SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the two-part Season 2 finale of Fox’s Doc, “Stuck/Happy Birthday.”
EXCLUSIVE: Katie (Charlotte Fountain-Jardim) has played a key part in her mom Amy’s recovery after her accident, with the duo’s reconciliation among Amy’s biggest achievements as she embarked on becoming a better person while grappling with memory loss.
Katie had a pivotal role this season, in which Fountain-Jardim was a series regular after recurring in Season 1. The college orientation road trip she took with her parents, Amy (Molly Parker) and Michael (Omar Metwally) made Michael rethink his professional priorities and trade his CMO post for a hands-on Chief of Internal Medicine position. It also confirmed the feelings exes Michael and Amy still have for each other, creating a rift in Amy’s relationship with Jake.
But now that Katie is off to Northwestern, Fountain-Jardim will no longer be a series regular in the upcoming third season. She is expected to guest star. That is common practice for series where children of lead characters graduate high school and go to off to college.
“Katie’s off to college, and that’s a different chapter for Amy and Michael, which is appropriate and a good shift,” Doc executive producer/co-showrunner Hank Steinberg said, indicating that there “might be a slight time jump” between seasons. “Empty nest is a whole other psychological, emotional challenge for people, especially for Amy, who doesn’t remember all that time.”
Steinberg, who co-runs series with developer Barbie Kligman, stressed that Katie will remain part of Doc in her new capacity.
“We love the character, and we adore Charlotte, so she will be in the show, but she will not be living at home; she’ll be off in Chicago at school,” Steinberg said. “So she will be in the show as needed.”
L-R: Omar Metwally, Molly Parker and Charlotte Fountain-Jardim in the “Orientation” episode of ‘Doc’
Season-Long Series Regular Arcs: Huffman Out, Underwood In
Doc started off with Scott Wolf brought in for a season-long recurring arc as Amy’s morally compromised adversary Dr. Richard Miller in Season 1. That was followed by a one-year series regular deal with Felicity Huffman to play Amy’s mentor and friend Dr. Joan Ridley in Season 2 and now a one-year deal for Blair Underwood to portray trauma and cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Ben Grant in Season 3.
Is this going to be the series’ MO, introducing a new arc with big name every season?
“I don’t know if we’re going to do a big name every season but Felicity was fantastic,” Steinberg said. “We had a concept from the beginning that it would be a one-year deal. And we always knew that she was going to come in, she was going to be sick and hiding her illness, and by the end she would die in some heroic fashion, in a way that would be cathartic for Amy.”
When Season 1 was plotted, the producers had no idea whether the show would do well, so Huffman was introduced at the start of Season 2. Doc‘s breakout success, leading to a 22-episode Season 2 renewal, gave the creative team the confidence to kick off Underwood’s storyline in the Season 2 finale, a decision made before the series was picked up for a 22-episode third season.
“It’s fun bringing in new characters that boost things up and energize,” Steinberg said. “Blair’s incredible; he’s so charismatic, and he was organic, new energy. Bringing a surgeon also, we have a lot of our medical stories pass through surgery, and we didn’t really have a surgeon character to anchor that side of things. So it felt like a cool way to add that element into the show through a character who has a past with Amy. It feels fresh.”
To find out more about Ben’s romantic history with Amy and how it will play out in Season 3, read Part 2 of Deadline’s interview with Steinberg.
Blair Underwood, Felicity Huffman on ‘Doc’
Richard May Not Be Gone For Good
Richard’s original arc wrapped in Season 1. His villainous character proved popular with fans, and Wolf was brought back for the second half of Season 2 as Richard found a loophole to get reinstated at Westside despite killing a patient and covering it up.
Despised by all and facing an HR complaint from Nurse Liz (Conni Miu) over the coverup, Richard redeemed himself when he became infected by a deadly virus in the finale which subsequently struck Amy and Liz, among others. He volunteered for an antiviral which almost killed him, damaging his liver, but, despite still being weak, he offered his blood for a serum to help save others.
It was poetic justice that Liz was one of the lucky ones who got the serum and recovered, making Richard quip that they were “now even.”
He also beat the virus and, on his way out of the ICU, told Amy, “I think it’s best that I just moved on.”
That was Richard announcing his departure from Westside but while we have definitely seen the last of Huffman’s Joan who was seen passing away in hospice care at home at the end of the finale, that may not be the case with Wolf’s Richard.
“Richard, we are leaving up in the air,” Steinberg said. “We love Scott, we love the character, we will see If there’s a way to bring him back in a way that make sense. We love him, and the audience loves him.”
Scott Wolf in the “Best We Can Do” episode of ‘Doc’
Nursing Staff: Exit For Lucy, Liz & Julie Remain Recurring
The Season 2 finale marked the first time a Westside staffer has died on screen as Nurse Lucy (Paulyne Wei) succumbed to the deadly virus.
Lucy was one of several nurses who have recurred consistently on the show, alongside Liz (Miu) and Julie (Claire Armstrong); Wei appeared in 17 episodes, starting with the series premiere.
Nurse Liz in particular had a strong arc at the end of the second season as she found her voice and stood up to Richard. Could that lead to Miu getting promoted to a series regular in Season 3?
“We love Conni, and we love that character of Liz,” Steinberg said. “How that develops, we’ll see. We have a lot of characters to service in 44 minutes. But it’s 22 episodes, and it’s part of filling out the world more and more. We gave Nurse Julie a huge storyline early in the season, and Claire is an incredible actress, and that was such a fun episode.”
Julie became a patient herself in the episode, which featured a romantic storyline for her.
“The more the show goes on, the more those supporting characters get opportunities to shine and to get dimensionalized,” Steinberg said. “And that’s part of the fun of the show, so we will see as things develop.”
Paulyne Wei on ‘Doc’