Is it January yet?
It was the final hour of the year, and New Amsterdam Season 2 Episode 9 left us with a disconcerting cliffhanger.
Brantley stripped Helen of her duties, Ella is Idaho-bound, Max said goodbye to Georgia, and a handful of inmates are plotting to take over the hospital and escape.
It will be a lot to unpack when the series returns. For all the action and the promise for more, the finale was understated.
It’s only because of half of the little cliffhangers going as expected. We all knew Evie would want to stay or return to LA for work.
Floyd is the only one who didn’t know his relationship has fizzled out, and Evie’s interest is elsewhere.
Who couldn’t predict that Lauren enlisting a fellow addict to monitor her pill intake and dosage would go poorly?
It’s not surprising that in a jam-packed hour, Iggy’s adoption debacle wouldn’t have a conclusion. Helen facing some extreme consequence for the heroin den, was inevitable.
Max: What happened to play nice.
Helen: I said you play nice.
Iggy: Oh, good cop, bad cop. How appropriate. I love it.
It’s a level of predictability to the series this season that’s different than New Amsterdam Season 1, but the series always makes up for it with its beautiful storytelling and compelling moments.
The hour chose to focus on the dire conditions of women’s correctional facilities. It’s a topic that can never have enough attention.
From the late Orange Is the New Black, to inspired hours on other medical and legal dramas, TV has placed a spotlight on the abhorrent conditions of those who reside at a correctional facility.
No one is going to ask for care without privacy. This is part of the problem.
Helen
New Amsterdam explored it beautifully, for lack of a more appropriate word. Similar to the healthcare system, the prison system is fraught with a plethora of issues with inadequate funding near the top of the list.
The conditions of which those women were living in were terrible. You can’t even say the women were treated like animals; people generally give a damn about animals.
Initially, the hour showcased the flaws and poor conditions, and it did lay much of the blame on hardened correctional officers and an inflexible, uncaring warden.
It was the narrative they stuck with — the inmates’ afflictions were due to or exacerbated by the prison’s poor conditions and care.
Max assembled the gang like something out of an action movie. He was ready to go to war for proper women’s healthcare to all women, including the incarcerated ones.
His trusty second urging him on after discovering the inmate had TSS from a nine-day tampon incident. Sanitary supplies tend to be limited and rationed, so it was sad but nor surprise nor uncommon for the patient who almost died.
The warden is a results guy, and he liked our results.
Helen
Again, the musical director of this series is a gem and has a knack for capturing the tone of a scene with song choice. The song playing while they were headed to Rikers and going through the invasive patting down process was brilliant.
The sound of chains fit the nature of the scene perfectly, and another noteworthy moment was the music playing during Helen and Max’s last discussion about sharing burdens.
But back to Rikers. The warden was set up to be the person who stood in Max’s way, and for most of the hour, he was.
No one is going to ask for care without privacy. This is part of the problem.
He seemed like he didn’t care about the women he was overseeing or anything else. However, when you got past the callous exterior and his reluctance to embrace Max and the others, he spoke about how much they endure in the correctional system.
They don’t get the proper funding for anything and are understaffed.
He couldn’t fix issues if he wanted to, because of their inability to fund anything.
He wanted them to examine the women in the tiny room, so he could use his limited resources to the best of his abilities.
It’s true, you can’t be friends while you’re in here, but you can look at each other, just for a second, and remember there’s more to who you are.
Iggy
He had to consider the safety of the inmates, guards, and the medical staff Max brought in. As the hour progressed, it was evident that guards with grudges and cranky wardens weren’t the only reason these women were not getting their needs met.
It was such a shock when we were invested and grew attached to these women only for them to end the hour plotting to take over a hospital and escape.
Jackie seemed like a delightful woman, and she was most helpful with Max, but it was an all act.
Iggy’s exchanges with Pearl were fun. It was the way she knew how to communicate and connect, but then Sanchez ruined it.
Max: Are you OK?
Helen: I’ll burden you if you burden me.
Max: I’m in remission.
It can’t be the first time someone finds themselves guarding someone they used to know. Sanchez was downright bullying and on a power trip.
It was absurd how she was holding a grudge against Pearl over her boyfriend, and she didn’t even know the full story.
Iggy is the best, and it’s incredible how good he is at getting others to communicate when he struggles with it himself sometimes.
He got these two women to cast aside their uniforms and the power structure between them long enough to see each other as the humans they are. They saw each other as the former second-grade classmates and close friends they were.
Iggy: First I would like to say thank you both for being here.
Sanchez: I’m just here because the warden told me to be here.
Pearl: I’m just here because the door is locked.
The inmate in solitary confinement was equal parts heartbreaking and terrifying. We were waiting for that jump scare moment when she would lash out and attack someone because of her not wanting to be touched.
It was one of a few times in which Max was a bit protective of Helen, and it’s such a relief to have these two back on the right path.
They work best when they’re together and giving a damn about each other and treating each other well. We got all of that during the hour.
Kapoor’s inmate at the hospital was the most emotional of them all. How could you not get misty-eyed when he sneaked in her family to see her in the scan-room?
Kapoors is an angel among men. It’s why it was a blow when Ella revealed she had OCD, was going off of her meds for the sake of the baby, and she was moving to Idaho to be with her parents.
Kapoor can never catch a break, and one is dying to know why the ‘Dam writers like putting him through the wringer. Let him be happy, dammit!
He can never have anything or anyone without it/them being taken away from him. What is this madness? Make it stop.
