What the Heart Wants

## Episode Chronology

**"What the Heart Wants"** is the eighth episode of the second season on NBC drama series *New Amsterdam*, and the thirtieth episode overall. It aired on November 12, 2019.

## Synopsis

Sharpe lands in hot water when she goes out on a limb for a patient. Meanwhile, Max's grief comes to a head, and Bloom takes a major step in her recovery.

## Plot

Max is seeing his dead ex-wife again in his house. She tells him she won’t leave until he wants her to. Meanwhile, Iggy gets a call from Roz that she has a baby for him to adopt. He’s caught off guard. Back at the hospital, two people in a car dump a woman on the ground before taking off. Laura rushes over and administers Narcan. The woman tells her she is in pain all over and to ask Dr. Sharp.

Helen comes down to the ED to see her patient who is part of the chemo program. The woman tells her she’s been in so much pain and that Percocet's don’t help so she’s turned to heroin.

Vijay watches one of his residents tell a young boy and his family that muscle twitching he’s experiencing could potentially be from the onset of an MS. He shakes his head as she hasn’t even run any tests yet.

Max becomes very upset when a pregnant woman is brought into the ER. She’s having trouble breathing because she has a pulmonary embolism. One of the doctors informs them that the baby died en-route to the hospital. Max breaks the news to her while holding her hand.

Later, Max sits with the woman and talks to her. The baby’s heart didn’t develop properly. They have to induce labor to get the baby out. The woman starts to cry. She tells him that it’s just her and the baby. She asks him to stay with her. He agrees.

Floyd checks on Laura who is waiting for her mother to come visit. Meanwhile, Helen leaves the hospital to try and find her patient who bolted from the ED. She enters a crack house, making her way passed addicts all using drugs to try and find her patient Shanya. The woman doesn’t want to listen. Ellen’s only option is to bring her to a clean place to shoot up.

Mack stays with a pregnant patient Gabi well she delivers her stillborn baby. The room is quiet and sad as Max asks her if she wants to hold her daughter for the first and last time.

After trying to get Gabi to hold her baby and she refuses Max brings her back to see her mother in a cuddle cot, a device that would give them more time to say goodbye. Gabi seems to want to spend some time grieving, after all.

Helen brings her patient to see her friend Omar who runs an illegal consumption site safely. Omar tests Shayna’s heroin for fentanyl before he lets her do what she needs to do to be pain-free.

Two medical staff come in to move Gabi's grieving process along because they need her room and the cuddle cot. This makes Max really angry. He tells them that Gabi can take as much time as she needs, putting a chair in front of her door so he can sit down so no one will interrupt her.

Floyd works hard to teach one of his residents the difference between promising something they can’t deliver to a patient versus giving them hope and still being supportive. Meanwhile, Laura wakes up from her surgery and begins to cry when she realizes she is alone while Helen is by Shayna's bedside as she comes to.

Vijay goes to see Iggy about Ella. Iggy tells him he can’t talk about her, it’s a patient privilege. Iggy tells him about his issues with Martin and how he hasn’t told him about possibly adopting a baby and that one is available for them. While talking about this Vijay realizes that his patient doesn’t have MS or another disease but the measles.

Iggy finds Max standing guard outside Gabi’s door. He pulls up a seat so they can talk. Max doesn’t want to let his wife go even if it means getting better.

Helen has brought Shayna back to the hospital and admitted her. A short time later the police come in and cuff Helen, taking her away. She is bailled out later by her superior and is told that the hospital board will determine her future the next day.

Floyd comes to visit Laura who is feeling sorry for herself. He cheers her up with some takeout from Peter Lugar's. Her dad used to take her when she was younger. They sit and eat steak.

Gabi tells Max that she feels abnormal, a little crazy she doesn’t want to hold her baby. She wonders if she needs help mentally. Max tells her about his situation and how he still talks to his dead wife because it makes him feel better. It’s a way he keeps her alive and a part of the memories she’s missing out on. He doesn’t care if it’s healthy.

Martin has found out about the baby and the adoption. He is really upset with Iggy. Meanwhile, Ella comes to Vijay to tell him she’s keeping the baby after all. Gabi works up the courage to hold Sophie one last time.

At home that night Max finally says goodbye to his dead wife.

## 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* Christine Chang as Dr. Agnes Kao
* Mike Doyle as Martin McIntyre
* Ian Duff as Michael Duke
* Dierdre Friel as Ella
* Ana Villafañe as Dr. Valentina Castro
* Debra Monk as Karen Brantley
* Alejandro Hernandez as Casey Acosta
* Lisa O'Hare as Georgia Goodwin
* Teresa Patel as Paramedic Harvell
* Em Grosland as Nurse Kai Brunstetter
* Marinda Anderson as Dr. Valerie Jessup
* Elizabeth A. Davis as Shana Davis
* Sanjit De Silva as Omar
* Daniel Jenkins as Dr. Handler
* Diany Rodriguez as Gabriella Alvarez
* Maria Elena Ramirez as Dr. Rae Proctor
* Juan Carlos Diaz as Bodega Clerk
* Morgan Hallett as Susan Hedlund
* Iliana Inocencio as Pre-Op Nurse
* Jeffrey Manko as Dr. Chambers (credited as Dr. Jeffrey Manko)
* Din Mayfield as OB Nurse
* Ryan McCarthy as Steve Hedlund
* Luke Naphat as Tawan Hedlund
* Isaiah Seward as Paramedic Durango
* Natalie Strasser as Bedraggled Woman
* Ryan Scott Thomas as Police Officer #2

## Multimedia

### Videos

New Amsterdam 2x08 Promo "What The Heart Wants" (HD)