S04.E09: In a Strange Land

[secnarf]

Quote

Max takes drastic measures to help several undocumented immigrants after a fire destroys the church where they had sought refuge. Sharpe and Malvo assist a patient with a life-threatening condition. Reynolds is conflicted about his new position.

Original air date: Nov 16 2021.

[bros402]

I wonder what the drastic measure will be? Will he have the patients in the hospital chaplain claim sanctuary?

what will the life threatening condition be? Who the hell is Malvo? I'm gonna guess something complicated by neutropenia, since you can always hope something will actually be relevant to her skills as a hem-onc

[Cloud9Shopper]

6 hours ago, bros402 said:

I wonder what the drastic measure will be? Will he have the patients in the hospital chaplain claim sanctuary?

what will the life threatening condition be? Who the hell is Malvo? I'm gonna guess something complicated by neutropenia, since you can always hope something will actually be relevant to her skills as a hem-onc

Malvo is Lyn, Floyd’s married girlfriend. 

[circumvent]

Isn't NY a sanctuary city? And I would assume that even if it is not, NA would be a sanctuary hospital, so the "drastic" part is probably just to make the synopsis more dramatic. 

[bros402]

17 hours ago, Cloud9Shopper said:

Malvo is Lyn, Floyd’s married girlfriend. 

ahhhhh

hmmm, life threatening condition that needs OBGYN and hem-onc? well i mean obviously everyone is certified in everything... it's not gonna be Rh issues, so hmm, maybe a pregnant woman with cancer, and then they need to deliver the baby early, and they'll be like "but it's only 30 weeks!!!" - when 30 weeks is viable and a very very high chance of survival

or some disorder that should've been detected in childhood undetected until now

15 hours ago, circumvent said:

Isn't NY a sanctuary city? And I would assume that even if it is not, NA would be a sanctuary hospital, so the "drastic" part is probably just to make the synopsis more dramatic. 

Sanctuary city doesn't mean undocumented immigrants can't be deported - it just means the police will not/cannot help

[NYGirl]

Well that one went off the rails. 

[Cloud9Shopper]

Yep, the best move for this boring show is to keep picking off likable and interesting characters like Karen. So we’re stuck with can’t see patients Iggy, Floyd and his married lover, Mommy Issues Lauren and her girlfriend who had a spot bought and paid for, and the show’s most popular couple leaving for another country next week. Fuentes is so manipulating and such a cartoon villain, and even if she was saved tonight she probably won’t last much longer anyway because I am not convinced Max and Helen will last longer than two episodes in London. 

I spent most of the episode on my phone. I wish they were taking a week off next week. 

Has anyone seen “more joy”? This has to be the worst marketing campaign/slogan ever. 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Cloud9Shopper

[cathmed]

So, finally this week, we got to see the resolute and intrepid Max we know & love at least temporarily outwit ICE to come up with a reasonable "how can I help" solution for the undocumented.

Was no surprise the weak board members would renege on Karen and side with the devil's handmaiden.  Obviously, Karen doesn't know the volatile, uncaring, fearless smug "fixer" Veronica as well as she thought.  That Evan guy has always been cowardly and ineffectual not to mention a snake, traitor and untrustworthy as seen from previous episodes.

I hate to beat this horse to death but what was the point of badass Sharpwin talking about "let's get into trouble over the next 6 weeks" when sadly, it seems they've only failed and lost everything.  It's hard to believe they'll proceed to go to London with this mess, BUT we know that they are.   Again, I only hope it is a very short-lived relocation.

Edited November 17, 2021 by cathmed

[cathmed]

4 minutes ago, Cloud9Shopper said:

Yep, the best move for this boring show is to keep picking off likable and interesting characters like Karen. So we’re stuck with can’t see patients Iggy, Floyd and his married lover, Mommy Issues Lauren and her girlfriend who had a spot bought and paid for, and the show’s most popular couple leaving for another country next week. Fuentes is so manipulating and such a cartoon villain, and even if she was saved tonight she probably won’t last much longer anyway because I am not convinced Max and Helen will last longer than two episodes in London. 

