Note: This story contains spoilers from “Doc” Season 2, Episodes 21-22.
“Doc” put its team of doctors through a traumatic infectious disease epidemic, one that led Dr. Amy Larsen to some big decisions after yet another life-threatening moment.
The Fox medical drama’s two-hour Season 2 finale followed as Westside Hospital went through a tense emergency after Amy (Molly Parker) discovered that a dangerous infectious disease had come into the internal medicine unit and infected several patients and doctors — including Richard (Scott Wolf) and eventually herself. With the help of Dr. Joan Ridley (Felicity Huffman), TJ (Patrick Walker) and newcomer Dr. Ben Grant (Blair Underwood), the team was able to save Amy in surgery and most of the infected patients.
With Joan’s help, Amy decided to take this third chance at life to reexamine her complicated relationship dynamics with both Michael (Omar Metwally) and Jake (Jon-Michael Ecker) — opting to let go of both of them for now to focus on being co-chief resident with Sonya (Anya Banerjee) and growing as a doctor and teacher.
“Going back and relying on Michael is one way of going backwards. And so is trying to keep things going with Jake, especially when there’s a part of him that will always love Rachel and wonders if he would be with her again,” series creator Barbie Kligman told TheWrap. “Amy’s like, ‘I need to focus on what Joan said. I need to stop being self-involved in my memories. I have a gift as a doctor and I need to pay it forward.’”
But the romantic entanglements are far from over on “Doc.” Kligman said that both Michael and Jake’s love for Amy will remain a core part of the series, though it’s Ben who seems to be taking center stage after the cliffhanger ending.
Just as Amy decided to let go of her past — both that she’s lived through and what she doesn’t remember after losing eight years of her memory in a car accident — Ben looked back at a video from 2022 in which Amy herself shared a secret birthday wish for him after “breaking the rules” and putting something about their relationship on tape. Looks like both doctors were more than conference circuit colleagues as he had first insinuated.
And Ben will be staying on for a while, with Underwood set to become a series regular for Season 3 after Michael offered Ben a job as a heart surgeon following the big emergency.
Below, Kligman breaks down the finale’s biggest moments and shares some teases of what’s to come when the show returns for Season 3. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
TheWrap: Congratulations on another great season and making it through a 22-episode season! How does it feel to be so close to sharing where this story goes in this finale?
Barbie Kligman: I gotta say, it feels pretty great. 22 is absolutely exhausting, but it is also an unimaginable blessing. And we feel so lucky. At any time you feel lucky to be going into a Season 3 of a network show of 22 but especially now, when things have been quieter, so it’s an even bigger deal.
We’re so excited by people’s response to the show. We’re over the moon.
The episode kicks things up many notches with this infectious disease that very quickly kills those infected. How did you land on this idea for this two-hour finale?
We knew for a long time that we wanted to do something really special and with a lot of stakes. Something that obviously was organic to a hospital show that could impact all of our characters and really create jeopardy that’s grounded and believable. And there’s only so many ways to do that, so God help us for Season 3.
We started this season with a hostage situation, and we wanted to really round it out with something very different. But also, everything we do is through the prism of Amy and what this means for Amy and how this will impact Amy. When your life flashes before your eyes, that offers a context for everything.
Amy goes through it in this finale, from flashing memories during the traumatic COVID times at the hospital to getting infected and needing emergency surgery. How does going through all this leave Amy to end the season?
I think there were a lot of lessons she was getting to; the contagion situation gave a perspective that she needed. I think that a part of her — through what happened with the antiviral — started to realize how she’s been with Michael and how she is in her relationships.
One of the interesting things that we learned before in Episode 20 flashbacks is that we started to realize that Amy’s behavior is not just because she lost a son. She realizes, somewhat through Herman’s case, that there is a privilege to taking tragedy and lashing out at people that previous generations or situations don’t have the luxury of completely shutting down and removing themselves from life and start acting differently.
It’s also important to note that I think she realized her patterns. She realized some of the things she’s done with Michael, and knows she will continue to do until she works through her issues. She realizes she loves Michael and she loves Jake, and there are problems with both relationships, so it might be time — as per what the lesson that Joan gave her — to just be of service. Not to say she’s just going to focus on work and make the same mistakes again. But it begs the question. Leopard spots. All that!
We’ve been focusing on that love triangle for so long, so this is kind of resetting the dynamics in a way. But will we still explore those romantic connections in Season 3?
Yeah, that’s the thing. She loves Michael. She loves Jake. They love her. There’s always going to be that subtext, even when it’s not something we’re dealing with straight ahead. But I think there also comes a natural time where you have to say, “All right. I got to step out of this and deal with other facets of my life, because this has taken a lot.” Amy has the opportunity to be a co-chief resident and give so much to a new group of residents. And also, while she teaches Sonya, she can also maybe learn a couple things from her.
We meet Dr. Ben Grant, who pretty much nails his audition to join the hospital in this finale, stepping in to assist with the emergency and helping save Amy’s life. What brought about the introduction of this character and adding Blair Underwood to the cast?
We want to mix things up. At least initially, this isn’t someone waiting in the long, tall grass for Amy. We’ve done that right?
It’s important for us to still play with the secret sauce that is things she doesn’t remember from the last eight years. But at the same time to do it slightly differently. What we haven’t seen with Amy is a push and pull of two people who will be working together — one in surgery and one in medicine — and they’re both the smartest people in the room. Also, TJ will now be working more in surgery with Ben and be his protege. So you have all these interpersonal dynamics and interdepartmental dynamics.
But if the chemistry is there, first of all, Amy’s not going to necessarily know why. But that’s what’s so fun about the moment at the end. We know they met. We wonder if there’s more there. And then at the end we see Amy, who is a little nervous but optimistic about her new path forward of service and trying to get out of her past and go, I’m moving forward now and then all of a sudden, we see her past is coming back to work at the hospital.
He knows they have a past and she does not. So all those things come together. Yes, there’s a certain degree that he has the upper hand with this knowledge. But again, we’re still figuring out Season 3, I don’t know for sure yet, but I will say that he’s not sharing but it is not malevolent. What was he going to say to her in the middle of a pandemic?
Joan performs one last crazy surgery to help save Amy, and then goes back home with her son and grandson and presumably dies in peace. Why end Joan’s story here?
We always planned that it was always going to be a season-long arc. We brought her in and we had a beautiful arc, and it sort of came full circle in terms of what she needed to accomplish, as far as Amy and as far as herself. And she went out in the most heroic way because she basically killed herself to save Amy.
The good news about the show is you don’t die on this show, because there are flashbacks, so anything can happen. But for us, it was a lovely way to tell a beautiful story. It’s incredible to watch Felicity and Molly together.
Richard got sick with the virus, but ended up helping save everyone in a way with the findings of his reaction to the antiviral treatment. Then it seems like he might be ready to leave the hospital for good just as Amy seemed ready to give him another chance. Is this the last we see of him?
I am sure we’ll see him again. The question of whether his character will or won’t be at the hospital, I’m leaving that as a cliffhanger. I’m not giving you any skinny on that.
“Doc” Seasons 1-2 are now available to stream on Hulu. Season 1 is also available to stream on Netflix.
