New Amsterdam 4×22 Review: “I’ll Be Your Shelter”

New Amsterdam 4×22 “I’ll Be Your Shelter” is the type of season finale that you just want to forget. No. That’s too kind. It’s the type of episode that makes you wonder if the people whose work you’ve adored, always defended, and even consistently been pleasantly surprised by have just flat out forgotten what made them, and their series, special to begin with.

New Amsterdam has, with rare and expectation-busting exceptions, never quite relied on overdone storylines or bad TV tropes. And yet, after a season that promised “more joy” and has instead provided quite a lot of angst, someone said, “hey, let’s go with the ‘overblown disaster and the ‘wedding fail’ thing all at once in our season finale. That’ll work.”

No. It, in fact, did not work.

And it’s not even about not getting a wedding—not exactly, at least. It’s about focusing on all the wrong things, leaving pretty much everyone we care about in a bad place, and just…destroying viewers’ faith leading into the final season. If you’re wondering WTF you just watched, so are we…

But we’re going to try to break down New Amsterdam 4×22 anyway. Because, well, we drag because we care. And we don’t stop caring just because it’s almost over—unlike some folks appear to have done.

The only part that was good…until it wasn’t…but sort of still was?

Ok, so New Amsterdam‘s fourth season finale did one thing really right—if you ignore the part where the “more joy” was a complete and total lie, even here.

Leyren saved a trafficking victim’s life in this episode. And they were such a smart, strong—in all the right ways, even!—unit when they did. Lauren’s quick catch started the ball rolling. Then, there was the brilliant red marker/black marker setup in the bathroom. It all concluded with the genius distraction and patient swap.

So, we had just absolute badass women saving another woman from an especially heinous situation, even in the middle of a (totally unnecessary for narrative purposes) natural disaster.

“We make a good team, Dr. Bloom.”

“I concur, Dr. Shinwari.”

Love. That. For. Them.

Then, we basically had Dr. Bloom in her Olivia Benson era with the way she comforted April there toward the end. That bit about her not being alone? Totally screamed, “Lauren grew up the way we did—watching Liv.” Legends only.

Or. Actually. The whole Leyren vibe for this finale was giving Benson. It was like we had two.

Oh, and there was this absolute flood of boiling hot tea somewhere in the middle of it all:

“It’s our choice, right?”

“Well, it’s April’s choice.”

Because when it comes to pregnancy, especially an ectopic one, it is the pregnant person’s choice. Go off, Dr. Bloom. Go. Off.

But then, things…Well. They took a turn.

The thing is, if there wasn’t so much angst in this New Amsterdam Season 4 finale, and if it weren’t right on the heels of another LGBT+ breakup, the place where Leyren left off would’ve…

…eh. I don’t want to say it would be “good.” Because, no, they’re not in a good place by any means. But it would have resonated better.

“We started with this…money thing. And it keeps coming back. It’s in everything we do. And it’s not going away…You need money, and you need my apartment. And you need your immigration to go through. And you need all those things more than you need me…What happens when we fight? You can’t win because I have all the power. What if you want to break up with me? You can’t leave. Money just—just taints everything. Even me getting you a cup of coffee.”

She’s right? But we still hate it here.

At the end of the day, Lauren actually grew this season. She went from manipulating and lying to basically carving her own heart out because she realized she had too much power in her relationship. It’s a huge jump. Not to mention, there’s Leyla out here, forgiving and trying to make it work—protesting Lauren’s very adult decision, even!—after she’d previously been completely unwilling to even talk.

It was, though a heartbreaking decision, the right way to end Leyren’s story—for now. If we go based off New Amsterdam‘s history of storytelling, we can even say things will work out. Don’t lose hope. More joy is on the horizon for these two. But, well, then there’s “I’ll Be Your Shelter” (who even was sheltered?????). So, who knows?

And yes, to circle back to a point above: We realize this split was not all analogous to the other one. But the whole “wow, all the gays are breaking up back-to-back, huh” thing is still just…No.

Which, of course, brings us to…

Iggy

I mean, why not spend the majority of your New Amsterdam Season 4 finale wasting time on Iggy? Right? What viewers absolutely care about, what we signed up for, is Iggy grossly mismanaging a disaster response to prove something.

We’re not sure if he was trying to prove that something to himself, to Martin, to the world, or whatever. But it doesn’t matter. Because truly, from the bottom of our hearts, who gives a fuck? Iggy Frome is the worst, the biggest and most melodramatic, gross turn from beloved character to garbage disaster who makes the disaster even worse, of all time.

And that would be fine! Shows need villains! But. Not. Like. This.

Honestly, when Tyler Labine threw his tantrum about how he didn’t realize New Amsterdam was that kind of show in response to Sharpwin being the ship and the canon and the attention-getter he wishes he was, we were like, “which scripts did this dude think he was reading” with a healthy side of “um…you can be a good medical drama and still have phenomenal ship action. See also: ER, the end-all, be-all of medical dramas.”

But. Well.

Maybe Labine was right all along. Because we truly did not think, for a second, that New Amsterdam was…this.

And the insanity here is that this litany of complaints doesn’t even get into just how absurd Iggy’s entire take on his marriage is. Thank fuck Martin told him to move out. Sir, you deserve so much better than this loser.

Iggy, boy, bye.

And then, Sharpwin…or not.

