Sabbath

## Episode Chronology

**"Sabbath"** is the fourteenth episode of the second season on NBC drama series *New Amsterdam*, and the thirty-sixth episode overall. It aired on February 18, 2020.

## Synopsis

Max races against the clock to rearrange the budget when faced with employees going unpaid, while Kapoor is presented with a device that's the future of medicine. Meanwhile, Iggy goes against the norms to prove a diagnosis and Bloom gets an unexpected visitor.

## Plot

Max walking through the park with Alice who is offering him parenting advice for Luna; him thanking her for the advice she’s already given him. Alice suddenly gets a message from a friend who bailed on a play and she awkwardly asks him and he agrees to go with her.

Later, Max rushes into the hospital, late for a meeting and runs into Sgt. Todd Benson in the conference room. There was no meeting, Max feeling ambushed but gets a message from the board that he has to cut $2 million from the budget by the end of tomorrow. Max wants to send a message back but Todd forces him to sit down and pick what needs to go. The one program that could go worth 2 million is the program for postnatal care for undocumented mothers; Max slides the binder back, refusing but Todd informs him if he does, every single one of his employees will be sent home without a paycheck.

Meanwhile, Lauren bumps into Casey, asking if he notices a difference in her; who teases her that the first thing people should say to him is “good morning” but all he ever gets is people jumping out at him in the hallway, starting conversations and it is rude. Lauren tells him that her leg is finally better, with no braces and no crutches. Lauren spots a woman in the hallway and her attitude completely changes. Lauren marches right past her and Casey tells her they really need to work on her manners.

In the ED a man arrives, begging for help, saying his wife fell and bumped her head but she insists she doesn’t need assistance. Lauren approaches them and brings Steph Goldman to an exam room where she can be stitched up. Her daughter is concerned about the CT scan as it is the sabbath and no electricity, but her father explains that God would make exceptions for this as her mom hurt herself and needs to make sure her head is okay. She keeps telling her daughter that it is just a little cut, the bond causes Lauren to smile.

Vijay walks into his office and finds his new mentee Dawn. He hands her books saying she needs to read them before she joins him on his rounds. She reveals she is Dr. Gibbs the lead programmer, who is there to introduce him to D.A.W.N. (diagnostic assessment wellness network). He is told he has to take DAWN with him on his rounds so it can improve its algorithms. She feels with his help, DAWN will become the future of medicine; he refuses.

Max tells Todd since they are not going to cut anything major from the budget, they are going to small cuts to each department. Floyd finds Max and Todd, wanting to talk about his future. He suggests they order pacemakers from the 7 surgeries he has booked for tomorrow and order them from Mexico; Floyd is so disgruntled he suggests that they save on the surgeries and have him just do them in Mexico. Max feels it is a brilliant idea even though Floyd was being sarcastic. Todd isn’t pleased with them outsourcing American jobs.

Helen meets with her patient, Cephas Fernandez, informing him that he has a benign tumor in his stomach and after surgery, he will make a full recovery. His mother cannot understand how a 13-year-old could get a tumor from stress and Helen would like to find out why so she sends Cephas to meet with Iggy for a psych assessment. Cephas says everything is good, but his biggest stressor is the school librarian who won’t let him take out books who are for gifted students. Iggy wants to know why this makes him care so much. He insists he is smart too; making Iggy wonder who else makes him feel less than what he is. Iggy gives him a quiz for depression and stress. Cephas says the questions are easy but gives a 10 on everything, struggling when he feels threatened or harassed without knowing why.

Iggy meets with his mother, saying he gave him a test to measure his level of social resistance; revealing that Cephas feels threatened on a daily basis, feeling that everything he has earned can be taken away at any moment. He is internalizing everything because Iggy believes his tumor is because of racism.

Floyd arrives in Monterrey, Mexico at the Clinica Del Corazon de San Juan, where he is greeting his patients, who comment this place is so much better than New Amsterdam. He likes that the place only focuses on pacemakers and are able to knock out about 11 surgeries per day; he feels that is pretty efficient. He admits he has been chair at New Amsterdam for over a year but he is leaving. He confesses that he loves working at the public hospital, but he loves his fiancée more.

Kapoor chases after Max, complaining that Dr. Gibbs keeps following him around. He is very upset, saying DAWN is not just artificial intelligence, but his own intelligence. Todd wants them to continue on their mission so Max tells Vijay to make his own decision about it until he learns that the company that programmed DAWN is paying the hospital $160,000 for this; he suggests Dr. Kapoor give it another chance.

In the ED, Vijay meets with a patient who has a rash on his chest and DAWN immediately says he has Lyme disease. He then meets another patient and DAWN is able to translate for him. He meets with a third patient, telling him they will review the CT scan results and he will be back but DAWN has the results already, confusing the patient. Dr. Kapoor really struggles with the iPad and finally gives it to one patient to keep when she refuses to give it back to him.

