Hey everyone, I'm Lexi and I'm going to be reviewing season 2 of New Amsterdam this fall. I was absolutely obsessed with the show last season, being one of my favourite shows to watch in last year's sweep of new and returning fall shows so I'm incredibly excited to review such a great show. Hope you enjoy my first ever review and I look forward to writing reviews for you all as the year progresses.
The premiere episode is entitled "Your Turn," written by NA's show ruler, David Schulner and directed by Michael Slovis (who also directed 4 other episodes in the first season, including the penultimate episode).
WOW did they put us through the wringer with this opening episode.
I changed who I though had died about 1000 times during the episode, so bravo to the writers for keeping us constantly on our toes.
I usually somehow read spoilers for all the shows I watch, but I finally didn’t look beforehand so I genuinely was gasping every 5 seconds and screaming out loud every time I was relieved someone was revealed to be alive, despite the fact that I was sitting all alone watching on my computer.
We open with a seemingly lovely, adorable and cute scene that unknowingly to me had incredibly dark undertones between Max and Georgia.
Throughout the scene, I had almost no suspicion that she wasn’t actually alive but I feel like the first slight indication that I didn’t seem to pick up on was the fact that she didn’t leave the bed at all and the second indication was Max taking Luna to work which made no sense if Georgia was at home.
Anyway, I knocked out Georgia from being the killed individual and moved my suspicions onto Bloom as the actress had just had a baby so I assumed maybe she was okay with leaving as well as her relationship with Max being slightly less integral to the overall chemistry of relationships as compared to his relationship with Sharpe, which I as many also definitely see as more than just platonic, with the killing off of Georgia making sense for that story path.
The first little heart attack I experienced was when the camera panned from Sharpe’s name tag to her not being in her office, which was terrifying, though in retrospect, it makes sense that if she’s still alive then they wouldn’t have removed her tag yet, so I probably should have seen that. Once you know the outcome, looking back there’s so many clues the writers included to actually make it quite easy to point out who died.
Max’s new doctor seems slightly too excited and cocky when discussing cancer treatment, I mean it's still cancer. On a lighter note, Max’s cancer seems to be nearly cured though it is a little peculiar considering how severe it seemed a few months ago and how big of a plot point it is to the storyline, but we’ll see soon where this leads.
I feel like the tone and stakes of the show have obviously been reduced dramatically and reset, which makes sense, but it’s just weird coming from off the back of such a high stakes finale, where Max seemed to be in a terrible condition.
Georgia seems okay, yet her doctors don’t look very confident, which is of course another hint teasing to what is to be revealed later in the episode.
In Max’s main episodic story, he almost solves one of America’s greatest health issues within just a few hours, the incredibly high, and still rising, cost of insulin for diabetics.
Evie and Reynolds are still going strong despite the long distance concerns, though I’m still holding out for him and Bloom.
We are introduced to a new intern at the hospital, who seems like a younger version of Reynolds, with an overconfident attitude who is incredibly smart who starts a little rivalry with Reynolds throughout the episode, which I’m sure will develop throughout the season, and could be built on quite nicely considering this show focuses entirely on senior staff as main characters, so it will be nice to see the contrast with a younger intern on display.
Kapur promises to cure a women’s 2 year-long rheumatoid arthritis, after being told by his colleagues earlier that older doctors experience mental decline and can’t perform as well as younger people, so spends the entire episode trying to cure what seems impossible, to prove them wrong.
Surprisingly, it turns out to be a tooth/gum issue that is quite easily fixable, so Kapur is back to feeling confident in himself.
Thank goodness, it was just one of the paramedics, which sounds awful, sorry paramedic, but at least our other 2 main heroines still have a fighting chance of being alive.
And I’m straight back into being nervous when Casey reveals that two people of our own were lost, which definitely threw me off it being Georgia considering she’s not a doctor at the hospital, so it made way more sense to be one of the other girls.
Soon after, my absolute favourite character is revealed to be alive and for some reason I thought she was being seen in Max’s imagination (yet didn’t fathom that Georgia could have been seen in his imagination) especially when he walked past Sharpe first and didn’t acknowledge her making it seem as though she wasn’t there, but she is!!!!
