The first half of New Amsterdam's fourth season ended in 2021 with an episode that shook up just about every character in some way or other, and some of them won’t even be around in New York to witness the fallout. With Max and Helen off to start a new life together in London, Leyla confronted Bloom about the bribe, Malvo dropped the baby bombshell on Reynolds, and Iggy made what may turn out to be a very ill-advised decision about his new head nurse. Luckily, showrunner David Schulner spoke with CinemaBlend about what happens next for the relationships after the fall finale.
Fans are in for a bit of a wait until the winter premiere in 2022, so read on to get a taste of what’s next for characters and their relationships!
Are Bloom And Leyla Done For Good?
Bloom planted the seeds of her own heartbreak back in the Season 3 finale when she paid a big bribe – or, as she puts it, made a “donation” – to the hospital to get her girlfriend a fifth slot as an ED resident, and the latest episode finally revealed the sum as $90,000. Leyla was horrified at what Bloom had done and kept from her, and their emotional confrontation seemed like it had to be the end of their relationship. But is there any coming back from it for them? David Schulner weighed in:
We all hope so. I hope so. The writers hope so. We love them together. We love everything about them. Leyla brings out a new side in Bloom that we've never seen before. And we want them to be together. But Bloom has to pay for her actions. We can't let her off too easily. And if they do come back, it has to be hard-earned, and we're gonna put them through the wringer in the back half of the season and see if they come out the other side.
So, fans of the Bloom/Leyla relationship shouldn’t give up all hope about the relationship, but it sounds like the fallout is going to have to be ugly if they have a chance together. Bloom not only crossed a line, but proceeded to lie about it for months until Leyla accidentally found out from Reynolds, who unknowingly tipped her off when trying to compliment her and recruit her to surgery.
There’s hope for Bloom and Leyla, but probably not for any forward progress in the early episodes back in 2022. When I asked if Leyla pursuing a future in surgery with Reynolds (and away from Bloom’s ED) was a possibility, the showrunner shared:
Right now, because of what she found out, Leyla wants to get as far away from New Amsterdam as she can. And as much as we would like her to hang out with Reynolds, that character doesn't want to run into Bloom in the hallways, doesn't want to hear her name on rounds, doesn't want to see her name on the board, doesn't want to be paged down to the ED. So unfortunately, no. Leyla wants to get out of there as fast as she can.
Just when things seemed to be going so well for Leyla, she now wants to leave the hospital simply because she’s so hurt by what Bloom did. That’s not to say that she’ll be completely gone, though. When I spoke to actor Jocko Sims, he previewed that Leyla is going to reach out to Reynolds “for some reason” and he'll “get kind of caught in the middle” in future episodes of Season 4. And there’s going to be a “great Reynolds/Bloom moment” because of it. As if Reynolds isn’t going to have enough on his plate with Malvo’s situation!
Iggy Made A Questionable Decision
Iggy may be facing some relationship complications of his own, although the potential problems that he could run into and/or cause with Martin aren’t guaranteed just yet. But he made what may turn out to be a pretty bad call in the fall finale when it comes to who he hired as his new head nurse: Trevor, who is definitely not Gladys 2.0. Trevor flirted pretty openly with Iggy while interviewing for the position, which was quite the bold move on his part and flattered Iggy enough that he was repeating the compliment to anybody who would listen. And Trevor ultimately got the job.
That’s not to say that Iggy hired Trevor because he wanted to have Trevor around at work all the time when Martin wasn’t present, and he clearly only has eyes for Martin… but that doesn’t mean this isn’t going to backfire on him. When I asked David Schulner about what’s next for Iggy after getting a punch in the face in the fall finale, he previewed:
Even getting punched in the face will not deter Doctor Frome from helping people. The biggest thing now going forward for Iggy is that he made a pretty questionable decision by hiring Trevor as his head nurse. You know, I'll defend Iggy, I'll defend all the characters, to my grave. Trevor was the most qualified, and he was the only candidate that Iggy could afford with Veronica's budget cuts. So he was kind of perfect for the job, except for the fact that he made a questionable pass at Iggy in the interview. Other than that, Trevor's super qualified to do the job that he hired him for. Should Iggy have kept looking? Perhaps. Should he have told Martin? Perhaps.
He started seeing patients again only to get hit in the face, then hired the best candidate he could despite that candidate making a pretty unprofessional pass at him. Veronica’s budget cuts are technically the root of the problem, so who knows? Maybe the end game will be Gladys returning and the psych department going back to business as usual by the Season 4 finale.
Reynolds And Malvo's Relationship Got Even More Complicated
Reynolds may have really tempted fate in the fall finale when he told Malvo that he’s “up for complicated,” because he clearly was not considering the possibility of her revealing that she’s pregnant. New Amsterdam found a way to make its most complicated relationship even more complicated, as the polyamorous trio now has a pregnancy to deal with. Jocko Sims already confirmed that Reynolds and Baptiste are going to be “very interested to know who the father is,” and some repercussions are on the way.
As for how long the pregnancy twist has been in the works, David Schulner broke down the Reynolds/Malvo journey from her debut in Season 3 through to her pregnancy in Season 4:
[Writer] Erika Green created this character of Malvo, in her episode in Season 3. And this was not on our radar at all. But Erika wrote this character, and in their scenes together on the page, all the writers were like, 'Are they flirting?' And Erika was like 'Maybe.' So, you know, none of us expected this. So we just went with what Erika surprised us with when she wrote her episode. Then we decided, 'Wow, this woman is so perfect for Reynolds. We can't make it that easy for him. It's Season 3!' So we decided she was married. And we just went off from there. We started breaking this story a couple months, maybe six months, before Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith started revealing their issues with monogamy. And their dalliances with relationships outside of their marriage. So it's funny that we're telling this story now while the Smiths are telling theirs.
Season 3 may just be too early in a hit TV show’s run for any couple to have a happily-ever-after, so now Reynolds is one part of a polyamorous relationship involving his former boss and his colleague who may or may not be pregnant with his child! Interestingly, the timing of the storyline matched up with some of the marriage reveals from and about Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
The New Amsterdam situation is about as different as can be when it comes to the circumstances, and this story may not be easy for Reynolds in the rest of Season 4. When I asked how the pregnancy reveal will shake things up for the characters, David Schulner said:
It's just so fun to shake Reynolds up, because he started the show so certain of what his life was going to be and so clear in his ambitions. And I love that about him so much. And I related to Reynolds so much. That's really how I viewed my life as well. So it's just really fun to take someone so certain, [laughs] and shake them up as much as possible. Kind of punish them for their lack of an open mind.
Well, depending on the paternity of Malvo’s pregnancy and how she wants to proceed, Reynolds may need to have more of an open mind than ever before! Falling in love with her definitely resulted in him bending his own rules, but this is something very new, and the aftermath should be intriguing to witness.
The only bad news is that the fallout of all of these relationship game-changers won’t happen any time too soon. New Amsterdam has entered into its winter hiatus, and won’t be back to kick off the second half of Season 4 until Tuesday, January 4 in its normal time slot at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. For now, though, you can always revisit New Amsterdam days gone by with the full series so far streaming on Peacock.
