#2x15

Taylor Dearden as DR. MELISSA KING

Robby, who has spent the entire season white knuckling his way through the day, who defaults to deflection when asked about his sabbatical and rapidly deteriorating mental health, just… folds. Almost immediately. The second Jack corners him and names it, the second Jack looks at him and says, plainly, that what he’s doing is reckless and stupid, Robby doesn’t fight him on it. There’s no argument, no ego. He just breaks. Like part of him was waiting to be seen that clearly, that honestly. And it's different than with Duke, or even maybe with Dana, because Jack understands exactly where Robby is coming from, and so Robby tells him, in probably the most open and honest exchange we've seen from him all season.

And Jack—Jack, who is so often the steadier presence, the one doing the grounding—can’t even get through it without his voice catching, on the brink of tears. The emotion sneaks up on him in real time. It’s not abstract concern, it’s not professional frustration; it’s something incredibly, overwhelmingly intimat. The idea of Robby not being there—not in the ED, not in the world—feels unthinkable to him, it looks like it causes him actual distress, and you can hear that realization land as he’s speaking.

What gets me is how reciprocal it is. There’s no imbalance in that moment. They meet each other in the exact same place: stripped down, honest, unable to hide behind the roles they usually occupy. Jack doesn’t soften the truth to protect Robby, and Robby doesn’t deflect to protect himself. And they cry, and they trust each other enough to be that honest, that exposed.