Anthropocene

## Episode Chronology

**"Anthropocene"** is the sixth episode of the first season on NBC drama series *New Amsterdam*. It was aired on October 30, 2018.

## Synopsis

The doctors at New Amsterdam prepare for their annual fundraising gala. Iggy's parents are in town and his daughter is excited to see them. Vijay tries to give his gala tickets to Dora, but she misunderstands and believes he is inviting her to go with him. Dr. Fulton preps Max for the gala and reiterates the importance of raising money for the hospital. Dr. Reynolds treats a Rikers inmate who claims that the guards are drugging them. Lauren, Vijay, and Helen treat a father and son who begin displaying strange symptoms and later both the father and son have seizures. Georgia surprises Max and attends the gala and manages to secure donations. At the end of the night Max reveals his cancer diagnosis to her.

## Plot

Max and Georgia learning that her condition has corrected itself and she can have a natural childbirth; she is no longer chained to the bed. He asks her out on a date on the weekend after remembering he has the fundraiser that night.

At New Amsterdam, Helen finds Max in a good mood, but she figures out he hasn’t told her. He just wants one day of no worrying as she reminds him that he swore he would tell Georgia once she was out of the woods; but Helen honors his wishes as today is a “good news” kind of day.

Iggy talks to Vijay about his parents who never come to see his kids, they only are there to see the musical ‘Hamilton.’ Kapoor informs Iggy he is not going to the fundraiser again this year and Iggy suggests giving his tickets to one of his residents as they would kill to go.

Lauren is proud that Helen is really going ahead and trying to have a baby; but Helen is a little emotional and asks Lauren to help her with the hormone injection, which she does and jokes about Helen being “too geriatric” to do it.

Kapoor goes to the café and tells Ella that he has two tickets to the Hospital Fundraiser, before he can say anything else, she takes a ticket from him saying it would be really nice and will meet him in the lobby. Meanwhile, Dr. Bloom and Casey are brought in two car crash patients, Lauren telling Casey it looks like he is going to have as much fun as she is tonight.

Floyd gets a message and rushes to the prisoners’ part of the hospital, where he is told to empty his pockets; but he tells them someone is dying in there. His patient has been down for 3 minutes, he is able to bring him back but notices something odd on his chest and asks if he was complaining about anything before he collapsed and the Corrections Officer insists he didn’t.

Max prepares for the fundraiser as Dean Fulton helps him with his tie, explaining how the donors will be looking to him to assure them that the hospital is a good investment; Max prefers to talk about the patients. Max says when he worked in Chinatown, in order to raise money he had a secret weapon. The Dean says the last Medical Director raised $3.4 million at his last fundraiser and they fired him, so Max needs to use that as incentive.

Floyd talks to Lauren about Manny’s bloodwork, she thinks he only sent it to her in a pathetic attempt to make attempts for insulting her abilities as a doctor. He apologizes, saying she is an exceptional doctor and owes her a bottle of Scotch for putting up with him. She admits it and says his patient tests positive for Special K, but it looks like someone is smuggling drugs into their prison ward as he was clean a week prior.

Lauren is about to leave to get “dolled up” for the fundraiser and Casey is discharging the father and son from the car accident, when the son falls out of the wheelchair from a seizure, but so does the father; confusing Dr. Bloom.

The Dean asks Max if he is ready to talk to the donors but just as he is ready to talk about patients; Georgia walks in and he excuses himself to greet her. She surprises him, saying they are celebrating him as he jokes saying they might have sex in the coatroom.

Lauren pages both Kapoor and Helen because she doesn’t know if it is infection or exposure, and she is confident they can figure it out as she is late for the fundraiser. She tells Helen that Floyd apologized, and Helen isn’t sure if she will be attending yet. Kapoor questions both patients where they have been to narrow down what and who they have been exposed to; neither one aware of the severity of their situation, both doctors want to keep it that way. They agree to do a full panel, not sure what they are dealing with.

