ER (season 3)

Plot

Early in Season Three, Susan Lewis leaves for Phoenix to live with her sister and niece. Before she leaves, Greene realizes his feelings for her and races against time to declare them. He makes it to Union Station just as she is boarding the train. He stops her and declares his love, begging her to stay. Susan leaves anyway, but not before kissing Mark and declaring, as the train pulls out of the station, that she loves him too. In the aftermath of her departure, Mark falls into depression, develops a meaner attitude, and starts sleeping with County General nurse Chuny Marquez, although they soon break up. Towards the end of the season, he is attacked in the ER bathroom, and the thug is never caught. Although some suspicions arise over former patients and families, his beating was no more than a random act of violence. He becomes increasingly paranoid about his personal safety and distances himself from friends and family.

Meanwhile, Doug and Carol draw closer, culminating in a kiss at the end of the season. Doug is said to be attending therapy throughout the season, although this is never shown on-screen. This is possibly due to one of his one night stands dying in the hospital just after they were together, and Doug questioning his actions. Carol considers going to medical school, but eventually decides that she loves her work as a nurse too much to change.

Carter, now an intern, continues to lock horns with Benton, especially over Benton's treatment of surgical intern Dennis Gant. This eventually results in Gant committing suicide by throwing himself in front of a train and despite the ER staff's best efforts, Gant eventually dies from his injuries, devastating Carter who begins blaming himself and Benton for not doing more to prevent what he believes was Gant's suicide.

Benton also starts dating Carla Reece, who becomes pregnant and gives premature birth to his son at the end of the season. Weaver supports Jeanie, who is forced to reveal her HIV-status early in the season, when Mark gains unauthorized access to her medical records. While Jeanie struggles with her condition, she becomes involved with a doctor from the Infectious Diseases department, before reuniting with her ex-husband, Al.

Production

Original executive producers John Wells and Michael Crichton reprised their roles. Lydia Woodward joined them as a third executive producer having previously served as a co-executive producer since the first season. Mimi Leder did not return as a co-executive producer having moved into directing feature films. Carol Flint returned as a co-executive producer. Christopher Chulack returned to his role as director and producer and was promoted mid-season to fill Leder's position as director and co-executive producer. Paul Manning returned to his supervising producer post. Long-term crew member Wendy Spence Rosato returned as a co-producer. Neal Baer and Lance Gentile were promoted from their second season positions as executive story editors to co-producers for the third season. Gentile continued to act as the series medical consultant. Penny Adams joined the series as a co-producer mid-season. Finally Michael Hissrich joined the production team in the junior role of associate producer.

Wells, Woodward, Flint, and Manning continued to regularly write episodes, with each contributing to 10 or more episodes this season. Baer and Gentile also continued to regularly write episodes contributing to 8 and 4 episodes respectively. Joe Sachs returned as technical adviser and wrote a further episode. Regular writer Tracey Stern also returned and contributed a further two episodes. Second season writer Belinda Casas Wells also returned and wrote a further two episodes. They were joined on the writing staff by Samantha Howard Corbin and Jason Cahill with three episodes each. Anne Kenney contributed to the story for a single episode. Barbara Hall wrote the teleplay for a single episode.

Chulack continued to regularly direct episodes and helmed a further four episodes in the third season. Richard Thorpe, Félix Enríquez Alcalá, and Rod Holcomb were all returning directors for the third season. Thorpe continued to act as a cinematographer on some episodes in addition to directing. Jonathan Kaplan joined the directing team as a regular and contributed three episodes to the season. Tom Moore and Paris Barclay also made their series debuts and directed two episodes each. The other new single episode directors were David Nutter, series editor Jacque Elaine Toberen, Perry Lang, Davis Guggenheim, and Michael Katleman.

Main cast

Supporting cast

Guest stars