[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Doc series premiere “If at First You Don’t Succeed…”]
There’s multiple thriller on the heart of Doc, the brand new Fox drama about Amy (Molly Parker) after she wakes from an accident that price her eight years of reminiscences.
However certainly one of them isn’t what brought on the accident. The premiere reveals that she checked out her telephone when check outcomes got here in. Beneath, showrunner Barbie Kligman talks about having that be the trigger (versus somebody hitting her), how Amy’s going to be coping with her grief over her son’s loss of life, her now ex-husband’s (Omar Metwally) new household, her relationship with fellow physician Jake (Jon Ecker), and extra. (Plus, learn Parker’s breakdown of Amy’s life now right here.)
Discuss having the accident occur after Amy appears at her telephone for check outcomes versus any kind of thriller or somebody hitting her on goal.
Barbie Kligman: It’s an accident brought on, you would say, to some extent primarily based on her personal kind of superpower, which can be her shortcoming, proper? She was there working two weeks straight, she was exhausted, she was driving residence within the rain and is so pushed to assist her sufferers no matter how she could act round them, that she had to take a look at the e-mail from the hospital proper in that second, which brought on the accident. It was a operate of her personal workaholic, “I can’t cease” attributes.
And that is sensible for the story you’re telling as a result of the main focus is on her and the way she’s studying about how she modified. On the finish of the premiere, Michael tells Amy throughout their name that even at their worst, he was at all times her buddy. However can they simply be pals on condition that in Amy’s thoughts, she thought they had been nonetheless married and joyful?
Yeah, I feel that will surely not occur instantly, if ever. Truthfully, I’ve by no means been capable of be pals with somebody I felt extra for. And that’s the worst situation of it, proper? That’s like a crush on crack, what they’ve. So, no. However I feel what he was making an attempt to say could be very a lot that he’s there for her on this second, no matter no, she’s not going to have the ability to have a look at him as a buddy. And but proper now there’s a lot to course of and there’s so few folks to belief and he’s nonetheless the person she loves. Additionally she was calling him particularly, so I feel he’s chatting with her reluctance to say what she needs to say.
FOX
However he’s remarried and he has a child on the best way. What are you able to preview about when Amy finds out and the way she reacts primarily based on who she is now?
It’s massive, when she finds out. Michael is aware of he ought to inform her, however for apparent causes he can’t carry himself to, and Gina [Amirah Vann] needs her to know however is aware of it’s not her place to inform her. And so it’s a minute earlier than she finds out as a result of there’s additionally the problem of, she’s going via all this trauma, how a lot are you able to placed on her instantly? Clearly extreme stress isn’t going to assist therapeutic. So I feel moderately than rip off the bandaid besides the place needed — since you noticed within the pilot, it was needed. If he didn’t inform her they had been divorced, she would simply count on that he was there for her totally. And if he didn’t inform her about Danny, there was no getting round that. However I feel the opposite issues he is aware of, Gina is aware of they will take a minute as a result of an excessive amount of too quickly, I feel, can do extra hurt than good. Additionally, he’s terrified to inform her this. It’s one other smack within the face to somebody who doesn’t keep in mind that she was the one who left.
Then there’s this Dixon thriller that’s been arrange, and proper now, Amy doesn’t keep in mind this and we all know how it will’ve performed out had this accident not occurred as a result of we noticed that dialog between Amy and Richard (Scott Wolf) earlier than it. However what are you able to preview about how that’s going to be taking part in out now? As Amy’s determining issues, as she’s getting again into the swing of issues at work, she’s determining her relationships with folks, with Richard, and every little thing.
For a interval, Richard completely thinks he’s within the clear, however there is part of him that’s frightened. With a mind damage, you simply don’t know. Her reminiscences might come again at any time or by no means. And so a bit of bit, he’s on his heels always as a result of now he’s additionally achieved the one factor that he’s at all times wished [to be chief]. He wished it by official means, however he didn’t get it by official means. I wouldn’t say they’re illegitimate, it’s simply not the identical as incomes a place, proper? However getting it as a result of somebody suffered a tragedy is just not practically as gratifying. So Richard’s at all times going to have it at the back of his thoughts. And I’ll say that there’s a bent in life if you cease worrying about issues for them to rear their ugly heads.
What are you able to say about Richard’s perspective about Amy and the way a lot of it’s it due to Dixon? What are we going to see about how the connection was earlier than all of this occurred?
Yeah, Richard’s emotions are difficult. Amy remembers them as pals and trusted colleagues, so the best way she behaves with him, which we’ll see in Episode 2, throws him for a loop as a result of that’s not what he was used to. Richard barely remembers the time after they had been pals, however that’s all that Amy remembers. And so it’s a really fascinating dynamic if you put them collectively and Richard realizes that’s the place she is in her thoughts. I feel there’s part of him that very a lot yearns for the time the place they had been colleagues and pals earlier than tragedy struck and every little thing went the best way it did. So there’s actually fascinating ranges to their interactions since you are at all times questioning, what’s he considering proper now? And by the identical token, as she begins to search out issues out and realizes that she grew to become chief, he wished chief, she begins to place some issues collectively. However some issues are fairly effectively hidden and can take much more to have the ability to discover them out.