Dr. Reynolds confronts Manny about using such dangerous levels of Special K, but he swears he doesn’t use that stuff, saying he is just doing his time and getting out. Floyd finds out Manny didn’t start the fight, some guy came at him and as things got bad the Corrections officer stepped in and did this to him. Floyd says that she can’t do that to him, but Manny tells him no one cares what happens to them.

Iggy apologizes to his mother about the way she feels and hangs up the phone. His husband comes in and their daughter, is very excited to go to the fundraiser but Iggy knows the disappointment that lies ahead.

Kapoor explains how he accidentally asked Ella out on a date to Helen; she tells him it is a disaster and avoid Ella until he dies. A nurse informs them their patients, the Markens, have been moved into isolation and hands them their test results; printers are down, Helen asks for another tablet immediately. They find out all their tests are clean but something is wrong as Kapoor says there is one possibility they have not considered.

Max introduces himself to the crowd, showing them how he needs to raise their money. He wants to tell them about a patient and how she should matter to them but before he can explain anymore, Dr. Sharpe and Dr. Kapoor wave him to the back of the room, telling him about their patients and Max realizes there might be an ancient disease floating around the hospital!

Kapoor and Helen talk through symptoms with Max, thinking it might be Mercury poisoning; the more polar ice melts the more the Mercury is leaked through the ecosystem and as more hikers go through the more it spreads. Max needs to return to the fundraiser as they attempt to save lives.

Lauren joins the party where she runs into Edie, apologizing for owing her a call; Edie tells her they were supposed to grab lunch 6 months ago. Edie is up at legal department, but before they can talk any more, Lauren wants to cram 2 drinks into her system so she can’t legally be called back into work. Meanwhile, Agnes tells Ella that Kapoor cannot attend the function because he is dealing with an infectious disease.

Georgia is approached by Andrew Nabo, who is worth $1.2B, she jokes that if he wants tonight to be a success, he should really be dancing with him. Floyd quickly interrupts them, forcing Max to leave the fundraiser again. They meet with Gloria, informing her that her newest recruit is drugging her prisoners, using ketamine's (Special K), she feels the patient/prisoner is lying and doesn’t feel the doctors are supporting her, dismissing them.

Kapoor and Helen want to treat their patient with an agent for their best chance of survival, but only treat one of them because if it’s not mercury poisoning it could have really bad affects. The father offers to do it first, but Helen says they need go with the son as he can handle the harsh affects if its not mercury.

At the benefit, Iggy finally reveals to his husband that his parents bailed, saying it’s best not to give the wrong idea. He didn’t know how to tell the kids the truth that their parents feel two gay dads and their Muslim kids aren’t worthy of their love; he doesn’t want their daughter to feel like another family is taken from her.

The father cries out that they should have tested it out on him when Kapoor says its not working and his son has the reverse reaction to the agent. Kapoor reveals they are in uncharted waters right now and have no idea what they have nor how to cure it. He talks about their adventures together, his son Chris complains but his dad always looks forward to this only time he has with him feeling parents just never have enough time with their kids.

Floyd worries that if Melissa, the corrections officer gets away with it once, she will do it again; they can’t wait until one of their patients dies. Floyd gets another code and they rush off to the corrections ward.

Georgia overhears the donors complaining about how the Medical Director is absent at the fundraiser and none of them are willing to donate. She reveals a few things about him, especially how there is so much money in this room but he is with his patients instead; funny how he is a medical director who is more interested in helping the sick than raising money is someone she would pony up for. She walks away enjoying the food.

Lauren talks to the Dean about her love woes with Floyd, who has to question if he is the right guy to ask since he has been through several divorces. He encourages her to run towards love, as she will never regret that.

Max and Floyd run through the metal detector, telling the guard to arrest them, the corrections officer watches them as they tend to Manny. Floyd is able to revive him, but is in a stare down with the officer; Max calls his name but he won’t look back.

