"ER" Recap & Review - "The War Comes Home"

E.R.
"The War Comes Home"

Original Air Date: September 27th, 2007

Amanda - TwoCents Staff Writer

The season premiere starts off where the season finale left off - with the riot. Pratt, Morris, and Abby are all in the bar when they get paged to the E.R. Gates comes in with a kid who has a piece of the protest sign stuck in his chest. He is desperately asking about Neela already. There is also a girl who was crushed by a speaker.

The whole episode revolves around the harshness of the new Head of Emergency. He doesn't let any of the doctors worry about Neela, and he sends Morris and Pratt off because they had been drinking, but very little. Before the first commercial break, Neela is found and brought in under critical condition.

After the commercials, it seems that none of the patients are able to be kept stabilized. Morris and Pratt check each other's alcohol levels so they can help out. Neela flatlines and is brought up to surgery.

Morretti wants to give up on the girl, he says it is hopeless for her. Gates finds out that it wasn't a bomb that went off and started the riot. The girl dies and Gates finds the person responsible for setting off the ... well, whatever was set off. He attacks the man, blaming him for the death of the girl and for all the injuries around them.

Morretti moves Gates to ICU. Neela comes out of surgery. Abby and Morretti have a chat about E.R. rooms and how they were created. "Because of war," Morretti explains. The girl's grandfather strangles the bomb guy. The episode ends with everyone waiting for Neela to wake up.

Overall, I believe that the episode is a good opener. It follows right behind the season finale. However, Shane West will be missed from his full time role. It has a good balance between the characters and the action in the E.R. However, to draw more viewers in, I think that the show needs to pull some of those old characters back, even for a few episodes. Who wouldn't tune into watching George Clooney for an episode or two?