whoever comments on this post with an excuse or an explanation like i'm five years old really doesn't need to. because i'm not saying i don't understand that emergency rooms rotate staff all the time or how actors leave shows because of casting and shit (this one in particular always gets me. i've been studying tv and film for like six years. pls stop playing in my face.)
when i say "written out," i'm talking about the way that heather collins' character was always written to leave when she did.
heather was the disposable black (ex)girlfriend–written to be a vehicle for robby' emotional development. to learn more about how robby deals with grief. how his day was affected by his feelings concerning heather and the news she told him. i'm talking about how the writers squashed samira mohan's character (another woc) into a (figurative) punching bag for robby to show the audience how deeply his suicidal tendencies were causing him to spiral. how they reduced her to make her growth the season before completely irrelevant and are now going to just remove her character for "story-driven purposes". i'm talking about how kiara alfaro (who was in 10!! episodes last season) and gloria underwood, both of whom are now nowhere to be seen. we get one or a handful of sentences about why three of these four women aren't there. and that's that.
my criticism is not me misunderstanding general turnover (in the cast, characters, or otherwise). it's about the patterns of using woc (and other black and characters of color) to further the development of the white people around them, then essentially throwing them when it's deemed they've been used enough. i think it's GREAT that ayesha harris is getting promoted to series regular. i LOVE dr. ellis. and i'm also devastated that they shared her news as "damage control" to soften the blow about supriya's exit because it's not damage control and shouldn't have to be, but that's how they're using it. "yeah, supriya's leaving. but ayesha's getting promoted! see! and she's a woc, so what's your problem?" my problem is that women of color are not interchangeable or disposable. but still, this creative team and many viewers are treating them as such, which you wouldn't have a problem with people calling out if you actually gave a shit.
