This article contains mentions of abuse and sexual assault.
ERfollows the team of doctors in Cook County General Hospital’s emergency department as they tackle some extremely dark moments in their professional and personal lives.ERlasted for 15 seasonsand was the show that launchedGeorge Clooney’s acting career. It is still considered one of the most successful and popular medical dramas of all time.
ERis not as complex as diagnostics-focused medical shows likeHouse, and many of the cases are fairly commonplace for an emergency room. That said,the best episodes ofERare often about the struggle of the team to save lives, rather than detective work. The show portrays human tragedy extremely well, and often goes to some very disturbing places.
10Time Of Death
Season 11, Episode 6
People often forgetERguest stars,butRay Liotta’s appearance in the season 11ERepisode “Time Of Death” won him an Emmy Awardfor “Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.” Liotta plays Charlie Metcalf, an alcoholic who arrives at the hospital with stomach pains and tries to reconcile with his estranged son. The episode humanizes the doctors as he reminds them that he is a person, telling them his name, before things get dark.
The ER episodes featured in this article
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Many dismissed Charlie as a homeless person and drug addict, and the episode makes the point that he is humanand does not deserve to be treated as anything less than that. Charlie is kind to another patient, and has a backstory and people who love him.ERshows his slow and inevitable death, while bringing out the compassion of the doctors, making it one of the most heartbreaking episodes of the show.
9Fear
Season 11, Episode 4
ERseason 11 contains some of the darkest episodes of the show, and “Fear” deals with some extremely traumatic subjects. The episode begins with a mother encouraging her children to jump out of a window, and continues in the ER as the doctors attempt to save their lives. Unlike many dramas at the time,ERoften showed the deaths of children, and “Fear” is no exception.
The mother’s actions appeared to be a desperate attempt to save her children from her abusive ex-husband, but there’s a horrible twist to come. One of the surviving children tells Pratt that “he was never there.” The reveal that the mother was experiencing psychosis after valium withdrawal makes “Fear” one of the most disturbingERepisodes of all time.
8Love’s Labor Lost
Season 1, Episode 19
“Love’s Labor Lost” is a relatively early episode inER’s 15-season run, but it isan episode that defined the showfrom then on.It is a realistic look at how some routine cases can spiral into tragedy, and this episode concerns a pregnant woman. Mrs. Sylvia O’Brien arrives with UTI symptoms, but something else is wrong with her pregnancy, resulting in her death.
It shows the devastation and hopelessness Dr. Greene feels when he cannot save Sylvia.
As well as being a harrowing look into maternal death, it shows the devastation and hopelessness Dr. Greene feels when he cannot save Sylvia, despite his best efforts.Love’s Labor Lost wonERfive Emmy Awards, and is an excellent example of the show’s writing and storytelling. Medical dramas are not always realistic, but this episode truly shows the horror of a common situation.
7Chaos Theory
Season 9, Episode 1
TheERepisode “Chaos Theory” might not have been one of its darkest at the time of watching, but it feels extremely forebodingfor a modern, post-COVID audience. The episode addresses the idea that the smallest actions can affect significant events, and covers an epidemic breaking out in the hospital. “Chaos Theory” is filmed in a very disjointed way, making it disconcerting for the viewer.
The episode focuses on the staff’s fear and turmoil surrounding triage and deciding who to prioritize. The stakes suddenly become even higher, with the order of assistance changing in a split second, whenRomano’s arm is cut off by a helicopter’s blade. This is a scene that feels as though it belongs in a horror movie, and comes with no warning.
6Blackout
Season 14, Episode 7
“Blackout” concerns the personal lives of some of the main characters, especially Abby.Modern viewers are likely to find thisERepisode one of the darkest, as it is a departure from modern understanding of sexual assault. The formerly sober Abby relapses during a heatwave while Luka is in Croatia and gets blackout drunk in Moretti’s company, waking up in his bed.
“Blackout” is now one of the most controversial episodes ofER, as the show portrayed Abby’s actions as cheating at the time the episode was released. Today, with a better understanding of the fact that drunk people cannot consent, it is clear that Moretti sexually assaulted Abby. This makes the episode extremely disturbing in hindsight.
5Middleman
Season 11, Episode 13
Manymedical drama tropes would never happen in real life, butERtackles a kind of story that is rarely addressed in similar shows. The most harrowing medical case in the episode “Middleman” concerns Thomas, a young boy who is being bullied. When Thomas arrives at the hospital with a chest injury, Pratt overrides Wendall and his him discharged, and this decision ends in tragedy.
Thomas claims that he hurt his chest while climbing a fence, but he is actually being beaten by his schoolmates.When Thomas comes back to the hospital, it is in an ambulance, and he is covered in bruises. Despite Pratt trying to undo his mistake by saving Thomas' life, he is unable to save him. The death of a child is even more disturbing knowing he was murdered by other children.
4Night Shift
Season 3, Episode 11
Stress is a harsh reality of life in the medical profession, and theERepisode “Night Shift” captures this in a very dark way. The episode contains aheartbreaking TV twist, which reflects the stress that the staff in the ER are under. The overworked intern, Dr. Dennis Gant, is struggling with being mentored by Dr. Benton, and struggles with telling somebody about his mistreatment.
Later, the ER staff are working on a quiet night shift, when a patient is brought in having been struck by a train. His face is so injured that it is impossible to identify him, butwhen Benton tells Lydia to page Gant, the horrible twist is revealed. The patient’s pager goes off, revealing that it is Gant himself, and he cannot be saved.
3The Storm
Season 5, Episodes 14 - 15
George Clooney was undoubtedlyER’s breakout star, and the episode “The Storm” showed his skillswhile cementing the show as one ofthe best TV medical dramas of all time. That said, the two-part story goes to some dire places in its central moral dilemma, which addresses euthanasia. Doug Ross has been treating a terminally ill boy who is declining, and the choice he makes is extremely controversial.
Doug’s decision to teach the boy’s mother how to administer a deadly dose of medication allows the boy to pass away peacefully, but the consequences are serious. When the hospital investigates the death, Doug resigns before he can be fired, marking his exit from the show.ERoften tackled subjects that few other shows did, and this is one of the best examples.
2A Simple Twist Of Fate
Season 8, Episode 14
Most medical dramas show a character fighting a medical crisis themselvesat some point, and this has become a trope of the genre. That said, few do it as well as ER, in the episode “A Simple Twist of Fate.” Dr. Mark Greene discovered that his brain tumor has returned in this episode, and his slow realization is upsetting for both the characters and the viewers.
ER’s Dr. Greene was played by Anthony Edwards, who left the show because he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Greene accidentally bites his tongue, and when Susan has a look, he can only stick his tongue out to the side. While he and the viewer understand at this point that it is likely his tumor is back,ERkills off Mark later in season 8. That said, his combination of fear and helplessness in “A Simple Twist of Fate” is relatable.
1Be Still My Heart
Season 6, Episode 13
“Be Still My Heart” has two of the darkest scenes inER,with a tragic accident and the death of a main character. The Valentine’s Day episode begins with Lucy examining a patient suffering a mental health break and other doctors fighting to save a patient in the aftermath of a car accident.
The patients in the crash die in front of their children, but the episode gets darker still. Carter goes to check on Lucy, but is stabbed in the back by her patient.
The awful twist is revealed when he falls to the ground, to see Lucy already on the floor, covered in blood.Several doctors die inER, and Lucy’s death is not only extremely gory, but one of the scariest scenes in all ofER.
