Official Synopsis
While navigating the fallout from Katie’s secret, Amy treats a critically ill patient with a dark one of her own. As Gina and Jake evaluate a world-class poker player, searching for the source of what may be a mental disorder, Jake is forced to hide the truth from Amy about Rachel’s health scare. Sonya and TJ investigate their theory behind Joan’s frequent absences. And Richard returns with a trick up his sleeve in the all-new “Trust” episode of Doc.
Timeline
The day after Episode 14, closer to 7 months since the accident
What I'll Remember
It’s the morning after Amy found out about Michael’s affair, and she and Jake are just waking up at her condo. He said he got in late and she was already asleep. We know he was with Rachel the night before, finding out why she was in radiology at the hospital, but it’s unclear where Amy thought he was. Amy tells Jake about Michael’s affair with Nora. She’s livid, and Jake says she’s going to feel that way for a while, presumably referring to Rachel’s affair.
Walking into the hospital, Amy tells Gina about Michael’s affair. Gina speculates that Katie’s panic attacks are from keeping the affair a secret for so long and with Nora leaving Michael, everything is coming to the surface again. Gina tells Amy that Katie needs to know what Amy remembered, and they need to be honest with Michael, too.
Jake helps Rachel get an appointment for a biopsy. She asks him to keep her situation a secret, and he agrees. Later in the day, he sits with her in radiology and lies to Amy about it. When Amy calls him, he says he’s with a patient.
Katie gets mixed signals from Michael and Amy about how therapy went the night before, so she comes to the hospital to see Amy. She has a panic attack in the lobby and ends up in the Emergency Room. Amy and Michael step into the hallway outside of Katie’s room and get into a very heated argument about the affair. Michael is angry, thinking that Amy told Katie about the affair. Little does he know that Katie is the one who discovered the affair five years ago. Michael explains that he had an affair because he was devastated and alone after Danny’s death, and Amy hadn’t given him any kind of emotional or physical attention in two years. He says that he broke it off with Nora when Amy briefly came back to him (referencing their dinner in Season 2, Episode 14 in October 2019). Then Amy left him without even mentioning the affair. Amy is furious that Michael made her think she was the only one responsible for their marriage ending and can’t believe he is one of the people who’s been lying to her about her past.
After the argument with Michael, Amy tells Katie what she remembered, assuring her that the marriage was over well before Katie told Amy about the affair. Amy says it’s time for Katie to forgive herself and stop carrying this secret.
In flashbacks, we see Amy moving into her condo shortly after she left Michael five years ago. As she unpacks her wedding china, she starts smashing pieces out of rage and breaks down in tears. Next, Amy is at a bar alone, very drunk, telling the bartender about the dinner with Michael in Season 2, Episode 14. She says they hadn’t had sex in two years before that night. We learn that Michael met Nora at a conference, one that Amy was supposed to attend. She tells the bartender how stupid she felt for trying to reconnect with Michael and that she doesn’t want to have feelings ever again. The bartender actually looks like a younger version of Michael… Amy hits on him, and they briefly make out in the back of the restaurant. He realizes how drunk and unwell Amy is and puts her in cab home.
Katie and Amy tell Michael that Katie is the one who told Amy about his affair five years ago. Michael and Amy reiterate that the marriage was over before that and Katie shouldn’t blame herself. Amy says she should have done better for both of them back then. Leaving them must have broken her. Amy and Michael continue the conversation outside of Katie’s hospital room. Amy says they should never tell her that the affair was with Nora. Michael tells Amy that by the time she found about the affair, he’s already broken it off with Nora. If she’d come to him about the affair, they could have made it.
Amy’s patient is an older woman who needs a liver transplant. She doesn’t want to tell her granddaughter a dark secret from her past, but it’s impacting her medical decisions and the granddaughter doesn’t understand what’s going on. Amy encourages her patient to tell her granddaughter the truth, and ultimately the case ends happily. Thinking about Katie’s secret through the lens of her patient’s case reinforces for Amy that family secrets are like poison and make you sick.
Picking up where we left off with Richard in Season 2, Episode 12, he and his lawyer come into the hospital to finalize the Dixon settlement. They surprise Max, Michael, and the board by threatening to refuse the Dixon settlement unless Richard gets his job back. The Dixon settlement is important to the hospital because it keeps the issue out of the public eye. Richard’s leverage is that Amy’s treatment of staff members has caused a pattern of dangerous incidents at the hospital, and he’s willing to expose it all. Michael can’t believe Richard’s audacity, but his voice is silenced when the board asks him to leave the room due to the conflict of interest (his relationship with Amy).
We see Joan at a doctor’s appointment. According to her blood work, her health is declining rapidly. The doctor tells her to call her son Ethan soon before things get really bad. He says she can’t maintain her job for much longer. Joan knows there’s a medication she can take to keep her going, and she wants it. Meanwhile, Sonya and TJ are still alarmed by Joan’s shaking hands, lightheadedness, and frequent absences. Throughout the day, their flirting is more and more overt as they investigate Joan’s situation. They find out that Joan has lied about being at medical conferences recently. Sonya looks in Joan’s desk for evidence while TJ stands guard. She finds syringes in a desk drawer. Based on the medication in the syringes, Sonya and TJ know that Joan has an autoimmune disease and is hiding it.
Max calls Amy into his office to tell her that Richard is coming back to work tomorrow. Amy is in disbelief. Max says that it’s Amy’s behavior that gave Richard leverage, so she better deal with it.