You cannot fault Ella for doing what’s best for her and the baby. It’s incredibly difficult for women battling severe conditions like OCD, Anxiety, or depression going off of their meds for their pregnancy.
It’s brave of her to do it and going to her parents is the best call. She’s going to need the support. Unfortunately, it takes her away from Kapoor, and he loses the last piece of family near him.
Georgia: It’s what you’ve been waiting for. You’re better.
Max: I only wanted to be better for you.
Max understands the loss of family. He has spent the first half of the season reeling from Georgia’s death, and it has taken over his personal are so completely, his cancer one drifted away until now.
He was terrified over his throat issues. You cannot blame the man for assuming the worst — that his cancer was back.
Is it wrong that Ms. Anne Hathaway wannabe Castro is so untrustworthy, there were doubts that she told him the truth about his remission?
You can’t put anything past her, and we know how important her study is to her.
Effective immediately, you are stripped of your duties as co-chair of oncology as well as deputy medical director.
Brantley
Is this the last of Max’s cancer arc and journey? If so, I have mixed feelings about the absence of it.
He couldn’t appreciate his remission. It took until the final moments of the hour to understand why.
He was fighting cancer and living for Georgia, and it didn’t feel the same going into remission after the long fight, and she wasn’t there to appreciate it.
If he credited her for why he fought so hard, then it would leave him asking himself: “what was the point?”
Georgia: You just have to say the words, Max. It’s OK. It’s OK to say it.
Max: You’re not here.
Georgia: And you still are.
At the risk of sounding insensitive and mean, the goodbye scene between Max and Georgia was probably meant to be a moving, stunning scene.
And maybe it would’ve been if it didn’t come five installments too late.
For starters, the assumption was that he said goodbye during New Amsterdam Season 2 Episode 8. You know, the hour titled “Goodbye.”
When Georgia popped up yet again, it was well past the point of one being able to care. The Ghost Georgia aspect of the series ran its course ages ago.
Max:I’m not going to see you anymore am I?
Georgia: Every time you loo at Luna.
Again, what was the point of killing off the character if we saw more of her in the entire first half of the season than we did for the entirety of New Amsterdam Season 1?
It was either cruel for those who couldn’t move past it to enjoy the series and had to be reminded of her death, or it was irksome for those who were never interested in her at all.
Ghost Georgia let Max know she was ready to go, and they had a lovely exchange of words again, and I guess it means she’s gone for good this time. Who knows?
Georgia: It’s what you’ve been waiting for. You’re better.
Max: I only wanted to be better for you.
They overdid this so much that their goodbye lost meaning.
I wonder if he’ll share with anyone else how long it took him to let go of that form of her? He and Helen agreed to share their burdens, and they caught up on the things they were keeping from each other, mostly.
Max found out about how much trouble she was in for going to a heroin den, and he went lost his mind. No one comes after his best friend, period.
He wouldn’t have her under fire for what happened, and you can always count on him to come to her defense and champion for her.
He shared with her that he was in remission, but she still didn’t tell him about her deal with Castro, and he didn’t say anything about Georgia.
They’re finding their way back to being each other’s confidant, and the show is better for it.
Helen: I didn’t want to burden you.
Max: Burden me, please. Always.
You know he’s going to lose his mind when he finds out that Helen was stripped of her duties. It makes you wonder if Castro had something to do with any of this.
They can’t keep Helen down and out for long, but it was an impactful cliffhanger for the mid-break finale.
Meanwhile, Floyd and Lauren better realize their respective relationships are not beneficial to them, and they are best with each other.
Zach seemed like a great guy. It was a questionable choice when Lauren chose him to be the one to administer her drugs for her after the surgery.
Lauren: Why do you believe me?
Zach: Why?
Lauren: You have no reason to. As one addict to another, the only way you can be certain I didn’t take it is if you took it.
He’s an addict, too, so why would you want to put that power in the hands of something you thought you cared about and who happens to fight the same demons as you?
Lauren was in anguish; the missing pill led to one of the most twisted scenes of the hour.
Zach let her know how silly it was to entrust another addict like this, but he toyed with her while giving answers about the missing pill.
What happened there? Are we supposed to believe he took it and still has a substance abuse problem? Does he plan on gaslighting her and having her think she’s crazy?
Will people think she has a problem again? It was such a confusing scene where we were expected to read through the lines, but they remained unclear.
She would’ve done better making Floyd her person. He’s been there for her before, and she wouldn’t have been going through all of this.
It’s not like he’ll be busy with Evie.
Floyd was the only one in the Universe who thought he was still getting married to Evie.
Floyd: Is everything, alright?
Evie: I’m just tired. Give me a few nights, and I’ll be alright.
She was not enjoying being back in New York. She barely seemed interested in Floyd, and she’s taking the job offer under consideration, but it feels like she’s not planning on taking his feelings on the matter into consideration at all.
It’s not looking good, Floyd.
They’ll all have to put a pin in the relationship drama, though. They’re going to need to direct all their energy to the Rikers inmates taking over the prison when New Amsterdam returns.
They have something planned, and it’s not pretty. The missing ID tags were enough to make a person scream.
Over to you, ‘Dam Fanatics.
Was that the last of Georgia? Will you miss her?
Did Castro have something to do with Helen’s punishment? What will happen when Max finds out she’s stripped of her powers?
Are you ready for the hospital to be under attack by convicts? Hit the comments below.
You can watch New Amsterdam online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.