I spent most of the episode on my phone. I wish they were taking a week off next week. 

Has anyone seen “more joy”? This has to be the worst marketing campaign/slogan ever. 

The hiatus is forthcoming around 1st of December.  I've also read where there will be a 6-weekk hiatus after the first of the year due to the Olympics and other events.  I can only hope the scriptwriters will think about the S4 direction and do a course correction for the 2nd half of the season.   They've really damaged and destroyed Sharpwin and this entire season for me.

As far as "more joy" - I think that was evidently a misnomer or sarcasm.

[Brian Cronin]

"My head nurse was fired and I'm now a complete moron" - dude, you can't be THIS stupid, Iggy.

There is little to zero chance that Leyla would have lasted this long before hearing that she was an extra spot added. I just assumed Lauren simply lied about WHY the spot was added, not that it wasn't obvious that a spot was added. EVERYONE would be talking about that if a spot got added like this. 

Is Karen still a board member now that she's out as the chair? 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Brian Cronin

[LittleIggy]

I would assume that Karen is still on the board. She wasn’t voted off the board.

Of course, magic seizure girl saved her brother’s life! 🙄

Where did they get the bus to transport all of those people to another church?

[Brian Cronin]

6 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

Where did they get the bus to transport all of those people to another church?

They definitely left a page or two of the script on the cutting room floor there! :D

[babyrambo]

 

MAX/HELEN: they said they would “get into some trouble” before they left, yet so far, all they’ve done is show up to work and let Fuentes make a fool out of them. A bit of a pathetic exit and so much for making waves lol. 

 

It’s nice when they remember that Helen is a competent doctor and let her do things that reflect that. Her patient this week was portrayed by a fantastic actor and he really elevated the story they gave him. Most of the patients did, I thought. 

 

FLOYD: He’s at his best when he’s teaching. They should just give him that wife he’s been so desperately seeking and let her function like Martin, with minimal focus. Then Floyd’s real storylines can be mentoring residents. That’s where he shines, like in this episode. I actually watched his scenes all the way through for once but that’s mainly because of Leyla. 

 

LEYLA: I quite like her energy, she evens out whoever she’s around, which is usually Lauren but she easily mixes with the rest of the cast as well.  It’s too bad she’s going to be taken out back, to the Land of Exes with Dr. Shin, Helen’s season 1 ex and the lady with the kid Max briefly dated, never to be seen again. I’d have liked to see her join Floyd as a surgery resident; they don’t have nearly enough interesting surgeries this season. They write off love interests so abruptly all the time, I’m surprised they’ve dragged out things between her and Lauren for this long. I do like some aspects of their relationship, and I like seeing Lauren not so snappish all the time. She’s going to be an absolute terror when everything unravels but strangely I’m excited for that. It hasn’t been a joyful season anyway, what’s some more tension. 

 

FUENTES: they’re trying to make her out like the wicked bitch of the west but her actions are so cartoonish, the others simply look ridiculous for being outwitted by a woman who’s basically a Disney villain. Her stealing the vote out from Brantley was unexpected though. I prefer Brantley but I hope they start writing Veronica less like she’s on the verge of an evil cackle and more like the stone cold bureaucratic suit she is. Maybe once Max is gone, she’ll cool it. 

 

I liked this episode. In my opinion, if you hand wave some details, it’s one of their better ones.

[Sweet Tee]

Don't feel the least bit sorry for Karen.  She's the one who brought Fuentes in.  She didn't even interview her.  She called her immediately after Max announced he was leaving.  That leads me to believe she must have known her fairly well and known what she was like and now she's suddenly shocked at how evil she is?  She brought it all on herself.

And Fuentes really used the money she's saved by putting in pasta and juice bars in the cafeteria?  Seriously?  There's nothing more pressing in a hospital that that money could be going to?  When is she gone?  I'm tired of her twirling her mustache all over the place.  How was she not sued to hell by that poor ambulance guy's wife for basically getting him killed?  That was on her and there are no consequences to that?

