New Amsterdam Season 4 Episode 15 Review: Two Doors
Jasmine Blu
at
.
OK, so we have a plan formulating here to get rid of Veronica, yes?
One of the best things ever is when an actor of a series gets to wear a couple of hats during an installment, and this time around, Ryan Eggold got to direct New Amsterdam Season 4 Episode 15 and star in it.
Congratulations to him for that achievement!
But let's get back to the hour, which had some work to overcome a disappointing sendoff before the break with New Amsterdam Season 4 Episode 14.
We've been wondering how exactly Max could stop Veronica in any capacity when he no longer works at the hospital. And sure enough, she did what anyone with common sense would've done and called security to escort him out after his awkward threat that was interrupted by Helen calling for some over-the-phone sexy time.
Max: Yes, I would very much love to relive wet clothes Gazebo day, but I'm right in the middle of giving Veronica that ulti-
Helen: Oh, go, go, go! Give her the full Mad Max.
Curse New Amsterdam for the Justin Bieber earworm. And there isn't enough time to fully unpack that Max's ringtone for Helen is some slow jam, suggestive AF music with those lyrics. Maxwell Goodwin, I see you, sir. Helen, congratulations, madam!
Fortunately, they jumped right into Max's real reason for showing up at the hospital, and it was to rifle through Veronica's things and figure out that she has a franchise, UMI, that negotiated a seat on the board.
Max has to put in some work to finagle his way on New Amsterdam's board again, and it's unclear what he plans to do when that inevitably happens.
It's hard to say what his vision is and how a single board seat will turn the tides and get Veronica out of there, but we're rolling with it, and it's a start. At least there's some active effort to get Veronica removed rather than people accepting that we're stuck with her and there's nothing left to do.
Of course, Max's plan includes working at UMI for now, and he went as far as to enlist the help of many of the people who lost their jobs because of that deal he struck with Veronica before he left. Maybe if this were something he'd done soon after it happened, he would've gotten a better response.
You can't exactly blame the others for side-eying him for approaching them months after their mass firing, after they've found new employment elsewhere and are getting back on their feet, seeking their help and wanting to rally them against Veronica to save New Amsterdam.
They've shown that no one has seen or heard from most of these people until Kapoor's funeral, so it's understandable if they're salty. And then you have people like Gladys, who is thriving in her post-New Amsterdam life.
The woman went from playing babysitter to Iggy to wearing designer sunglasses and clothes, with a fire blowout, and fewer hours to work with significantly more pay. Nurses are a hot commodity because of the shortage, so there's a woman who is finally getting paid her worth.
Why other than the tug of familial loyalty and nostalgia would she give all that up to come slum it at a shoddy urgent care facility? If Gladys never stepped foot near New Amsterdam again, it would've been our loss, but good for her.
Max working at an urgent care facility is more in line with what he does, and it suits him. It's a step up from practicing back alley medicine on the streets of London.
And if anyone could make the requirements Antonio requested in exchange for his board seat, it's Max. In some ways, if not for the Sharpwin of it all, it would've made sense to stick Max there for months in his battle against Veronica than what they did the first half of the season.
The whole situation with Max and the others is frustrating and one where both sides make valid points. It's absurd that Max returned to pick up this fight, and he assumed that all of these other people would drop everything to join him.
In particular, Agnes, Gladys, Casey, and the rest had valid reasons to tell Max to kiss off after what they dealt with. In the New Amsterdam hierarchy, everyone, including their friends, decided they were expendable for the greater good.
Max: It's called Urgent Medicine Incorporated, and yeah, I know, it sounds like a front for the Serbian mob, and honestly, it might be, but we're going to turn this place around, and this job is going to be way more hours with a lot less money.
Casey: How do you think your pitch is going so far?
What's odd is that people like Casey framed his reasoning for not returning to help Max as solely dependent on Max staying to continue leading the charge. Sure, it's irritating that Max enlists others to fight battles he wages, and then he took off to London in the middle of it.
Max's savior complex is out of this world, and they've prodded at that a bit and called him out for it this season.
However, it's bizarre that everyone expects Max to be the only one to lead everything. He has a Savior Complex, but they sure as hell enable the crap out of it.
In that sense, what Max said to Floyd on that rooftop was the absolute truth. They've worked with Max for years, so why is it that they give up when he's no longer there?
Why did doing the right thing for the hospital become something that required Max? And does that mean that most of them only did what was best when they had him to hide behind? They can argue all day that Max shouldn't have started a fight and then abandoned it, but why were they only willing to fight at all if Max was at the helm?
In that sense, have they learned anything at all? Are they that afraid of risk-taking? What have they learned since Max joined the hospital?
