ER Finale Did What Show Did Best: Critics

ER capped 15 seasons last night with a finale that satisfied many critics happy with cameos by original cast members and the series’ trademark fast pace.

• Alan Sepinwall, Star-Ledger: "The finale worked hard to bring as many elements from that pilot full circle as they could, while showing that the circle of life (and death) at County General goes on. It wasn't an all-time great finale, but it did what it set out to do."

• Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly: "The two-hour finale didn't go in for anything fancy—no dream sequences; no teases for a spin-off—but I liked the fact that the surprises were small but effective."
• David Zurawik, Baltimore Sun: "I especially liked the final scene with the ER team suiting up and standing ready to respond in the courtyard to the arriving fleet of emergency vehicles loaded with victims of an industrial explosion. Perhaps, it was one last tweak at the critics who said the pilot looked more like a feature film and would never make it as a TV series—because it was definitely a movie ending."

(More emergency room stories.)