eve, a chilled emergency room staff do their best to observe the holiday while a crusading Carter does the same half a world away as his friendship and romantic relationship with Makemba, an Anglo-Congolese AIDS worker, is revealed.
21211"Touch and Go"Richard ThorpeMark MoroccoJanuary 8, 2004 (2004-01-08)17601022.83[11]
Carter returns from Africa full of surprises including a pregnant new love, Makemba ("Kem"). Pratt accidentally breaks a patient's neck while doing an unsupervised intubation. A whole nursing shift cannot go home until they find one missing Valium. Luka weighs his plans for the future: Chicago or the Congo. Gallant doesn't hide that he is displeased his sister slept with Pratt but it's Pratt who gets the extra bad news for his generally terrible day.
21312"NICU"Laura InnesLisa ZwerlingJanuary 15, 2004 (2004-01-15)17601121.65[12]
Neela and Abby face their toughest rotation ever after being assigned to the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where Weaver and Sandy need help with their newly born son, Henry. A case involving a very ill infant tests the souls of all the doctors. Abby does well whereas Neela struggles, but both ultimately decide against going into neo-natology.
21413"Get Carter"Lesli Linka GlatterR. Scott GemmillFebruary 5, 2004 (2004-02-05)17601322.20[13]
Carter's girlfriend, Kem, steps on more than a few toes while spending a day observing County in action. Pratt has a hard night and questions his abilities as he treats a variety of patients. Gallant accompanies the paramedics and is almost shot in a violent domestic dispute when he befriends a frightened boy. Lewis turns down a promotion due to an imminent change in her lifestyle. Weaver gets the last laugh on Romano by using his financial bequest to the hospital to start a gay and lesbian health program.
21514"Impulse Control"Jonathan KaplanYahlin ChangFebruary 12, 2004 (2004-02-12)17601421.95[14]
Life and death assume an even higher profile as single-mother Sam treats an abused and newly pregnant teen. After the boyfriend gets too rough with her, Sam beats him up and faces disciplinary action. Though she leaves with her boyfriend, the teen later returns, presumably to seek Sam's help in getting out of her abusive situation. At the same time, the ER deals with victims of a multi-vehicle accident caused when a man's heart troubles means he passes out and hits two other cars with his Hummer, including a family. Though the mother of the family is alright, her daughter is missing and her husband and son suffer fatal injuries, ultimately dying. Though the worst is feared about the daughter, Abby eventually locates her at another hospital and she proves to be alright. At the same time, Abby and Pratt treat a patient with a swollen knee who Pratt wants to treat and release while Abby wants to run tests; Abby is proven to be right when she learns that the swelling comes from improperly-treated tuberculosis. Pratt and Abby argue over how to get the man to seek treatment with Pratt arguing for a harsher method. In the end, Abby and Pratt set aside their differences to force the patient into treatment by using a combination of their differing methods. Carter shows Kem the city and proposes they move into a townhouse he bought for them but she decides to return to Africa. And Kovač receives a sexy late-night visit from Sam. Due to a lawsuit surrounding the deceased Doctor Romano, the hospital hires an HR consultant who urges Weaver to fire what he sees as an unruly staff.
21615"Blood Relations"Nelson McCormickDee JohnsonFebruary 19, 2004 (2004-02-19)17601522.83[15]
Neela is faced with crippling claustrophobia while trapped in a hyperbaric chamber with a newborn baby suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. The baby's family suffers from it as well with the fact that the mother went into stress-induced labour which woke her up being the only thing that saved them all. The family is expected to make a full recovery, but Neela suffers some health complications of her own from the way she handled her claustrophobia. Meanwhile, Chen returns from China with her ailing father; Weaver breaks the bad news to a mother about her son's leukemia, and Sam ponders the repercussions of her night with Kovač.
21716"Forgive and Forget"Christopher ChulackBruce MillerFebruary 26, 2004 (2004-02-26)17601621.87[16]
Sam is troubled when Kovač has a visitor from Africa; Abby is angry when Morris discharges a patient when he should go to the psychiatric ward, but Morris pays the price when the patient comes to kill him with a tank which results in the man getting shot. A broken young woman (Jessica Chastain) isn't sympathetic to the agonies of her crippled father. Sam believes that the man wants them to stop advanced treatment, but the daughter disagrees and he is resuscitated when he crashes; Sam subsequently learns that the daughter was a victim of long-term sexual abuse by her father. Corday is charmed by a fellow surgeon while desk clerk Frank Martin finds himself fighting for his life after suffering a heart attack. Neela and Pratt are the two unlikely doctors who successfully save him and, in the process, surprising facts about Frank's life are revealed, including the deep respect he has for the colleagues he puts down on a daily basis.
21817"The Student"Paul McCraneDavid ZabelApril 1, 2004 (2004-04-01)17601719.24[17]
After the senior ER leadership ponders the prospects of the med students (they like Abby, think Lester's a joke, and feel Neela is talented but simply not cut out for emergency work) Carter urges Neela to be more pro-active in the ER, then she goes too far in treating a brain-injury patient - and a sympathetic Gallant errs further by falsifying a medical report. Kovač treats the disoriented young son of a man who fears that tests will reveal he's not the boy's father. Chen scrambles to find an appropriate caregiver for her ailing father. Corday is uneasy about dating two men, while a pervert annoys a pregnant Lewis and somehow ends up getting everything he wanted.
21918"Where There's Smoke"Tawnia McKiernanJacy YoungApril 8, 2004 (2004-04-08)17601819.99[18]