They’re acting weirdly cold, and of course missing their usual banter, which alludes to whoever died causing Max to not act as his normal self and detach himself from his confidante, clearly holding back on how he's truly feeling, uncharacteristic of Max who is usually incredibly honest and open to everyone, especially Sharpe.
Bloom is seen next, looking like she’s on the brink of death, with the doctors around her clearly concerned that she could die very soon, as her heart wasn’t pumping blood.
A more serious rivalry is set up between Dr Castro and Sharpe, who have some complicated history that I'm sure will be delved into as the season goes on.
It’s also nice to see how far Sharpe is willing to go to save Max, even sharing her role with this girl, that’s some true love right there.
Max walks past a doctor who he brushes off completely, who clearly couldn’t save someone he cares about, yet all 3 girls are accounted for so I was very confused at this point.
Resuming where we left off with Bloom on her death bed, all seems over yet after what seems to be an excruciatingly long ad break, that was ‘definitely’ longer than usual, Bloom walks through the door in almost perfect health, with amazing looking hair as a side note, greeted by her fellow doctors and Reynolds who saved her life 3 months ago, with some more serious true love vibes going on.
And with that, the ED is back in her arms, but the underlying pain she’s experiencing seems like too much as she sits on the rooftop crying, with Sharpe arriving to comfort her.
Their friendship is truly one of the most beautiful relationships on the show, which I think is certainly rooted in Janet and Freema’s amazing acting chops.
Anytime they’re on screen together I’m beyond happy; watching them as two incredibly powerful, strong and brave women who still have their vulnerabilities and hurdles but push through them by supporting and encouraging one another, holding each other up, is an incredibly positive and important thing to portray on TV.
It really got me when Max says “It’s always my turn,” which was absolutely gut-wrenching to hear.
The final flashback of that fateful accident, finally reveals the truth of the matter where an unseen brain bleeding causes Georgia’s death.
Max races to the room, arriving just as Georgia flatline's, and that very same doctor from earlier is standing over her body.
Ryan Eggold's acting in this scene is absolutely magnificent, I felt everything he was feeling and was a total mess from the pain he was experiencing.
Back in his room, Georgia is revealed to of course not actually be in the bed, and Max’s singing takes a sombre turn as the episode finishes on Max, left by himself holding Luna, feeling utterly empty and alone.
The way the writers were able to hold onto the tension for that entire episode was incredible.
It was a stark difference to most TV shows that would usually just straight up reveal the fate of their characters, as was done earlier tonight on FOX’s The Resident, but instead they took an alternative route and it completely paid off as being entirely unique and extra damaging for the viewer to watch. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season holds.
This was an amazing premiere, coming off the back of a fantastic first season, so it will certainly be interesting to see what the future holds for New Amsterdam.
Initially, I thought the show would fade away as just another typical medical drama, but its really found its distinctive voice merging the portrayal of a heartful show, with the display of serious issues as well as heavily pulling back the curtain to the financial side on running a hospital (which has only really properly been done on The Resident too but in a different manner), so overall, a very fresh and appropriately modelled medical drama, with punchy storylines and characters that are very easily investable.
I especially appreciate the use of a psychiatrist and neuroscientist as main characters, as that definitely hasn’t been done properly in a medical drama. I think it was a bit of a risk as some people don’t like psychiatrists and or find those type of issues engaging but I think it’s really important to a put a focus on mental health issues, especially in today’s day and age, normalising that particular area of medical consulting and treatment.
Extra Bits:
- Iggy had a very busy day including giving his shoes to a homeless man, and in perfect Iggy fashion, who certainly is a child at heart, is wearing Tweddie bird socks underneath. Cute. He also has an epiphany after his numerous sessions with different children’s groups that he wants to adopt another child despite the fact that his husband spent the entire day barely juggling the children they already have, but still it was a sweet moment.
- Kapur dreams of returning to India as the plus side to him possibly retiring due to old age which makes me think sometime this season, probably in the back half of the season or in the finale he might retire, leaving the show.
Who did you think was going to die? Were you shocked it was Georgia?
Comment your thoughts below!!
