New Amsterdam Season 2 Episode 12: An emotional episode that gives an intimate insight into Dr Vijay Kapoor
Week after week, the NBC medical drama manages to surprise us with its impeccable writing and pace and of course, it's well-rounded characters but this week was something different.
'New Amsterdam's second season so far has been gripping, but the latest episode just took our tear ducts by storm. From Dr Vijay Kapoor's story arc to Dr Iggy Frome's take on obesity and the doctors' sheer will to help out their patients, 'New Amsterdam' has pulled out all the stops on the heartache train.
This week's episode, titled '14 Years, 2 Months, 8 Days' starts off with a montage of Vijay's time at the hospital. A patient comes in and slips into a coma as a young Vijay tends to him. The tiny potted plant grows out to its full size and Vijay struggles with loss of his wife and stress at the job while the patient just lies down at the hospital bed. But then, after 14 years, a miracle strikes. He comes out of the coma.
While it looks positive in the beginning, the patient still has no higher brain function, which means he's still brain dead. His wife, who stood by him for the whole time that he was bedridden refuses to let go of him. Vijay acts as the voice of reason, the doctor who clearly tells them that medically, he will never come back. After a lot of tears and explanations, his family agrees to take him off the feeding tube but what Vijay doesn't realize is that it wasn't just his family who would have a hard time letting go.
The impact on his heart is unspoken, yet clear. He goes about his daily life as he would, but the empty bed feels strange to him. The arc beautifully shows the maturity, the lionheart and the kindness it takes Vijay to do his job.
In another part of the hospital, Iggy is struggling to get insurance for Louise, a patient with obesity who is so on the edge with the way she looks after she's lost weight that she is considering self-harm. Rarely is obesity given its time in the limelight as a disease the way this show has this week. "Obesity is not a will issue," he tells the patient, in a rare moment on mainstream TV.
While mastectomy for a cancer patient is covered via insurance and so is the reconstructive surgery, surgery after getting rid of obesity is considered a cosmetic one and has to be paid by the patient and it frustrates Iggy. In comes Dr Helen Sharpe, who happens to be a friend and also an oncologist. The two diagnose Louise with probable cancer and get her that surgery.
It's a pretty tear-jerker of an episode and it's a lot of foreshadowing for Sharpe's solo story arc in the future. After being stripped as the co-head of Oncology, Sharpe's been picking up the pieces and clearly, we're going to see a lot more of her carving her own way moving forward.
Catch 'New Amsterdam' on Tuesdays at 10 pm ET on NBC.