Weaver rushes to the aid of her female partner Sandy Lopez when the firefighter is severely injured on the job and must fight for her life. Lewis suffers labor pains and is confined to bed rest, while tension remains between Gallant and Neela as an investigation begins into the suspicious death. Later, Gallant reveals to Neela that he will be deployed to Iraq. Sam is surprised by the arrival of Alex's dad. Corday discovers that she is the new Head of Surgery.


NOTE: Final Regular Appearance of Dr. Michael Gallant.
22019"Just a Touch"Richard ThorpeR. Scott GemmillApril 22, 2004 (2004-04-22)17601919.85[19]
A breast exam lands Pratt in hot water when a woman informally accuses the young doctor of sexual harassment. Abby ponders how to get the attention of her contentious patients during her psych rotation and Neela finds herself studying strokes in a lab populated by brainy but bizarre graduate students. Weaver vows to fight for her baby son and Chen is at wit's end when she brings her combative and ailing father home. Sam is baffled by her ex's return — and Kovač's take on the new man in Alex's life.
22120"Abby Normal"Jonathan KaplanDavid ZabelApril 29, 2004 (2004-04-29)17602022.03[20]
Weaver considers drastic action to keep Lopez's folks from taking custody of Henry. Abby is in the midst of her psychiatric rotation and tries to help a seizure-prone mother with a controversial drug treatment. Pratt lays into Neela for avoiding the ER to work in a lab. Kovač's relationship with Sam and her son Alex grows awkward when Alex's father returns. Carter impresses a returning Kem — but annoys his father — with a shake-up at his family's foundation.
22221"Midnight"Julie HebértJohn WellsMay 6, 2004 (2004-05-06)17602128.37[21]
Carter is alarmed as he rushes his pregnant girlfriend Kem into the ER when he suspects trouble but learns the baby died from an unforeseeable accident. Despite his grief, Carter must help Kem say goodbye to their son after he is stillborn. Corday gets a jolt from the past when the late Dr. Greene's teen daughter Rachel shows up with her boyfriend looking for a haven - and some "morning-after" pills. Neela prepares for her graduation while Abby prefers to sit it out, as Abby was earlier insulted by Kerry over the likelihood of her not passing her boards on a second attempt. Sam's ex makes his intentions clear to Kovač.
22322"Drive"Jonathan KaplanDee JohnsonMay 13, 2004 (2004-05-13)17602223.88[22]
While helping a stranded mother and child, Kovač witnesses a horrific car accident when a drunk and high man hits the people Kovač is helping. The mother survives thanks to Corday but requires an amputation of both of her legs. Though her son is severely injured and nearly dies, Carter manages to save his life. Abby struggles to deal with a terminal colon cancer patient who feels alone at the end of his life while worried about the lack of word on her board results. Abby helps put the man's mind at ease by calling in some of his former students to show him the impact he has made on other people's lives. Abby eventually learns that Frank simply failed to give her her letter and she passed. Neela heads for the University of Michigan to begin her internship but decides not to follow through. Her fellow doctors question the bruises on Chen's face which are revealed to have been caused by her ailing father. Pratt keeps a mentoring eye on a young heart patient, Elgin while also dealing with the intoxicated driver who hit Kovač's patients, facing a minimum of twenty-five years in prison for his actions. Weaver hopes to gain custody of her son and Sam flees with Alex after Steve settles down in Chicago. Pratt leases a Chrysler 300C, and while showing off the vehicle's Hemi performance, he, Chen, and Elgin become the victims of road rage and gunfire by an irritated motorist.

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