‘New Amsterdam’ Recap: Season 5, Episode 10 “Don’t Do This For Me”

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7 Min Read
Peter Kramer/NBC

In the midseason finale of New Amsterdam, many of the characters are left at a crossroads with choices relating to people in their life.

Elizabeth’s Choice

Elizabeth stops to talk to Max about something while he’s in a lesson with his ASL teacher. She tells him that he shouldn’t be doing this for her and that it won’t change anything. When she leaves him, she has a friend, Dr. Bev Clemons, stop by her office. She assumes it’s for Bev’s cancer treatment, but Bev reveals that she’s starting a school for deaf doctors and wants Elizabeth to come work there. She immediately says no because she is a surgeon and enjoys being a surgeon rather than a teacher.

Bev continues to push her towards working there and insists that the students need someone who’s experienced what Elizabeth has to teach them. She also pushes that in a hearing community, she struggled because no one saw her. Elizabeth ends up going to Max to tell him about it, and after a moment, he asks Ben to leave so he can talk privately with Elizabeth. Max asks her if this is what she wants, and after some pushing, she admits it’s not. He tells her he’s not learning sign language for her but because of her. He sees that they should be adapting to fit her and not vice versa.

In the end, Elizabeth doesn’t accept the job and tells Bev that she is seen here. Bev takes it well and tells Elizabeth to go after whoever it is that makes her feel seen and heard, so Elizabeth runs to Max. She finds him as he’s leaving the hospital for the night and tells him that she’s staying. She continues to tell him to take her home, but the moment is interrupted by Max hearing something on a nearby TV. He looks over and sees Helen on a local talk show which reveals that she’s working on a project in New York.

The Future of Lauren and Vanessa

When Vanessa is brought into the ED after overdosing, Lauren is faced with having to save her. After Vanessa wakes up, she and Lauren get into a fight because Vanessa tells her about a letter their mom wrote to Lauren that she threw away. In the middle of the fight, Vanessa collapses. Lauren figured out why rather after working with Reynolds and is upset that she didn’t catch it sooner.

Floyd goes to find Lauren after Vanessa wakes up and is asking for her. They talk for a moment, and Floyd pushes her to not go out to see her. He reminds her of her advice to him about Horace and that things won’t change unless she demands them to. He goes back out to Vanessa, and she realizes that Lauren isn’t coming back out. Floyd does pass along a message from Lauren, though, which is a business card for a place that holds NA meetings. He tells her that Lauren will be waiting there for her.

Living With Horace

Gabrielle and Floyd are progressing their relationship. They make plans after work, but Horace got tickets for a local event that he wants to go to with Floyd. Floyd debates going with him or keeping his plans with Gabrielle and ultimately decides to go with his dad.

When Floyd gets home, Horace is packing his things. He starts to leave, and Floyd asks where he’s going, and Horace explains that he really saw Floyd’s texts on accident and decided it’s time for him to move out. Floyd expresses his concern about never seeing Horace again.

Facing A Loss

Max works with training some of the intern doctors. While doing that, he meets a woman who has been struggling since losing her first patient. She’s been staying at the hospital almost constantly since because the patient died when she left after a shift. Max pushes her to take care of herself.

Power of Vitamins

Karen goes to Iggy about what she thinks is a homeless man outside the hospital. He’s yelling at people about New Amsterdam being evil, so Iggy goes and talks to him. He gives him some socks from his bag and asks him to go where he plans to stash them. The man goes along with it and brings Iggy to a nice apartment.

The pair talk, and Iggy realizes that the man was treated many years ago at New Amsterdam using electroshock therapy. He tries to understand what’s causing the episode and figures out that the man has only been drinking protein drinks, causing an imbalance. Iggy gives him a vitamin which fixes it.

To Karen’s dismay, the man is still outside the hospital though. Now he’s telling everyone about the benefits of vitamins.

Separating

Peter Kramer/NBC

Following the kiss with Martin, Iggy spends the night. The kids are overjoyed but later, Martin talks to him about it all. He asks if anything has truly changed, and when Iggy doesn’t have a confident answer, Martin says they should start officially proceeding with their divorce.

New Amsterdam is taking a break and will be back on January 3 for the rest of the season. Until then, check out our other coverage of the show here!

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