Also starring Tyler Labine as Dr. Iggy Frome and Anupam Kher as Dr. Vijay Kapoor. Guest starring Lisa O'Hare as Georgia and Margot Bingham as Evie.
THE WOLF IN THE ROOM
Pictured: (l-r) Tyler Labine as Dr. Iggy Frome, Teddy Cañez as Hector Rivera -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC) |
With his delusions growing, Iggy talks with the patient's father to get clarity on how they would to proceed on the case. If he has the surgery then part of him could be fundamentally altered. Parts of his personality could change, interests, hobbies, etc. But his dad is willing if it means saving his life. He'd rather lose parts than the whole.
Surgery begins, an awake surgery. And Iggy learns about his creative history from his proud father. They both just hope this surgery doesn't sap away his passion or love of art.
But the surgery does not cure Tony of his
Pictured: Tyler Labine as Dr. Iggy Frome -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC) |
KAPOOR'S DEEP POCKETS
Rohan pops up asking his father for money. He gets a chance to meet Ella, a woman who Kapoor recently loaned money too, but he's not as willing to dose out the dollars to his own son. Hmm. Interesting. Well I think he doesn't trust his son again yet and worries where that money is really going to end up, for one.
Pictured: (l-r) Vandit Bhatt as Rohan Kapoor, Anupam Kher as Dr. Vijay Kapoor -- (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC) |
Okay this Rohan/Ella/Kapoor has taken a creepy and strange turn. Last week had Iggy thinking Ella was a con-woman and this week has Ella as a potentially romantic pawn between father and son. Rohan is clearly picking up on the vibe his dad has feelings for her (why else would he shell out 2k for a dog) and he's bitter about Kapoor not trusting him so he tries to insinuate himself in Ella's life out of spite. I would expect this kind of behavior from brothers maybe, but from father and son it's more than strange. At the end of the day Kapoor's money is his to do with what he pleases and he and his son have only recently started their relationship up again. I think Rohan was expecting too much to soon and now he's just proving his own immaturity.
Pictured: Janet Montgomery as Dr. Lauren Bloom -- (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC) |
COLD TURKEY
Lauren is going to try and go cold turkey off of her pills. I watch a lot of medical dramas. I have never seen a pill popping storyline end well when the character in question goes "cold turkey."
Pictured: Janet Montgomery as Dr. Lauren Bloom -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC) |
Thankfully, Lauren does apologize to Helen and agrees to a dinner invite. But it turns out Helen has ulterior motives and when Lauren spots her going through her purse to see if she has any pills stashed away, it appears their fragile truce has been broken once more.
THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF ANDY KEENER
A frequent flyer turns up with a swollen knee in Lauren's ED. It's been mandated by Max that he become aware any time one arrives since it means "they're not doing their jobs." And he takes over for her, Earl, the IV bag with a face, in tow.
Pictured: Tyler Labine as Dr. Iggy Frome -- (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC) |
Diagnosis of Andy Keener? Homelessness. Max prescribes him a home. He signs the hospitals name to an apartment for Andy, in the long run it will actually be cheaper than to continue letting him come into the hospital for menial illnesses that could be solved by having a stable living environment. It's not fair to everyone else, as the Dean points out, but it's smart business for them, is Max's rebuttal.
Andy better not have any pets!
Pictured: Ron Rifkin as Dean Peter Fulton -- (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC) |
After getting Andy situated, Max doesn't plan to see him again any time soon but he won't have long to wait since Andy winds up back in the hospital not much long after claiming he "hit his head" from a ladder fall. Max sees through this ruse but in his compassionate way, he manages to find Andy a job at the hospital to keep him around the people and the company, and to allow him a chance to start paying off the apartment.
SKELETONS IN FLOYD'S CLOSET
Pictured: (l-r) Jocko Sims as Dr. Floyd Reynolds, Ryan Eggold as Dr. Max Goodwin -- (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC) |
Floyd laments his interview troubles to his medical director. Max is Max, ready to defend his doctor. They'll go "full chemo" on this story and squash it before it takes bloom through the legal process.
The legal team turns out to be Floyd's girlfriend, Evie. As his lawyer, she has everything she needs to destroy this reporter but as his girlfriend she persuades him to own his story for his nephew. He has nothing to be ashamed of.
Pictured: Jocko Sims as Dr. Floyd Reynolds -- (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC) |
He then quietly eviscerates this reporter, by simply stating the facts. Acknowledging how she went out of her way to bring down an exemplary black doctor by trying to splash this "catch" into a piece. As Floyd points out, "that says very little about me." But everything about her and her values.
Whoever wrote this scene deserves major credit because it's particularly devastating to hear right now with everything going on in our country at the moment.
Pictured: (l-r) Freema Agyeman as Dr. Helen Sharpe, Ryan Eggold as Dr. Max Goodwin -- (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC) |
MAX GOES FULL CHEMO
Max's treatment is finally beginning! But because this is Max Goodwin who cannot conceive of a world where he isn't doing his job to the fullest extent of his abilities, he takes his chemo to-go. As in, he darts around the hospital attached to an IV pole. He wants to do as much as he can until he's incapacitated and tries to make Helen deputy Medical in Chief, though she politely declines. I have a feeling she may end up changing her mind though.
Or maybe not. Helen decides against Max's offer but when his next pick is Lauren, Helen has to take a moment to think it over. She knows about Lauren's pill problem and perhaps letting her become deputy medical director is not in her or the hospital's best interests. Meanwhile, Max is still trying to do chemo-on-the-go but day 2 has hit him hard. He's wearing tie-dye crops to get him through the day and Earl has evolved into something even creepier than just a smiling bag of poison.
Eventually though, chemo takes its toll. Max folds and realizes he needs to take a seat, he has to let himself get better. Helen does ultimately accept his offer to be deputy and he is able to slip into some amazingly fashionable animal slippers and fill the seat at the table where some of the other cancer patients play cards. Of course, Max "finding a seat at the table" is as literal as it is figurative. Not only does he find his place in the cancer ward but he also has to find a way to be vulnerable. To be okay with not being okay. He fears Georgia seeing him sick and the way the staff will look at him when he's sick, but there is a bravery in embracing that, in realizing it is a necessity for him to ever have hopes of being better.
When is it time to face the inevitable? A new episode of New Amsterdam titled "Anima Sola" airs next Tuesday, January 22nd on NBC.