Iggy is in the hallway when Sandra Fall approaches him, saying there is no code for racism to put into the system for Cephas. He is told to change his diagnosis so they can bill the insurance company; something he absolutely refuses, saying this time it is going to hurt his patient if he doesn’t stick to his diagnosis and his 13 yr. old patient is proof that racism can cause real harm. She tells him he can change the world but not until he changes the codes. They are performing surgery on Cephas, finding out there are at least 4 tumors and it looks like they are going to keep recurring and next time they might not be benign.

Max and Todd review how much money they have begun to save; Todd continues to be extremely sarcastic, feeling this tactic is very much like communism. In the ED, Lauren asks Max is he notices anything different about her? He says she is admitting patients before they even know if they need to be admitted and if they are not actually in crisis they cannot bill for it. She reveals her leg is better and thanks for noticing. She tells Max if she wants her to reduce the funds, then he can hire many more nurses, orderlies, and residents. She spots the woman sitting on the chair and begins to yell that she cannot remain sitting there, asking who the hell she thinks she is. She barges off, leaving Todd and Max to figure out a new strategy. Todd says they need to figure out a way to save the hospital from Max’s own good intentions.

Casey calls for help as Steph Goldman is laying on the floor. Lauren rushes over when Steph reveals she cannot feel her legs at all, but the CT scan showed nothing; her daughter panics.

Iggy walks down the hallway, running into Max, who thanks them for meeting on mutual territory. Iggy informs him about what is going on with Cephas, and how they could be saving the hospital millions of dollars as the city funds billions of dollars for racism issues but the hospital cannot bill the city because there is no code for it in the system. Todd doesn’t think this is going to save them money as Iggy explains that he could do a fundraiser but all he needs is a little money for this. Max flat out tells him, “No!” Todd explains the situation and as Iggy realizes that they plan on cutting stuff from his department, he backs away slowly and then runs away down the hall.

Helen explains about Cephas’ tumors to his mother. She reveals that Cephas allowed Helen to read his essay from Lord of the Flies. It is clear how he views the world, a lot of beauty but darker things. His mother thought she was able to shield him from everything that she deals with, jumping through hoops to get him into the school he is in. She thought she was doing a good job as Helen tells her that Cephas is extraordinary because of her. Helen confesses how she has to deal with it every day, as this is the world they live in. His mother wants to know what she can do to prevent her son from returning next week or next month; Helen doesn’t have an answer.

Steph is questioned about her symptoms by Dr. Kapoor and Dr. Bloom, but when she asks if they have any theories, they excuse themselves. Vijay attempts to use DAWN for a diagnosis but suddenly there is nothing from the iPad either.

Max brings Todd to the children’s daycare, his favorite place in the hospital. Todd doesn’t know how getting rid of a few daycare employees will put a dent in the budget. Max says it is a luxury that they can do without but a nurse hears him and explains how important it is to the staff. He says he needs to cut costs in order to keep payroll. She tells him to keep her paycheck because if they have to pay for daycare a lot of them will need new jobs; Todd knows max won’t cut daycare.

Floyd is really enjoying his job, pretty proud of what they accomplished. Suddenly his patient spits up blood and he thinks of an alternative, but finds out that they don’t have a blood bank as they are not a hospital. He is told they need to call an ambulance but he says they will have to treat her liver like a heart if they are only equipped for heart emergencies.

Max knocks on Valentina Castro, but Helen says she is never there anymore as she is all about her trial these days. Max manages to escape from Todd explaining the budget crisis to Helen, saying he wants to cut out yearly mammograms. She fights him on the issue but then slams the door in his face saying she is sure Castro will cut whatever testing he wants. Helen is extremely furious. Todd finds him, saying he was glad he was at lunch for that conversation.

Floyd continues to work on the patient’s liver, working with the doctor from there and they are able to get the blood flow going again. She admits how much she misses real medicine. Meanwhile, Helen comes to see Cephas and his mother; but walks away before talking to them.

Iggy is on the phone determined to get a WHO will help him but he cannot get a WHO without a sponsor. Helen finds him and he explains to her the dilemma. He reveals he just got an appointment with the governor of the WHO. She stops him, saying she loves him but he needs to stop focusing on saving the world and focus on saving their patient because no one else is going to.

Steph panics as she suddenly cannot feel her arms and cries out for help. Casey, Lauren and Vijay rush over. She begins to have a seizure as they hold her daughter back. Lauren and Kapoor continue to make suggestions, but DAWN says they are all less than 1%, suggesting to put her into a coma until a diagnosis can be reached. Vijay feels if they cannot find a diagnosis that day they will have to.

