And to the surprise of no one, I loved Santos reaming Langdon out. And I think she's absolutely correct.
First off — he literally confirmed that he sees the consequences of his fucking actions as punishment, rather than something he brought about himself. Going to rehab was good for him, and having his personal relationships compromised was going to happen. It's a consequence of addiction, not just of getting caught being an addict.
And as Santos notes, the consequences have been pretty light — Langdon's relationships aren't that compromised. Frank's wife ultimately didn't divorce him, at least not yet. (She might be doing it for the kids rather than for Frank, but she is giving him a chance. I don't doubt that if his wife were actually leaving him, Frank would've thrown it in Trinity's face as proof of how much he's suffering.) He still has full-time custody of his kids. Other than Robby and Santos, absolutely everyone has welcomed Langdon back into the Pitt with open arms, with nothing but faith and support and belief in him. (Yes, he lost contact with most of them for months, but there's no reason to assume that they wouldn't have been friendly and supportive had Langdon simply reached out first.)
Not to mention, that as Santos said, he committed a crime. He stole a highly sensitive and controlled medication from his place of work, he was taking illicit substances while on the job as a doctor, he nearly let patients die and actively tried to get Trinity Santos unjustly fired, all to cover up what he did.
Langdon didn't get punished for any of that. He didn't even get a slap on the wrist. He got help beating his addiction. And he labeled that a punishment? I'd be pissed too.
Let me remind everyone: Langdon stealing drugs had horrible effects for three patients, just in 10 hours of a shift we saw him work before getting caught. Do you really think that was the first time for it? More likely, he'd gotten more blatant and sloppy as he kept getting away with it, and that meant there were steeper consequences. We know he stole fully half of Louie's medicine, and given Louie died less than a year later, his health was dire. That bottle of Ativan that Langdon funneled out, then filled with saline and glued the cap shut on? Would have absolutely killed the patient had Santos not reacted quickly.
Frankly? Langdon should have been formally reported. He should have been fired. He should have lost his license, gotten charged or even taken to trial.
And he didn't, because as furious as he was, Robby still didn't want to do that to his former Golden Boy. And because Santos went along with it and kept quiet.
Langdon owed a lot of people an apology, and Santos should've been top of the list. After that, all the patients who he hurt by stealing meds from them (though I suspect Langdon doesn't know how many people that truly is, and doesn't have any interest in finding out, let alone making amends).
But I get it, in theory. It's often hardest to apologize to those we've wronged the most. Langdon betrayed Robby and Dana's trust, betrayed what they all stand for as doctors, but he didn't actively and intentionally hurt them the way he did Trinity Santos. And they're not near-strangers, there was once a positive relationship there. So sure, Langdon could've meant well, and simply started apologizing to his friends and those he wronged less severely because he was hoping to build up to apologizing to Santos.
But if that were the case, you'd expect him to have been a little more apologetic towards Santos.
Like, let's actually review what Langdon has done with regards to Trinity Santos since returning:
Avoid her all day. This is the only one that maybe could've been benign; giving her space to respect her boundaries. But if Langdon giving her space was because he's truly sorry, why didn't he do the same with others? He insisted on apologizing to Dana when she said there was no need. He chased Robby all over the ER, demanding that Robby hear and accept his apology, until Robby gave an exceptionally harsh rejection. If that's how Frank Langdon behaves when he is truly sorry and wants to make amends with someone, then why is Trinity different?
When forced to work a case with Santos, treat her like a med student by asking condescendingly basic questions, overcorrecting her every choice or statement or answer, and say "I'm happy to teach her" when she's a fucking R2, just like Mel was last season. Did Langdon treat Mel like that last season? Hmmm? Or is this another case of Langdon's behavior towards others being markedly different in the case of Trinity Santos?
Only actually try to apologize when Dr. Al-Hashimi all but told Langdon to do so.
And before that, try to blame Trinity when Dr. Al-Hashimi questioned why Langdon and Santos didn't get along. He defaulted to blaming her for her bad attitude, exactly as he did in season one. When telling the story to anyone and everyone else, Langdon did not admit to any of his own wrongdoing.
When he finally did, he underplayed it. He only even admits he was an asshole when Dr. Al-Hashimi presses him about it. He does not share that he was such a vicious bully that Robby (who can be quite the asshole himself) told Langdon to cut it out. He does not share that he tried to get Santos fired because she caught him stealing drugs from patients, an incredibly reasonable thing to hold against him in a professional as well as personal context. Should Santos want to learn from a doctor that will compromise a patient's health and safety to cover his own ass? Is it fair to ask a whistleblower to learn from, rely on, and trust a man who did his best to ruin her career and life in order to save his own?
Bear all that in mind before you claim Langdon made that apology in good faith.
Moreover, a good apology addresses the harm done and seeks to make amends. Langdon apologizes for being an asshole, but not for the patients who nearly died as a result of his addiction. He admits his behavior was inappropriate and can't be taken back, but he doesn't ask what he could do to make up for it. Trinity tells him.
To me, that does not read as Langdon wanting to make things right. That reads as Langdon wanting to mark apology off the recovery checklist, to get it over with and move on and never think about what he did wrong ever again.
I don't believe addiction should be punished. But I do think Langdon needs to actually make amends towards the people he hurt.
And Trinity Santos tells him she wants Dr. Frank Langdon to publicly admit to the full scope of his wrongdoing. Not even that — she doesn't want an apology for what was done to her. She wants him to admit to medical malpractice, rather than insist his addiction never affected his work. Which he has done all day. Which to me does not suggest he is particularly sorry.
Did Santos have to turn around rather than just brush off the apology and walk away? No. But she's damn right to have demanded Langdon actually be honest about what he did wrong before she'll consider forgiving him for it.
