most likely i need to actually rewatch this season but i do want to give my just raw thoughts on javadi considering a pivot to emergency psychiatry as of this last episode. will likely amend later!
i've expressed to friends already(hi guys!!) that i feel like javadi's rant about her coworkers and her whitaker-assisted epiphany about what she wants to focus on should've been separate interactions, and i'm standing by that! because even as she's at the end of her rope, at the end of a too long shift, its suggestive of her own judgements of other's mental states that she's voicing irresponsibly...much like robby does, and that is not the lead you want to follow!!!
whitaker says she has a passion for it, clearly she's interested in outreach, at helping folks to take care of themselves for preventions sake, and of course she was so eager to do whatever she could for jackson and his family. but see, i'm hung up on the fact that that seemed to come from how she related to jackson, as well as his sister. saw herself in them. her coworkers, on the other hand, she does not see it. but almost-dr. javadi, i hate to break it to you, a lot of the cases you are going to see and deal with in emergency psychiatry are NOT going to be innocent, young academics who are being subjected to their very first mental health episode. you're going to see people who are past the brink, who are settled in their unwellness. people who are addicts. people who are neurodivergent in ways that are uncomfortably obvious for you. there will be older folks who you cannot relate to, and your false smile has not been trained enough to reassure anybody yet. i know at her level this is all still about learning, she's still just a med student! but we have routinely seen her prodigious failure to communicate, with patients and other staff! and as far as i understand it, the field of psychiatry relies a lot more on talking, understanding, and listening, rather than necessarily being able to rely on anything you may see with the naked eye. it's going to take a lot of unlearning, which will most likely have to happen between season. which is cool, but i do want to see her changed a bit in the product of that.
i am not saying she needs to be a fountain of expressive empathy and nurturing, for one its not her nature and for two its not? the job requirement? at all. caleb jefferson certainly isn't the most sensitive, warm and fuzzy guy, he's cracking wise with everyone else, and facing every interaction with a serious, earnest tone and expression. but to be snapping about the negative effects of their work environment on the people around her only to turn around and say, wait, maybe caring for mental wellness is my superpower! i found it dumb.
ultimately i think that samira and javadi's indecisions could have complimented each other, but instead they were both so incredibly half baked that both ideas turned out underwhelming. javadi's growth into this role, and potential training by caleb could be really interesting, and if they continue this route i hope we get to see it! but her exhausted rant of why she doesn't want to turn out like everyone here felt so unfortunately mean spirited that as of rn i dont want to see her go into a field that more specifically deals with people in sensitive, emergent mental crises
