I've been cranking through a rewatch of the old TV series "ER".
Most of you, reading this, probably remember it. Incredibly popular. Ran 15 years from 1994. Known for a clever mix of relatively accurate medical horror and staff soap operatics.
Thing is... it's incredibly well written, at least as far as I've gotten, which is season 5. Sometimes they go too far into the soap operatics, sometimes the medicine is less accurate than it ought to be- yes, another thing for which I stickle- but even when it's not a top ten episode, the writing is to a high standard.
In particular, the characterization.
I want to talk about two characters. Lead, Doctor Mark Green, played by Anthony Edwards, and supporting character Robert Romano, played by Paul McCrane.
Green is THE hero of the show. He's the one who, despite varying titles and responsibilities, runs the emergency room at the fictional Chicago Loop hospital. He's the one who sets the tone and the pace. The one everyone turns to for validation- if not always answers. As introduced, he is a balanced sort of guy, reacting to stress with abundant humor. His best friend, a pediatric resident, shows up blind drunk, looking to get treated for alcohol poisoning after a night on the town- he gets him treatment, keeps him away from the staff until he recovers, and once he does, puts him right to work. Edwards' handling of the material is deft. Green is tired, Green is more than a little sick of his friend's self destructive bullshit, and Green is overwhelmed with his own responsibilities. Edwards plays it straight- with a lovely undertone of wry, self amused exhaustion. You can tell that he loves his job, his family, his friend- but that, just once, just fucking once, he'd like a little space.
This is part of what makes Green relatable, rather than a saintly Medical Center or MASH style doctor*- one who staggers from extreme to extreme. Green is just a normal guy, with a difficult job, trying to wade through his days- and not be an asshole.
The other part is that Green is _never_ presented as blameless or perfect. Dedicated to his work, he screws up his marriage and his relationship with his daughter- he's never home, and when he is, he's still processing things that happened at work. He blows up relationships with friends- the same reason- and he's often less flexible than advertised, taking a stark position, in the end, and forcing it onto a situation just to get it resolved. Might not be the resolution that others want, but it gets things moving past a situational stall. He does not like to explain, past a certain point, he's short tempered under stress and he's got massive issues with his parents.
All of which are developed inside the episodes. ER does, on occasion, dedicate an entire episode to character development. And, as the lead, Green gets his share of these. But the development is earned, built toward.
More, Green learns- as do other characters in their lives. Green learns from his experiences, and changes, for good or ill.
As the series progresses, the "hero", as a result, gets to do some damned unheroic things, which are absolutely not presented with moral or ethical ambiguity or shading. With justification. The audience may or may not empathize with Green, but we damned well understand how he got there.
The single most shocking scene- designed to be shocking, meant to be shocking- is when the good Doctor Green, the hero, the father figure, kills a guy in very, very cold blood.
The man went on a rampage, blaming Green and the ER's social worker for turning his son against him. He killed people, paralyzed the social worker, and went looking to kill Green. The man turns up in the ER, and Green ends up alone with him in an elevator, taking him to surgery, when the killer has a heart attack.
The man's reactions, seen prior, were not unsympathetic. The writing never justifies him, but it does kinda sorta explain him. The expectation, in this scene, is that Green will do his job, according to his oath, and keep the guy alive. That he will understand that they share an odd bond- both driven into emotional extremes by concern for their families, by a need to do what they see as right when others do not see it. Green, according to expectations, is the other half of the coin to the man.
This man went off track, blamed others for his own problems, eventually driven to kill in a sort of madness. Green, on the other hand, has learned to take responsibility for himself. To understand that life, despite what we want it to be, what we try to force it to be, and hope that it will be, is not fair at all.
What actually happens, is that Green puts electrical conductant gel on the man's chest, charges the shock paddles, and then holds them in the air and releases the charges. While looking straight into the man's eyes, as he realizes that Green? The dedicated doctor that even he, in the end, trusts?