I'm glad Leyla knows the truth.  I hope she doesn't get banished to the land of ex's and joins Floyd in surgery.  Give him a mentor storyline instead of focusing on his insufferable love life.  But, she also needs to kick Lauren to the curb.  It's about time Lauren faced some consequences for what she did.  Shocking to see Lynn actually do some doctor stuff for a change.  But, is the triangle really just going as it's been going?  Last I heard, her husband was not happy with the situation but she's not stopping and he's just going to put up with it?  Dude, you can do better than her.  She either needs to commit to her hubby or leave him and commit to Floyd.

And I guess I'm pretty coldhearted too because I was completely unmoved by the sibling's story and in fact rolled my eyes when they met in..heaven?  Purgatory?  Whatever.

[judyri]

24 minutes ago, Sweet Tee said:

And Fuentes really used the money she's saved by putting in pasta and juice bars in the cafeteria?  Seriously?  There's nothing more pressing in a hospital that that money could be going to? 

I wanted to comment on this too.  Why are NA and the Good Doctor bringing in horrible women administrators (I say that because I think it is a stereotypical trope) to void the hospitals of all humanity and run them only as profit centers.  Why doesn't she just make New Amsterdam the #1 place for plastic surgery for NYC? And make the (again magically found unused floors) into recovery spas?  Peaches in November... should have been the title

[Cloud9Shopper]

39 minutes ago, Sweet Tee said:

Don't feel the least bit sorry for Karen.  She's the one who brought Fuentes in.  She didn't even interview her.  She called her immediately after Max announced he was leaving.  That leads me to believe she must have known her fairly well and known what she was like and now she's suddenly shocked at how evil she is?  She brought it all on herself.

And Fuentes really used the money she's saved by putting in pasta and juice bars in the cafeteria?  Seriously?  There's nothing more pressing in a hospital that that money could be going to?  When is she gone?  I'm tired of her twirling her mustache all over the place.  How was she not sued to hell by that poor ambulance guy's wife for basically getting him killed?  That was on her and there are no consequences to that?

I'm glad Leyla knows the truth.  I hope she doesn't get banished to the land of ex's and joins Floyd in surgery.  Give him a mentor storyline instead of focusing on his insufferable love life.  But, she also needs to kick Lauren to the curb.  It's about time Lauren faced some consequences for what she did.  Shocking to see Lynn actually do some doctor stuff for a change.  But, is the triangle really just going as it's been going?  Last I heard, her husband was not happy with the situation but she's not stopping and he's just going to put up with it?  Dude, you can do better than her.  She either needs to commit to her hubby or leave him and commit to Floyd.

And I guess I'm pretty coldhearted too because I was completely unmoved by the sibling's story and in fact rolled my eyes when they met in..heaven?  Purgatory?  Whatever.

I really hope Lauren faces consequences, mostly so people on the NA subreddit can stop waxing poetic about how she just HAD to “donate” for Leyla to get a spot because she’s an addict who has “abandonment issues” and wants to control things while totally insisting that Leyren is a healthy and normal ship. People totally coddle her over there as if addict were code for “can act however I want.” 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Cloud9Shopper

[izabella]

2 hours ago, Sweet Tee said:

And I guess I'm pretty coldhearted too because I was completely unmoved by the sibling's story and in fact rolled my eyes when they met in..heaven?  Purgatory?  Whatever.

That was a big fail for me, too.  I was fine with sister talking to God/seizures story, but then they had to make it ridiculous.

[txhorns79]

Quote

side with the devil's handmaiden

I don't know.  I mean, while her ambulance plan was criminal, she seems a lot better at her job than Max is.  She put forward a balanced budget whereas Max had nothing.  She pointed out that Max's initial sanctuary plan was poorly thought out and completely impractical, which it was.  It also nearly got him arrested, just like his drug delivery system from earlier this season also nearly got him arrested.  Max may care more, but he mostly is about trying to solve very difficult problems with cutesy, easy solutions that do little to actually solve things.         

