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What’s up fellow pittheads

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?

When he wakes up from his medically induced coma, they realize he’s suffering from temporary partial memory loss

He knows he’s a doctor, he lives in Pittsburgh, yada yada. It’s just personal relationships that seem to be all scrambled in his head. He knows Jack, Dana seems familiar, everyone else is really fuzzy, but Dennis seems to be unusually prominent in his memories

People write it off as Dennis being the last person to talk to Robby before he rode off

Dennis, with his sacrificial savior complex and enormous crush on his boss, volunteers to take care of Robby. I mean, he already has the keys to the place, and Robby seems most comfortable with that idea

Dennis is changing his bandages, scolding the older man when he moves around too much, coaxing him to relax, and entertaining him when he gets bored

He's cooking nutritional meals, making sure Robby takes his medicine on time, going out on nature walks with him so he's not just cooped up inside

It suddenly clicks in Robby’s mind. This is his husband!

When Dennis is feeding Robby a bite of this new dessert he’s trying out, Robby thanks him by leaning over and pecking his lips, y’know, like a husband would do

Dennis lights up in a furious blush, making Robby confused as he stutters out an excuse and flees from the house

Robby noticed before that Dennis doesn’t have anything personal around his house; it’s all Robby’s

Robby is horrified to think that they’re in the middle of a separation, and the only reason why Dennis stuck around was guilt and some sort of misplaced obligation

Now Robby is on a mission to win back his husband and stop the divorce from happening

she is kind because she chooses to be. she's soft because she hasn't let herself harden. she's still shy, anxious, a little shaky, but you can be all those things and still be very, very strong.

strength is not a loud voice or a cocky attitude or a power stance. strength is not perfection, or the absence of fear. strength is a whole lot quieter, something that doesn't announce itself.

robby has worked with dana for years and she didn’t know about his mother. he has kept that part of himself completely separate.

his exact words were, “nobody knows. who needs to know? who gives a fuck!” so when samira lets that completely inform her entire work day, he simply can’t understand it. that’s something you bifurcate.

and worse, when samira complains about how her mother is too present, wants to talk to her too much, he can’t relate to that at all.