‘New Amsterdam’ Boss on Max & Helen After the Midseason Finale: They’re ‘Chasing Their Joy’
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for New Amsterdam Season 4, Episode 10 “Death is the Rule. Life is the Exception.”]
Dr. Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) and Dr. Helen Sharpe (Freema Agyeman) aren’t really going to leave New Amsterdam behind, especially given everything that’s going on at the hospital with Dr. Veronica Fuentes (Michelle Forbes) taking over as medical director, right? That’s what everyone hoped.
“That was our goal. That what we tried to do to make it as impossible to leave as we could and then for them to still do it anyway,” New Amsterdam executive producer David Schulner tells TV Insider.
Yes, Max and Helen are truly going to London, and that’s part of the theme for the season, to find joy. “Max and Sharpe certainly [earned joy]. And when they left New Amsterdam, it was with the intention of finding their bliss, chasing their joy,” he continues. “And unfortunately it just took them away from New Amsterdam, But hopefully that moment was joy, the culmination of joy. And we’ll see more of that in London.”
There’s not as much joy in their friends’ lives. Dr. Leyla Shinwari (Shiva Kalaiselvan) finds out she got that residency spot because of a bribe from her girlfriend, Dr. Lauren Bloom (Janet Montgomery), and calls her out on it. Dr. Lyn Malvo (Frances Turner) tells Dr. Floyd Reynolds (Jocko Sims) she’s pregnant, which is very complicated given her open marriage with Dr. Claude Baptiste (Andre Blake). And Dr. Iggy Frome (Tyler Labine) may have just made a mistake hiring a new head nurse who hit on him during the interview.
Virginia Sherwood/NBC
Schulner breaks down the midseason finale and teases what’s ahead below.
Last we see Max and Helen, they’re heading to the airport, so anything can happen. We have not seen them get on the flight yet. So what is next for them?
David Schulner: [Laughs] They’re going to London. It’s happening. We’re not fooling around. … We’ve been talking about American healthcare for four years and Max is in favor of a system much like the NHS in the UK where healthcare is a human right and everyone is afforded healthcare as a part of being a citizen and even a noncitizen. So we get to talk about what’s good and what still can be done to help socialized healthcare. We get to talk about a whole new system that Max and Helen are going to be a part of.
What’s Helen up to in London?
She’s the new medical director of the clinic that informed her and inspired her to become who she is. She also has a formidable obstacle with her mother and all sorts of stories about Sharpe’s childhood and her parents, and her memory of her father was completely shaped by her mother’s stories to her, which we found out weren’t exactly true. So there’s a lot for Sharpe to deal with in London on the personal and the professional front. And then Max is adrift for the first time in his life. When we first see him in London, he doesn’t have his medical license yet, so how’s he gonna help people without a license? Everyone’s got their challenges in London and everyone’s got their challenges in New York.
Virginia Sherwood/NBC
Sharpwin as a couple and when it came to Luna was so sweet in these first 10 episodes.
Oh, great. And honestly we couldn’t do as much as we wanted to, just because of COVID. Every time we bring that sweet little girl on set, it’s a challenge. Our primary goal is to keep that actress safe. She’s too young to be vaccinated. So obviously we would love to do a lot more with her, but safety being first, we had to scale back a little bit.
It seems that they’ve been moving pretty fast, so should we expect their wedding this season?
Anything’s possible, but if anyone knows the show and knows how I like to tell stories, they have a lot to overcome before they can get to that next level. Like you said, they’ve been moving so fast, they’ve skipped a bunch of steps and they’ve skipped a bunch of conversations that we haven’t heard yet. So we definitely want to play all those things out before anyone goes further.
Virginia Sherwood/NBC
Bloom and Leyla’s last conversation was absolutely heartbreaking. You gave them this happiness, only to take it away. Was there any debate about Bloom confessing first?
No. After a long thought, no, there was no debate. We knew Bloom had to pay for her actions, unfortunately. And we didn’t want to set something up as big as that bribe and then not deliver the full weight of the consequences for her.
So what’s next for their relationship?
Oh, it’s so complicated because they both still love each other, but it’s so fraught and complicated and messy and not over in any sense of the word. But that doesn’t mean it gets better.
Universal Television/NBC
Lyn’s pregnant. What can you share about the conversations to come for her, Reynolds and Claude?
Those are probably the most complicated and fraught conversations because it’s all new territory for them and hopefully for the audience. It’s funny, we started breaking these stories when Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s own admissions came out about their marriage. So it’s been really fun to follow their confessions and kind of see our own threesome struggling with monogamy, with fidelity, with honesty. It’s been fun to track these two relationships at the same time.
Whatever happens next, whoever the father is, what did you want to do with Reynolds with this storyline? What kind of impact is it going to have on him going forward when he thinks about what he wants out of life?
