'New Amsterdam' Season 3 Episode 7: How Max will fight homophobia and who is he taking to court?
Dr Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) seems to have taken it upon himself to tackle every one of the world's problems almost single-handedly. While the last episode of 'New Amsterdam' touched upon the subject of 'others' in terms of sexual identity, the larger focus was on Max's clumsy attempts to tackle systemic racism. From taking down pictures of only white male doctors, to removing any artifacts that smacked of racism, sexism and homophobia, Max literally got his hands dirty making all the physical changes required so that the hospital was a more welcoming place to all.
The more subtle changes, however, were tougher to implement and Max tried to get Dr Helen Sharpe (Freema Agyeman) to become the co-medical director of 'New Amsterdam' in an effort to speed up change. But Helen at the end of the episode, tells Max that she's stepping down from her sudden promotion in order to focus on helping her young niece.
Even though he is back to fighting battles on his own, clearly some of the conversations Max had in the earlier episode have made an impact. In the earlier episode, we see Max holding several meetings with various staff members across various departments. He listens in as they describe the kind of discrimination they face about the colour of their skin, their gender, their sexual preferences etc. But in the upcoming episode, we see that it's the patients who are giving Max a reality check.
RELATED ARTICLES
The upcoming episode called 'The Legend Of Howie Cournemeyer' shows that it’s National HIV Testing Day and Max has offered free care to all HIV+ patients who come to New Amsterdam. In the process, however, Max comes to learn some harsh truths, such as the AIDS crisis may be long over, but the stigma that gay men endure still remains.
Max learns that at the height of the AIDS crisis, 'New Amsterdam' failed its patients. His patients also share with him how alienating it is that gay men cannot donate convalescent plasma even now. It is federal policy. The trailer for the upcoming episode ends with Max saying, "I will take them to court."
Who is Max taking to court? And how will he attempt to make up for years of discrimination? To find out more you can tune into the latest episodes of 'New Amsterdam' on Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC. Catch the trailer of the upcoming episode below.