Is withholding treatment. That Green is killing him. In fact, that Green has premeditated this. When the post mortem is done, when the staff holds the mortality and morbidity hearing about this death, all the steps Green ought to have done- will be in evidence. The gel was spread, the paddles were charged and discharged. The data will reflect his story- that he did what he could, but there was no reaction. As sometimes happens. Green's eyes, as he watches all this hit- the man understanding that he is being murdered, and why, and that Green is going to get away with it- are cold. Not dead, not holding some sort of killer aspect, the thousand yard stare or whatever.
Just cold. Yep. Life's unfair, pal. You did what you did expecting to get away with it, and the universe put me here to insure that you don't. In fact, that you didn't.
It's shocking, in the end, for the audience because of the realization that it's not at all out of character for Mark Green to do this. That the prior five seasons have made Green into the sort of man who can do this, and our shock is that- holy mother of god, we didn't see this clearly until just this moment.
Heh-heh-heh.
Brilliant. I doubt it was plotted out, long term, that Green would do this. It was probably a combination of things. The actor leaving the series chief amongst them, wanting to give him a strong send off and all of that sponsoring someone to take a good, long look at the character- into what he'd gone through and grown through. And figured... you know? Just once, this guy isn't going to make it home.
Mark Green, as written, directed and acted, is as powerful an example of character as I have seen.
Which brings me to Robert Romano. The character is a weasel. An antagonist who manipulates and lies and pushes himself into a position of authority at the hospital. No one likes him. No one wants to be around him. He's a very good doctor and surgeon. But the penalty for being in his orbit- unending, sarcastic criticism, no respect shown. Unless the other character is in a position of authority over him - in which case Romano is a stunningly straight ahead kiss-ass. Paul McCrane seems to be having a wonderful time playing this. He delivers cold stares, snotty smiles, and vicious put downs with style.
But, again, the writing.
He's not Frank Burns to Mark Green's Hawkeye. Or Wo Fat to McGarrett.
As the character progresses through the seasons, the writers put a lot of windage into Romano. He's a sexist, even a misogynist. But he also protects and mentors those whom he would seem to oppose. When one accidentally comes out as a lesbian to him, he never thinks about using that, somehow, to his advantage. When another develops doubts about her surgical skills, he pushes her to her limits- no explanation given- to see if she can recover. At one point not responding to her desperate pages for his assistance in a surgery, letting he flail around. What she does not know- but the audience sees- is that Romano is actually scrubbed up and ready to step in to help. But holding back, watching to see whether or not she, stimulated by this stress, finally pulls it together.
More, as irritating as the weasel can be, he's almost always got an acceptable ulterior motive.
He wants to be head of X department because he is aware of someone else's legitimate short comings and - no small ego- genuinely believes that he is the better candidate. He wants to get rid of a staff psychologist because he genuinely believes that she's a future liability.
The audience gets to see this stuff- but the other characters do not. We see that Romano is not a villain so much as a man with no social skills whatever, a huge- but justified- professional ego and a pathological desire for excellence. In staff, in administration, in surgery.
Evidenced, again and again, when ER staff square off with him, expecting him to be an asshole about something, and, once they explain their need, their decision, their dilemma, Romano nods and walks away.
Not agreeing, necessarily, with the decision or the choice, but seeing it was made out of that drive for excellence, for doing the job at a high level... and knowing that the person needs to deal with the consequences in order to learn and grow.
If Green is the father figure, Romano is the boss that turns out not to be an opponent but more of a professional adversary, trying to get you to take control of your own damned life.
The writing and acting are almost hysterically good. The audience ends up enjoying the character, understanding him, and still thinking he's a dick.
ER's writing and acting are what kept it on the air for a remarkable fifteen years. And whether or not the thing is taught in writing classes, it ought to be.
* Bullshit, man. Hawkeye and Trapper, BJ, Margaret, Charles- all very well drawn characters, hardly saints. Uh, no. No. Because even when they made poor choices, wrong choices, MASH made those choices seem morally or at least situationally right. All justified. ER does not do that with Greene. When Greene screws up, he screws up- and deals with the consequences. The characters on ER have, as a rule, to deal with the consequences of screwing up, when they do.
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