People will debate me on this, but I firmly believe that Max and Helen can separate their personal and work feelings. I feel strongly that though the lines can be blurred, Helen is one of the most professional and caring people, who has spent her life being able to separate work from professional, because the emotions of work are overwhelming.
And Max – well, he’s a different side to the same coin. He is so caught up in his work and trying to make the world a better place for all the patients that are in New Amsterdam. He’s caught up in being an amazing father and honoring his wife’s memory. Max doesn’t know how to just be, because he’s never sat still long enough to allow himself that luxury.
But both of them are the heart and soul of New Amsterdam. They are what makes this show find flight. They are what makes this show hit you in the heart. They are what makes you know that you can have faith in the people in charge and therefore have faith that the other doctors of New Amsterdam can really carry through on their word.
The greatest thing about New Amsterdam is just how human; how relatable it is.
No Screens
Max always has big ideas. I love his big ideas. I think Max just wants the best for people out there. He wants people to come into New Amsterdam and feel at peace.
Being sick is a scary thing.
Max isn’t in and as we know Helen has been demoted. But sometimes it’s not the title that matters. Everyone is coming for Helen and asking her to talk to Max. They need their screens.
It’s all they want. All the doctors are on Helen to get her to talk to Max about keeping their screens. But here’s the thing with Max – once he gets an idea in his head – he goes with it. Because it can make a difference.
Even if it just makes people think for a second – that’s all that matters.
Helen tries to tell people to stop asking her and that if Max has an idea, they need to get on board.
Max Is Daddying
Helen reaches her boiling point and listens to everyone when she is told that she has Max’s ear. So she calls Max to tell him about the tablets.
Max is with Luna getting her 6 month checkup. There is a scare, because something is wrong with Luna.
I can’t even imagine Max’s fear. He’s lost his wife and Luna is all that he has left. He’s a father who wants to protect his little girl from all the harm. He’s a good man.
Helen and Max have a connection that most significant connection on this series. They have this language that they speak, that no one else does. They get each other. But it’s them getting each other – on a work level and a personal level, that makes them so relatable.
Max quickly tells Helen that something is wrong with Luna and at that moment she jumps in. She tells him that she’ll take care of it.
And it’s one of the few moments that I see their lines between work and professional become completely nonexistent. They are just there for each other as they should be.
The panic on Max’s face – the way he looks at his little girl and wonders how he can make everything perfect for her – it’s a scary moment. But it’s also a moment that will break your heart, because you know that he’s lost everything and all he wants is to have everything back.
We find out that Luna has a lump and it’s no shock to any one that everyone is concerned. This is a baby. This innocent baby has been through enough. Max is overwhelming at this point – as any Dad would be. Especially any Dad that is a doctor.
We find out that Luna will be okay and it’s a moment that you can breath a sigh of relief. The world of fear that every watcher of the show had caught in their throat fades and you can feel.
And that’s a beautiful thing.
Dad Max is something that I hope we see more of. He’s the man that reminds us that good in the world just doesn’t exist inside hospital walls. Good in the world also exists outside of them.
Helen Crosses Lines
In her attempt to make everything okay – to run the hospital so that Max doesn’t have to worry and can concentrate on his daughter, she makes choices that she knows that he would.
She forges Max’s signature, makes expensive choices, and you know what – she keeps that biotch from the board out of the way. Helen crosses lines, but she does it in the name of the patients that should come before money.
And that I can get behind.
Dying Alone
We meet a patient whose cancer has returned. When he was a kid, he was at New Amsterdam and he beat cancer. But an allergic reaction brings him right back to the ER and after some tests, Helen is the one that has to tell him that his cancer has returned.
And he makes the biggest choice of his life. He doesn’t want anyone to know that he’s terminal.
To be honest, I get his reasoning. There is only so much that one can take – in my opinion. You don’t want the world looking at you as if you are broken. You want the world to remember this positive side of you. This side that is unbroken and strong.
And you don’t want your final days to be spent thinking of all the faces that can’t stop crying because any moment could be the last minutes that they spend with you.
Helen reaches out to Iggy for help. And in true Iggy fashion – he gets the patient to open up and says that he will agree with his choice and discharge him. But he asks him to make a video so that when he passes, Iggy can pass it on.
And it’s this video that reminds him of all the moments and he knows that he needs to tell his family.
Look – I may not agree with a lot of things in this storyline – but I will say that it forced me to look at things in a different way. I think Helen should have respected the patients choices, but I also get that when you get the worst of news, sometimes you need people to remind you that you aren’t alone.
Personal Growth
One of the best things about New Amsterdam this season is seeing the growth of Dr. Bloom. She’s overcome so much and continues to fight her addiction with every breathe.
She has an older patient that comes in – presenting a million signs of who knows what happening. But she quickly realizes that he is malnourished.
In speaking to him, she learns that he can’t afford to eat and have his medication and rent. It’s a common problem in the US, unfortunately. I know this – because I deal with it on the daily. And I know many people who have chronic illness, like I do, that have to make the same choices.
She had just come into a huge inheritance and when she calls the Meals for Seniors program, to try and figure out how to help this man, it comes to her what to use that inheritance for. She donates it to them, to help wipe out the waiting list of seniors that need this program to eat.
And I will admit that this is the moment that I cried and wanted to thank New Amsterdam. Life isn’t always easy – it’s really fucking hard. And they aren’t afraid to show the hard. They embrace the hard.
And they show us that the hard can be helped.
What Dr. Bloom did was selfless and she didn’t want the recognition. She just genuinely wants to help and for me – that made me have so much respect for her personal growth. I admire her.
Floyd Is Torn
Here’s the thing about Floyd. He’s kinda a jackass at times. In my opinion the man has an ego that he only lets down for his woman.
Which hey, whatever.
But the thing about Floyd is that he always puts his patients welfare first and that I admire. I think it’s so important to see this side of him.
He has a patient that is bleeding out and they can’t find the blood to help her. She’s got lupus and the antibodies that need to be present in the blood are hard to find.
But leave it to him to find it. The woman is a marine, and here’s the thing – the marines truly leave no man behind. The military hears about her situation and delivers synthetic blood to New Amsterdam that can save her.
Floyd always comes through.
It’s going to be hard for Floyd to leave New Amsterdam – even though if we’re being honest, I don’t think that will happen. He knows that he’s needed. He knows New Amsterdam is where he needs to be.
Granted he told his fiance that he would move to San Francisco. But I don’t know if I see that happening.
What do you think?