Sharpwin finally had the kind of confrontation that they’ve been needing to have since they got into a quick ass relationship, jumped over all the regular steps and moved to a whole new country together. Even though they had been whatever they were for three years, their personal relationship lived within the walls of the hospital. They didn’t have dinner some nights or hang out in each other’s houses, she didn’t babysit Luna from time to time- it was a work husband/wife dynamic that stayed at work. Understandably, moving from that very contained relationship into an extremely serious romantic relationship had to explode sooner or later- the show went for later - because timing isn’t their forte, but it was nonetheless satisfying.
I have never seen a character more loved and exalted as Max Goodwin. For some reason, the fandom is quick to see everything from his point of view and remind themselves that HE’S A GOOD MAN! It doesn’t help that his character is written to be the saintiest of saints- like even Jesus cannot compete- and every character that’s next to him has to be a little bit worse. An example is the entire hospital staff pretending that Helen leaving was a completely normal and inconsequential thing even though she had worked with these people for years, was best friends with some of them and had been a big part of Max’s transformation of New Amsterdam. A lot of that is a failing on the part of the writers, but also a part of this flattening of any character around Max to let his sainthood shine brighter.
When Helen brought up the subject of Max’s parents, he explained it away in two sentences and put a pin 📌 in the conversation. Helen respected that and didn’t push it. In that same conversation, Max then broaches the subject of where he wants her relationship with Luna to go.
Against the two things I have highlighted, we come to the basis of their first fight. After Helen explodes at her mother, and Max shows up ONE hour late, she leaves the restaurant angrily. Max stays. So much happened after that this point was very much overlooked, but ONE hour late to meet the woman you’re calling your mother in law is unacceptable. I also think if he could already not make the effort to be on time to something Helen expressed was already a fraught encounter, he should have followed her for that reason. She should have been in that moment, his priority and he should have been more conscious of the fact that he was walking into a thorny situation to start with.
Now, before I continue, let me address the people that would try to remind me that he moved country- boo-fucking-hoo. He made a choice that adults across the world make every day and he’s making it for someone that has LITERALLY saved his life MULTIPLE times. I don’t even want to debate what the weight of his sacrifice is because I’m not convinced it even compared to the 3 seasons of sacrifice from her beforehand and she didn’t ask it of him.
So Helen is back home, wearing one of Max’s shirts for comfort, drinking wine and trying to recover from maybe one of the biggest blow outs she’s ever had with her mum. Max comes home and he doesn’t ask questions- doesn’t say “omg that seemed really hard, what happened?” Or “how are you feeling now?” Or “do you want to talk?” Or “I’m sorry I was late”- you know what Max does instead?
Max says he’s solved the issue by setting up a standing weekly invitation for them to bond.
Put yourself in Helen’s shoes? WTF?
When she rightly says she didn’t ask him to solve it…and wait let’s circle back. As a couple, it’s really okay and ideal to deal with things together, but that was far from what he was doing- he was making a unilateral decision about something that was separate from their relationship. So when she’s saying “don’t solve this”, it’s not a “I don’t love you, stay out”- it’s a “this is still a space you’re not part of yet.” Max responds by bringing up moving. Now it’s not that fact that he said moving (actually it is a little bit) but it’s also the language he used. “When I moved across the world for you, your problems became our problems”- on first glance, it might seem almost romantic, on second glance, Helen was completely right. Even though he made the physical move with her, he had a different set of emotional touch points with the move. His emotional thing was - “I love this woman, I want her in my life, I want to be with her and that’s what matters now.” For Helen, it’s “I’ve run away from dealing with my family issues and I’m trying to discover who I was to find out how I am”. Those are difficult issues already without carrying the burden of the fact that your brand new boyfriend has moved his life to be with you.
So while she’s home with her wine trying to decompress from a big part of her move blowing up, Max comes home and triggers the other button- “I get to interfere because I moved here”. Boom.
By now, he’s frustrated that she’s not talking to him about the deeper background issues and being left with her mum and so where he should have pulled back, he pushes at it, leading to their back and forth which ends in him asking - “are we a family?”
What an unfair question. What a load to add on top of an already heavy day.
In a way, that’s Max. Max that wanted to be all of the above even when he was married- Max that pushed Helen to admit her feelings and then acted like the conversation never happened- Max that had a relationship he didn’t share, but questioned why she didn’t share hers- Now, Max that’s using her relationship with her mother to act as a shortcut to expressing his moving uncertainty.
I am happy the fight happened though and can’t wait to see where it leads them to next.
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