Spoilers ahead for Episode 20 of New Amsterdam Season 4, called “Rise.”
New Amsterdam opened “Rise” with Max “How Can I Help?” Goodwin just about more helpless than ever before in Season 4, after his big swing to take Veronica Fuentes down due to her criminal negligence failed to work. Not only that, but a non-compete agreement in his contract meant that he couldn’t get a job practicing medicine anywhere other than New Amsterdam. He was out of ideas and pretty much out of options… but it turned out that he didn’t have to be the one making the moves for Fuentes to be defeated, and the medical drama has officially wrapped a major storyline.
In fact, New Amsterdam wrapped such a major storyline that it’s almost hard to imagine what’s left after “Rise.” Veronica Fuentes is officially out at the hospital. After she outlasted every single one of Max’s attempts to oust her, it was a strike by the essential workers who were suffering due to her policies and cost-cutting that ultimately took her down, much to Brantley’s delight. While a crowd of strikers outside chanted for her to go, Fuentes took off her badge. Her time at the top of New Amsterdam is done, which resolves the major conflict of the season… when there are still two episodes to go.
So, let’s take a look at all the stories that are still going, and could take more of the spotlight now that Fuentes is gone.
Max Has A Choice To Make
Max has been all-in on helping the hospital ever since he returned for Vijay’s funeral and saw for himself what it was like under Fuentes as sole medical director, but he has officially accomplished his goal and is free to return to his life in London with Helen. It may not be so easy, however, as Brantley made the point that the strikers were inspired by Max, and they wouldn’t really have their hospital back if he wasn’t there to run it. He’ll have to decide between his life in London and staying in New York, which may not be an easy decision to make. A lot likely depends on what Helen wants – or is willing – to do.
Reynolds Has Father Issues
Reynolds came to an important decision when he chose to let Malvo and Baptiste move away from New York to raise his unborn child themselves, although he intends to be involved in some capacity. He has begun telling people about his impending fatherhood, with his sister in the previous episode and Dr. Wilder in “Rise.” He hasn’t told his mom yet, but instead went to her to ask about finding his father, against his sister’s advice. He wants to find his dad while waiting for his own child to be born, which tracks with what the showrunners had to say about his “father issues” in the second half of Season 4.
Bloom Is Helping Leyla
Bloom and Leyla may be broken up, but their lives are almost more entwined than ever after the end of “Rise,” in ways that seem guaranteed to cause complications. After Bloom agreed to front Leyla the money to pay a lawyer to fight against deportation, Leyla ran into another problem due to her lack of a permanent address, which weakened her case so much that there was no hope of fighting it. Bloom instead declared that Leyla should move back in with her to officially have an address again, which seems bound to emotionally backfire on one or both of them. EP David Schulner did preview that “it gets even messier” and “even harder” for them!
Iggy And The Aftermath of Trevor
Iggy made his own bed when he hired Trevor simply because he was flattered by the nurse’s attention, and now he has to lie in it. After more or less putting Trevor in a position where quitting was one of his only options, Iggy used some questionable methods with a patient in “Rise,” all while he’s supposed to be attending therapy himself to try and work on what made him keep secrets from Martin. I’m not altogether convinced that Iggy won’t face any professional backlash for the Trevor situation, but it does seem safe to say that Martin isn’t going to let his husband off easily this time.
Helen Is On Her Own In London
Helen managed to recover from her stroke quickly enough to return to her job in London while Max stayed behind in New York again to keep trying to fix New Amsterdam. It allowed her to spend some valuable time with her mom in the previous episode, but a medical case involving parents not being able to let go of their comatose child hit her hard now that she has become Luna’s mom. She doesn’t seem to have too much of an ongoing storyline now that she has evidently recovered from her stroke, but the promo for what comes next indicates that trouble is on the way:
Apparently, Helen and Max are moving forward with getting married pretty quickly, as Helen is already trying on her veil, but it doesn’t look like they have a smooth road to the altar. The last couple seconds of the promo have Helen saying “I don’t know how to tell you this” to her fiancé over the phone, and then starting to cry. Has something happened to her mom? Is she still dealing with lingering effects from her stroke that Max doesn’t know about? Is she upset because she got some bad news about whether or not she can have kids?
Normally, I would think it’s a bit of a reach to wonder if the moment of Helen crying to Max has something to do with wanting children based on nothing but a few moments in a promo, but it was a major plot point not that long ago when she refused a hysterectomy even when it had the best chance of saving her life, and she mentioned motherhood again in “Rise” in reference to Luna. For her sake, I’m just hoping that whatever is making her cry is something that can be resolved as painlessly has possible. She has had a rough enough season already!
Only two episodes of New Amsterdam are left before the medical drama heads into summer hiatus, but fans at least don’t have to worry that the show will be cancelled on a Season 4 cliffhanger. Although the show does have an end in sight, it won’t be until the close of Season 5, and fans can always rewatch episodes streaming with a Peacock subscription to fill the days until Max and Co. return in the fall.
New Amsterdam airs on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC in the 2022 TV schedule. For when the medical drama and more broadcast hits will end for the season, be sure to check out our 2022 spring finale schedule.
