New Amsterdam Review: Double Blind (Season 2 Episode 15)
For Karen Brantley, ending the opioid crisis is personal on New Amsterdam Season 2 Episode 15, “Double Blind.” Her situation is a sad case of someone’s care being “too little, too late.” This is harsh wording; one woman didn’t cause someone’s addiction to opioids any more than one man can solve the epidemic — but it’s still true.
Yet, Karen could care as much as humanly possible and her (presumed) daughter would still be dead. Addiction is an illness. I’m not an expert in the opioid crisis and it’s very difficult to understand the intricacies of pharmaceuticals and the healthcare system from one episode of television. But it’s clearly complicated.
Nearly everything Max tries to fulfill the order he is given to end the opioid epidemic fails. Drug companies have too much power and are too money-hungry.
Tearing up his opioid contract with Nyler puts nearly every patient in New Amsterdam at risk because they retaliate by withholding other drugs and medical equipment from the hospital.
As Dr. Brighton says before she tears up her own hospital’s contract with Nyler and puts it on the auditorium memorial wall for opioid victims: “by shutting you out, this company put patients’ lives at risk and that’s not business, it’s a shakedown that could happen to any of us.”
New Amsterdam often presents utopian solutions to catastrophic medical problems as if they are probable. The state of the healthcare system in the U.S. proves they just aren’t.
It’s unclear whether anything bigger will come from Dr. Brighton tearing up her contract with Nyler. Even Max resigns one for damage control. Together they are one unicorn of a white, male, liberal doctor and a white female doctor.
To “solve” this particular crisis, even a fictional context in the city New Amsterdam takes place in (no big deal, just the largest one in the U.S.), so many more white male doctors would have to tear up money. It’s not going to happen.
New Amsterdam does a beautiful job honoring opioid victims, though. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that nearly everyone on that memorial wall had at least fought an opioid addiction in real life and come out alive (if they haven’t all passed away).
Of course TV can’t solve the crisis. However, it can wake us up to the fact that each of us needs to care more.
Perhaps Karen’s daughter has recently died and that’s why she suddenly wants Max to use all of his brainpower to solve an epidemic.
She couldn’t help her daughter, but a better tactic may be weakening her resistance against Max’s solutions in the future in order to save other lives.
As a member of the board of directors at the hospital, her time would be better spent watching Dr. Castro’s every move.
A doctor who alters the information in a drug trial is far better than the kind of doctor we think she is at the beginning of the episode — one who doesn’t care her drug is making people sicker.
Both are arguably just as bad in the long run, but at least Fatima’s symptoms have a cause that’s not Castro’s drug.
We’re not at the climax of this storyline yet; it’s still shaping up to be disappointing.
Valentina Castro isn’t the worst type of doctor. It’s just annoying that this is a woman vs. woman situation right now, especially because the person Helen confides in about her suspicions is also a female.
There are bad women in the world and they need to be stopped by whoever can catch them. Yet, something about the whole situation feels like it’s straight out of a Disney movie — in a bad way.
A bad woman with bitchy vibes is hurting good people and must be stopped by the doctor with the soft heart before it’s too late. Any serious drama is better when they lean away from Disney, not toward it.
New Amsterdam has never gotten this close before because it doesn’t need to. Hopefully, the payoff veers in an unexpected direction.
Doctor’s Notes
- This rating is at least half a star less because this writer thinks marrying your half-sibling is gross — even if you find out through a DNA test kit months before your wedding. Iggy has better things to do with his time than encourage that.
- Alice and Max are still the cutest. New Amsterdam has a strong “final moment” game lately.
- The journey Lauren takes throughout the day (watching a patient lose a battle with addiction while Max is shutting down her ER to stop the opioid crisis) to get to the point she can confront her mom is clear and impactful.
- Lauren’s scenes with her mom are still disappointing for some reason.
- It’s good to see Adele around to know that the palliative care unit hasn’t disappeared.
- However, I’m truly unclear as to how sick everyone there is right now. I wasn’t expecting to see her zooming around being Max’s assistant.
What did you think of this episode of New Amsterdam? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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New Amsterdam airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.
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Esme Mazzeo
Esme Mazzeo is a lifestyle and entertainment journalist from Long Island. When she's not writing for work, she's writing for fun, or searching for something to satisfy her sweet tooth. She thinks rainy days are the best kind of days. Certified night owl.
6 comments
That was a great review. You brought up some points I hadn’t thought of. I did notice one other thing. There was a thread running through the episode about addiction. Iggy was also fighting an addiction in his battle against sugar/junk food, and that looks like it’s going to continue.
I haven’t watched this episode and am not sure I can. I am sick to death of all these hospital shows feeling like they should weigh in on the “opioid crisis”. What makes me sick and angry is they all portray it the same way. If you need narcotics for any reason you are a drug addict. Meanwhile, as the media, cdc, fda, dea and government continue to spin this “crisis” to suit their needs, millions of chronic pain patients have been abandoned by their doctors who are now terrified to prescribe the medications that gave us quality of life that many of us no longer have. People who can no longer take the pain are choosing suicide.
Just once I wish one of these shows would show the devastation chronic pain sufferers are enduring as we have become collateral damage. It is a complex issue and these hospital shows should be ashamed for just jumping on the bandwagon and continuing to vomit out what the media has decided is the truth. It is not the truth. Far from it. So TV producers, do any of you have the guts to tell our side of the story?
I TOEtally agree Helene.
I have chronic sarcoidosis. I have flu-like heavy aching all over my body, especially my skull, all day every day. The ONLY thing that helps enough to lessen the pain enough to make a difference is my hydrocodone prescription. I keep it minimal (7.5-10mg daily) to minimize the addiction and minimize the need to keep increasing the dose. I do it after an hour of yoga, around 6PM, and it allows me to have an enjoyable rest of the day.
The TV shows that only present the ODs aren’t giving the full picture and it hurts the people that use their opiate wisely and carefully by making the public think all opiates are bad and should be banished.
Someone you never grew up with and you only met as an adult is NOT your sibling, regardless of a DNA kit. Someone you grew up with as family is your sibling, even if you aren’t biologically related at all. Like foster siblings or adopted siblings.
So, no, I don’t think it’s gross to marry someone you love who just happens to have similar DNA and you discovered it recently. It’s not like they are actually brother and sister in any meaningful way or that they were ever going to be. The show had the right attitude, in my opinion.
Does anyone know what the blue book was that Lauren gave the patient in the ER please?
Either Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.
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