New Amsterdam Season 1 Episode 13 Review: The Blues
Jasmine Blu
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New Amsterdam returned with another emotional hour.
If you haven't learned by now, you may need to bring a box of tissues with you for the ride. If there was anything to be taken away from New Amsterdam Season 1 Episode 13 it's that Helen isn't the only gorgeous crier on the series.
Lauren is a gorgeous crier too, and Kapoor will make you cry along with him.
The much-awaited return of the series also came with a much-awaited resolution to a significant problem: Lauren's addiction. The hour juggled a couple of storylines, but in the perfect world, the hour would have focused entirely on Lauren.
Janet Montgomery and Tyler Labine were the absolute best during their scenes.
There was an urgency to get back to them when the series would branch out to Max's quest to rid the hospital of obsolete jobs without getting rid of staff members, a case with a diabetic smoker whom I didn't pay much attention to, the Kapoor men playing tug-o-war with Ella, and Helen's forward movement with Panthaki.
Related: New Amsterdam Renewed for Season 2!
The back and forth between Lauren and Iggy was fascinating. In most cases, there is no way in hell Lauren would be granted so much leeway. Most employers wouldn't have bothered having the child psychiatrist sit down with her for a deep dive into her past to make sense of her addiction.
Yeah, my childhood sucked, but it made me who I am, and this hospital is lucky to have me.
Lauren
Only for the sake of Iggy screentime will I ignore the fact that there wasn't an addiction specialist or adult psychiatrist on hand. Although, there were a lot of things of which one had to suspend belief to get through the hour.
Lauren was so adamant that she didn't have a problem that she barely made it through her session at first. She was pissed off that she was reported. She was angry at Helen for presumably being the one to do it.
She lied about endangering patients, making errors, and even her ability to stop.
She was so defensive, but she was also behaving like someone who has a problem. To Iggy's credit, he handled her so well throughout the hour.
Inquiring minds would love to know if Tyler Labine did some research before taking on this role because he's one of the most realistic depictions of a therapist on television in quite some time. If Iggy were real, I would be tempted to sign up for a session myself.
As annoyed as Lauren was, it didn't take her long to spill her life story. She had an absent father who worked a lot and a mother who was an alcoholic. One of the best moments of the Iggy and Lauren scenes was when Iggy pointed out how much Lauren was like the screwed up father whom she idolized.
It's always fascinating the way people tend to idolize one parent so much that they overlook their flaws and the harmful effects of those flaws and vilify the other parent for theirs.
Related: 25 Reasons We Love New Amsterdam (and Why You Should Too!)
Lauren put her father on a pedestal because she respected how work-oriented he was, and he wasn't the fall-down drunk whom she had to tend to all the time.
She overlooked the fact that up until he died, he ran away and buried himself in work and other things to avoid dealing with his wife's alcoholism, and he left a middle-school aged Lauren to pick up the pieces, take care of her mother and sister, and fend for herself.
Lauren: Ask me again.
Iggy: What are you running from?
Lauren: I told my mom that I was going to NYU that I would here in town close by. Dad had died the year before and things had gotten ... I didn't even tell her that I applied to Whittman. I didn't tell Vanessa, my sister, and I knew. I knew that they wouldn't be OK without me. I mean, I protected Vanessa. She thought I was a rockstar, but she's 12, I mean I couldn't, I couldn't take her with me. I wanted to, but I knew that if I didn't go that I was never going to get out. One night I tucked her up in bed, then I left. I um, I left my little sister. She's uh, she's in rehab, now, again, fourth time.
Iggy: That is not on you.
Lauren: I could have saved her. I could have saved my mom.
Iggy: That is not your fault.
Lauren: Then whose was it? I just left.
After his death, she was forced to take care of her drunken mother and her sister who battled addiction too.
Lauren jumped on the first opportunity to leave for school, and she has felt guilty about that ever since.
If anyone is also a fan of Grey's Anatomy, Lauren's background is similar to Alex Karev.
His father abandoned his family, and his mother suffered from mental illness, so he was the caretaker for his mother and siblings until he couldn't take it anymore.
Iggy was right about Lauren saving the only person that she could; herself.
She did everything that she could do, and there was no reason to feel guilty about moving on with her life.
At first, it was suspect that Iggy let her walk out of his office and head back to work, but he knew that she wouldn't get the help that she needed unless she made the decision herself. Fortunately, she realized that she couldn't kick her habit on her own, and she needed real help.
It was a great moment for her; and fortunately for her, Max is not in the business of throwing away doctors, even those who have jeopardized the lives of patients for months.
Lauren is off to rehab with the promise of her job waiting for her when she gets back. In this economy, she's a lucky girl. Meanwhile, Janet Montgomery has one of the best story arcs to make room for her maternity leave.
Max: How's the VIP?
Lauren: I'm not feeling very important.
Max: Well you are to me, to everyone. It's going to be very hard but when you make it, your job is going to be here waiting for you.
Hopefully, when Lauren returns, she won't be so angry with Helen.
Helen did what she needed to do, and she wasn't the only one who had concerns about Lauren's behavior. The two women need to make up when Lauren returns.
Lauren being extended kindness and help after asking for it (a powerful moment) or being given a slap on the wrist (depending on how you respond to this storyline) coincided with Max's attempts to remove jobs over people.
Employees doublechecking to make sure they weren't fired was funny, but it was funnier when Max couldn't answer their questions about their new position. The satellite clinic idea was fantastic.
Unfortunately, the case with the diabetic woman who didn't take care of herself barely registered. Floyd performed exploratory surgery, but he was at his most entertaining with his response to Kapoor's inexplicable triangle with Rohan and Ella.
Floyd opted to mind his business, and you couldn't blame the guy. By the end of the hour, Kapoor needed a friend though. He screwed up with both Rohan and Ella.
He appeared as though he were having a genuine moment with his son, but then he messed up by questioning Rohan's intentions with Ella.
Just because your job is obsolete doesn't mean that you are.
Max
He also made Ella feel like Rohan couldn't be interested in someone like her. It was a mess all around. I'm still uncertain about Rohan's intentions toward Ella, and I need an update on Ella's dog situation, too.
Things are going well with Helen and Panthaki. For one, they are making it to a concert after all. I'm dying to know just how eclectic his playlist is.
Helen was hesitant at first to be going away with him, but her vulnerable moment speaking about her baggage was such a lovely moment.
Over to you, 'Dam Fanatics!
Were you happy with how Lauren's addiction arc was handled?
How do you feel about this Kapoor, Rohan, and Ella situation?
Hit the comments below!
You can watch New Amsterdam online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
