'New Amsterdam' Season 3 Episode 2: Did Dr Iggy Frome try to kill himself due to his food addiction?
Season 3 of 'New Amsterdam' sees the tables turned on Dr Iggy Frome (Tyler Labine). This time it's the psychiatrist's turn to talk, not listen. Dr Lauren Bloom played by Janet Montgomery is asked by Iggy's assistant Gladys to check on him since he seems weak and unsteady on his feet. While Lauren initially is concerned about Covid-19, Gladys assures her his test results for Covid have come back negative. When Lauren goes to check on Iggy, she sees that he is weak and his color is sickly. It then comes to light that Iggy has been starving himself for over two or maybe even three days.
Lauren, a recovering addict, understands that sometimes food addicts starve themselves after a bingeing episode. She then opens Iggy's drawer to find a stash of food hidden away with a horrible note written in his handwriting. The note reads, "Don't eat you fat pig, you're disgusting." Iggy explains that while this is his handwriting, the words are his father's.
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Iggy's father apparently struggled with his weight and in a misguided attempt to ensure Iggy didn't suffer a similar fate, kept an obsessive watch on Iggy's weight. When he was nine years old, Iggy's father put him on a crash diet and would make him take his shirt off so that he could take pictures to mark Iggy's progress or the lack of it. When Iggy would walk by his father, his dad would grab Iggy's stomach saying there was still a lot of work they had to do on Iggy. The pressure finally got so intense that in middle school, Iggy tried to kill himself by hanging himself in the closet. Iggy says ironically he was too fat and the rod in the closet broke. Iggy's mother rushed to his rescue but his father behaved like the suicide attempt never happened.
Iggy explains to Dr Lauren that the only reason he writes notes to himself with the words his father used, is to show himself how far he has come in his life and that no one has a right to judge him. Dr Lauren then understands that Dr Iggy feels that she is, in fact, judging him. She tells him she's not judging him, she's only concerned because she has seen people die from eating disorders. Dr Iggy feels that Dr Lauren is clubbing him in the same boat as her, since she is a recovering addict. He lashes out at her saying at least he isn't endangering patients like Dr Bloom has done in the past.
The two then have an ugly showdown where their vulnerabilities are pitched against each other. Dr Bloom attacks Iggy for the sort of message he is subliminally sending to his children. While initially he is furious, Iggy realizes Dr Bloom is right. Dr Iggy understands that while he may not be using the same words his father did, he is sending disturbing messages to his own children with his food habits and also his tendency to deflect any compliments on his appearance. It will be interesting to see how Dr Iggy Frome handles his food addiction going forward in Season 3 and the role his colleague Dr Bloom will play in his recovery.
You can catch 'New Amsterdam' Season 3 on NBC every Tuesday at 10 pm.