New Amsterdam graced us with another beautiful hour of television.
It was very little to dislike about New Amsterdam Season 3 Episode 4, and it was an hour that undoubtedly moved viewers beyond measure. You know, all in a day’s work here, yes?
Let’s get into it.
It feels as if everyone is trying to do the best that they can. Sometimes, it works wonders, and other times, it doesn’t feel like enough.
But all of the characters are attempting to figure things out in their lives, personally and professionally. It’s another one of the many ways that the season feels so resonate and relatable.
Floyd’s reappearance at New Amsterdam is reminiscent of a young adult returning to their childhood home for the first time since leaving. They discover that everyone has a new routine, adapted, and went on with their lives without him. Oh, and someone transformed his old bedroom into a personal gym, or rather, they loaned it out to someone else.
Of course, what makes the analogy fun is that he has returned to live in his childhood home with his mother. It’s not where he expected to be, single, sleeping in a room covered in posters, and returning to a job that moved on without him.
He came in with the expectation that people would remember who he was and have space for him, but life didn’t stop with his departure, and he’s not prioritized above all the others anymore. He even had a run-in with Shin when he didn’t have a surgery of his own.
Max: I’m sorry, it’s a step down for you.
Floyd: I’m already there. What I need is a hand up.
He jumped in on Shin’s surgery, but since Max was distracted and didn’t inform Helen nor go to great lengths to give Floyd the “welcome back” treatment, Shin regarded him as some newbie, nobody, and he wasted no time snapping at him.
Doctors are notoriously testy about their different styles, so it wasn’t unusual, but it still had me gritting my teeth and inquiring, who the actual hell did Shin think he was speaking to like that?
Floyd navigated his first official day back well enough, though, and while it wasn’t Shin’s finest moment, he more than made up for it when supporting Helen.
Shin: Everything OK?
Helen: Family stuff.
We’ve known Helen for two years so far, but we still don’t KNOW her. It was refreshing to have this glimpse into her personal life and backstory.
On a physical level, Helen’s relationship with Shin has improved if we’re basing it on their sleepover, but she still struggled with opening up and letting him in.
It was evident she received awful news, and her mind was lightyears away, but she was reluctant to share with him or anyone. She kept dismissing everyone around her.
Her half-brother, Farhan, died. She wasn’t close to him, but he was family nonetheless, and she was trying to get his body where it needed to be in a timely fashion to abide by Islamic law.
I only met him once, but once was all it took. I knew he was my brother, without a doubt.
Helen
It was impressive how Shin ascertained something was going on, and he gave her the number for an immigration lawyer. Unfortunately, it was too late, but the gesture and how he gave her space until she came to him to talk about it was lovely.
Helen is such a guarded person who doesn’t open up to many people easily. She’s very protective of parts of her life, and it continues to hit hard that no one, not even the colleagues and friends she’s closest to, knows about her family.
Helen’s an enigma in that way. The closest person she has at New Amsterdam tends to be Max, and I imagine it speaks to how close Helen feels she’s getting to Cassian that she confided him at all, but especially before she told Max. It’s a big step for her.
It was a taste of Helen’s personal life, this loss of her brother, and could’ve gone for more content surrounding that storyline, going into more details.
But the scene she shared with Cassian at the end of the day was a beautiful one. They both got to open up to each other and bear their souls a bit. Because of that relationship with Shin, we learned more about Helen in those moments, and we also peeled back a few layers about him.
His tidbit about the Korean tradition for women grieving was beautiful, but it was more striking than ever that it preceded him sharing that he’s adopted and had to learn and teach himself how to be Korean.
It’s something that sparks interest and gives us a hint of an insight into how he is who he is.
Helen: So your family is …
Shin: German-Irish. I actually had to teach myself to be Korean. I still don’t know how.
Speaking of people being who they are, Iggy’s case was such a heart-aching one — the epitome of this series.
Can you imagine for a second that the lesions on your mother’s brain make it so that she views you as an imposter? In some ways, it aligns to the difficulties of a loved one deteriorating to Alzheimer’s, but this was also so uniquely challenging and tragic.
Poor Linus had to process that his mother would never look at him and see her son. It’s as if he was deleted from her timeline, and he’s alive to see and experience the effects of it. Iggy’s best solution to put Yana at ease, giving her closure and creating a path where he could reintroduce Linus so that he could be a part of her life, was to tell her that Linus died.
Linus, there is no easy way to say this to you, but your mother is never going to recognize you again. Her condition is permanent.
Iggy
Linus had to act as if his mother died to forge a bond with his mom. In some ways, I supposed she did. Now, they’ll develop a new type of relationship, and I’m assuming we’re to believe that she’ll invite him into her home again, but it was such a devastating case.
Iggy was in his element doing what he does best, and Agnes is no Kapoor, but she’s adapting well to taking the reins in his absence.
I do wonder if we’ll ever get any more updates or even see Kapoor soon. We’ve gone two installments without him. They haven’t shared the extent of his recovery, nor have they given us any scenes of him meeting his granddaughter.
Oddly, they’ve allowed it to disappear into the background.
You didn’t just try to not all cops me right now, did you?
Casey
Lauren’s situation in the E.D. was also compelling.
I want to thank the New Amsterdam powers that be for finding a way to incorporate Casey more. He’s such an underrated character on this series, and he has been beyond deserving of more screentime for ages.
