'New Amsterdam' Season 3: Five plots we might have to say goodbye to as series prepares for pandemic reality
Spoilers for 'New Amsterdam'
When the world was hit with the Covid-19 pandemic this year, many productions were forced to halt filming. That resulted in a lot of cancellations, halts in production, and in certain cases a quicker ending to an already-airing season. Among the latter was 'New Amsterdam', an NBC medical drama that has garnered many fans over its last two seasons. The series actually had a flu pandemic episode planned for its Season 2 but quickly shelved it because of how close it was to reality at the time. Wanting to respect the efforts put out by the real doctors and frontline staff, the series instead aired 'Matter of Seconds' at the Season 2 finale.
The episode began with a message to its audience with actor Ryan Eggold who plays Dr Max Goodwin explaining how the original episode titled 'Pandemic' was not going to air because of how close it hit home. Although there was a scene from that episode to introduce the series' new character, trauma surgeon Dr Cassian Shin, played by Daniel Dae Kim — this is how 'Matter of Seconds' came to be. Dae also said that the upcoming episode was dedicated to those who are still out there fighting the virus, as he revealed that he too had contracted it but experienced a full recovery.
Since the series is a medical drama, reports have already said that the upcoming season will focus on the pandemic. It would not only make sense but would also join many other medical dramas doing the same, such as 'The Good Doctor' and 'Grey's Anatomy'. Eggold told E! News, "I hope that we can tell that story in a way that is reflective of people's experiences, and not make light of it nor make it unnecessarily heavy."
Since season 2 was shortened, series showrunner David Schulner said that it would be "irresponsible" to ignore the pandemic in the upcoming season. Schulner explained to TVLine why the series would go forward with a pandemic reality saying, "I would love to see that. We were definitely heading in that direction, but honestly, I’m not being coy when I say this pandemic has interrupted the real world. Because we’re a hospital show set in New York, it would be irresponsible to pretend this didn’t interrupt our world of New Amsterdam. We’re a show about health professionals and a public hospital in Manhattan, and I think they have to go through what the real-life doctors in New York are going through now. This has to be a part of our world, or we lose the sense of intimacy and realism that we strive for."
So, while he's absolutely right, and it makes perfect sense to move forward with the pandemic as the focus, there are a few plotlines that we think might be on hold. Here are five plots we might have to say goodbye to as the series prepares for a pandemic reality.
#Sharpwin/Shin-Helen romance
Many fans have been hoping to see Dr Helen Sharpe and Dr Max Goodwin become a couple — we were part of that fandom too. In fact, even when Max was in a relationship with Alice, he and Helen almost kissed. In the Season 2 finale, we saw Max break up with Alice, leaving an opening — or so we thought — for Helen and Max to be a thing. Unfortunately, for us, Dr Cassian Shin has swooped in as an intelligent, out-of-the-box thinking trauma surgeon who seemingly has already begun flirting with Helen.
With the Season 2 finale already hinting at a romance between Shin and Helen, we're expecting a love triangle to pop up with Max involved as well. While all this sounds very exciting, it also means that #Sharpwin will be put to rest — for now at least. The pandemic reality too plays a part in this since we're expecting the staff to portray (as best they can) the realities that frontline workers in the real world had experienced when the coronavirus pandemic hit.
While we're sure Max would notice Helen and Shin becoming an item, we really don't think romantic relationships would be Max's — or the series' — priority at all. At least not in the first few episodes where the pandemic will (and should) take full focus. Speaking of this exact topic, Schulner told the TV Guide, "I don't think romance is going to be on his [Max's] mind [going forward]. Or maybe it could be: Sex and death are very closely linked. After being so close to this pandemic anything is possible." We're thinking the former part of his statement would make more sense, but we'll have to wait and watch.
Brantley and Kapoor cliffhanger
At the end of 'Matter of Seconds', chairwoman Karen Brantley (Debra Monk) basically asked out Dr Vijay Kapoor (Anupam Kher) and that's all we got from that. Again, this is a romance and while reports such as Kher's Instagram post excited fans for a possible romance of Vijay and Karen, we think that too like the above romance has to be put on halt. Kapoor is the head of Neurology at New Amsterdam Medical Center and after his wife died, and his relationship with his son Rohan went downhill, he began to focus on work much more. It would be a joy to see Kapoor have some light romance in his life. This cliffhanger was one of the reasons people couldn't wait for Season 3 of the medical drama to come out — and while we don't know how much of it we're going to say goodbye to, we're sure it won't get much attention as it would have, should the series have not taken up a pandemic reality.
Dr. Reynolds' return
Dr. Floyd Reynolds (Jocko Sims) made fans quite upset when he left for San Fransisco in 'Liftoff', and we didn't know if he would ever come back to his original team. He didn't leave the show yet, and fans thought it was a possibility that he might return to New Amsterdam. This is one plotline that many were awaiting and hoping would be explored in season 3. Schulner revealed to TV Guide that Aaron Ginsburg, who wrote the finale episode, made jokes about a possible spinoff with Reynolds naming it 'San Fransterdam' but he did also add, "we don't know how to bring him back, especially now."
The pandemic reality that will be explored in the series may have to put Dr. Reynolds' return on hold (if they had planned to bring him up) which is quite disappointing, but logical. It would be really hard to randomly put this in the storyline, so we might have to either wait longer for this or give up hope altogether.
Dr Iggy Frome and Dr Lauren Bloom storylines
The other two plotlines that we might have to give up are Dr Iggy Frome (Tyler Labine) working on a food addtion and also preparing to adopt another child and Dr Lauren Bloom (Janet Montgomery) working on her relationship with her mother. A lot of personal aspects of the characters might have to take a back seat, simply because the pandemic hit — this is what happened in real life too. Also the fact that quarantine plays a huge part in doctors' lives as they are constantly exposed to the virus at the hospital, it would make sense that they would be away from family members. This would make it a lot easier to put the above plotlines on hold for a bit.
The release date for 'New Amsterdam' Season 3 is yet to be revealed. Stay tuned for updates.