Someone else on here recently said "You guys don't actually want a night shift version" and I think the last couple of episodes proved them right. Not because the night shift characters are not interesting, but because the thing is: if you are going to spend more time with the night shift, by necessity they cannot only be the cool kids that roll in to make sarcastic comments about the day shift. They are going to be flawed and messy - yes, even - no, in particular - Dr. Jack Abbot. And apparently that needs to be said, because it's been quite interesting to see people grapple with seeing Abbot act like the guy he was always written to be, not as the perfect white knight/white savior figure they made up in their head.
"Abbot would have punched those ICE guys" - Uhm, no. Abbot would have asked Jesse if he "punched the guy," which is exactly what we see him do. No, that doesn't mean that he loves ICE, just like many cops don't "love" ICE. He might even use his connections, the way Perlah does, if Jesse was someone he personally cared about enough. But look, are we seriously surprised that the guy who is proud of his Afghanistan service and works for the local police in his free time would start with "What did he do to deserve that?"
"Abbot would never be dismissive towards his staff, especially not toward a woman" - And yet, as soon as he's officially on duty, he has no problem brusquely ordering McKay around and referring to Toomarian as "the intern," as if she isn't standing right there. We can discuss whether he is justified to ask McKay to help out (yes, he probably is!), but he certainly doesn't go out of his way to be nice about it, and maybe it's not great that he is not bothering to address a new hire he's in charge of by name (especially when, in contrast, we see Whitaker actively introducing her and Al-Hashimi warmly welcoming her).
"But he's so nice to Mohan and Al-Hashimi" - Yeah because he likes them. Because he possibly wants to bang them (yes, both of them). Because he has favorites. He jokes around with Henderson, he's flirtatious with Samira, he glazes Dana, but he is curt and impersonal with McKay and Toomarian because they don't ping his radar, simple as that.
"Abbot will sneak out and disassemble Robby's bike" - Yes, that was a nice thought and made for a lovely running joke, but no, he was really just talking to admin when he disappeared for an hour, not taking steps to make Robby stay. Now Dana is basically begging him on her knees to intervene and he is still reluctant to act. Dana is pushing Robby. McKay is willing to push Robby. Duke is ready to push Robby. Abbot actively needs to be pushed.
And that's to be expected, because ultimately, he and Robby are way, way more similar than a lot of people want to admit. They both play favorites. They both have "their guys." They both have a lot of unexamined bias. They both are attracted to women of color while being complicit in their structural oppression. They both have a temper when they are irritated. They are "two white old men poachingâ Shen and Ellis' patient. They are both severely traumatized and cope with it in harmful ways. They are both determined to suppress their feelings until it kills them. Maybe literally.
And that's fine - that's what makes them interesting, complex characters. But at the end of the day, they are two middle-aged guys with a lot of manpain who were thought up by other middle-aged guys in a writers' room, and if you already can't handle Robby being an ass to people because he was abandoned by his mother and lost his mentor ... are you really sure you are prepared for an Abbot backstory that might tell us about how he became a doctor because he feels guilty for looking away when his Army buddies tortured a 12-year-old âterroristâ?
