#cissy yaps

She is a person of color and a woman entering the ER, and supposed to take over for Robby, because of that, it makes sense to me that she’s trying to get the lay of the land and throw her weight around a bit. She has a lot more to fight through than Robby does. Does that excuse any behavior that is inappropriate? Of course not. But she isn’t simply ‘a bitch’ because she’s coming into the Pitt and taking over. She’s doing her job.

I also think it’s hard to be a good leader when you don’t have all the information. Robby hasn’t been filling her in enough (she knows nothing of the Langdon/Santos issue for example), and this restricts her from being able to lead effectively.

She calls people out on and actively addresses issues, ex. Robby’s behavior with Samira. Imo it’s a good thing that she doesn’t hesitate to address things, and this is something that will make her a good leader in the Pitt.

Her working to get the prisoner fairer treatment and a bed in the hospital while Robby actively fought against it was a noble thing to do imo. She cares about her patients, and as we see later in ep10 as well, highlights having empathy as a caretaker. This is another characteristic that is signs of a good, empathetic leader.

I also liked that her and Dana aligned on the prisoner thing; I think that it’s building rapport and respect between the two of them, and the fact that Dana aligns with her at all tells me there is hope for Al Hashimi.

I think there’s something to be said about Jack clocking her and respecting her background. Jack knows her working with Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) and being at in Dasht-e-Barchi (Afghanistan) specifically working in the maternity ward (There was a brutal attack during that time) would have been extremely difficult. And we know it is because she specifically has moments in the show where she’s triggered (the baby and the teen). Jack is one of the few people that I see extend her an amount of leeway and humanity (along with Dana!), and I found it refreshing and made her more human overall. Robby, in comparison, has given her nothing.

It also speaks well that she’s worked with Mel and Samira and they both seem to like her (and they are also both pretty excellent at what they do).

Just to be clear, this isn’t a Robby bashing. I’m not saying Robby is entirely in the wrong and that Al Hashimi is 100% in the right every time. I’m noting my observations and thoughts, and that I don’t believe she’s just outright bad (as I similarly believe, that Robby isn’t outright bad).