Ambush

Most episodes of this show were frantic and non-stop. This one pushes it even farther, making no attempt to advance the overall plot development. They just let things happen. Almost every successful, multi-year TV series uses the documentary thing. MASH was the first one I remember. Some works. Some does not.

All you can do is look at the highlights and wade through them. The most significant event involved a man who tried to save a kid's life and ended up a quadriplegic. It is more human than medical at this point.

Mark's continuing dealing with his violent beating is dealt with to some degree.

At times there is too much mugging and playing to the camera; although, what would they expect?

A tiring charade of actors acting like bad actors. It does not seem to make sense that the fourth season's first episode is a filler. A slow-paced, disjointed filler.

Most long running series can't resist making an obligatory musical episode, one that enacts a historical storyline with the series regular actors, and of course, the fake documentary with the shaky camera. The going-in-the-past thing usually sort of works, never the highlight of the series, but watchable. The musical was outstanding a few times, and absolutely terrible at others. But the darn documentary... That is invariably the most lousy episode of the entire series. This one is no exception, unfortunately. It's a chore to get through, it's uninteresting, annoying, just all-round bad. ER is one of the greatest shows ever, but even this one has to have a worst episode. Well, look no further, this is it. The only consolation is that once you suffer through it, you can get back to binge-watch the rest of the series in peace, it will stay great to the end.

Just boring, chaotic filming that induces motion sickness.

No story line, no character arc nor development - just a pseudo documentary episode, that tries to emulate COPS. Maybe it was part of a failed attempt of a crossover episode that was fashionable at that time.

Totally pointless, and can be easily skipped without losing any background to the rest of the series.

It is just a flood of ER admittances, quickly shot in succession, with little or no time to explain each patients background or history.

At times there are attempts at humour which fall flat on their face.

I have typed this whilst the episode was running, and finally the credits have appeared! Thank god for small mercies.

Just terrible.

This episode is undoubtedly one of the top-tier ones for me. Watching it live was truly a mind-blowing experience; everything from start to finish was so incredibly smooth, seamless, and well-executed. The attention to detail was remarkable, and it's clear that every person involved in making this happen is highly skilled and incredibly talented. Major props to the entire crew for pulling off such a flawless performance. I truly believe this episode stands out as a prime example of their hard work and dedication. It would have been fantastic if both the East Coast and West Coast versions were available to watch, as it would have been really interesting to compare the two different performances side by side. The contrast in energy and the slight differences in interpretation would definitely add another layer of depth to the experience!