Greene has his own problems trying to manage a long-distance marriage, while nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) bounces back from her aborted first-series marriage attempt to start a new relationship with paramedic Shep (Ron Eldard, who also became Margulies' real-life partner). She buys her first house and enjoys an entire series out of the companionship of Doug Ross (George Clooney), who as always runs into problems with his cowboy style and philandering ways. But just when he's finally driven himself out of ER, he has to go play hero when he finds a boy pinned in a storm drain in an episode that was nominated for six Emmys and remains one of the, excuse the pun, high-water marks of the series. That and such episodes as "The Healers," which deals with the aftermath of Shep's daring fire rescue, prove that when ER was at its best, it was as good as anything on television.

Guest appearances include Lucy Liu as the mother of an AIDS-stricken boy, Red Buttons as an elderly husband, Joanna Gleason as an infomercial producer and Jake Lloyd (The Phantom Menace) as the son of a prostitute. DVD bonus features are a little lighter than on the first-series set, consisting of a commentary track (by co-executive producer Mimi Leder, editor Randy Jon Morgan and Laura Innes) on the series' first episode and "The Healers", a nine-minute spotlight on "Hell and High Water", an 11-minute piece on the series' multiple directors, 14 minutes of outtakes and a gag reel. --David Horiuchi

Second series - the "sophomore year" - are renowned for failing to live up to the promise of the first year and by and large ER does not fall into this trap. The camera work continues to push boundaries, being inventive and extremely effective in giving a sense of emergency during the trauma scenes, while also heightening the emotion in the other scenes. The acting again is flawless, not only from the six "regular" actors, but also from the supporting cast and guest stars.

Where the second series differs slightly from the first is that there is a far greater focus on the private lives of the characters. While still playing out the dramas within the hospital set, those dramas do not relate to the patients anywhere near as much. Unfortunately this leads to a much more "soap" feel than the previous year, and combined with sometimes instrusive, overly sentimental music cues, and occasionally uneven writing and characterisation (the see-sawing of Carter's character is a good example) this "soapie-fying" of ER is the major downfall of the series.

The DVD set is good value, with some interesting special features including a blooper-reel and some fairly interesting documentaries. There is also commentary on two episodes which were possibly the two biggest exercises in self-congratulation I have ever listened to. When listening to a commentary I like to hear directors' insights and behind-the-scenes information; these episodes instead spend their time praising the effectiveness of shots, editing and script-writing. That said however, there is the occasional piece of interesting information on these directors' philosophy of film, character and actors that you can manifesting itself in ER.

While not quite up to the standard of season one, this is definitely a series to purchase.