:3

study

robby used to be the guy who found purpose in being there for people on the worst days of their lives. he used to find meaning in being the one that helped you say goodbye to your father or your son or your brother.

he used to be the one comforting people in the ambulance bay, telling them to go home, that he can pick up the work load while they recover. they framed that shot the same way they framed the heather/robby confrontation for a reason.

but robby’s not that guy anymore. he doesn’t find fulfillment in this. he doesn’t do this because he likes being there for people, he does this because he feels he has the obligation to.

so when people complain about dennis not having a storyline this season, i don’t find that valid. dennis is showing us the beginning of robby’s story. he’s inserting himself into a family (janey and amy rhyming is so telling), he’s assuming responsibility for a child that isn’t biologically his, he’s falling into a work friendship with a deeply traumatized person (with scars on their leg). dennis’s future is also unfolding before our eyes. the dramatic tension that happens with his character is whether or not he will keep giving these pieces of himself like robby did. the question that dennis (as a dramatic device) poses is was there something that could’ve been done in the beginning to keep robby from becoming this or was it inevitable the whole time?