Max finally understands how painful this is, as every cut is going to make the hospital worse. Todd reminds him that he thinks they should just make one big-ticket item; it will make the hospital worse, but it won’t compromise all the individual departments. Max feels they were being pioneers for the care of undocumented mothers. Max signs the paper and says that they can now make payroll. Todd sees max in a slump but reminds him that he did the right thing.

Dr. Kapoor walks the hallway and sees Steph in her bed, not sure what to think. He sees her daughter watching basketball; pleading for him not to tell her dad as there is not supposed to have electricity on the sabbath. He says her father is suffering enough and sits with her. They talk about the Sabbath, wondering if she breaks other Sabbath rules, something she promises she doesn’t. He tells her that this is a matter of life and death and demands to know if she kept everything Kosher.

Kapoor calls Lauren over, revealing “hotdog”. He explains that Steph’s daughter at a street vendor hotdog and unknowingly passed a tapeworm to her mother with a kiss. He laughs that he turned DAWN off as Kapoor assures her daughter that she saved Steph’s life.

Iggy goes to visit Cephas, who says he is doing better, but he has one question. He wants to know why the librarian wouldn’t let him take out the books. He thinks Cephas knows and this is causing him to be sick. He asks him again and Cephas reveals it was because of the color of his skin. Iggy makes him realize all the things that are making him feel like everyone is being racist towards him. He felt he is a mistake, not good enough and didn’t belong. Iggy says this has nothing to do with him, but everything to do with the world around him. This stress is making his body feel like this, even if he doesn’t want to feel it and that is what is making him sick. Cephas asks how Iggy is going to fix the world; something he says he can’t but he can help Cephas process because if they can name it, they can treat it.

Lauren is done for the day and the woman still remains in the same seat. Lauren finally sits beside her, saying she wins and wants to know what her mother wants. She smiles and says she only wants dinner. Helen leaves her office and finds a patient, Fatima Abbasi standing in the hallway, trembling and barely moving. She learns Fatima has been like this all day. Helen feels she should have been paged even though she is Castro’s patient. Fatima reveals that Castro said her numbers were good and the trial is helping. Helen is utterly shocked.

Max stands outside the postnatal care center when Floyd calls him with bad news. Floyd says Mexico is not the answer to their budget crisis as they need to be in New Amsterdam in a real hospital. He says there is another thing he needs to tell him, but Max tells him he is the best and hangs up before Floyd can tell him anything. Max runs across the hospital, stopping Todd before he goes to the board. He found a way by adding a program, saying trying to add revenue and more patients. America is full of people who need specific things that their local hospitals cannot meet but New Amsterdam can. So instead of outsourcing their patients, they are going to outsource their doctors. He has commitments from various hospitals and feels they can fill in the gaps and be fairly compensated and can balance the budget. Todd smirks, saying he threw the budget away, patting Max on the shoulder, saying he knew he would come up with something.

That night, Max arrives at the theater, nervously waiting for Alice, who waves at him cautiously. He tells her that she looks really nice and she reiterates the comment. He stutters, apologizing, saying he doesn’t think he can do this; she is relieved, saying she feels incredibly guilty being there. She admits her husband was a musician who took his own life, something she doesn’t talk about. The moment she starts to feel the happiness she begins to panic, he admits it isn’t crazy to be triggered over happiness. He says she didn’t ruin anything like the two smiles at each other. Max suggests they go out to eat and they go to a local pizza place, talking the night away; laughing and having a great time. Max gets a call from Noleen George, the doctor from Mexico, who tells Max she heard there is an opening at his hospital; inadvertently revealing that Dr. Reynolds was leaving. Max drops the phone from his ear.

## 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* Megan Byrne as Gladys Miller
* Alejandro Hernandez as Casey Acosta
* Alison Luff as Alice Healy
* Gina Gershon as Jeanie Bloom
* Emma Ramos as ED Resident Mariana
* Denise Pillott as Oncology Nurse May Ortega
* Anna Suzuki as Sandra Fall
* Matthew Jeffers as ED Resident Mark Walsh
* Rosal Colon as Ms. Fernandez
* Nadia Dajani as Steph Goldman
* Gregory Diaz IV as Cephas Fernandez
* Darren Pettie as Todd Benson
* Tiffany Villarin as Dr. Nolene George
* Phae Amara as Fatima Abassi
* Aki Ando as Grace Hong
* Ross Bennett as Nervous Man
* Keith Contreras as Surgicenter Nurse
* Brandon Engman as Matthew Goldman
* John Lichtwalt as Outdoor Enthusiast
* Jordan Mann as Dr. Gibbs
* David Newer as Aaron Goldman
* Eric Payne as Dr. Myron Ayton
* Anthony Rosenthal as Daniel Goldman
* Andrea Sooch as Hungarian Woman

## Multimedia

### Videos

New Amsterdam 2x14 Promo "Sabbath"rightNew Amsterdam 2x14 Sneak Peek Clip 1 "Sabbath"