If Abbot and Whitaker’s respective scenes with Robby aren't intended to set up an interaction between the two of them, about him, I’d be surprised. Because, to me, it's in these two interactions that we, the audience, are kind of aligning with the characters in explicitly recognising that there's something not quite right with Robby. Previous episodes have woven in some throwaway comments that stand out to us, as the audience - but, so far, it hadn't seemed like the other characters that Robby's been interacting with had caught on.
Now, though, both the audience and certain characters are on the same page about Robby's behaviour - and I think that's what makes this a really pivotal point in the season.
I've seen posts already about Whitaker maybe trying to speak to Abbot, worried about Robby - I think it makes narrative sense for that to happen, and I'd be surprised if it didn't. It also makes me think back to the end of episode 7, when Robby turned to look at Whitaker and then Abbot, after the CEO tells them they're shutting down the systems - it makes that sequence even more significant. (Similarly, it's making me question why Whitaker and Abbot haven't shared any dialogue, generally, despite working on a patient together and being in each other's vicinity across multiple episodes - would it be fair, in that case, to assume that the writers want this first on-screen interaction to be significant by making it about Robby? I think it could be.)
And it’s such an interesting look at their ‘roles’ in Robby’s life, too.
Abbot is probably the person Robby's closest to right now (more so than Dana and Caleb, more so Janey or Jake or even Heather ever were too). It's a very distinctive relationship, where they're each other's professional equals but, likely, also personal confidantes, in that they probably know each other better than maybe anyone else - as much as they allow anyone close enough to do so. We don't know much about Robby or Abbot's personal lives, if they have remaining family members etc, but it seems like they're the lone wolf types, it seems like they don't have much of a personal support system. So it would make sense that they may have been leaning on each other for this purpose.
And, as much as I can recognise that Al-Hashimi is supposed to be Robby's most obvious professional foil, I think Abbot is his personal foil. They're both senior emergency medicine attendings, they've both experienced personal loss in their lives, they've both experienced trauma in their lives, they've both been shown to be suffering from mental health issues and suicidal ideations, they both seem to be married to their jobs, they both seem quite lonely. But one of them has actively been trying to get better, is seemingly doing better, and has been putting in the effort to actually get the help he needs. While the other has seemingly refused to acknowledge that he needs help, doesn't seem to believe that he deserves any help, and has essentially let all the negatively consume him. (I think there are also some significant differences in the ways Robby and Abbot, individually, interact with others, which I think is really telling about some of their societal attitudes - but that could be for another post.)
Obviously, people have very different and personal responses to mental health and trauma, different approaches, different ways of experiencing trauma, too. But it's clear that Abbot can recognise some of what he'd been struggling with in his past, currently, in Robby, and that worries him. To add to that, it seems like Abbot can't quite get through to Robby, perhaps that he doesn't actually know how to get through to Robby, which exacerbates the worry. At the same time, I can very easily imagine Robby minimising his own issues and struggles in comparison to Abbot's experiences - the loss of a spouse, being a medic in active war and seeing loss and destruction first hand, losing a limb etc. I feel like Robby is the type of person who would make such comparisons and use them to justify repressing or dismissing the importance of his own wellbeing. Again, a very distinctive dynamic.
Whitaker, conversely, shouldn't be anyone of particular importance (outside of being an employee) to Robby. I'm aware that there is, perhaps, a growing section of the fanbase that doesn't find Whitaker a particularly compelling character. I can appreciate why that might be the case - in comparison to more objectively complex characters like Santos, Langdon, Samira, Javadi etc, Whitaker is a fairly ordinary guy. He's not an especially brilliant or intellectual physician, he doesn't have a strong ego as a defining trait, he doesn't (in an explicitly canonical way) have a tragic backstory, he doesn't have a significant history with other characters etc. He's just an anxious, insecure med student who grows into a kind, empathetic and ultimately good doctor. I think he's quite similar to McKay in that sense - there's nothing exceptional about them, nothing that would make them necessarily stand out, but they're both good doctors with difficult pasts, they're kind and empathetic, they make mistakes but they learn from them. McKay has a pronounced 'trust your gut, stick to your morals' mindset, which probably comes with her age and life experiences, but that's also a trait Whitaker could easily develop as he progresses in his career too - I think that fits his overall character.
