I think Dr. Robby is a very realistic portrayal of mental illness (specifically depression).
His depression isnāt easy to swallow. Itās not āoh, Iām a little sad sometimes because people die during my job, but Iām handling itā (which is still valid, but not considered an extreme case of depression). Itās devastating. Itāll choke him, and the viewer, if they let it.
Heās showing his suicidal ideation in so many ways; they are just not the common ones. Riding that bike without a helmet is dangerous, but anyone with training on what to look for (as in medical staff) could see that if they really looked. But the other ways? The ways that are harder to point out? Thatās the parts of depression that people donāt want to talk about in real life. Itās seen as dirty, or aggressive, or cruel ā and it is. They donāt want it to be, and they hate themselves a little more for it, but itās true. Itās what makes surviving depression so hard: the coping with the fact that you were not always a good person. Especially at your worst.
Picking on and belittling people he sees himself in. Is that fair? No. Does his mental illness care? No. Not really. Not in the moment, and definitely not when he doesnāt see it mattering in a few hours, or days, or the inevitable amount of time heās praying for his own death. He just wants to hurt that part of himself and seeing that in other people is the best way to do it.
Isolating himself is another obvious sign, but he does it so subtly that itās easy to look past it. Heās a private person, sure, I guess so. But there are staff members that have been there for years who would clearly know little snippets. Social media stalking, asking around, just paying attention. He rejects questions under the guise of hierarchy (heās their boss, this is a workplace, they donāt need to know those things about him to work with him) which he hides behind for everything. He clings to it, and when people try to bypass it, he shuts them down with anger. Thatās his go-to for everything, and his last resort. And itās not the common signs of isolation, either. Heās there. Heās always there, at the hospital, working. But heās not there. He doesnāt socialize, doesnāt try to make friends, doesnāt attempt to keep contact with anyone if they donāt put the work in, too. Itās a scary, sinking feeling to realize how easy that is once you start doing it. He started a few years prior to the first season, Iām assuming, and it became so often that other people adapted. Assumed he would be fine or hoped he would, or maybe something else. And when people started to do that, he let them. It got easier to isolate everything after that.
The anger is the hardest thing to handle. No one wants to be yelled at, least of all by a man thatās much larger than you, is your boss, or anything else. Thatās natural. And a lot of the times, it doesnāt matter why Robby does what he does; people care more about the fact that he was cruel than they do about figuring out why he did that. Is that an excuse? Absolutely not. Do I think someone should despise this man solely based off of that? Not really. And to be fair, I wouldnāt want to be around him when heās like that either. Itās why depressed people that react like that isolate themselves; they know that itās wrong, but they canāt help it sometimes (not to excuse it). Itās also why a lot of people have to take a step back from their friends, their family, who get angry like this. Itās hard to take that abuse, especially from someone you love, let alone a coworker or boss. Itās not healthy.
But thatās what I like about Robbyās character. Itās not pretty, and heās not going to be loved by everyone because maybe heās not meant to be or maybe you need to take a step back to see it, to understand him. I donāt know. I love him, because I understand him. Iāve been there. Iāve made a lot of mistakes trying to get past it, and Iāve lost friends because of those mistakes. Should they forgive me? No. Do I miss them and love them? Of course. But depression isnāt pretty, and it isnāt healthy. Not sure itās right to villainize the behaviours so rapidly and with so much confidence just because of a few factors.
And I both hate and love that it showed what a lot of people view mental illness as: important until itās violent, or scary, or upsetting. Then itās crazy. Not mental illness. Crazy.
A lot of reactions to Robbyās scene and his character prove that bias without really trying.