Doc Boss Diagnoses Finale's Frightful Amy Twist, Teases What's Next For Jake, Richard And The XXL Season 2
What's up, Doc? Because frankly, Amy, you have us a bit scared.
In the Season 1 finale of Fox's already-renewed freshman medical drama, the good news is that Dr. Richard Miller (played by Scott Wolf) was exposed as 1) having made the error that killed patient Bill Dixon and 2) gaslighting colleague Dr. Amy Larsen (Molly Parker) into thinking she had been at fault.
The bad, or at least discomfiting, news is that no fewer than four people — daughter Katie (Charlotte Fountain-Jardim), colleagues Sonya and Jake (Anya Banerjee and Jon Ecker), and best friend Gina (Amirah Vann) — all caught Amy acting like her distant and sometimes downright curt, pre-accident self.
Worse, Amy not only kept Jake at arm's distance throughout the finale as she processed her possible role in Dixon's death and her subsequent kiss with Michael (Omar Metwally), Jake later saw for himself his girlfriend kissing her ex-husband for at least the second time in 24 hours.
TVLine hopped on a Zoom with Doc showrunner Barbie Kligman to get clear on Amy's seeming setback, the level of Jake's devastation, Richard's punishment and more.
TVLINE | How did this show come to you and vice versa?
Hank Steinberg (Without a Trace) was under a deal at Sony. Sony [Pictures Television] purchased the rights to the Italian series Doc [— Nelle tue mani], and they went to Hank and said, "Would you be interested in doing this?" He was, and he sought out a partner who had experience in medical shows, and a passion for medicine. My dad was a GP for over 50 years, his office was in our home, so I sort of thought I was a doctor from the time I was like 5. Also, he would take those phone calls at the dinner table. "So, what color is it?" is something he would say while we were eating.
Anyway, I imagine Hank probably met with a few people, but when he came to me, I was so excited. I had, at that point, [watched] 11 of the Italian episodes of the 16, and we had the greatest meeting — and we'd wanted to work together in the past. We just hit it off, and started discussing what we were going to do. He had the great idea of changing the gender [of the lead character], which I think allowed us to significantly change the show. And the further you go in, we really made it our own, which was extra exciting because we were able to sell it back to Italy.
TVLINE | That never hurts. Was there any significant change to any other characters?
Yes, because by changing the gender of "Doc," the members of the love triangle changed their genders. Also, we had about, I want to say, six main characters, and they had 10. So, we would take the stories that worked for us, but a lot of times there is no one-to-one correlation, because the character we have is completely different, or is an amalgamation of several.
TVLINE | Which role was hardest to cast?
Amy.
TVLINE | Because you needed someone that could do the icy, and someone who could do the warm....
And what Molly is able to do is both at the same time. What she always says is, "there's no pre-accident Amy and post-accident Amy. There's just Amy." But the way she calibrates, the way you can see all the different levels in every scene she's playing.... When we found out Molly was available, and possibly interested, it was a game changer.
TVLINE | All season long, I've been worried that a stray can of tomatoes was going to hit Amy in the head at some point and she was going to return to her former self. But without a can of tomatoes flying through the air, it seems like you pulled off a version of that. We saw the Katie scene... and the Sonya scene where Amy was like, "What, we're friends now?"... and we saw it with Gina, who told Amy that she checked in on her a day too late. So, I'm sad. Should I be sad that we've lost the Amy we spent 10 episodes with?
No, no, no. Look, there are parts of us that are in our DNA, and when there's a tonnage of crap falling on our head, we may resort to behaving that way. But the better version of Amy is with us for the long haul. It's just that sometimes she has to catch herself, because the way she started to behave became instinctive, in some respects.
And look, all the other things are still true, right? Her kid's gone, her husband's gone, and sometimes those things are going to pile up. But I think that, in particular, it manifested this way because she started the season going, "I'm going to do things differently. I'm going to be different." But everything she did seemed to fail. Like, "I just kissed Michael in the elevator," "I'm not that great a doctor maybe," "Oh my God, I killed Dixon," "Everything I thought about myself before wasn't necessarily true." It's because of that self-doubt that those things manifest. Are we never going to see Amy have a bad day, and maybe be kind of bitchy? Of course we will—
TVLINE | This was not the old Amy, like, clawing her way out and saying, "I'm taking charge of this vessel we share! I'm the Alpha personality now"? This is just the new Amy reacting to things?
