New Amsterdam 4×08 “Paid in Full” brought the hospital to its knees and showed all of them how truly vulnerable they are. And while everyone suffered, from the nurses to the doctors and patients, we want to focus on Max first. He’s the heart of this show, the driving force of it all, and who brings good into this world. He’s met his match with Dr. Fuentes and we have no idea how he’s going to make his way out of this.
Fuentes isn’t here to save the people of this hospital. She’s here to save those whose pockets have been hit the hardest since Max came around and since Covid-19 hit. That’s her objective. And it’s made worse by the fact that she’s super sneaky and underhanded about it all while talking to Max in this infuriating tone where she’s certain that everything she does is going to go her way no matter what others may think.
And that’s where her biggest flaw blossoms and truly speaks of her end.
Hubris, Dr. Fuentes has it in bucketloads. And if there’s anything that we’ve learned from the TV, movies, and books we’ve consumed, hubris destroys you from the inside out and spells out your own doom. That’s why we’re not that worried about Fuentes. At the end of the day, her New Amsterdam is going to destroy her and drive her from the very hospital that she’s trying to “protect” or “lookout for.”
We can’t talk about Max without talking about Dr. Helen Sharpe. Her storylines are intertwined with that of Max’s but are not dependant on it. That is so important for a woman and character like Helen because we’re so used to getting scraps when it comes to POC in the media we consume. New Amsterdam is basically saying, “No more.” and giving Helen the juicy storylines she deserves because she is her own person.
Together, Max and Helen are a force to reckoned with; and something that Dr. Fuentes underestimates. As far as she’s concerned, Max and Helen have one foot out the door and that she doesn’t have to worry about them because they’ll be gone soon. What she doesn’t understand is that Max and Helen are family. That surpasses work colleagues, lovers, or boyfriend/girlfriend. And whatever comes their way, they’ll take it on together.
Dr. Fuentes also doesn’t understand that Lauren, Floyd, and Iggy are also part of the family. And even if they’re leaving, even if they don’t come back, New Amsterdam will always be their home and these people will always be their family. And that is something unshakeable and that will crush Dr. Fuentes when she least expects it. Because family doesn’t give up when things get hard. They stay. They work on it. Together.
We even think that those that are part of the family, but that got let go because of a choice Max made, would come back and try to work on this together. Dr. Agnes Kao would come back. Casey Acosta would come back, even though he knows and thinks that what Dr. Bloom did was wrong. Gladys would come back. Hell, even think that Dr. Claude Baptiste would come back to help and he’s in this back and forth with the person they both love.
The point is, we know that the New Amsterdam family will make it out of this. Yes, they’ll be a little scarred and bruised, but they’ll be stronger for it. And we still think that Helen and Max are going to move to London to start their new adventure. Because distance doesn’t matter when you love someone. And Helen and Max love everyone at New Amsterdam and will be back when this show returns.
New Amsterdam airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.
