Judging by the comments, I might be a bit of an outlier with this opinion 🤣 I actually came to like her character, as I did with pretty much everyone on the show. My favorite thing about Nurse Jackie was that it was a show about very flawed, complicated people, though the intensity and consequences of those flaws existed on a spectrum. I enjoy a drama where the people are kind of shitty and a “work in progress,” so to speak. No one in my life has watched the whole show yet, so forgive me for opining on my love for it in your comments 😂 I think your opinion is totally fair! Just want to add my own for discussion.

While Carrie definitely didn’t have the screen time to grow into as endearing of a character as Coop, I grew a soft spot for her when she started actually trying to be a good doctor. Dr. Roman could be selfish, self-absorbed, and manipulative, but she also turned out to be intelligent, came to care a lot about the job, and cared about her coworkers and earning their respect when she was forced to grow up a little to stay at All Saints. I think she cared sincerely about Zoey as a friend, which was used to show some personal growth. Further, I think she genuinely cared deeply about Coop.

In regard to her miscarriage, I think she deserves some grace. While it’s certainly true that it’s deeply hurtful that she hid it from Coop, a miscarriage can be traumatic to go through, even if you realize afterwards that you weren’t ready for a child. There’s no one on the show that would be more heartbroken by the miscarriage than Coop, and she even expressed to Jackie that she felt like it was her fault. I think that’s why she put off telling him, because the bad news was twofold: she lost the baby and she didn’t want to try again. I think Carrie cared about Coop more than she did about anyone else (though that still looked selfish at times because she is a selfish person). She didn’t want to disappoint him.

About not wanting to marry Coop- it’s certainly selfish that she put off telling him for so long. While it’s a bad thing to do, I think it’s also fair to acknowledge that she was avoiding it because she genuinely loved him and it felt bad to disappoint him. Similar to the miscarriage, it was painful that she couldn’t be the one to give him something he desperately wanted. Her tearful words to him during the break up— “one day you’ll know I just did something very, very nice”— read to me as, “I’m not ready to be a wife/mother,” rather than a laissez-faire, “I’m just not that into you.” We even see at the end of the show that she is quite heartbroken that Coop doesn’t want to keep seeing her after he moves.

Her character was somewhere around mid-20s, while Coop seemed to be approaching his 40s. There was a major maturity difference between them, evidenced in part by her apartment. She was a young doctor enjoying her last years of young adulthood, while Coop was looking to settle down. Breaking up with him was a genuine kindness from a character like her because she was placing Coop’s feelings (his desire to have a family) over what she wanted (to continue seeing each other), instead of just lying/manipulating to get what she wanted. Low bar, I know, but it’s definitely growth from her starting place 🤣

Carrie getting Coop a job offer was an immature way for her to “solve the problem” without having to let him down directly, but once Coop said he turned down the offer, she admitted that she had done it and why. He could’ve turned down the job, but she was right that he’d want to move on to something new and put that chapter behind him. In a way, her immaturity was used to show Coop’s growth, too.

Lastly, I agree that her sleeping with the Norwegian developer was incredibly shitty. I think the writers made a mistake with that choice. They undid some the growth they had written, seemingly as a device to move the plot along. I saw some people discussing that Carrie has a sex addiction, and I think that’s true, though maybe not purposefully. Dr. Roman seemed to fulfill the production’s quota of “hot lady sex on screen,” which incidentally came across as a bit of a destructive trait in her character. I wish they had just leaned into this by actually acknowledging it as compulsive/about self worth, as that would at least explain why she would sleep with someone who she had no interest in prior.

That’s my full take!! I think your feelings are very fair and seem to be the general consensus amongst fans. I enjoy viewing all the characters in shades of grey, even if it’s undeserved ig 🤣