Floyd wants Manny watched 24-7 as he is brought back to his room, Max warns Floyd who insists he’s got this. Max goes with Manny as Floyd confronts Melissa asking her if she is punishing him. At first, she denies it but then says he shouldn’t even care about them, telling him to do his job and she will do hers as she will do whatever it takes to keep them in line.

The printer is finally working, but unfortunately Helen can’t read it. She runs over to Kapoor saying he got it right and technology got it wrong; explaining that what those men were exposed to was a very old strain of a very common infection. This may be an ancient strain but its the same old amoeba, which means today’s medicine should still be effective.

Floyd brings the proof to Gloria, after they listen to his recording on his phone she tells him the officer will be fired immediately and the practice ends with her.

Iggy sits with his daughter, telling her that her grandparents are not coming tonight nor tomorrow. It breaks his heart explaining that they don’t understand their family; even though there is nothing wrong with their family. He says families just end up together and what is super-duper about their family is that they chose each other, and he wouldn’t want it any other way. He will stop feeling sorry for his parents as they are choosing to miss out on all of this, she hugs him.

Floyd walks into the party as Lauren quickly drinks her next drink and walks towards him and tells him to come with her, introducing him to Edie as someone who can handle a strong, independent woman and ready for something real and thinks they are really going to hit it off. She leaves them alone.

Helen reveals to Chris and his father that their treatment is working and it looks like this won’t be their last adventure. Chris promises next year will be Hawaii. Max smiles as Kapoor comes to the fundraiser, he excuses himself when he finds Ella. Kapoor tells her he never intended to ask her out, only offering her both tickets. She is glad as she was having the same breakdown he was. He says being there only make shim miss his late wife even more.

Max apologizes to both the Dean and Andrew, but Andrew says he is impressed that this is the first time a Medical Director isn’t trying to get into his pockets. The Dean turns Max around to show him that he has raised more than 100% of what he needed to for the hospital and everyone is having a good time, in and out of the fundraiser.

Georgia waits at the table as Max asks her if she would like to dance once everyone leaves. He confesses she is his secret weapon as they enjoy their dance, she reveals she has been thinking about their living situation and doesn’t really need a doctor living with her any more. He smiles as she asks him to move back in with her. He gets serious and tells her that he can’t and she demands to know why not as he needs to tell her about a patient, asking her to hold on to him. She worries as he tells her to hold on tight and he whispers in her ear and she begins to cry and falter, he holds her up.

## 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
* Anupam Kher as Dr. Vijay Kapoor

Guest Starring* Lisa O'Hare as Georgia Goodwin
* Zabryna Guevara as Dora
* Mike Doyle as Martin McIntyre
* Margot Bingham as Evie Garrison
* Alejandro Hernandez as Casey Acosta
* Christine Chang as Dr. Agnes Kao
* Ron Rifkin as Peter Fulton
* Dierdre Friel as Ella
* Teresa Patel as EMT Harvell
* Stacey Raymond as Paramedic Kerry Whitaker
* Shukura as Prison Guard Raina
* LaRae Muscat as Sameera
* Ethan Phillips as Dan Marken
* Lusia Strus as Codie Jeffers
* James Saito as Andrew Nomura
* Catherine Chadwick as Random Donor
* Athena Colón as Nurse Hedera
* Sean Nelson as Manny Daye
* Michael O'Leary as Donor
* Gregory Perri as Christopher Marken
* Aneesh Sheth as Lila

## Trivia

* The episode was originally supposed to be called "Revival", however, it was renamed to "Anthropocene".

## Multimedia

### Videos

New Amsterdam 1x06 Promo "Anthropocene" (HD)
## References

1. ↑ New Amsterdam Listings - thefutoncritic.com
2. ↑ "'The Flash' adjusts up: Tuesday final ratings" - TV by the Numbers
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Upcoming Episode Titles - Various Shows - 17th September 2018 - SpoilerTV
4. ↑ Upcoming Episode Titles - Various Shows - 10th August 2018 - SpoilerTV