[JayDub1987]

Again, I'm not sure why I'm supposed to hate Fuentes. She wants to focus on making money instead of arbitrarily deciding who gets help based on their grade on Max's Woke Scale? Good for her! I'm supposed to hate her because a woman who didn't interview her gave her a job, and now she's getting that woman fired for trying to cut her throat? Good for her x2! She doesn't relent to all of Max's pandering like building random grocery stores? Build a statue to the woman. 

[MinorL]

Fuentes is just cartoonish at this point. 

[bros402]

It's time for

WHO IS THE WORST DOCTOR

Random guess before I start the episode: Sharpe

um shouldn't more than one person be in charge of organizing stuff in a big city ER? I could understand if it was some rural ER and Casey was in charge of organizing everything... but they are a huge ER AND THAT THING HAS LABELS ON IT

is Iggy going to ruin another patient

wait why would this guy just knock on Iggy's door and walk in? he's a psychiatrist, you don't just walk into his office!

also how would everything fall apart after, what, a week?

wait how are three patients there for a 9 am? I could understand two, but three?

wait so now Floyd is the chair of surgery?

there are still boxes in the room, so too much time couldn't have passed, so HOW DID IGGY HAVE THREE PATIENTS SCHEDULED AT 9 AM SO QUICKLY

that cafeteria looks incredibly expensive - you think that could've been cut before a nurse or a doctor

um i don't think residents can just randomly apply to other hospitals

i'm guessing that the kid didn't try to stamp out the fire - he started the fire

this is a relatively calm ER for a mass casualty event

having max all day seems more like a curse than a gift imo

max you can't just sit a guy down on a bed, he needs to be checked in

i wonder if ICE started the fire

oh fun, maggots on the severely burn skin, good thing I am not eating

you think they would not tell the patient what the code means

ok them asking the kid if he started the fire made my head start playing we didn't start the fire

talking to god patient is gonna be boring I think - i bet she's just gonna be having seizures

i wonder if they will convince transman patient to get a mammo, or just do something magical

um max why would you make the cafeteria a church, you have a chapel in the hospital

that cafeteria is nowhere near HIPAA compliant - at least with the hospital chapel you could at least pretend that people's rights are being kept

wait they aren't moving *every* patient there are they? since moving leg guy would not be feasible

um max, board lady, and fuentes - shouldn't this be a conversation for an office?

wait wait is this going to be the breaking point for fuentes to be canned?

ok so ob and sharpe are talking doctor right while the patient is on the table

wait so she tells him right there that he has a tumor????

sharpe why are you surprised that he is asking for a double mastectomy

oh hey I was right about talking to god patient

temporal lobe epilepsy? I'm guessing they are gonna prescribe her keppra and she'll refuse it so she can keep talking to god

i have never heard of temporal lobe seizures called Dostoevsky seizures... TO GOOGLE!
"The Russian writer Dostoevsky (1821-1881) suffered from a rare form of temporal lobe epilepsy termed "ecstatic epilepsy.""
oh cool

iggy you cannot guarantee she will stop having it completely - she could have breakthrough seizures
wait iggy you are not a neurologist why are you prescribing this

i mean it isn't a 100% chance her seizures will start to spread and become generalized - especially since she has been having them as long as she can remember

this seems awfully quick for him to be getting a skin graft + for the maggots to have worked, since it has been a few hours at most. wow this hospital is quick - somehow the sister got an EEG and her hair is still PERFECT. no goo stuck in it or anything. At most, it has been, what, 6-8 hours? Since iirc their shifts start at 7 am, they seemed a bit into the shift, so let's say the episode started at 9 am for them, then board lady said a board meeting was "tonight" - so I would say 7-9 PM at the latest for a start time