The addicted patient attacking everyone in the emergency room was a scene that made me audibly gasp and cover my hand over my mouth, watching in shock and horror.
It was awful witnessing Brunstetter get headbutted and thrown across the room like a rag doll.
They’re not making us feel any safer, Lauren. It’s just a different kind of unsafe.
Casey
It’s such a traumatizing experience, and yet, it’s not uncommon for doctors and nurses to experience scary attacks like that working in the E.R.
It understandably rattled Lauren, and she’s always trying to do everything she can to look after her people, so she wanted to find a solution. The little meeting she called with her colleagues spoke volumes about how frequent attacks like that were, and it was enough to make anyone’s heart sink that none of them felt safe working there, but they did it anyway.
They’re a brave bunch for that.
But then Lauren’s solution to the problem was to hire police officers, and it showed how as knowledgeable and astute as she believes she is, Lauren still has some serious blind spots.
Max: What can you tell me about them?
Lauren: We defunded the police.
Max: While I was in Conneticut?
The majority of her staff are people whose experiences make them inclined to have mixed feelings about police. Seeing the collective look of uneasiness and mild annoyance on their faces when she brought in a bunch of cops spouting “Safety” was a moment that said so much without a single word uttered.
In Lauren’s experiences, when there’s trouble, you call the police. But fortunately, in one of Casey’s best moments on the series to date, he schooled her on why her actions could prove to be counterproductive.
The cops probably made LAUREN feel safe, but you can’t say the same for Casey, who gets stopped regularly, even when wearing his scrubs, and spent an inordinate amount of time sitting on the curb or the Latine or Black staff members.
And as much as Lauren thought she was doing the best thing for Brunstetter, as a trans man, he’s no stranger to a similar uneasiness with law enforcement.
Hey, it’s bound to piss people off, and they are probably people decrying the demonization of law enforcement or expressing that it’s “not all cops,” and that’s fine. But it doesn’t erase the real experiences that many other demographics have — specific histories that don’t look the same for everyone.
Regardless of what some people’s perceptions are, Casey was right about the effects that an increased police presence would have on all. They’re an emergency room of a public hospital; their clientele is as diverse as it gets.
But an increased police presence would mean a decrease in people like the undocumented, queer people, or ethnic minorities, or whoever getting help. It’s the last thing Lauren would want.
They’re not making us feel any safer, Lauren. It’s just a different kind of unsafe.
As Casey put it, it’s a different kind of unsafe.
And from the law enforcement perspective, they simply are no equipped to handle all situations. They were never meant to be a catchall solution for all that ails society.
Lauren’s solution was reminiscent of something Max would’ve done. She put unemployed bouncers in need of health insurance in charge of crowd control, security, and assessment, and it not only falls within their expertise but it provides them with jobs they need.
Bloom went from the most Karen solution to a problem to putting “DeFund the police,” or reallocating police and services, into action.
She also has brought Leyla into the hospital. It’s hilarious that Casey already figured out that Lauren was letting Leyla use the showers.
By the time this is over, Leyla will have a job a non-practicing job in New Amsterdam, but she’ll be unofficially consulted or something. I love the addition of Leyla, and her and Lauren’s relationship is enjoyable.
Max and Luna’s relationship is no beyond repair.
Lauren: This is my secret spot.
Leila: Why do this for me?
Lauren: I protect my people.
As if the hour wasn’t squeezing every last emotion out of us, they made Max’s reunion with Luna heartbreakingly hard on him.
He was so excited to bring his daughter home until he walked through the Bennett home, which memorialized Georgia, and found a daughter he didn’t know anymore.
You can tell Georgia’s parents spoil Luna rotten. She had quite the setup of toys and space. They gushed about her routines, and you could see Max depleted with each new piece of information he learned about his daughter.
It was brutal to witness, and it’s such a fascinating thing to explore. Max made the best choice he could as a single father and doctor, allowing Luna to stay with her grandparents in the Connecticut suburb during the pandemic’s height.
It’s not a decision anyone would find fault in, and yet he felt as if he was a stranger to his daughter, and he missed out on so much. The little girl who used to look at him as if he was her whole world barely made eye contact with him.
You could tell that he and Georgia’s parents aren’t close, and there seems as if there is more to mine there for potential storylines. He barely made it through lunch with them, and he wanted out well before then.
Luna: Dada here.
Max: Yeah, Dada here.
He took off the second things got hard on him, and he wanted to get as far away as possible. I’m sure part of the issue was that they remind him of Georgia, and his grief and the memories hit him like a sledgehammer, but there was probably more to it than that.
His moment at Georgia’s grave was another moving scene within the hour and a reminder that grief never goes away. He still feels lost, and that doesn’t change.
He had no confidence in himself, raising their daughter alone. And everything about him being away from her for months was another setback.
But my God, it was all worth it when he brought her back to the apartment he spent time fixing up for her, and she remembered everything.
All it took was Luna reaching out for a hug and talking about him being home for everything to fall into place. It was the purest scene of the hour.
Over to you, ‘Dam Fanatics. What are your thoughts on Helen’s personal arc? Are you liking her and Shin together?
Did your heart go out to Max? Hit the comments below.
You can watch New Amsterdam online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.