An Arresting Situation
We first find Dr. Floyd Richards answering a page to the Corrections ward. Dr. Richards is on the Code Team and gets called for rapid response. He is delayed by the Corrections Officer and required to process through the checkpoint as usual, wasting precious seconds. He rescues a prisoner from cardiac arrest and notes a puncture in the patient’s chest. According to reports, the patient said nothing and “dropped like a sack of potatoes”, but that doesn’t fit with what Dr. Richards sees.
Floyd is doing his own detective work as he follows up on Manny Harris, the patient in Corrections. He asked for a consult from Dr. Bloom. Floyd Richards is a smart man, who often outsmarts himself. Dr. Bloom knows he asked for her to consult after the debacle wherein he suggested her skills were lacking. The surprise in the conversation is when he admits to it. It looks like the strategy worked after all as Dr. Bloom agrees to bury the hatchet. She also noted that Manny Harris tested positive for Ketamine but had obtained the drug in the hospital given that his labs were clean when he arrived in the ED the week before.
Dr. Richards is tending to Manny and tells him that he can’t keep using ketamine like he is because it could kill him. Manny genuinely doesn’t know what Dr. Richards means an contends that he isn’t using. Dr. Richards isn’t convinced but Manny continues that he is just trying to get his time in and didn’t start the fight. Manny tells Dr. Richards that the guard injected him with the ketamine.
Max and Floyd take the information regarding the guard to the warden who is staunchly unconvinced. She contends that her staff are thoroughly vetted and Riker’s is full of incredibly good liars. As the temperature of the encounter increases, Max tries to avert escalating conflict. He uses more flowery wording on this night, but at it’s core his question to the warden: How can I help? She doesn’t buy it.
As Max and Floyd discuss the warden’s resistance, Dr. Floyd is called back to corrections for another code. Both Drs. Richards and Goodwin tend to the patient and revive him. They transport him to the hospital proper for monitoring and Max urges Floyd to come with. Undeterred, Floyd Richards faces down the guard Manny says injected him with Ketamine. He captures a confession on his phone that he shares with the warden. The warden agrees to fire Officer Jeffers and commits to ensuring the practice of drugging the prisoners ends with her.
Show Me The Money
The Dean visits Max as he finishes putting on his tux for the evening. If the Dean is there to offer a pep talk, he fails spectacularly. He tries subtly telling Max that the evening is all about him and the success of their fundraising campaign is on his shoulders. Dr. Goodwin unsurprisingly replies that he prefers to talk about the patients, it isn’t great for fundraising, but fiscal discussions aren’t his forte’. The Dean asks how he managed to raise money in Chinatown and Max said he had a secret weapon. He needs that weapon to keep his job. The last medical director was fired after raising only $3.4 million at his fundraiser.
We next see Max and the Dean preparing for Max to talk up the crowd at the fundraiser. Max assures the Dean he can handle this and start speaking with an attendee. He is stopped cold by the arrival of a beautiful blond in a floor length floral print dress. He walks away from the donor to greet Georgia Goodwin. She is celebrating her release from bed rest with Max.
Max is at the podium awkwardly trying to start the fundraiser. He uses a little humor and brief introduction of himself and as he starts to talk about the patients, his eyes meet the urgent across the room beckoning of Drs. Sharpe and Kapoor to tell Max that the Markens may be suffering from an ancient unknown pathogen.
Having returned to the fundraiser, Max finds Georgia speaking with Andrew Nomura, a billionaire donor. In the presence of Georgia and that dress, Max has a one-track mind, dancing with his wife. She gently chastised him as they dance until Dr. Richards asks to cut in.
While Max is out helping patients, his secret weapon indeed saves the day. Georgia overhears the grumbling donors and casually strolls over to tell them about their new medical director. He is radically different. He is an award winner of medical treatment and has a proven record of turning around medical facilities and perhaps most radical of all: instead of spending time at a fancy event with donors trying to get money, he is tending to patients. She suggests Max to be a medical director worthy of their financial backing. The goal has been exceeded and the donors are interested in a medical director that cares more about patients than ceremony.
Romance In The Air
The whole evening, Janet Bloom has busied herself with drinks and sorting out her feelings for one Chief of Cardiac Surgery. She has mulled it over, discussed it with girlfriends and now we see her going over it one more time. This time, with the Dean who we find out is a hopeless romantic despite three failed marriages. He tells her to bet on love. Just as we think we know what she will do, she introduces the recently arrived Floyd Richards to her friend Evie from the legal department. It seems Dr. Bloom has decided to settle on matchmaker for this evening.
The Whole Dam Fam
We take a lap around the room and see the New Amsterdam family enjoying themselves despite their various challenging personal circumstances. Max has met the fundraising goal and pleased the Dean. Janet is free of the “what ifs” and happily dances the night away. Floyd and Evie hit it off and are already engrossed in a conversation, though Floyd’s eye does wander briefly in search of Dr. Bloom. Iggy, Michael and Sameera dance freely and happily, chosen family surrounded by chosen family. Dr. Sharpe is regaled by stories by the Markens in the ICU, the only member of our family not to join the fundraiser. Even Vijay and Ella look satisfied with the evening as they enjoy cake and company, albeit not a date. It looks as if nothing could spoil the evening here at the Dam…
When the room is nearly clear, Max dances with Georgia who tells him to move home. This good news day is about to take a turn as Max holds Georgia and reveals to her his biggest, hairiest secret.
My Thoughts
First of all a brief PSA from someone who deals with seizures regularly: DO NOT HOLD A PERSON WHO IS SEIZING DOWN. You could get hurt and you could hurt the person having the seizure. One day, medical shows will get this right, but until then we still need PSAs. If you want more information, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/epilepsy/about/first-aid.htm
Now onto my thoughts. Each week this cast gets better and better. Their nonverbal conversations are convincing we learn more about the outside the hospital lives of each doctor and their stories are also riveting. One of my favorite supporting characters is the Dean of Medicine. He has no choice but to be the bad cop often, but as we get more of his story his likability increases. I suspect a showdown at some point that leaves the viewers unsure for whom they should root. The friendship between Janet and Helen is beautiful. Neither woman must concede anything for this friendship and they are able to be blunt and honest. Iggy Frome nearly broke my heart this week but showed us that he knows the pain of not being accepted, of feeling different and we can see the deep well from which he draws in treating his patients. These visits to New Amsterdam can be taxing but so rewarding. Will we see you at the Dam next week? I know I’ll be there.
Stay connected with So Many Shows:
More From So Many Shows:
3 Burning Questions: The Last Ship Finale
Leave a Reply