FOX
Earlier than the accident, Amy responded to Jake’s “I really like you” in variety, and primarily based on the flashes that we see within the pilot, it appears like they had been joyful collectively. This was an actual relationship. How would you describe it?
It was an actual relationship, and I feel that stunned her. I feel she didn’t count on this to return into her life, which regularly occurs — you meet somebody, you may not count on to fall in love. However as a result of he’s considerably youthful and he works for her, she wasn’t asking for this, and but he was capable of kind of are available and penetrate the partitions that she put round herself and make her joyful for the primary time in a really very long time. However when she says “I really like you” to him, she was pleasantly stunned to see she felt that method, too, as a result of I feel earlier than that she thought they had been having a fling and she or he thought they had been having fun with themselves. After which when confronted with that second, she realized, I do love him, too.
Yeah, as a result of it appeared virtually like she wasn’t going to say something, and that’s what he sort of anticipated. However then the accident occurred, and all of the reminiscences of that relationship are gone, and he has to take care of that realizing that he’s maintaining that from her. It’s inevitable that she’ll discover out. What does that imply for what we’ll see between these two characters?
That’s one other actually fascinating factor as a result of each time he’s in her presence, he’s occupied with what they’d and experiencing the ache of her not remembering. When she’s in his presence, I feel it doesn’t take lengthy for her to really feel a connection, however she doesn’t actually perceive that connection. And what’s fascinating about that’s it makes you look and go, do you must know that you simply had been with somebody to wish to be with them once more? Or is it simply one thing that’s kind of innate? Is the chemistry simply one thing that draws you? No one else knew about them, so there isn’t anybody else to inform her.
What are you able to say about what we’ll see when it comes to any of her reminiscences coming again?
It’s one thing she needs desperately to occur, and she or he is doing the therapies to attempt to get it to occur, however she’s additionally making an attempt to get her life again. So on the identical time, she’s centered on on the brink of take the boards and she or he needs desperately to move them once more as a result of she needs to be an precise physician once more at this hospital moderately than a medical pupil. As a result of it’s actually one of many solely issues she feels she has left, and it was such an enormous a part of her life, and she or he’s not keen to let that go.
The extra she hears about what she was like and learns about what she’s misplaced, is there any a part of her that questions if she needs these reminiscences again?
For certain. I imply, look, it’s like when she says within the pilot, I misplaced my son, I misplaced my husband, possibly it’s higher that I don’t keep in mind. However I feel it begs the query for many people of, what a part of our identities is our reminiscence? And so that you’re confronted with the conundrum of simply because you may’t keep in mind the day your son died, he’s nonetheless lifeless. And simply because these weren’t the most effective of you when it comes to your conduct… For me personally, I feel I’d wish to know, however I additionally suppose it’s very completely different for everybody. Some folks would undoubtedly say, let’s not pile on to what I’m going via. I’m sorry for the way I used to be. That’s not who I’m. Let’s simply begin recent.
Yeah. You possibly can’t decide and select the reminiscences you get again.
Proper, proper, proper. Precisely.
Talking of her son, as a result of for Amy, that grief is recent once more for her, however as Gina factors out, the accident provides her the possibility to do issues in another way. However how exhausting is it for Amy to not simply do what she did up to now when it got here to grieving? It could be completely comprehensible if she did as a result of to her son simply died in her thoughts.
Effectively, it’s so fascinating so that you can carry that up as a result of there’s a pair issues at play. To begin with, our instincts are our instincts, proper? However as soon as she goes into Episode 2, she does know that she shut down. She does know that she didn’t let folks in. She does have a normal sense, if not the particular reminiscence, of what she did. And as we get into Episode 2, we see her begin to go down that path once more. What’s wonderful is seeing, realizing that she’s taking place the fallacious path, if she’s going to make the required changes to really do issues in another way or not. Or are we simply who we’re and doomed to repeat the identical errors?
I’ve to say one of many relationships I particularly loved watching was Amy and Sonya (Anja Banerjee) all through the season due to the variations between what it was and what it turns into. Are you able to discuss shaping that dynamic?
It was at all times fascinating for us that, by and huge, the best way Amy behaved in the direction of Sonya was in direct correlation to the tragedy she suffered and her — she’s completely a stickler for perfectionism, which I might argue, if ever there was a career the place it issues, it’s medication. That stated, there’s a method to discuss to folks and Amy didn’t care about that. She didn’t care actually about a lot of something besides saving her sufferers after the tragedy. And I feel Sonya suffered the brunt of that, and it grew right into a festering factor. However throughout our season, Sonya is confronted with one thing fairly horrible that she has to take care of. And shockingly, the one one that’s there who sees it’s Amy, and it makes you marvel, as a result of they already don’t get alongside once more within the current, largely due to how Sonya feels about her, which Amy doesn’t keep in mind, how that’s going to play out. As unhealthy because it will get between two folks, there are specific issues that occur that it’s fascinating to see sure situations the place folks will rally collectively regardless of their variations.
Doc, Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox