y'all complain about characters getting zero arcs and while I will admit of course they are sidelined because this show is telling robby's story, they're not nearly as sidelined as y'all are acting.
because you center it. on robby. you are the one that's doing that half the time. every time a character goes through something it's blamed on Robby or "what a day with Robby will do to you" or of that sort. you infantilize characters over him. you strip nuanced situations. you are centering Robby.
Victoria is struggling with the fact that she clearly is pulled to EM but she has neither of her parents support. an already rocky relationship with her mother has gotten rockier, and her dad is that fake kind of supportive that I personally know all too well— he's nice, they probably have a pleasant relationship, but there's still that pressure there. however, she's choosing to do a second rotation in EM. it's where she wants to be, even though we see her unable to verbally admit this. could keep going, about her mistake, about how Garcia hit her where it hurts the most, about how deeply she feels.
trinity has spiraled since pittfest. her scars are semi-recent. her relationship with garcia is another form of self-harm. her confidence appears to have taken a big hit— she veers closer to self deprecation than the cockiness we saw in s1, if we really look at how she speaks. she's been getting both better and worse— in s1, she starts the shift already guarded, already jaded, but in s2, we seem to see a more mature version of her, a version of her that's built some relationships with coworkers, (Dana, Dennis, Victoria, Robby) and we see her deterioration when she starts to get stressed out. etc etc I could actually keep going
langdon and his addiction arc did not drop the ball, actually, you just believe him when he says he's better. now, we did get his best moments in ep14, (the impressive procedure, accepting Dennis's boundary and even telling him he was right for making it) and from the preview it looks like we'll get some great moments in ep15, as well, which is why I do feel it's unfair to judge so many character arcs so harshly until the season is wrapped up. but the conflict with Langdon is not "oh what if he might relapse" it's the fact that he's going through the motions. he views the consequences of his actions as "punishment" etc. again i could keep going.
Mel and Cassie and Samira are telling similar stories with their arcs— varying degrees of burnout. Mel and her dissociation, getting to not just see her on a bad day but learning that the one person she really has, has someone else. it's a devastating thing to grapple with. the depth of her isolation.
samira with the wrench thrown in her plans, probably more angry at her mother for moving on from her dad instead of actually angry at the situation it's happening in. the scramble to throw herself into a fellowship, any fellowship, chasing distraction. she's isolated. she's not on the road to burnout, she's burnt out. and we see the damage of that.
Cassie and her inability to cry. I know we joke about her arc is needing to get laid lmfao, but truly, it's something that highlights loneliness, probably touchstarvation, and although we know she adores being a mom, not having an equal is so difficult. and that's what she's struggling with. she's there for her coworkers in a way most of them aren't, she's steady and matured in a way most of them aren't, but that's not a fix-all. who holds her? who takes care of her? who listens to her ramble on about her day? no one. of course she's gunning for an orgasm, she can't even cry— she needs a release of some sort. it's a very hollowed out kind of feeling.
Dana's trauma and jadedness. even in her stairwell scene with Mel, it's lost the kind edge that was there in s1, more of a "stop feeling sorry for yourself" because that's showing us Dana's inner voice. stop feeling sorry for yourself. stop letting this affect you so much. but it seeps in anyways, and she's punchier, she's falling apart at the seams, she's not telling anyone.
dennis and his people pleasing, his tendency to care about others so much more than he cares about himself. yes, he likes being there for people, it's a great trait, and it's honestly so delicious to me that it's also his flaw. sometimes a characters greatest strength and their flaw can be one and the same. he needs to learn to find that balance, which is another reoccurring theme in his character.
i could keep fucking going. hell, I could pick one of these characters and make an entirely separate post on them. I didn't even mention the new characters, Baran, Joy, Emma, Ogilvie. hell, I'm not even an ogilvie fan and I could make a whole post on him.
I could make a post about character relationships— whitsantos has been great this season. the pittlings in general. mckay and javadi. trinity and dana. we got an amazing patient centered episode, an amazing nurse centered episode, etc etc etc y'all are so concerned with UGHH ROBBYS ON SCREEN UGHHH I DONT CARE that you miss all this shit.
tough luck, my friend, he's been the main character since s1 and he will continue to be the main character. the pitt is telling his story. the fact that it's given so many details or fleshed out parts of other characters is honestly amazing, especially when you realize how much we did get. they can only do so much, again, THIS IS ONE DAY. this is one day for them. we will never get an arc as monumental as you're hoping, because we can't.
