Things Fall Apart

## Episode Chronology

**"Things Fall Apart"** is the twelfth episode of the third season on NBC drama series *New Amsterdam*, and the fifty-second episode overall. It aired on May 18, 2021.

## Synopsis

A burst pipe plunges the ED into chaos. Iggy counsels two stressed out parents about their child. Gwen and Calvin have some devastating news for Max.

## Plot

Max tries to talk to Helen but she is consumed and praying with beads while she walks. He tries to ask her about them but she pretends to be busy. In the ED, Casey tells Lauren he is eying another hospital that is private and less drama. She makes fun of him. They get a new patient and within seconds the ceiling falls in. People begin to scream.

Iggy holds a group session. He tells parents of their children’s progress and the rules of their visit. Meanwhile, Lauren notices weird rashes on her patients. She tells Casey to evacuate the ED for a possible chemical spill.

Lauren and the others Strat bringing patients through decontamination showers while Max works to find the source of the chemicals that came from their pipes. In surgery, Floyd tries to take a pair of garden shears out of a woman. She complains of vision loss.

Iggy tries to work with two moms whose son doesn’t want to see them. Max finds a large tank behind a wall gushing liquid. He tries to fix it but it gets worse. He screams for help while he holds pipes in place.

Helen looks for Max while Lauren begins having vision problems. Iggy deals with the moms who share their frustration with their son’s oppositional defiant disorder.

Floyd tries to help his female patient who just wants the shears out of her body. She starts to code. Meanwhile, Helen finally finds Max. He cannot see anymore and he needs her to get help right away.

Iggy is forced to tell the young boy’s mother who is positive in her attitude that it is her who is causing him to lash out. She gets angry after all she has tried to do. Meanwhile, Lauren’s patient who was the least exposed suffers a hematoma but she isn’t able to help for long. She passes out on the floor as she screams for help.

Helen manages to block the drain so Max can let go of the pipe. She guides him to a decontamination shower. He cannot see. She strips him of his clothes. He holds her by the waist. They fall to the ground as she holds him and her rosary beads.

Max is wheeled to a room with Helen while Lauren is now safe too. She tells Casey she needs him. He cannot leave. Meanwhile, Iggy holds another group meeting for his kids’ parents. He encourages them to share, really lets out their feelings and frustrations. They go around the circle crying. The two moms finally understand one another.

Floyd arrives to meet Lyn. He thought they were meeting at a bar. It’s her house. He asks her if she is still married. She tells him she and her husband have a rule when he is out of town. Floyd isn’t down for that. She begins to fall apart. He tells her to grab her coat. See owes him a double.

Max wakes to Helen at his bedside. He can see. He doesn’t know how this could be. She is holding her beads. He begins to tell her she is important when the phone rings. His daughter’s grandparents tell him they can take her for the night and also plan to fight him for custody. He is dumbfounded.

Chance sits in the rain, looking at a document with Iggy’s name listed as a petitioner.

## 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* Becky Ann Baker as Gwen Bennett
* Bill Irwin as Calvin Bennett
* Mike Doyle as Martin McIntyre
* Zabryna Guevara as Dora Williams
* Alejandro Hernandez as Casey Acosta
* Keren Lugo as Dr. Diana Flores
* Luke Slattery as PFC Chance Becker
* Frances Turner as Dr. Lyn Malvo
* Stacey Raymond as Paramedic Kerry Whitaker
* Teresa Patel as Paramedic Harvell
* Olivia Khoshatefeh as Resident Yasmin Turan
* Nora and Opal Clow as Luna Goodwin
* Liba Vaynberg as ICU Nurse April Kosloff
* Kim Ramirez as Anesthesiologist Alicia Smith
* Anthony Ruiz as Janitor Miguel Vicario
* Em Grosland as Nurse Kai Brunstetter
* Johnnie Mae as Bertha James
* Elizabeth Stanley as Julie
* Georgia Buchanan as Abby Westbrook
* Arash DeMaxi as DeMarcus Lott
* Mike Funk as Maintenance Crew Bill
* Wilton Guzman as Maintenance Crew Roberto
* Giselle Renata King as Officer Solena
* Vivien Landau as Patient 2
* Rodrigo Luzzi as Patient 1
* Mario Enrique Mattei as Janitor
* Gemma McIlhenny as Maintenance Crew Janice
* Regina Ohashi as Laramie
* Mariana Olga Parma as Linda
* Delaney Quinn as Harper
* Fawad Siddiqui as Neil Persaud
* Anthony E. Williams as Baxter

## Multimedia

### Videos

New Amsterdam 3x12 Promo "Things Fall Apart" (HD)