Dr. Carrie Roman is an emergency room doctor at All Saints Hospital. She makes her first appearance in Season 5, played by Betty Gilpin, and appears on the show for Seasons 5-7.
Background[]
Carrie is a young self-absorbed doctor, who had recently graduated from Northwestern University and medical school before becoming a doctor at All Saints Hospital. But instead of advancing herself on merit, she rather slept her way through school, with multiple teachers and students, to get out of doing actual work for her career. She rather spent most of that time either dating, clubbing, or on her phone. Her unchaste attitude to sex, led her to be involved with many men outside of school, most of whom were married (to keep things less complicated), which advanced her abilities in taking advantage of men. It is also likely that she was raised Catholic, but exited her faith, due to the constant chastisement of Nuns for her sexual deviancy, which she develops an intense fear of in her adult life.
Biography[]
As a first year intern, Carrie makes her initial appearance at the beginning of season 5, where she is preoccupied with having sex with another doctor while ignoring her medical duties. She generally comes across as very sexually promiscuous and highly unprofessional to her fellow staff, with her lazy and self-centred attitude dissuading most of them away from her. Furthermore, though she retains some training from her field of study, she lacks a lot of the required confidence and emotional security when it comes to being a doctor.
Though Jackie, Dr. Ike Prentiss, and Mrs. Akalitis, all take a dislike to her fervently, convening with her as minimal as possible, Dr. Cooper rather takes an instant notice of her. His interest with Carrie however, is purely sexual, as her attractiveness and care-free sexuality entices him. Carrie manages to use Cooper's desires to her advantage, by getting him to take most of her responsibilities, while she preoccupies herself with her phone or going out. Cooper and Carrie finally consummate their unusual relationship, as a convoluted attempt at having a dinner date results in the two skipping dinner and having sex on a hospital bed. Eventually, Jackie confronts Cooper about his behaviour, and forces him to rather train Carrie than be blindly smitten over her. Cooper tries to set professional boundaries with Carrie, though she conversely tries maintaining their liaison by swaying and rewarding him with sexual pleasure during work hours. Cooper eventually decides to break up with her to commit being a mentor to her, surprisingly causing Carrie much emotional dismay, as she starts realising she has mutual feelings for Cooper. By the end of the season, she is nearly dismissed from All Saints after a scathing review by her peers, but manages to use Cooper's sexual advances and unprofessional relationship to her advantage, and is allowed to stay after probation.
In Season 6, she returns and is released from a three month probation. However, it is Jackie who must supervise her, to make sure the same problems do not occur again. Jackie, though not keen on having to look over her, is fair to her, as she defends her when an accident is pinned on her during a defibbing. Meanwhile, Carrie pursues Cooper again, trying to get back into a relationship with him, with little avail. She as well loses her DEA prescription, and is actively trying to find it through the entire season, but only goes so far as learning that it is under the use of "Nancy Wood". But opportunity and luck strikes, as a news anchor wants her to do medical segments for his broadcast, and she accepts immediately. She decides that her first interview at the hospital should be with Cooper, as she grows an active genuine desire to be with Cooper. She becomes actively more interested in his life, from his insecurity of not having a family or legacy, his promotion to Chief of ER, to his Birthday. Finally, she's able to win him over and the two return back to their prior relationship, by hooking up on the roof of the hospital where they are caught by a surveying helicopter. She as well learns that an alcoholic nun, named Helen, who is the care of the hospital, real name is actually "Nancy Wood", and fully believes that this is her being unfairly targeted by nuns again. In actuality, Jackie is the one who has the DEA, and has been abusing the prescription medication, not Helen. This results in an investigation being opened by Akalitis, who gets Cooper to interrogate the accusations placed on both Jackie and Carrie, over the DEA. Carrie during the questioning reveals huge news to divert further probing, with her being pregnant with Cooper's child, which is initially met with bewilderment by Cooper but then open eagerness, as both of them are overjoyed with the news.
Entering into Season 7, Cooper and Carrie's relationship starts to become a bit more serious, though the pregnancy and nature of their closeness is not fully unveiled publicly. Cooper seems to have become very protective of Carrie, which is not fully reciprocated by Carrie's demeanor being generally the same in attitude. She brings Cooper to her apartment, the first time doing so, which is revealed to be highly disorganized and messy, detailing some of Carrie's continued irresponsibility, such as leaving the stove on since the morning. Cooper brings up the possibility of Carrie and him selling their apartments to get a bigger place, which is met by some hesitancy by Carrie's end, as she begins to believe things are going a bit too fast. Soon, most of the ER learns that Carrie is pregnant, mostly from the secrecy and odd intimacy Cooper is showcasing, from wanting to buy a house soon to Cooper preventing her from doing any type of physical tasks. Tragedy however strikes, as Carrie unexpectedly miscarries the child, leaving her apathetic, but devastated and unsure how to break the news to Cooper. Jackie helps Carrie in delivering the news, by asking for a cigarette, which forces Carrie to explain what happened to him. Cooper is supportive of Carrie after this happens, being oddly now even more undeterred by the experience, feeling that rather the two should get married. Carrie however, on self-reflection, feels that she herself is not deserving of Cooper, and that he would be happier moving on from her and tries to relocate him from All-Saints to a more prestigious hospital in Boston. Cooper initially is unconcerned with the offer, as he still wants to marry Carrie, but upon learning her motives and her breaking up with him, decides to finally leave. Their final day is awkwardly tense, but the pair resolve their differences as Carrie apologizes for not being ready for him. During his farewell party at a Samovar restaurant, her goodbye gift is having sex with him inside a storage room one last time.
After Cooper leaves, Carrie begins an oddly fitting friendship with Zoey, as the pair of women bond over both their boyfriends moving on as they are left at All-Saints. She as well is pursued by the Norwegian investor, Johanes Karlsen, who is blatantly just trying to have sex with her, as he is married and very blunt. After multiple failed attempts at taking her on a date, Karlsen is successful in breaking down Carrie's defenses, and the two have sex with one another and begin an affair. Karlsen's bluntness however leaks into proudly informing Zoey of their relationship, grossing her out profusely. After Zoey questions her about this, Carrie angrily goes to Karlsen to interrogate him on why he's divulging their secret. He reveals that he is over her and has decided to end the affair in a very candid manner. Carrie decides to humiliate him, by passionately kissing him and stealing his phone. She and Zoey then inform Karlsen's wife of the affair, enraging Karlsen, before he is attacked by Vigilante Jones in defending the girls. Nearing the end of the series, Carrie decides that she is going to as well leave All-Saints, seeing opportunities in traveling and meeting other men, and confides with Zoey about her decision, who supports her new transition in life.
The writers do not allow Dr. Roman to suffer from a lack of character development. If she comes across as initially callow and inexperienced, we eventually see her make better choices which includes saving a patient who was misdiagnosed by Dr. Prentiss. Sexually aggressive and at times, overly reliant on her beauty and appearance, she also makes small generous gestures, like offering Nurse Jackie a tube of lipstick, in preparation for a date. There is also an unexpected bit of character development when we discover she speaks another language and uses it to help translate an ailing man's words to his frightened wife. Carrie eventually finds a way to be supportive of Dr. Cooper, who also has taught her not to use her sexuality to manipulate others.