‘New Amsterdam’ EP: Max & Helen’s Relationship Is ‘Put to the Test’ After the Fall Finale
Q&A
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 2, Episode 9 of New Amsterdam, “The Island.”]
The doctors headed to Rikers Island and brought trouble back to New Amsterdam in the fall finale.
By the end of Tuesday’s episode of New Amsterdam, inmates have brought their conflict to the hospital to get to their target — and no one is safe. The next episode will be “solely devoted” to what comes next, executive producer David Schulner told TV Insider. (Episode 11 then kicks off a new arc.)
Elsewhere in the episode, Max (Ryan Eggold) received good news about his health, Helen (Freema Agyeman) was stripped of her titles as a result of her arrest, and Reynolds’ (Jocko Sims) was in for a surprise.
Here, Schulner previews what’s to come after that wild fall finale.
So, things are about to go down at New Amsterdam. What’s next and who will be at the heart of it?
David Schulner: Everyone’s going to be in trouble. Everyone’s going to be affected by it. One of our doctors becomes physically injured from the one of the inmates.
Max and Sharpe are together for a lot of the episode and they are going to be dealing with their relationship going forward while under the threat of these inmates because of Sharpe’s demotion. Sharpe is questioning whether she should even be at New Amsterdam, so Max and Sharpe’s relationship is already fraught because of what Brantley did to Sharpe, and now the prisoners are going to really put their relationship to the test.
(Virginia Sherwood/NBC)
After being stripped of her titles, can Helen go back to just being a doctor? Would it be easier to start over somewhere else?
She could absolutely focus on her patients and commit herself to the work she’s done at New Amsterdam, which is Max’s argument. Sharpe’s argument is much more existential. She’s worked so hard to build this department and now it’s been stripped from her. Is New Amsterdam really the place she belongs? This episode will put that question to the test.
Max is in remission, but like you said when we talked about the premiere and as we see after he gets the news, he wanted to get better for Georgia. Is this the last we see of her? Did part of him worry that the closer he got to health and away from sickness that that would be the case?
Yeah, you hit it right on. Max won’t be seeing her anymore. He’s better and that just pushed her further away. Everything he had to connect with her — his illness, his grief — is all gone now, and so is she. Like Georgia said, she’ll be alive in everything Luna does and every time Max looks at Luna, he’ll see her. Luna’s first words and Luna’s first steps will all be linked to Georgia, but she won’t be there anymore.
Is the tragedy going to continue for Max now not in the sense of more bad news but of good news — primarily no set-backs in his health — at a time he can’t enjoy it?
Yeah, you’re right. Sometimes the good news is tempered by not having someone to share it with, but that might change as well.
Possibly speaking of, Max and Helen have that “I’ll burden you if you burden me.” How important is that relationship and being able to lean on one another going to be moving forward? They need each other, right?
Max needs her. I don’t know if Sharpe needs Max in quite the same way. As a medical director, he needed her support desperately. As someone going through cancer treatments and then grief, he needed that support, but I don’t know if Sharpe ever needed Max the way he needed her. That’s going to all come out to play in Episode 10.
(Virginia Sherwood/NBC)
Fans have picked up on their chemistry and the potential for a romantic relationship between them, but would either of them be ready for that anytime soon?
I don’t think so. If I was Max and if I had feelings for Sharpe, I don’t know if I would risk the friendship on those feelings. She is his scaffolding and his foundation and I don’t think he can risk messing that up in any way.
And she wouldn’t want to either, because she sees what he’s going through.
Exactly. Not that she would ever be a rebound, but I don’t think she would want to put herself out there for someone so vulnerable. Georgia has only been gone for six months. It doesn’t seem right.
Bloom’s recovery is certainly taking a turn with Ligon, who I don’t trust as far as I can throw him. How worried should we be about her? Should she have worried about trusting him at all from the moment he walked into that meeting?
I think so. It’s a testament to Janet and JJ’s performances in Episode 9. Bloom doesn’t know who to believe now. Does she trust herself? Does she trust Ligon? … Some people see that scene and think he’s gaslighting her and they don’t trust him. I love there’s different interpretations of that final moment between them. … That’ll all come to a head in the next episode.
On the one hand, it’s good that Iggy’s secret adoption plans are out in the open, but on the other hand, it’s put a real strain on his and Martin’s relationship. What’s next for them? Couples therapy?
They’re going to need it. I always defend Iggy, and Tyler does, too, of course: He was never going to actually adopt the child, he was just gathering all the information so he could present a very cohesive argument to Martin about why this is the right thing. He would have never pulled the trigger without Martin knowing.
(Virginia Sherwood/NBC)
The whole arc of this story is building to Episode 10, where we delve into Iggy’s psychology about why he did this and perhaps it points to a larger issue.
Evie may be leaving New Amsterdam permanently. How is her even considering the job offer and not immediately turning it down going to affect her and Reynolds’ relationship?
It already has in a big way. I’m listening to Michelle Obama’s book while I’m getting my exercise in, and the idea that your career can’t come first is such a misnomer. I know for a lot of ambitious younger couples, you’ve gone to school, you’ve gone to graduate school, you’ve done all this work to achieve in your respective field, and should a relationship supersede that?
That’s what Evie’s going through right now, that she’s worked this far and come this far. Can she really turn it down? Is it her responsibility to turn it down? Maybe it’s Reynolds’ responsibility to back her up and put her first. Again, in Episode 10, big surprise ending for the both of them.
After the resolution of this cliffhanger, what’s coming up at New Amsterdam?
Everyone’s romantic life gets flipped on its head. There’s going to be some new romance at New Amsterdam, and some old romances are going to go away [involving characters we know] in a big way. Some surprising and some inevitable.
(Peter Kramer/NBC)
That makes me think of Max and Helen?
I will say it involves Max, but I won’t say who with.
New Amsterdam, Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC
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