Here’s the thing about New Amsterdam – they are willing to do whatever it takes to bring issues into the light. Every episode they address the disparities of the health care system. With this episode, the show focused on giving birth, the complications of it, and the things that a woman may feel while doing it. Maternal health is of the utmost importance, faces historic racism, and New Amsterdam perfectly addressed the complexities of it.
It was a powerful episode that hit your emotions and made you think. But then again, when doesn’t New Amsterdam do that?
IGGY IS THE MVP OF THIS SHOW
Last season, I would have told you that Max and Helen were carrying New Amsterdam, but this season, I will tell you that the strongest character – the one with the most development – is Iggy. He continues to grow, to work through his own issues, he has become a stronger character that is there to help his patients on a deeper level and be more attentive to their needs.
This episode, he is helping Ydalis, a homeless girl with a cryptic pregnancy. She doesn’t want to believe that she is pregnant and when she is faced with people telling her that, she tells the doctors that she is a virgin.
Look, I don’t like the OB that comes in and says that they are going to get a court order to force her to deliver the baby – because yes, she is in active labor, but I do get why she did it. I also do understand why Iggy doesn’t want her to do it.
Iggy was there to advocate for Ydalis, but the OB was there for the baby.
Ydalis definitely suffered trauma and I have been there, so I get that you want to forget everything that is happening, because it’s too much. You repress the memory, because it’s too much for you. And sometimes it is the only way to save your mental health.
Ydalis deserved Iggy advocating for her. She deserved someone reminding her that she is more than her trauma. She deserved someone reminding her that the trauma that she experienced wasn’t her fault.
When Ydalis watched another family holding her baby and left, it was a moment that punched you right in the feels. Her entire arc was absolutely hard to watch, Tiffany Mann was absolutely brilliant.
And Tyler Labine – can we talk about how amazing he is as Iggy? The actor has set the bar so high that it is beautiful to watch. It’s been amazing to watch him shine on the screen and the way that he has managed to make everyone so deeply connected to his character has been amazing to watch.
FLOYD TRIES TO MOVE ON
To be honest, in the midst of everything going on in this episode, Floyd trying to move forward in his love life felt a little awkward.
He gets a patient in the ED, a pregnant woman comes in and she is in pain. He doesn’t know what is wrong, but sends her up to the OB floor for further testing. She is then sent back down to the ED.
Floyd believes that he is being an advocate for his patient, and I do love that. But when he brings her back upstairs, he begins to bicker with the head of the department, while they both are basically ignoring the patient.
That is until she pukes, and they both realize it’s her appendix.
I do love that Floyd and Malvo work so well together and are able to help their patient. There is so much chemistry between the two, and I love seeing it. But it’s just awkward to me; with as many surgeries as I have had in my life, I don’t want to imagine my surgeons flirting.
Hard pass.
But Floyd isn’t imagining the sparks between them and takes it as an opportunity to ask her out. She doesn’t say that she’s married, but she does show him the ring that is tied to her pants. She doesn’t say she’s married, so I am not convinced that she is. Maybe she’s like Floyd and having a hard time moving forward.
DEVASTATION
Helen’s patient had me crying my eyes out. Mia gave birth and afterwards couldn’t feel her arm. They find that she has stage three cancer. It’s aggressive.
She needs immediate treatment or she could die.
And I can’t even imagine having to hear that news, especially after just giving birth. Mia is devastated. Especially when she finds out that she is going to have to be isolated for five months because she will be radioactive.
It hit me so hard in the heart for her.
All Mia wants before she goes is to be able to feed her baby one time. She wants that connection with her. She wants to feel that part of being a mom and Helen tries to make it happen for her.
But the baby won’t latch, and Mia feels defeated. It’s heartbreaking to see. Breastfeeding is a part of bonding, but it doesn’t make you less of a mom if you can’t do it. Women need to know that you aren’t less of a mom if you do not breastfeed.
The entire story was a powerful reminder that our bodies are all different, and that sometimes patience is the only thing you can ask for when it comes to them.
THROW OUT THE CALCULATOR
Max’s patient is a lawyer named Evelyn. She’s an older (and I hate the term that they use geriatric pregnancy cause she ain’t that old) patient, considered high risk, and has previously had a c-section. She is adamant about having this baby naturally.
She was upset that no one is listening to her, and I don’t blame her. It’s horrible to go unheard. But Max is trying to listen. He’s trying to hear what she is saying, while throwing his medical knowledge at her. Through doing that, he’s also treating her like a statistic, and it’s absolutely gut wrenching for her.
Max is aware of some of the hardships that Black women face in medicine, and I am glad that when faced with the moment of facing his own biases he chose to throw out the statistical calculator and honor his patient’s wishes.
When she checks herself out to leave, Max chases after her and begs her to let them help her. When she comes back and the doctors start telling her that she needs to have a c-section, Max tells them to stop. He tells them to treat her like she’s a white patient.
Karen Brantley, the director of the hospital, is worried about the hospital’s liability, but Max is worried about the patient. And he’s standing his ground, which is part of the reason that I love Max.
There are huge, racist problems in medicine that we need to push back against, and I love that New Amsterdam is taking on the issues head on to start a conversation. They’re bringing them to our conscious and making us see things that we don’t always think about unless we are of the groups who are historically neglected, abused, and left to die within the medical system.
In the end, it all turned out okay. Evelyn was able to naturally birth her child as she wanted. Max listened, established a procedure to keep it from happening again, and knows that you need to listen to your patients above all.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Bloom inviting Leyla to live with her seemed like the next logical step, but I have to admit I am a little afraid of how that will work out. I am also intrigued.
- Mina is being a teenager, but I also think she’s being so ungrateful to Helen that she annoys me.
- Helen is going to have grow a lot and she’s changed her life a lot to help her niece. But if she doesn’t set boundaries soon, there will be an issue.
- I know E’s are for triaging patients and getting them out, but I hate seeing it on the screen. With as much time as I spend in them, it makes me feel sad and like things are missed.
- Seeing Karen Brantley happy was a twist.
- I miss Kapoor.
- Max and Helen’s talk at the end – I am telling you – this parenting is another thing for them to bond over. Sharpwin is end game.
