The return of New Amsterdam for Season 3 also marked the return of Jocko Sims as Dr. Floyd Reynolds, who departed from New York for San Fransisco toward the end of Season 2 with no sign that he'd be returning any time in the near future. Reynolds had a fiancée, a good job, and a whole life ahead of him on the West Coast, but the pandemic brought him back to New Amsterdam when Dr. Kapoor needed his surgical skills. Now, Reynolds is staying in New York for a while, which raises big questions about his relationship status with more than one character, and actor Jocko Sims weighed in on what's in store.
Reynolds had a touching moment with Lauren Bloom at the end of the latest episode when he came to the conclusion that he should have been at New Amsterdam to help when COVID hit, to which Bloom responded that he was there now. It was a quiet but powerful moment between characters who have a lot of history with each other, and hinted at a new kind of dynamic that can be explored in a medical world and hospital changed by the pandemic. Jocko Sims spoke with CinemaBlend about New Amsterdam Season 3 and previewed what's to come with Reynolds and Bloom:
Whatever their dynamic becomes, which I can't reveal, I will say that it will be a strong one. I'll also add that more than anything, they've been such good friends. And for me, as we've been shooting episodes this season, you just see a strong bond there. And you will find that there'll be a lot more story of Reynolds and Bloom to come. They'll spend some more time, more scenes together. A lot more than in the past.
Jocko Sims didn't confirm whether their dynamic with be platonic, romantic, and just plain professional, but I'm going to go ahead and assume that they're not going to be just colleagues who happen to work in the same hospital. If you're a fan of Reynolds and Bloom, it certainly sounds like you're in luck with "a lot more" scenes between them than in previous seasons. Reynolds started the season returning to New Amsterdam and realizing what he'd missed working in a hospital that was barely touched by COVID, while Bloom started the season struggling to get back to more or less normal after battling the pandemic on a daily basis, so it's possible that they'll approach their dynamic from different perspectives.
Of course, Reynolds has another dynamic that he has to consider now that he has returned to New York, and that is of course his relationship with Evie. They got engaged toward the end of Season 2, and Reynolds moved to San Fransisco with her to build a new life with her. Season 3 so far hasn't revealed how she feels about her fiancé returning to New Amsterdam, but then Reynolds seemingly didn't intend to stay when he first returned to treat Dr. Kapoor. Now that he isn't going anywhere, is his relationship with Evie going to complicate things? Jocko Sims discussed some consequences for Reynolds in stepping back to New Amsterdam:
Well, I would say that when you have a relationship like Reynolds and Evie where it was tumultuous in the sense of the wedding planning on his own he has to do and she's married already to the career, he's married to his career, should we, should we not? It's a lot of seesaw. And that makes it very fragile, I think. And so when you make a decision to have to go back suddenly, especially in a time of a pandemic, I guess the question would naturally be, what are we doing? Are we making the right decision? You know, you weren't gone for, I don't know how much time would have passed by the story, a few months. And you're needed back there. So I think we'll definitely have to address some things again. And it's great because you know, when you have a relationship on screen, the last thing you want it to be is not interesting, and it's interesting when you have these hurdles to get over. So there will be some hurdles.
Relationship hurdles are on the way, for better or for worse! A fragile relationship presumably won't be made stronger when one person takes off for the other side of the country, surrounded by his old friends and in a familiar environment. Just because almost a full year passed between the reworked Season 2 finale and the Season 3 premiere in real life doesn't mean that much time passed for the characters on the show, so Reynolds hasn't actually been in San Francisco all that long. Will Evie turn up again? What's happening with Reynolds and Bloom? How long will Reynolds stick around?
On that last count, we can at least rely on Jocko Sims sticking around New Amsterdam for a bit, according to Ryan Eggold. See him back in action as Dr. Reynolds with new episodes on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, and catch up on the first two seasons of the series streaming on Peacock now. Max has some lofty goals for the medical field in the wake of the pandemic, and it remains to be seen how many lines he can get away with crossing in trying to achieve those goals. And possibly deepen his relationship with Helen in the process!