To add insult to injury…Sharpwin’s wedding happened. Or, rather, it didn’t.

For the majority of New Amsterdam 4×22, Max is doing his “how can I help” thing with a single patient, leaving Iggy to ruin everything on his own. And yeah, it was utterly hilarious that he’d take an injured man with a kidney problem outside in supposed Cat 4 force winds and torrential downpour. Especially when the storm was so bad, it was dumping pipes on random women, destroying a light fixture in the hospital, and all sorts of other overblown catastrophic whatnot.

But I digress.

There was actually a really beautiful contrast between the way Max has always handled himself as a true leader—even if a kinda chaotic one—and whatever Iggy was attempting (failing at). Max cares and does what he does, even if sometimes badly, for all the right reasons. He’s selfless, not selfish. Look at Iggy’s approach, and you remove all doubt on that front.

The episode even gave us all the anxious texts while Max was trying to figure out what happened to Helen’s flight in the storm. Plus, this gorgeous line from Farid, who thought he was going to die without saying goodbye to his wife:

“Maybe you can tell her that, when my life was its darkest, she was my light.”

It was perfect. So was the way the team at New Amsterdam picked up the pieces and put together a very Sharpwin-style rooftop wedding…

…but then it didn’t happen.

And the problem is not that it didn’t happen but that this episode wasted so much time on Iggy trying to play the hero, when everyone knows he’s less than a zero, that there was exactly zero time spent on seeing anything about Helen Sharpe’s thought process. Sure, some previous episodes and overall characterization have put her in Strong Female Character With Walls™ territory. But she was working through all that. She’d made great strides…all to end up like this.

A waste. A waste of Freema Agyeman’s phenomenal talent to barely have her in the episode, a waste of Ryan Eggold’s shocked/crushed face to use it for this, and a waste of an end to a fourth season that began with so much groundbreaking potential. The season premiere gave us a shock that was unique, that made us excited to know how we’d work through the big change.

But all New Amsterdam 4×22 has us asking is why. And WTF.

My thoughts will be your shelter from New Amsterdam 4×22?

• Basically, our very own Lizzie said it best: The joy we purchased from New Amsterdam Season 4 was defective. So, we all deserve refunds.
• Actually. “More Joy” was a typo. It’s “More Oy.”
• It’s giving that time Carol Hathaway kissed the paramedic on the roof when Doug Ross had planned her a surprise, small wedding. Except viewers actually saw the build-up to that kiss and the history that made it make sense. Or, at least, it made as much sense as it ever could.
• It’s giving the Castle not-wedding. But these actors aren’t rumored to hate each other. So, literally, WTF.
• It’s giving literally every unwarranted, overly-tragic SVU ending.
• Basically, it’s giving all the worst vibes.
• The disappointment. I’m in my Jewish mother era, just saying I’m not even mad. It’s fine. I’m just disappointed.
• Actually. Speaking of the waste in that last section: What a waste of four seasons worth of faith in the writing.
• …and a waste of Dr. Wilder. She…saved the day by starting to write “carbon monoxide” on a wall. Because Iggy couldn’t even figure that out in a pinch. Fab.
• I’m just saying we in Central North Carolina once memed a hurricane away from ending us. So, the fact that Iggy couldn’t even figure out how to manage a hospital’s response is partcularly pathetic to someone who’s sat through some pretty rough storms.
• Me: “Tell him to go fuck himself, Martin.” Martin: “I can’t can’t believe you have the gall to say that our problem is that I’m too supportive. Because there is nobody, Iggy—and I mean, nobody—who wishes you weren’t broken more than me. It has been your go-to move for years. And as far as I can see, you have no interest in changing that.” Me: “…or that.”
• “What meme are we obsessing over now?” Me, logging on to twitter dot com.
• Truly, throwing a tantrum is the way for a grown man—and mental health professional!—to prove he’s the guy to be in charge of disaster response. A+, Iggs.
• “Panic is not an option. Neither is hiding. You asked to lead. So lead.” But he can’t. Because he sucks. Everyone survived by pure dumb luck.
• This could have been on the level of Dr. Carter and the chemical spill. Instead…this. No growth. None. Just a waste of an hour. (Yeah, we’re back on our ER comparison bullshit. So what.)
• “I have no idea what I’m going to do next, Max.” Be. Cause. You. Are. Not. A. Lead. Er.
• “If you even graze that wire, you’ll die.” Ok so like. Caress it, “Doctor” Frome.
• Floyd got a crumb or two from his dad? If he could have a real storyline with this next season instead of wasting so many episodes on bad relationship drama…
• “Jackson hurt me, made me do things…but at least I knew it was coming? Now, not knowing what’s next seems even scarier.” This scene is what we expect from this series. Most of the rest…no. Just. No.
• “I need answers.” Basically all of us after watching New Amsterdam 4×22. Honestly.
• And then: “I have none.” Probably everyone who thought this was the way to go.
• “I can’t. I just can’t.” Same, Helen. Same.
• No, really. Even the team that gave us this garbage managed to pull off a new and good twist on the “wedding? J/K. Nope” trope.
• Bottom line: Forcing an over-the-top disaster into your season finale just guarantees your season finale will be an over-the-top disaster.

Are you coming back for the final season after watching New Amsterdam 4×22 “I’ll Be Your Shelter”? Drop us a comment.