The Pope is in the city to make a speech at the UN and that means New Amsterdam has to prepare for his potential arrival, should an emergency arrive. The presidential suite and surrounding floors are blocked off by secret security, much to the annoyance of Max who finds they're not nearly as "invisible" as they claimed to be.
Having the secret service nearby also puts a doctor in the hot seat: Kapoor tries to offer a friendly gift to the Pope in the form of white oleander petals, but given they're poisonous, Kapoor is put on lockdown until they ascertain his threat level. Then Iggy gets roped in when he claims to have been aware of Kapoor's "plan". As always, Iggy and Kapoor provide most of the comedic beats this episode, I do so love watching those two share scenes.
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| Barbara Nitke/NBC |
Outside the quarantine of Kapoor's office, Max is dealing with fear. He has a hard time grappling with the laughter in the cancer ward, especially when one of his new friends develops sepsis. He even snaps at Helen about it even though she points out things happen sometimes, things that are out of their control.
Then he has a meltdown during a birthing class with Georgia when the focus is more on foot massages and relaxation techniques then on the possibility of birthing malfunctions or preeclampsia. Georgia visits him at the hospital later and Max admits he's worried she won't be prepared if he's not there when the baby is born, how will she deal with it? Graceful as always, his wife points out that may be true, but he's here now and that's what matters.
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| Barbara Nitke/NBC |
Backtracking to Helen, she gets a new patient in the form of an older man suffering from stage 3 colon cancer. He wants to quit his chemotherapy so he can live out the rest of his days traveling the world with the woman he's recently fallen in love with. But his legal guardian prohibits it.
Helen takes him to court (remember the hospital has one) and points out perhaps love can't cure her patient but it can heal him in other ways. Mr. Jimenez, the patient's guardian, has his rebuttal at the ready pointing out the time Walter caused a small apartment fire and other mishaps, proclaiming him a danger to himself and others. The judge rules in his favor but Helen isn't done trying.
When she realizes how many patients Jimenez is in charge of, she offers a different solution. Perhaps they can transfer his guardianship to a wife. Thus giving Walter the chance to live out his days with the person of his choosing, in whichever way he'd like.
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| Barbara Nitke/NBC |
To ration them better, little Jimmy's parents were giving him his meds every other day instead of daily, and it resulted in him collapsing. Despite divorce being against their religion, they eventually relent in order to save their son. Jimmy runs away upon hearing about this but thankfully the Pope's security detail come in handy to track him down.
Once found, his parents explain they still love each other, they won't be living in separate houses, its just the only solution to their predicament. Jimmy worries they'll go to hell while he goes to heaven since getting divorced is seen as a sin. Cue the arrival of the Cardinal and the self-declared "right-hand man" to the Pope. He promises Jimmy the Pope understands their situation and says, "it's cool."
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| Barbara Nitke/NBC |
We also get to check in on Lauren this week. It turns out, Floyd's visit to her at the end of last week's episode was exactly what she needed to motivate her to improve. He reminded her she still has people out there rooting for her, that she's not alone, and she opens up about it in group therapy. It would appear she's taking the first real steps on the road to recovery.
A new episode of New Amsterdam titled "King of Swords" premieres March 12th on NBC.
