in s9 and 10 of ER, they have Robert Romano, who up to now has been a complete asshole - he is misogynistic, he's racist, he's mean-spirited, impatient, controlling
he sucks, and the only person that really likes him at all is a racist british woman played by alex kingston
bc she has a soft spot for white bald men who are not that good at medicine, to such an extent when other women bring romano up on sexual harassment and homophobia and shit she's like "well i think sexual harassment is part of a healthy workplace actually so it's chill"
anyway. he sucks.
and then he walks into a helicopter rotor (stupid) (if he actually learned about ER medicine he would know not to do that) (fully his fault) and gets his arm cut off
so they reattach the arm, and bc so much of his identity is about being a surgeon, he absolutely spirals
he attempts to return to surgery but his left arm is hard to put through sufficient therapy, and then unfortunately he begins to lose sensation and mobility as the reattachment fails, and he ends up having to get it amputated again
so now he has a prosthetic arm w a claw attachment
the prosthetic is new and he hates it - he wants a biomechanical one so he can return to doing surgery, but his insurance won't pay for it
it's noteworthy that a lot of his harassment up to now has been directed at kerry weaver, who is one of my fave disabled women sort of ever on tv
kerry is an extremely ambitious, methodical, and administratively minded woman who walks with a cane - she runs that ER like it's the fucking navy, she's extremely knowledgeable about medicine, and a lot of the cast dislike her in ways that are EXTREMELY coloured by her being visibly disabled
she's unpopular for other reasons, but like, a lot of what makes characters so unwilling to give her ANY grace is bc they basically don't see her as sexually available to men - it makes men dislike her bc she's not hot even theoretically, and women dislike her bc they think she's a gender traitor
none of them say that, obviously, although it becomes more explicit when she comes out as a lesbian (is forced out of the closet, i should say) a few seasons before this, but like. the disgust and "curiosity" people have about her disability, the way people stare at it, the lack of respect
and esp like. the lack of respect for her authority and her institutional knowledge, even though many of her colleagues have difficulties with handling their biases and being objective, or just being good at basic medicine, is very much like
it cannot be disconnected from the ableism
people don't look at her and see a doctor first - they barely see a woman first. they see her as dykey and awkward and, crucially, as a cripple. one of the other MCs mocks her at one point and IMMEDIATELY affects her gait and how she leans on a cane
she's often physically THROWN bc she's weaker
patients and other doctors regularly scream in her face in a way that they likely wouldn't do to another woman, especially a conventionally attractive woman, bc of the ways in which this sort of disability UnWomans her. people don't just see her as unattractive, but as literally less human
and it's subtle and rich and complex, and as a disabled man watching it, it's fucking sublime, bc i have never seen a show that has a disabled character like her be part of the main cast, and the show delves into these biases and prejudices and depicts them rather than just doing quippy one liners
or afterschool special style nonsense where a character ~learns a lesson~ and is never bad to disabled people ever again
like, no, they're all bad to disabled people all the time, both to kerry and to disabled patients and to relatives of disabled patients, and theoretical disabled people
bc they just don't get it like she does - she's shown as being very aware of the ADA and other disability programs, she's extremely culturally aware, we see her position herself in solidarity with Black coworkers regularly, she's aware of pregnancy as a disability, HIV, etc
and none of this is her being nice, btw. i don't think she's a very nice woman, which is part of why i like her so much. i think she's a good doctor, but she's not "nice", and she doesn't like, use ASL, or promote accessibility, to be nice. she does it bc she thinks it's Correct and Right
anyway, Romano is not an especially masculine man - he postures a lot, but he's on the small side, he's bald, and he's able to treat people as shittily as he does bc he's a surgeon and bc he's such a senior member of staff. he does get punched out from time to time but like
in general he is an obsessively masculine man who asserts his masculinity by harassing and undermining his inferiors - women, cripples, non-whites, junior staff - and basically just being a horrible bastard, and bc he is such a competent surgeon, it is allowed, it is forgiven, it's even rewarded
but now he's a cripple, and more than a cripple, he's no longer a surgeon. so what he is is a nasty man with no friends, no allies in the workplace, a horrible attitude, only one arm, and he is desperately trying to claw back any semblance of power, bc he's so used to having it over those around him
the show is so good about going like. "this guy wants to kill himself, and yes, he wants to kill himself bc he has this new disability, but it's not because being an amputee or being disabled in general is so horrible that anybody in his position would want to die. HE wants to die bc he sucks"
it's not his disability that makes him friendless - he's demoted at work, he's shoved into shitty work, and he's desperately trying to keep hold of any position he can, teaching, even attempting procedures one-handed, bc his ego won't allow for anything less but also like
bc he is disposable
his entire career has been about treating others as disposable, and cruelly so. he's had multiple lesbians fired because they're lesbians and he doesn't want them in his workplace. he's bullied people out of departments and the hospital. he's attempted to fire nurses despite not having the authority
and now HE'S the disposable one. bc he's disabled AND a prick - he put literally everything into being an extremely good surgeon and jacking off to everyone about what a good surgeon he is. he has no other skills, no other selling points, now that he has no surgery going for him
and what delights me about 10x03 is that they introduce a new med student played by baby glenn howerton, and he specifically needles at and insults romano in the middle of the ER, and romano snaps back and tries to wield his authority over him, screams in this kid's face… and the kid just laughs
and this is what has happened to kerry REPEATEDLY throughout the series. everyone's always just laughing in her face when she tries to assert her humanity, let alone her fucking authority, bc at the end of the day, she's just a fucking cripple
romano is now in a similar rank
especially bc howerton's character is so severely asthmatic that he's repeatedly having to take his inhaler on the emergency room floor, and ends up in a bed after inhaling some fibreglass! he is also very disabled!
but he doesn't LOOK disabled like romano does. he can still do his job
and the reason that howerton's character is posturing TO romano in this way is bc he's aware that when people see him taking his inhaler, they see him as less masculine, more pathetic, more child-like, less impressive, etc - so he does this dick measuring contest and humiliates romano
bc at the very least he's above this other disabled guy in the pecking order, and everyone sees it bc it's so public
guh it's just. it's so satisfying bc yeah that's what it's like. this is how normie disabled people live in the every day, this is the competition and the fucking dog-eat-dog shit
kerry puts herself in community with other disabled people constantly, and while she's initially very nervous about engaging in lesbian community bc she's specifically worried about homophobic retaliation and sabotage in the workplace, she engages with lesbian bars and spaces as well
and subsequently everyone else is weird about her disability, but she isn't. she's extremely confident about it, in fact - she flat out ignores people's weird questions or complaints, is really good at shoving them off, and generally her ego isn't threatened by other people's ableism at all
and the show doesn't explain that to the audience - i know that because i'm the cripple in community with other disabled people of varying types and communities who does the advocacy and support for others, and i get her whole thing, and like
god what GOOD representation
like. just seeing all this complexity and rich dynamics and depth to these characters - none of them are EVIL, weaver is a fucking excellent doctor and a good administrator; romano WAS a great surgeon and is an okay doctor; idk about howerton's character, he's probably just average
and i just!!! i just love it. this is how you fucking do it.
AND THIS IS SEASON 10!!! like. i cannot emphasise enough that i'm 10 seasons in and the show isn't like, doing cheap weak shit writing like a lot of shows do, it's just building more and more complexity, it rocks
