unfortunately robby & samira’s dynamic in 2x10 is exactly what i find so incredibly interesting about both of them as characters. robby sees himself in samira & he hates himself. when he shouts at her it’s like he’s also saying it to himself.
robby sees samira taking her time with patients & thinks about the way that years upon years at this job have beaten the empathy out of him. he sees her have some hope that she can make the world a better place through medicine, and he thinks about how he's already given up on that. he sees her having a panic attack (it's not a coincidence that these are the only two characters that have had panic attacks on screen!) and thinks about all of the ones he's had & the holes he's had to dig himself out of afterwards. he sees samira upset over her mother and thinks about the fact that he likely never had any kind of a good relationship with his own mother (if you remember from season 1, robby was raised by his grandparents).he sees her vulnerability and throws it back at her, because he's terrified of how much he sees himself in it.
the way robby behaved with samira in this episode is the cruelest we've ever seen him, and that, to me, is the reason why that scene with samira in particular feels like the official start of a real downward spiral for robby. he speaks to her in a way he never would to anyone else, because it's all way, way too close to home.
they’re perfect mirrors of each other. they're both singularly-focused workaholics with parental baggage, anxious to the point of panic, avoidant of any real connections with others, temperamental, deeply-empathetic people who are holding onto a tremendous amount of anger. at themselves, at the world, at the things that have happened to them.
i think the way robby spoke to samira was obviously unacceptable and absolutely crossed a line, and there's no justification for it. but there is explanation, and it is rich and delicious and hands-down the most compelling relationship dynamic on the show to me. robby is on the precipice of a mental health crisis, and the first person he takes it out on is the one whose pain looks like the most like his own.
and can i just say... i think the writers of this show are doing something actually quite subversive with this season. we loved robby in season 1 as an imperfect leader, someone who struggled but whose presence felt like a balm, like he could fix anything. now, ten months later, he's further down a dark path, doesn't want to live, and is a flawed hero in a way so many shows like this would never let a character be. we're outside of robby's head this season, and he's becoming more and more unlikable and sympathetic. how far will the audience's empathy extend for him?
