Joanna Robinson

going through multiple surgical procedures last year.

Like, it really changed the way that I watch this show and the way that I think about it.

And to your point about sort of how earnest the show can be, this is a quote that John Wells gave to Leslie Goldberg in The Ankler.

He said, quote, we wanted to show how heroic these people were through a simple way in which they deal with other human beings.

The North Star for us was trying to be humanistic and to show that these jobs are difficult, and yet you can take the time to care.

It's a fine line.

You don't want it to be earnest.

You want it to be honest and straightforward.

But you also need to feel that someone is taking the time to see you and listen to you.

So, you know, that's something, you know, inside of this episode, Langdon coming in to talk to Louis, you know, who's not even his patient anymore.

Or Mel and Santos, you know, Mel a bit more in a focused way than Santos, taking the time to slowly draw out of a reluctant patient

like the reason why she's there, this woman with an eating disorder, you know?

Making the person feel safe.

To be honest.

And we talked about this last week about the barriers between...

The barriers in the way of people getting the medical care they need.

We have a family inside of this episode, as it pertains to insurance, which is something very specifically that Pitt wanted to confront, how insurance companies have made it increasingly difficult for people to get the care they need.

We've got Dr. Robbie inside this episode having a conversation with a therapist friend about how resistant he is to have therapy.

These takes all different kinds of shapes, but if a person is carrying shame around something, which is something we talked about last week, and we have this woman

with an eating disorder who is clearly ashamed to talk about it.