god this show treats time like This Is Us treats distance

that is a lot of undocumented people at the hospital

how long until the news vans

hey look max found a new place for the church but it looks like a bit of a walk for the patients though
oh ok the priest is making sense... and Max didn't try to speechify?????????? what

so far the board lady's D plot is the most engaging
i bet she doesn't have that guy's support

oh is max gonna get his job back, then at the end of the episode everyone will walk back in - or is fuentes gonna do something to keep her job and fire max early

is sharpe gonna see something in that tumor?
yup, it spread - you don't know that it is just in the chest wall, though - you need to do scans

um iggy, do you remember "do not harm?" you are inducing a seizure in a patient in a non-medical setting - now if this was an EEG, sure, but this is the patient wanting to have a seizure to feel how she feels when she has one

let me guess, this is the time she'll have her first generalized

wait WHY DIDN'T YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO CATCH HER HEAD, NOW SHE HAS A CONCUSSION

that is definitely an, uhhhh, interesting seizure

i wouldn't be surprised from the swelling being the burns, look at how burned he is

BLOOM IF YOU KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN WHY DIDN'T YOU HAVE ATIVAN WITH YOU

she's literally having a seizure, ICE can't take a patient who isn't stable to leave the hospital

WAIT WHY DIDN'T THEY PUT OUT THE INCENSE, OR AT LEAST TAKE IT AWAY FROM HER

also why isn't she in a puddle of urine - if it is tonic clonic she most likely would've voided her bowels and/or bladder

jesus sharpe you tell him from the get-go that there are treatment options, not let him have 10 seconds that feel like a lifetime while he asks YOU

every day for 6 weeks is the treatment? jesus what kind of regimen is he doing

wait they are kicking out every patient? uhhh that seems sort of... dickish. I would understand if it were financial, since EMTALA just requires they be stabilized, but yeaaaaaaaaaah

so they are admitting seizure patient, but kicking out cancer guy pretty much hours after his operation?

yes iggy, you should have never let things go that far
wait did max admit he was wrong????????

iggy, she was in the midst of a seizure
wait she was having a tonic clonic, how did she talk - or did she have a break, talked, then started to seize again

wait so they literally just booted that guy from THE ICU, he could've been kept for at least a few days for post-op
um is ICE literally going to pull over a bunch of ambulances that could be heading to some serious medical catastrophe

wait is the priest driving the ambulance Max is in?

so they said earlier that everyone is out but what about leg burns
oh thank god they didn't kick him out

 

uh oh Reynolds let it slip, now Bloom's GF is gonna be angry
wow reynolds you didn't have to go into that much detail, you could've left it at "i understand why they made a 5th slot"

wait so in this board meeting, who has the medical director vote, Fuentes or Max? I would have to imagine it's Max, since he is still the medical director for another 1-2 weeks

wait how do BOTH OF THEM HAVE VOTES

well that was just ridiculous

what even WAS this episode

 

so, uhhhh, worst doctor?

 

honestly I have to go with Iggy because somehow in the span of a single week he has managed to screw up his schedule that badly (and it seemed like they were all regular patients!) AND he assisted a patient in inducing a seizure

 

this episode was way too boring - now I can appreciate when a show goes cartoony, I watched Scorpion until it got canned, and that was pretty much a live action saturday morning cartoon, but it has to at least have something to keep the viewer engaged, and this episode honestly had nothing. I might be spoiled by the episode with Omundson a few weeks ago, though.

 

honestly I think this show could do with a bottle episode, it'd be interesting to see how the writers would handle it since they love having like 5 different plots an episode

[circumvent]

I hope that the possible break up between Leyla and Lauren does't mean that the former is leaving the show. Can we keep her and let Lauren go?

That's not how board meetings work. Someone makes a motion, someone else seconds, there is usually time to debate the issue (maybe this happens before the motion). Then they vote. Someone needs to take minutes too. And chairs are elected, not appointed. They would need a motion to allow the appointment of a new chair, then vote on that too. Even if boards might work differently, the variations are minimal. Besides, NA would be following the usual, old general board rules. I also don't believe for a minute that a hospital that big has such a small board. There is too much to oversee, they would need more people to fill up the committees. 

