Blood, Sweat & Tears

## Episode Chronology

**"Blood, Sweat & Tears"** is the fifth episode of the third season on NBC drama series *New Amsterdam*, and the forty-fifth episode overall. It aired on March 30, 2021.

## Synopsis

When Sharpe notices the hospital's blood supply is running dangerously low, Max concocts a plan to get New Amsterdam out of trouble. Reynolds realizes he has a thing or two to learn from Bloom while making peace with his new position. Iggy helps a patient face their inner demons.

## Plot

Iggy takes off his clothes and gets examined, the doctor tells him that with all the emotional stuff he is working through, having a healthy relationship with food will be a lifelong battle for him. Iggy says he is half-way done then. She says he needs someone to work with, there is someone she wants him to talk to. She gives him a card and he says that is absolutely not happening.

Agnes asks Max how the applications are going; she is woefully unprepared to replace Vijay. Helen rushes to see Max, she tells him that their blood bank supply is critically low. She says all their resources are tapped out and they don’t have a backup. They are one major accident away from a catastrophe. Sandra is let go, budget cuts, so Max hires her to do a blood drive.

Max walks into his office and finds Helen and Cassain in an awkward position, he says he should start knocking.

Lauren tells Floyd that as their new Associate Trauma Surgeon his primary job will be backing up Cassian, he says understood. She says that will mean a lot less surgery than he is used to. She tells him that an emergency is not like the operating room, you have to go with the flow, get with the rhythm, improvise. A sixteen-year-old comes in an emergency, her name is Alissa Barkley. Cassain says to book an OR immediately and he needs blood. Lauren calls Max and tells him that New Amsterdam is officially out of the blood.

Max tells his new assistant that they need to get blood asap. Helen tells him that the one catastrophe she mentioned just happened. Meanwhile, Iggy is in a group session and he brings a new member, Chance, who was reluctant to join the group. Chance takes off his ball cap, he says his convoy got slammed, he lost a lot of his brothers.

All he could think was to dig out his brothers and sisters. Flames, fuel, he could barely hold it together. He called the battalion for a medivac; they were already gone. Rhonda gets up and hits Chance in the face. She says there are protocols, they all follow them, or people die, he is a fake.

A woman is in the hospital, she woke up blind. She works in a plastics company, off the books, this is the only job she could find, and it appears it is the plastic that has affected her vision.

Floyd is stitching up a patient, Lauren tells him to hurry up, he doesn’t want to, so she burdens him with files to work on.

Helen is taking blood from Alissa’s mother; she tells her that she just needs her to be ok. Helen looks at her blood results and asks if Alissa was adopted, she says no, she was made the old-fashioned way.

Helen goes into the OR and tells Cassain that there is no way that Alissa’s mom is her biological mother.

Max tells his assistant that she has to tap into what people need, they are giving everyone a free meal if they donate blood. And, not just any meal, one prepared by a Michelin star chef. Max is trying everything to get blood.

Chance tells Iggy that all he did was tell his story. Iggy tells him that he has a buddy in the VA who says he is not in the system, he is trying to fill a void in him, the way he is doing it is called stolen valor and it is not real. Chance says the smell of burning flesh is sickening, he can’t go anywhere without them falling him. He shows Iggy his arm, there are burn scars, he tells him not to say they weren’t real.

Rose has a seizure, she is the one that works in the plastic company. Dr. Kow takes some advice and changes meds, it is what Dr. Kapoor would do.

Helen has the hard task of telling Alissa’s mother that she cannot be her biological mother. She says she doesn't want to know, Alissa is awake, she tells Helen that she wants to know – they need to do a DNA test.

A patient comes into the ER with an abdominal issue, Lauren is upset because she has no blood.

Iggy gets a call from Chance, he asks him where he is. Outside the hospital, Chance pours gasoline on himself and has a lighter in his hands. Iggy tells him to tell him the truth, he is there for him. Chance says he was drunk, his family’s farm, a cigarette burned the barn, then the house and he couldn’t stop it. His brother, his sister, his parents gone. Iggy says it was an accident and he needs to let go. Chance lets Iggy take the lighter.

Inside the hospital, Dr. Kao has new meds for Rose. She asks her if someone hurt her, she pulled away when she came close to her. Rose says a month ago, she was walking home and she was jumped, beaten to the ground, and blamed that she brought the virus to America. They hit her abdominal area. Dr. Kao says that she thinks her liver was damaged in the attack, most of it is now not functioning and they can treat it without a doubt.

Alissa is with her mom who still doesn't want to do the test. Alissa says she wants to know where she belongs, their skin is a different shade, she always felt different, looked different from the rest of the family, she felt like an insider.

Max has another idea to bring in blood: Broadway. The patients are former performers and will do a show for free. A few people come in and Max asks one woman why people are coming to give blood. She says people are tapped, all they have done for a year is give and help and they are tired of it. Max says if people are done helping, so is he, he tells his assistant to shut it down.

Helen takes a biopsy from Alissa’s mother, she has a rare condition of two DNA. Alissa was born from her body.

Iggy looks at the card the doctor gave him, it is for an Eating Disorder Recovery Coach and her name is Claire Nowland. Iggy picks up the phone.

Max tells Dr. Kao that he doesn’t need to check on her anymore. She tells him that she was also attacked at the beginning of COVID, he asks if she ever talked to anyone and she said no. He tells her this department is hers until Dr. Kapoor comes back.

Max gets a call, he heads to the blood drive and sees that it is full. People are inspired by him, so they called a few friends. He tells Sandra she is hired full-time. Max sits down to speak to Helen, he asks her why she didn't tell him. She reminds him that he was seeing someone last year and didn't tell her. He says he didn’t tell anyone, it was fragile and he thought that he should protect it – Cassain walks up and asks Helen to dance, the Broadway singers are performing. Max looks at the two and smiles.

## Cast

* Janet Montgomery as Dr. Lauren Bloom
* Freema Agyeman as Dr. Helen Sharpe
* Jocko Sims as Dr. Floyd Reynolds
* Tyler Labine as Dr. Iggy Frome

Guest Starring* Daniel Dae Kim as Dr. Cassian Shin
* Megan Byrne as Gladys
* Christine Chang as Dr. Agnes Kao
* Alejandro Hernandez as Casey Acosta
* Luke Slattery as PFC Chance Becker
* Shiva Kalaiselvan as Leyla Shinwari
* Anna Suzuki as Sandra Fall
* Stacey Raymond as Paramedic Kerry Whitaker
* Emma Ramos as Paramedic Harvell/Resident Mariana
* Teresa Patel as Paramedic Harvell
* Camille Mana as Rose Castillo
* Shian Tomlinson as Elisa Barkley
* Hunter Canning as Radiology Tech Raymond
* Frank Carlo as Painter
* Casey Erin Clark as Singer #3
* Jennean Farmer as Rhonda
* Sarafina King as Paramedic Nokic
* Telly Leung as Singer #2
* Brandon Kazen-Maddox as ASL Interpreter
* Michael McElroy as Singer #1
* Sue Kim-Molina as Dr. Kwok
* Anton Obeid as Kevin McGlynn
* Rani Varma as Salma Rajput
* Desiree Rodriguez as Singer #4
* Michael V. Sulsona as Combat Veteran 1
* Chris Walker as Combat Veteran 2
* Pilar Witherspoon as Woman

## Multimedia

### Videos

New Amsterdam 3x05 Promo "Blood, Sweat & Tears" (HD)