It goes back to how Wilder, an outsider, did more work to fight things against Veronica than Max's close friends and colleagues; then, they got frustrated with her at times when they assumed that she was giving into Veronica, too.
Even if Max heads back to London after saving New Amsterdam, why can't someone else take the reins?
One of the most satisfying moments was when Lauren showed up toward the end to offer her assistance. If Max takes off to London again, which he's more than entitled to do, then people like Casey should at least be able to trust that Lauren can manage things where Max left off, right?
Why couldn't Casey, Floyd, or Iggy be the answer to Casey's dig about Max leaving them again?
It sucked that Max left New Amsterdam in Veronica's clutches without resolving the issue and somehow expected things to resolve without him. His and Helen's reaction when they returned was absurd.
However, the same goes for Floyd, who spent more time in a messy triangle with a married woman than making any meaningful changes or moves to stop the bad things from happening.
Floyd: I did what I did for the sake of the hospital.
Max: How's that working out for you?
Floyd: Hey, man, you're the one who left.
Max: Yeah, because I thought the people who stayed would keep fighting.
Floyd: How long? Max, how long should we keep risking our careers? Our livelihood, or reputations? For six months? A year? How long should we keep fighting to make it easier for you?
Max: Easier for me? You think this is easy? I'm dragging Luna back and forth across an ocean, I'm leaving behind a life I'm just getting started.
Floyd: So what? So we should just be grateful for your presence? We should be thankful that you came back to save us?
Max: I just came back to help, and today when I asked all my friends to join me, they all said no.
Floyd: You didn't ask me.
Max: No, I didn't.
The two "bros" arguing with each other on the rooftop was a great scene because they both made some solid points.
It was a bit amusing when Floyd mentioned that Max didn't ask him for help when he's the one who snitched to Veronica and had the whole hospital not speaking to him. He didn't exactly give off the vibes that he would be of service, even before the Veronica debacle.
His time with Veronica with Ms. Jones' case served as a wake-up call. It was also meant to give us some insight on Veronica, but it's something that came too little too late. We've gone the entire season without knowing much of anything about this woman other than she's the evil villain.
Attempting to give her depth this late in the game didn't work, and it didn't make sense anyway. We saw via flashbacks that she was something akin to Max once upon a time. She wanted to save everyone despite her mentor's wishes, which cost her in the long run.
Shoutout to Janet Hubert in the role of Dr. Palpa. New Amsterdam pulls out the best guest stars. The original Aunt Viv from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air brings all the nostalgia.
The situation with Veronica, the patient, and her mentor paralleled what happened with her, Ms. Jones, and Floyd, with Floyd behaving similarly to her back in the day.
Her mentor taught her the hard lessons of how healthcare in this country works and that she wasn't looking at the bigger picture of saving as many people as she could because she would focus on the small wins. It seemed to be a turning point to becoming more focused on the money.
The problem is that despite Veronica's "teaching moment" with Floyd, we haven't seen her do anything that's geared toward saving the masses at the expense of a few. Nothing she's done thus far has given us the impression that it's for some greater good or ends that justify the means.
And she implied that getting into powerful healthcare positions is how you change it or risk becoming another cog in the machine, but SHE IS the machine! Nothing she's done comes across as some groundbreaking way to change the course of healthcare; she's only exploiting the hell out of the worst parts of the system.
And we've seen multiple times how her decisions have cost people their lives, so how is she saving the masses in the long run?
One of her choices that did work out favorably is the addition of Mia. She hasn't been without some flaws, but they've at least taken a better approach to what she offers as a holistic healer. She isn't a joke, and they aren't treating her as one either.
It was touching when she used the Tibetan sound bowls and some visualization to give Louis peace and help him be there at his daughter's wedding.
It was a touching arc, something that is quintessential New Amsterdam. Wilder is such a kind-hearted spirit, and whatever friendship blossoming between her and Mia is endearing.
Somehow, against suspicions, Mia is finding a place at New Amsterdam, too.
And Iggy's arc with Drew was a heartbreaking one that's hard to process. What are we to glean from it?
It's one of those things where it requires you to set aside your judgment and submit to the state of the world. Perhaps there is some poignant message within Drew's situation with his father that's far above me and requires the growth I need to aspire to, but it was tough to swallow.
Many shows are addressing the pervasive brainwashing that's been happening in folks for the past few years where up is down, right is left, and facts don't seem to matter anymore. It's maddening to deal with regularly, but it makes for some compelling storytelling.
I can't imagine what it's like for someone like Drew, who survived something that horrific and traumatizing, only for his father to write all of it off as some hoax.
Drew thought there was a way to deprogram his father and help him see his side and the truth, but as Iggy said, as of now, there's no way to get through to people who are that deep into their conspiracies and that out of touch with reality. It's not as if it's a singular cult with a leader who generates all this information. It's people going down twisted rabbit holes on the internet.