Yes. Realizing, again, that she has to make an effort sometimes to be the new Amy. But that is the Amy she wants to be.
TVLINE | Will Season 2 be about her finding that balance?
Yes, continuing to find that balance. Also, we have some stuff that will throw her off balance, naturally, but we're in the early stages, so we're still figuring some of that out.
TVLINE | In the real world, what is the worst charge that Richard would face, legally, for what he has done? And what's a realistic punishment for him?
Well, I think that in the real world, depending how it's handled, he could lose his medical license. I think he probably wouldn't, because, from a medical perspective, he only made a mistake...
TVLINE | It was in the heat of the moment, it was a hectic code situation....
Right. What he actually did to Dixon was an accident. It was more of a flaw of character than a flaw of being a medical practitioner.
TVLINE | He only grabbed the wrong vial because someone decided to make all vials look the same.
Right, and because of what he was going through with his son, he was distracted. I think you could look at it in a vacuum and go, "All right, this guy made a mistake." Maybe his insurance costs a little more. Maybe we'll keep an eye on him. But I think what he did subsequent to that, which was not only was horrific, what he did to Amy, but putting the hospital in jeopardy by lying about it..... It's that stuff that could very much prevent him from working at West Side Hospital.
TVLINE | So, we could expect to see Scott Wolf again?
I don't think this is the last we've seen of him, no.
TVLINE | The final scene with Jake, where he went up to Michael's office and saw what was going on.... Would you say he was blindsided? Or part of him always suspected he might witness something like this someday?
No, I think he was blindsided. In fairness, he did know that she was still harboring feelings. And in Episode 5, over cake, she was waxing on about Michael. That said, in Episode 6, she said, "he's having a baby [with Nora] — onward, forward. 'I've got to let this go." But then they started to feel some of the old feelings.
So, I don't think he saw it coming, but she was pulling away. He didn't know what that had to do with Michael, but when Sonya said what she said, it got his Spidey sense going. I think he had a need to go, "That can't be true. And I need to go find her, right now, and make sure that's not true." Because the little voice was going, "Oh, it's true." And then, sure enough, what he saw....
TVLINE | If this was Grey's Anatomy, he would run back down to the bar and make out with Sonya.
Yes!
TVLINE | The Bill Dixon case was such a great narrative engine for you. Amidst everything else that was going on, there was always this "ticking time bomb" waiting to go off. Do you have any concerns about not having that in Season 2?
Well, I think that's one of the superpowers of the missing eight years. I mean, obviously someone else didn't die at someone's hands, but...
TVLINE | I was about to ask, is there going to be something else that was forgotten?
Oh, for sure. Whether it's different kinds of reveals, or different kinds of things that happen, those missing eight years and the flashbacks are sort of our secret sauce of what makes it special. So, we just have to be kind of brilliant and figure out what our almost-Richard-esque story is.
TVLINE | Amy might have just made a really bad lasagna for a dinner party.
That's it. How did you know what we were doing in Season 2? Who told you?
TVLINE | Is there anything else, in general, you want to tease about Season 2? You're doing a full 22 episodes instead of just 10....
Yep, 22. so it's going to be completely exhausting. [Laughs] For Hank and I, and the writers, and everyone trying to maintain the quality of Season 1, in the way everybody loved, it will be tough. But I do think that the downside of 10 was that it was a small amount of geography, so, like I said before, now we're going to get more of Jake, and more of Sonya, and more of the other characters surrounding Amy, in a really great way. Obviously, the main focus will always be Amy, but I think we're going to have the room to round everyone out more.
TVLINE | When do you plan to start the cameras back up?
I think in June. Early June.
TVLINE | In your mind, at least, do you know how Richard pressured Nurse Liz to corroborate his lies?
Oh, he threatened her job. He threatened her job, and Liz was scared and did the wrong thing.
TVLINE | Last question. True or false: Claire Armstrong, as Nurse Julie, is the MVP of Season 1. Because I felt like, towards the end of the season especially, Julie was figuring s–t out, man!
You know what? I think Julie can get an MVP. Because I also think that Julie's sass throughout the season was needed. It is hard sometimes to find comic relief in these situations, because you never want to make light of something severe, but Julie was always ready with an eye roll. And her delivery was impeccable. She's great.
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