Going back to the original point, though: Whitaker shouldn't be someone important to Robby, but he becomes important because of Robby. Robby was seemingly the only person in season one who had any faith in Whitaker coming back for the next shift, that he actually had what it took to work in EM, that there was something about Whitaker that was worth believing in and keeping an eye on, despite him being so objectively 'ordinary' and out of his depth. But I think Whitaker being a med student, with 'nothing particularly special' about him, could also have played in his favour with Robby - because he's essentially a clean slate. He has no personal history, to Robby or the hospital, no (explicit) personal trauma, no exceptional level of skill or expertise in medicine. But he's still good, still hardworking, pushes through and perseveres. He'd have been an ideal candidate for Robby to mould into his next 'project', if he wished to do so. But the moment in peds is where things shift that potential trajectory - and this is also where, I think, Whitaker's empathy arc really starts to come through. Whitaker's brand of empathy is personal, rather than purely professional. He forms connections with patients and people that extend beyond clinical care - his empathy comes through in how he helps people as Dennis Whitaker, not just as a medical professional. That's what makes Whitaker's empathy an ethical and boundary-setting concern.
Which is why I think it had to be Whitaker who found Robby in peds. I've seen posts about how it would've made for a better narrative if Javadi had found Robby during his breakdown. I disagree - because then that scene would've had to have been about Robby and Javadi, when that scene is (crucially, for the whole show) just about Robby. It's what pulls the safety pin from the hand grenade of Robby's passive suicidal behaviour. The peds breakdown scene, in my view, is about Robby and what Whitaker can be for Robby (this is the take on Whitaker that I think a lot of people seem to miss). During the breakdown scene, itself, it's Whitaker's naivety, his innocence, his seeming 'blind belief' that brings Robby back to the present. Not, in my view, as a heartwarming and wholesome moment. But in a punch-to-the-gut, 'I'm looking weak, I'm looking vulnerable, I'm showing my underbelly to this fucking kid' sense - I always thought that was Robby's immediate reaction in that moment. And after, when Robby goes to thank Whitaker, I don't think Robby would've reached out if he hadn't had the confrontation with Langdon. The scene where Robby's thanking Whitaker was initially driven by paranoia that Whitaker might have told someone, then a need to explain himself, to make excuses for what Whitaker walked in on. It's only when Whitaker tries to meet Robby in the middle, recites a bible verse (from the Old Testament, so it has significance in Judaism too), that Robby starts to let some of his guard down. Then reciting back what Robby had said to him after Mr Milton's death added further significance to that moment. Because Robby, at this point, has probably taught countless med students and residents. He probably has a metaphorical rolodex full of just stuff he says as a form of 'guidance'; there's a good chance that he doesn't really believe any of what he says now actually lands with the students. But here's this kid - fresh-faced, looking like a lost lamb, in desperate need of Robby's guidance - who clearly absorbed every word of it. I don't think this type of connection could have been formed with Javadi, or any of the other new kids; they wouldn't have had this kind of impact on Robby and vice versa. But Whitaker and Robby did form that connection; a 'trauma bonding' connection, yes, but also a spiritual and faith-based connection - and Robby's relationship with his faith, though not always explicitly explored, is an important part of his character, just like it is for Whitaker. This is what Whitaker can be for Robby.
With the structure of the show being a shift per season, we obviously don't know how the rest of Whitaker's rotation went, or even how the first few days of his internship went. But it's very plausible that Robby may have used Whitaker as a bit of a crutch during the four-ish weeks of his EM rotation, that he leaned on him more than he probably should have. Then, with Whitaker away from the ED for around nine months, I can imagine that might have left a slight emotional chasm for Robby, but also put a lot into perspective - which could explain why there is a more pronounced distance between them now, in season 2, to how they were in season 1. Distance that Robby might have felt he needed to put between them. And Gerran's interviews with Vulture and TV Insider really add a lot of weight to this theme.
This, sort of, goes back to a lot of what I've previously said about Robby and Whitaker's dynamic in season 2 - it's less about professional favouritism (which I think some people seem to get stuck on), but more about remnants of an emotional connection that can't naturally dissipate because they've not properly spoken about what happened in peds; they've not addressed it, so it's always just going to be there until they do. But they have seen each other at their 'lowest', so they can see the signs appear again - Robby recognising that Whitaker's retreating into himself after Louie's death and, crucially, Whitaker noticing the erratic and strange shift in Robby's behaviour.
This is also where the difference between Whitaker and Abbot becomes important. Abbot has the history with Robby that would give him the standing to actually confront him. Whitaker doesn't. But Whitaker is one of the few people who can and has seen the warning signs clearly - so if he wanted to act on that concern, he would probably have to go to someone who does have that specific connection to Robby. Someone like Abbot.
And that's why, to me, it makes sense that Abbot and Whitaker would be the first two characters to explicitly notice this shift in Robby's behaviour - and why it would make just as much sense for them to eventually talk to each other about it.
