I had been late to watching S1 so am starting S2 with only 2 weeks break.
Literally just started streaming the first new ep, so it can’t count as a spoiler, and I’m taken out of it and had to stop just to post! Unless it becomes a plot point … ED docs see enough motorcycle head injuries that they nearly to a one always wear their helmets. The ED docs I know generally refer to those riding without helmets as “organ donors”.
My expectation for the season has been lowered dramatically.
Turned back on. He has a helmet and is carrying it. Gonna be a plot point
That shouldn’t take you out of the story, it should be making you ask why the character is defying your expectations. The easy answer is that Robby has a death wish, but it’s probably more complicated than that.
Well given that they followed up by having the cyclist getting an always wear your helmet safety reminder to make sure that Robby’s not wearing his even while having it was noticed, it clearly is … notable.
I agree that we’re expected to think that Robby has a deathwish. And I’m wondering why the new attending physician seemed to freeze up when she saw the abandoned baby. Did she perhaps recognize this child? Or did she realize something about the child’s medical status?
It looked more like she was having an absence seizure. Betting that her having something medical occurring and Robby being asked to delay his sabbatical will get played.
“Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in …”
If by end of shift it is clear that his replacement is unable to do the job, he will have a choice to make.
Sorry to fixate here - but the helmet still bugs me, passive death wish or not. Lots of death wish risks he could do that make sense, being on the edge of the roof for example, but dying because you didn’t wear a helmet would be considered by most ED docs (and neurosurgeons) as a very embarrassing way to die. No one wants to have an embarrassing death.
BTW - anyone watch the show Ludwig? I was caught off by the actor playing now first year resident Whitaker as a young constable there, with his real Welsh accent. He seems so believably Nebraskan here!
But that was kind of a point last season. They started with Robbie visiting the night shift doctor when he was on the edge of the roof, and they made it clear that he was dealing with suicidal thoughts, and it ends with the situation reversed, with Robbie on the edge of the roof. These guys really are traumatised, and the thought of dying is always at the back of their minds.
I don’t know about that - it’s supposed to take place at a public hospital. IME at government agencies of any type, it’s very rare ( almost unheard of ) for there to be any overlap. In fact , if Robby is the chief/chair of the emergency department , I’d be shocked if there was actual overlap - that’s what interim/acting appointments are for. Someone like Dr Abbott or Dr Shen who’s already there gets the interim/acting appointment while they search for a permanent person , or in this case it would be an interim/acting appointment until Robby returns ( and what would they do with a brand-new hire then?) . If Robby is an attending but not the chief/chair, it’s even less likely that there would be any overlap.
But since this episode takes place on July 4, it’s also very possible that she’s just a new attending and is only replacing Robby in the sense that she will work the shift he previously did. ( Residents move up late June/early July and it may be that all hiring takes place on that schedule). Robby can’t be the only attending on a shift in a busy hospital - he’s just the one the show follows.
He is head of the department and she putatively is taking over the position as interim while he is allegedly just going on sabbatical, but already has plans for significant process and culture revamps.
Following up on this, there’s an AV club interview about this season.
"The quickest way to do that was to show that he’s been working on this old motorcycle and he’s going to go on a sabbatical tour with it. But he’s riding to work without a helmet and telling everybody he does wear a helmet and is staying safe. So if he’s lying about that, then what else is he lying about? "
At first, I thought that was Shirley MacLaine playing the delightful cannabis-cookie lady. But no, that character was played by Jenny O’Hara. I hope we see more of her in upcoming episodes.