I did enjoyed the episode only because every time I see ICE being portrayed as the evil people they are, and having their ass kicked, I feel elated. And because the real life situation has not changed after November 2020. It is still inhumane and criminal 

[judyri]

I don't hate Fuentes for wanting to keep the hospital in the black financially.  What I criticize her & Good Doctor head is sacrificing care for perceived profit.  The idea of firing 150 people and putting in a cafeteria pasta bar is going to attract wealthy patients is ridiculous.   You go to a hospital for the best care, not the best food.  Come on, this in NYC there are 100s of restaurants within a few blocks, but how many Caseys?

Edited November 21, 2021 by judyri

[circumvent]

22 minutes ago, judyri said:

What I criticize her & Good Doctor head is sacrificing care for perceived profit

The thing is, this is straight from the headlines. The most real thing in NA

[hookedontv]

At least the fleet of ambulances that Max bought out of thin air were put to good use as decoys for ICE? 

I burst out laughing when they all rolled out of the hospital. 

[bros402]

19 hours ago, circumvent said:

That's not how board meetings work. Someone makes a motion, someone else seconds, there is usually time to debate the issue (maybe this happens before the motion). Then they vote. Someone needs to take minutes too. And chairs are elected, not appointed. They would need a motion to allow the appointment of a new chair, then vote on that too. Even if boards might work differently, the variations are minimal. Besides, NA would be following the usual, old general board rules. I also don't believe for a minute that a hospital that big has such a small board. There is too much to oversee, they would need more people to fill up the committees. 

I did enjoyed the episode only because every time I see ICE being portrayed as the evil people they are, and having their ass kicked, I feel elated. And because the real life situation has not changed after November 2020. It is still inhumane and criminal 

From what I saw when I was looking up Bellevue last season, I think it was something like each hospital has its own "committee" and then they report to NYC Health & Hospitals, which has a board of directors. So I have to imagine that this is primarily a vanity posting for rich people who want to seem philanthropic.

Edited November 19, 2021 by bros402

[judyri]

At this point, if I was ANY of the main characters,  I would be beyond upset as to how they are written.  Just like GD, they have all become insufferable with few redeeming qualities.  Bloom bribed someone to get her girlfriend a place, Iggy is a therapist who can't see patients,  Max is incapable of running a daycare much less a public hospital,  Floyd is in a loveless (at least joyless) triangle, Casey and Agnes (the only good characters are gone), Helen wants to ship empty tupperware to London and can be a top oncologist who claimed to want children, but can't make a sandwich and seems scared of Luna.. and as someone else mentioned, Fuentes is such a stereotype evil overlord, she's not even worth mentioning.   Too bad, because I like Michelle Forbes.

[bros402]

3 hours ago, judyri said:

At this point, if I was ANY of the main characters,  I would be beyond upset as to how they are written.  Just like GD, they have all become insufferable with few redeeming qualities.  Bloom bribed someone to get her girlfriend a place, Iggy is a therapist who can't see patients,  Max is incapable of running a daycare much less a public hospital,  Floyd is in a loveless (at least joyless) triangle, Casey and Agnes (the only good characters are gone), Helen wants to ship empty tupperware to London and can be a top oncologist who claimed to want children, but can't make a sandwich and seems scared of Luna.. and as someone else mentioned, Fuentes is such a stereotype evil overlord, she's not even worth mentioning.   Too bad, because I like Michelle Forbes.

I mean tbh at least with Iggy he is the head of a department - he could have other staff just see outpatients and he could help manage the care of the inpatients.

[possibilities]

I didn't fully understand why the priest rejected the proposed in-hospital sanctuary in the latest unused section of the building. His church just burned, so he'd need a place right now, wouldn't he? I realize it's not a solution for the larger problem, but why not have a sanctuary in the hospital, at least for the moment, until his regular facilities are rehabbed after the fire?