*For the foreseeable future, some Character Review posts may not be published every Thursday as they have in the past.
*Warning: This post contains spoilers about the characters from the television series New Amsterdam. Read at your own risk if you have not watched the show.
There is something to be said about a well written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front of us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations.
I’ve often talked about mental health and my own battle with depression on this blog. But what happens when the person with mental issues is also the doctor helping others with the same illnesses? On New Amsterdam, Dr. Ignatius ‘Iggy’ Frome is the head of psychology. In short, his job is to help his patients heal emotionally from whatever is holding them back. But while he is helping his patients, Iggy has his own issues to deal with.
Married to Martin McIntyre (Mike Doyle) and raising their three adopted children, Iggy’s life seems to be perfect. He has a loving husband, healthy children and a satisfying career. But as anyone dealing with mental illness can tell you, you can have it all and still feel like you have nothing.
Living with Disordered Eating, Iggy will bounce from eating junk all day to eating nothing at all. Affecting both his physical and mental health, the disorder begins to take a toll on him. He is also living with a negative self image that is only able to reveal itself in an intense therapy session with his husband. But this therapy session comes only after his marriage is on the brink of collapsing.
When he gets a call that another child is up for adoption, Iggy agrees to take the child without consulting Martin. When Martin finds out, he is naturally furious. They are only able to hash it out when the hospital is on lock down and there is no choice but to put it all out on the table. In the end, Iggy and Martin’s marriage returns to the stable place that it was in, but not Iggy shows a part of himself that few are able to show.
To sum it up: When you have a problem, the first step is admitting that you have a problem. But that first step is the hardest step to take. When Iggy takes that first step and admits that he has a problem, he can finally begin to heal and accept himself.
Which is why he is a memorable character.
Writergurlny 