Plot

Dr. Kovac's speeding causes a crash on an icy road. The ER staff treats angry elves and a female hockey player with a head injury.

Dr. Kovac has a particularly bad shift on what was supposed to be his day off. It starts with a party at Susan's house where he drinks too much and ends up leaving with medical student Erin Harkins. After only a few hours sleep, he's called in to work. There, he makes a series of critical errors that leads to the mis-diagnosis of a young man, with catastrophic consequences. At the end of his shift, he gets into a serious car accident injuring Harkins. Elsewhere Frank and Jerry argue over who should be playing Santa and the team has to treat angry elves.—garykmcd

After a late-night car accident, involving the increasingly self-destructive Luka and his badly injured latest lover, med student Harkins, flashbacks recount the troubling events leading up to the crash. A boozy holiday party at Susan's, rumors of an illicit tryst and a run-in with his depressed ex Abby all plague Luka, but it is back on duty too fast afterward his errors, notably the tragic misdiagnosis of a young man, ultimately send him racing off on a reckless ride. The ER is flooded by Christmas casualties, including a case that resonates with Luka by involving a Croatian war criminal and the survivor from the family he killed, while angry elves and Frank rowing with Jerry who should lay Sante cause innocent seasonal havoc.—KGF Vissers