Iggy's only advice to Drew was that he'd have to be the bigger person and adapt to his father's way of thinking if he wanted to maintain their otherwise healthy relationship.
Drew: So what do we do? How do we help him change?
Iggy: He can't change. He won't. So you have to.
Drew: But he's the one who's wrong. He's the one who believes things that aren't true.
Iggy: Exactly. You are able to tell what is real and not. The burden falls to you to do what he can't, what he isn't doing.
Drew: no, he lost contact with reality. And if we can figure out why then we can bring him back.
Iggy: You'll never know why. Even when we did, it wouldn't matter. It wouldn't change anything because the reason doesn't matter.
Drew: Of course, it matters. Conspiracy theories aren't harmless. They're the reason why millions of people won't get a vaccine that could save their lives. They're why global warming might actually kill every person on the planet. Mass shootings like Nick's happen so often it doesn't even make the news anymore, and I'm supposed to just put my head in the sand?
Iggy: Yes. If you want a relationship with your father that is a price tag.
They got a bit heavy-handed with Drew's speech, combining many of the hot-button issues that showcase this issue most. And begrudgingly, Iggy had a point about Drew's father actively choosing to avoid the discussion and Drew serving as the one instigating everything.
But I don't know how this is supposed to work. It's one thing for a person to bury their head in the sand and ignore their relative's insane beliefs about something that doesn't affect them on a smaller scale. However, Drew was the victim and a survivor of a mass shooting at a store.
He almost died, and his friends did. He vividly recalls every aspect of the incident, which affects him to this day. Even if he and his father choose never to talk about it, the damage is there.
What happens on the anniversary of the incident when Drew has a hard time, and his father can't sympathize because he doesn't believe his son ever experienced it? What will it be like when it's his friend's birthday, and he's down in the dumps about the loss?
And we all know PTSD from traumatic events can rear its head at any time. It doesn't feel mentally and emotionally healthy for Drew, expecting him to go along with his father's delusions or accept them. It seems damaging and a difficult task. Drew can't unlearn what he saw on that computer or erase his father's beliefs.
I don't think building furniture together and fond memories of camping change that. Drew had a point about how harmful it is when people go down rabbit holes, as his father did.
You can't pretend as if it's not harmful in any way or causes damage. It feels like giving up on addressing a problem in favor of "live and let live," but you can't ascribe that to just anything when it's detrimental in other ways.
It never stops there when these deep-seated conspiracies evolve into dangerous ideologies that are actively harmful to people. A prescription of "just be the bigger person and ignore it" is a rough take. No, there aren't any solutions either, but that's bleak as hell.
Some things can't be explained. Sometimes 'why' doesn't have an answer.
Iggy
On a micro-level, it does become about choosing to be right or happy with the person you love. And sometimes, it's important to stick with that. However, it's hard to let go of that bigger picture.
The bigger picture for Sharpwin right now is that for the foreseeable future, they'll be apart from one another. No one wants to see those two lovebirds on opposite sides of the ocean, but Helen is thriving in London and deserves to do so, and Max has work to do in NYC.
They can sustain a long-distance relationship, and they didn't hesitate to give us a tease of what that looks like for them with their game of phone tag—the ill-time start-up to phone sex made for some moments that elicited an amused snort.
It was a running bit that they got some wear out of to the point that you wondered why either of them would keep starting conversations about whatever hot gazebo sex they had if they weren't sure if the other person was in the best place to hear it. I also wonder about all the details of that bench breaking in the Gazebo in the first place, but I digress.
But then, when Max returned Helen's phone call, she ignored it, and it seemed like we were heading somewhere undesirable. Of course, they made up for it with that tantalizing phone sex scene, and I'm happy to report the two smolder even over the phone.
I mean, we're still ignoring their spat and how unresolved those issues were between them. As much as it pains me to say it, they may do better long-distance than they've been together recently because of that. It'll force them to communicate better.
However, I don't know how that'll go over with diehard Sharpwin shippers who aren't into some phone foreplay.
I'm just going to throw out there that it was the time I paid most attention to visual shots, and that's usually something I try to notice more when one of the actors is the director. For obvious reasons, Sharpwin yummy time and the rooftop scene with Floyd were the most memorable.
Sexy Sharpwin phone sex is probably one of the top moments for the ship, yes? Damn, they give good phone. Max's voice is, um, yummy.
That phone call was deliciously obscene, and I feel like I'm going to pass out, so I'll end it there.
Over to you, 'Dam Fanatics.
Can Max pull off this plan? What did you think of the Veronica flashbacks? What's your reaction to Iggy's case? HIt the comments.
Unfortunately, New Amsterdam returns April 19, but until then 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.
