‘New Amsterdam’: Jocko Sims on Reynolds’ Reaction to That Shock for Max

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for New Amsterdam Season 5 Episode 10 “Don’t Do This for Me.”]

Things are, dare we say, looking up for Dr. Floyd Reynolds (Jocko Sims) after the last New Amsterdam fall finale.

Not only is his relationship with Gabrielle (Toya Turner) going well, but he and his father, Horace (John Earl Jelks), are in a good place. The only potential issue? Horace is moving out, and Reynolds is worried about what that could mean.

“He’s a little bit nervous because his dad’s leaving again,” Sims tells TV Insider. “Will he see him again? He even asks him that. And is his father well enough to be on his own? It’s a big question that we’ll have to wait and find out.”

He tells us more about what’s ahead in the final episodes (ahead of the series wrapping with two hours on January 17) and looks back on his favorite moment as Reynolds.

With his father moving out, how does Reynolds feel about their relationship at that point? You said he’s nervous, but does he feel like it might actually be steady enough that they can make a relationship work right now?

Jocko Sims: I think so. I think that they can make it work. They’re both willing. If you look at these two characters, they’re both very actively willing — now, Horace resisted for a while — to be there for each other and be in each other’s lives. And they find it exciting and they have this fishing thing in common and Reynolds has this newfound love of fishing with his father. And so, yeah, I think that they’ll find their way to finding something that will work. That’s been basically all of Floyd’s life and all of his relationships: find a way to make this crap work.

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How much are we going to see that moving forward? Are we going to see it?

You will see Horace again. In what capacity? That’s the question.

Now I’m worried he’s gonna show up as a patient at New Amsterdam.

It’s possible.

It seems like things are good between Reynolds and Gabrielle at this point. What can you say about their relationship in the final episodes?

You’re gonna see the sock on the doorknob.

He doesn’t need that though, if his father’s moving out …

You’re right. If his father was there, you know what I’m saying? He’s going in. He’s excited. He’s feeling a bit of a relief that his father seems OK. Whether or not there will be some repercussions from relaxing, we will see. But he’s going in.

How’s he feeling about his career right now?

Smooth, steady. It’s chill. Things are good on the work front, let’s put it that way.

This season for Reynolds is all about tackling his family, not just the relationship with his father, but as you saw, in I think it was Episode 2, he wants everybody to be a family again. Not necessarily that his mom would get back with his father, of course, she’s got her own man, but just that they could maybe perhaps have a Thanksgiving together, everybody together. So that’s been his primary focus. I don’t want to say focusing too much on nurse Gabrielle as opposed to just allowing himself to just be free and have some fun and relax a bit.

So are we gonna see a family reunion onscreen?

Some sort of family reunion will happen on screen.

Helen’s (Freema Agyeman) back in New York! What can you tease about what’s next there? Is her return going to affect everyone or is it more that it’s how it affects Max (Ryan Eggold) than affects everyone?

The latter, because Max will definitely get affected by it. In fact, a very fun scene that I got to do with Ryan was the aftermath of him seeing her. Reynolds was literally laughing and saying, “I wish I could have seen your face when you saw her,” and then he goes, “what are you gonna do? You gotta see her, come on.” He’s just kinda doing that thing and Max just doesn’t know what to do and he’s got this relationship with Wilder [Sandra Mae Frank] he’s gotta deal with. So it’s definitely gonna throw Max way off of his game.

Eric Liebowitz/NBC

It seems like if Reynolds is going in in his relationship, he may want to encourage those around him to do the same, right?

Yeah. Reynolds poses a question coming up in an episode to Max: “Did you think that we’d still be boyfriends at this age?” [Laughs] And he’s like, “No, I didn’t. I did not see that coming at all.”

We’ve gotten some great Reynolds and Bloom (Janet Montgomery) scenes in recent episodes, between the revelation about her abortion and now what happened to her sister. Are there more to come?

Heck yeah. I don’t know specifics as to what’s going to happen with Bloom and Reynolds, but I’m sure the writers — I think they’ve done a great job this season. You mentioned the abortion, of just resurrecting that relationship and discovering that there was more history there in the past, I loved that episode. It was just fantastic to dive into that with Janet. But I think that they should put a bow on that relationship, that friendship, at the end of the series, and I don’t doubt that they will.

Yeah, it was nice to have that reminder of Season 1 and also just the way that they are now, like her staying at his place in the beginning of the season…

Yeah, it’s so cool. God knows he’s been having so many troubles with his relationships and the idea that we can sort of kind of revisit that, it just feels like you’re kinda watching Season 1 again when you see these two together.

What can you say about how the series ends for Reynolds?

Not just Reynolds, but for everyone — from what I hear, because full transparency, I haven’t read the final episode yet because I want to wait for the table read — without spoiling anything, you’ll get to kind of know the characters even more, learn why they are who they are. And I think that we’ll wrap up the show with that mantra moving forward — How can I help? — for generations to come. And then when you see it, you’ll look at these two statements and go, “Oh, that’s what you meant by that.”

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Because the series is ending, when you look back at it, is there one scene that stands out to you as “this is who Reynolds is and how he should be remembered”?

It’s not that poignant at all, but I liked when Kapoor [Anupam Kher] was very ill, Season 3. Reynolds had left the hospital, Season 2, he was gone off of the show. And there was a doctor who told Max that even if you had the best heart surgeon in the world, he may not be able to save Kapoor. And when Max picks up that phone and you see the hand come in and the pickup and then the reveal it’s Reynolds and he says, “How can I help?” And we go black. That was the start of Season 3.

It gives me chills every time. I just thought it was so cool as a fan to watch and go, “he’s back.” And it did say a lot about his character, the fact that he would leave San Francisco to come back and he felt bad for leaving and he leaves this relationship to come be at New Amsterdam. That says a lot about who Reynolds is.

New Amsterdam, Midseason Return, Tuesday, January 3, 10/9c, NBC