welcome to my search party

I gotta tell you something. The other night at the Eastwood game, I was...struggling. And then, I heard someone singing. Elton John. I followed your voice through the tunnels. I saw you in the green room. Saying it out loud, I realize that sounds creepy, but...you were so, like, genuine, you know? Free. You centered me.

Cassie McKay, who offered strength and comfort to a dying woman nearly her own age.

Cassie McKay, who went out of her way to share a vulnerable moment with Langdon when she saw he was struggling.

Cassie McKay, who dragged Ogilvie across the street so she could teach him a lesson about empathy, and who did it with respect, so that he could actually learn it.

Cassie McKay, who saw exactly what Robby was doing and called him on it in a gentle and kind way, despite the fact that he tried to humiliate her in front of her peers.

Cassie McKay, who never passes up an opportunity to learn, regardless of who it is from.

Cassie McKay, who was completely shocked by Santos's callous attitude towards their patients, but who saw this as the coping mechanism that it is, and decided to leave it alone.

One character(Robby) is taking out his trauma on the other two people who have similar trauma, unable to empathize with their experiences. He specifically directs his traumatic experiences towards them, women of colour who have been treated like this all their life, adding to their existing racial trauma. Whenever they react to their own trauma, they get yelled at, disrespected, undermined, and the behavior is used by Robby to prove that they don't belong in this workplace.

You, the viewer. Get to decide who's mental health you prioritise. Is it the women who are continuously mistreated and don't get to react to their trauma, always having to behave well because they -as women of colour- have internalised that they can never react to trauma in a substantial way. Or is it the white man, with a lot of power in this workplace, who reacts to his trauma by disrespecting the marginalised women around him?

Now that you have made your decision. What is you reaction when people, mostly made up of women(of colour)who can see themselves in these two female characters, empathise with Samira and Al Hashimi more than Robby. That they are angry at him for being able to direct his trauma in such a racist and misogynistic way, while their mental health is ignored? Do you support them, and try to understand their experiences? Or do you tell those viewers that they have no empathy for mental illness, simply because they hate the man who actively harms people that look just like them.

Last question. If you specifically relate to Robby for displaying mental health in an unpleasant manner, because you have displayed that behavior before and have received scrutiny for it. Do you agree that overexplaining and justifying this behavior to make it look more acceptable is not at all productive to the recovery of a severely mentally ill person? Do you agree that allowing and justifying it just furthers it? Do you agree that the mental health of the people around him, especially those with comperable trauma, should be held in the same regard as his?

I actually like that they showed us Langdon coming back, having made some progress but still having a lot of work to do re: taking responsibility for his own past behavior. I feel like if they're going to tell a story about addiction, that's more interesting and meaningful than just having him gone, and us only having seen him at his worst. But we can't have the equivalent of that for Robby if Samira's gone and he's neither required nor given the opportunity to try to make amends and grow from it. It's unfair to Samira, and it diminishes Robby and the show as a whole for me.

when someone asks if they took someone else’s spot, and they get the response that whitaker gave (the polite midwestern denial), you are supposed to stand up and offer the seat back. mel doesn’t do this. she just accepts what is verbally said, ignoring the body language and subtext.