Is Robby evil and/or sexist for not calling the cops on David in season one?
I keep seeing these comments kinda demonizing Robby for not immediately calling the police on David in season one. Or saying that Abbot would've immediately called the cops. And I kinda just wanted to throw my two cents in on why I think Robby waited so long to report him. And why he was so reluctant to do so.
So you have to look at it from Robby's point of view as a doctor.
To Robby, David is his patient. Before he is anything else, he is Robby's patient. And Robby has his patient's mother literally begging Robby to save her son.
So while McKay because of her past experiences immediately sees David as a threat/predator, Robby still sees him as a kid who needs to be saved. A kid whom it is Robby's job to save. And he knows that if he sends the cops out with "Hey this kid just went awol and he has a manifesto of girls he wants to hurt, but hey he's probably just mentally ill and needs help" he knows he's 90% likely to get David back in an ambulance or a body bag. Because the cops will respond to David like he is a school shooter, which is typically a shoot on sight type of situation. And it'll be Robby's job to tell that mother what happened to her son. And it will be Robby's fault that her son is dead. And it will be the mother's fault because shes the one who went to the doctors who then sent the cops after him. And she will blame herself for that for the rest of her life. And Robby will have to live with the fact that a mentally ill kid whom he was supposed to save is dead because of his choice.
So he's just praying that the mothers right when she says he'd never actually hurt anyone and when she says that he'll come back to get her. Which Robby does say in the show, that he really believed that the kid would come back for his mom.
Now I'm not saying that I agree with Robby's choices on it. But I can understand why he's hesitating. Its not an easy choice to make. I would also hesitate. Does the potential danger to these girls outweigh the potential danger he's putting this kid in? Its literally the trolly problem. He can actively send the cops after David choosing to risk David's life to save the girls. Or he can choose to do nothing and risk those girls lives. Its literally the trolly problem. Which is of course a notoriously difficult decision.
And I genuinely think Abbot would've done basically the same thing Robby did, but I do think he would've eventually chosen to call the cops on David. But I think he would've waited a really long time to do so too. Because its never an easy thing to do, choosing to kill a teenage boy who needs your help while his desperate mother begs you to save him, a mother who literally loves him so much she was willing to actively poison herself to save him.
And I can see why Robby was irritated with Mckay for calling the cops. To her, the second she found out about the list she stopped trying to save him. He stopped being a patient. He stopped being a teenager who could be saved. He stopped being a human being. He was a threat. Guilty already. Even though he had never hurt anyone.
Which is why Robby was irritated with her. Especially when they found out David really was innocent. To Robby, she risked a kids life having decided that he was guilty when he (sorta) wasn't.
Now I want to be clear that I'm not saying that Mckay was in the wrong. She was genuinely just trying to protect those girls. But Robby isn't a monster for not calling the cops on David. Honestly it's the opposite, he's just trying to save someone whom everyone else would've given up on.
It's easy to look at David and see a monster. And to us, the viewers, its easy to say that he should've called the cops immediately. Because we don't have to think about Robby having to live with that dead kid on his conscience.
So I don't think Robby is evil or sexist because he didn't call the cops. Naive or overly optimistic? Yeah, maybe a little. But evil? No.
Thanks for reading my ramble. And to all you Robby haters about to be in my comments please don't be too mean to me. I will cry.