The whole point for this story was we presented Reynolds as someone who was very rigid and very solid in his ambitions and goals and views of his life in the future. And there’s nothing more fun than to take that person who is so sure of his life path and totally shake it up. It’s the consequences of his own certainty — we had to try to shake him loose and see what he was made of and because maybe he’ll come out of this even more certain of what he wants out of life, or maybe he’ll come out of this and realize he has to reevaluate everything he thought he knew. And that’s what’s fun for us. And I think by the end of this season, he’ll know what path he’s on.
Virginia Sherwood/NBC
Speaking of consequences, talk about the consequences for Iggy with that new hire.
[Laughs] You know, I can’t blame Iggy. I get it. It was the wrong move and I totally feel for him, but it’s Thor. Who wouldn’t hire Thor to be your head nurse?
But what’s it going to do to his marriage? I love him and Martin (Mike Doyle) together.
We love Iggy and Martin, too, but Iggy’s not doing anything wrong, is he?
So far.
[Laughs] Right? He’s just the best candidate who just happened to make a pass at him at the job interview, or pay him a compliment.
What’s coming up with Iggy career-wise, going forward? He didn’t want to see patients, and now, he’s doing that.
We really felt like we explored his consequences of how much he gives of himself as a psychiatrist and a behavioral health specialist. And so we wanted to jump back into his personal life and see if we can uncover some more, peel back the onion a little bit more.
New Amsterdam, Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC
Conversation14 Comments
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I think it is really sad for this to happen. Max did so much to help people and now you send him off to London. He can’t get his license.
I am heat broken and will not watch this show until Max comes home to America and New Amsterdam!!!!!!!
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C
I think this show needs to put brakes on gay and lesbians relationships. We don’t need this dramas shoved into our faces. Medical procedures should be the center. Not LGBT
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O
Hate the London storyline. Bring Max back to New Amsterdam.
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G
Not the same show without Max at New Amsterdam. Please get past this story line and have Max and Helen return home. Otherwise, the show is now boring and I am losing interest.
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For me, that was the problem with Sharpwin. They should have taken THIS season or even the first half of this season for them to discuss those relationship issues. Instead they had them moving so fast that it was unrealistic & now the writers want to "slow down" to address them--and especially Helen's familial issues. I think the showrunner's expectations/direction for S4 was dissimilar to what the fans thought it was going to be. It doesn't seem like "more joy" to most of the fans.
Iggy does not need to get involved with his admin--end of story.
Lynn and Reynolds - such a stupid pregnancy trope although I believe. the child is Claude's which will give Reynolds pause to think about his future.
Leyla and Lauren - that's been foreshadowed for some time so no surprise that Leyla was quite upset. Lauren still hasn't been held accountable by the hospital for her bribe.
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I didn’t want Sharpwin to leave but I really like them together. I like the previews of seeeing them in London though.
U hope thus new storyline does not break up Iggy and his husband.
Leyla has really proved herself as a good doctor. Hopefully she and Lauren can wirk things out.
I don’t think Dr Reynolds is the father.
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R
I stopped watching New Amsterdam after it stopped being the great medical drama it started out as and turned into another prime time soap opera focused more on the sexy romances between three main couples than on the interesting hospital administration and medical problems it originally addressed. I also think the creativity and originality of the plotting has really declined. I mean, Lauren making that big speech about bribery and then doing exactly that - is that the best the writers could do? The rest was SO predictable. The pregnancy triangle? Please - right out of daytime TV. And then that scene where Max finally takes off his wedding ring and then runs through the streets of New York back to Helena's apartment where they rip each other's clothes off on the stairway as the curtain closes! There was nothing to do but groan. I watched about 10 minutes of the following episode and said that's it for me. What a shame!
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B
It seems everyone wants things to go their way, or, you give up. Why don’t you just say, bring it on, I’m not falling for this negative hype. I’m staying strong, ya, bring it on!
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C
I love New Amsterdam…all shows have their ups and downs. It is TV drama! I will watch the show regardless. It will take more than this to stop me from watching. I trust the writers and New Amsterdam will be better and return to their high quality of healthcare.
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C
I agree 100% too much LGTB
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C
Ugh! Will not watch the show anymore! They turned a Great show into stomach churning drivel! The whole "run off to England" thing is so stupid. Really? This is what the writers came up with? Saw the Lyn pregnancy drama coming a mile away! Do these docs not know about birth control? Especially the OB? and Lauren is a hot mess. Ugh! will not watch again. Just another drivelly soap opera and there is enough of those.
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I am with you there is NO New Amsterdam w/o Max & Helen
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I enjoy the entire cast of NEW AM. I feel Sharpwin (Helen & Max)
will add new storylines to explore in London. As long as they are
together, I will follow them anywhere.
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I also loved the show when it initially aired; a Dr truly wanting to help the pts, but now EVERY episode contains low class sex scenes OR sexual innuendos…sick of it!
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