There’s one main character death on ER, though, that is notoriously strange – ridiculous, ironic, feeling long overdue to many, probably aiming for dramatic irony but instead landing in the territory of just plain daft: the death of Robert “Rocket” Romano.
Helicopter Me Once, Shame On You…
The year before Romano (Paul McCrane) died in Season 10, Episode 8, ‘Freefall’, County General’s top surgeon lost his arm, and his career with it, in a helicopter accident. That itself was an odd scene. All the characters were under a lot of strain while evacuating the hospital due to an outbreak of monkeypox, and Romano was trying to retrieve a patient’s chart, which had blown away, so you can see how it was written to be an unfortunate accident. In the execution, though, he seemed to just kind of stand up into a helicopter blade, even though he must have worked on the roof around helicopters many times before, and while patient’s charts are of course very important, forgetting to keep an eye on the rotating helicopter blade above you just seems odd for someone usually so in control of himself.
And then came his death the following year – crushed to death by a falling (and exploding) helicopter. Yes, really. It’s clear that the writers intended this death to be deeply ironic, especially as Romano had gone outside to recover from traumatic flashbacks to his earlier accident, sparked off by going up to the helipad while this very helicopter was sitting there. But to audiences, it just came off as so ludicrous that it was more silly than dramatic.
To top it all, as if the shot of Romano screaming as the helicopter rushed downwards wasn’t blackly comedic enough thanks to a combination of acting and staging, there was a further element of black comedy added. Romano had caught Archie Morris smoking pot and told him to stay at the entrance desk a few minutes earlier, saying, “do not move until I come get you!” As the episode moves into the by-now familiar rhythm of an ER disaster episode and everyone bursts into action, Morris refuses to budge, since Romano told him to stay put, and since no one knew where Romano was and he’s been pretty comprehensively squashed by the falling helicopter, no one even misses him or realises he’s gone for ages and Morris just stands there, presumably still high. It all injects an awkward, blackly comedic feel to what should be a serious episode.
Granted, Romano was one of the least sympathetic doctors on the show, especially early on. His first line is a racist comment aimed at Benton, Maggie Doyle accused him of sexual harassment, Kerry Weaver pointed out his derogatory attitude towards gay colleagues, he fires Haleh at one point, and he’s generally unpleasant to most people. If any main character was going to die such an undignified death, it was going to be him.
Rocket’s Redemption?
But Romano had many humanising moments that meant he was never an outright villain. Flipping the table in frustration when Lucy dies, smiling and signing to Benton’s deaf son to take care of his father, telling Elizabeth to go back to Mark even though he was in love with her himself – all these showed that was a real, feeling human being underneath all the bluster. The day he brought his dog in for surgery was a total misuse of the hospital resources and probably should have got him fired, but it was also sort of adorable in its own way. Not all viewers felt he was redeemable, but it’s fair to say he did have a few potentially redeeming qualities.
