Spoilers ahead for Episode 11 of New Amsterdam Season 5, called “Falling.”
Only one night of New Amsterdam is left after the events of “Falling,” which set the stage for how the series finale could close up the characters’ stories. Max faced his “real test” about choosing between Helen and Elizabeth, while Reynolds is facing the hurdle of Gabrielle possibly leaving New York (plus some radiation exposure). As for Iggy, he had to do some head wound-induced reflection on what he wants after making a lot of what actor Tyler Labine dubbed “regrettable decisions." He came to a conclusion about Martin, and Labine spoke with CinemaBlend about Iggy’s journey, and his hopes for the character.
Iggy’s character was in a state of flux for quite a while before he came to the conclusion at the end of Season 4 that he wanted to take a break from his marriage. After trying to date again in Season 5 and then realizing that he wanted his family and marriage back, he was instead served with divorce papers. His emotional journey has been bumpy enough that he seemed in need of an intervention back in the fall, and when I spoke with Tyler Labine about New Amsterdam, he weighed in on whether fans should still be rooting for Iggy and Martin:
We all have different experiences and people are coming from different places, but I am rooting for them. I don't necessarily agree with the way Iggy handled it, or the way Martin did, but I think Iggy came in kind of awkwardly, guns blazing, and sort of tried to take what he wanted. It was like, 'I want this, I want you back, I have been doing all this growing. Look at me, I'm changing!' And then they do something very familiar, back into a pattern of what maybe tore them apart in the first place. It's human, it's very understandable... But it's much like the pandemic, there is no normal, there's no going back to that thing anymore. So for [Martin] to present Iggy with the divorce papers is not surprising, and Iggy knows deep down, like, 'Right? This is over.'
Iggy’s head wound after the rockslide in “Falling” ultimately brought him some clarity about how he had to stop avoiding the inevitable of the divorce papers. Even when Martin said that they could talk about it later instead of when he was recovering from injuries, Iggy signed the papers and handed them over. That didn’t mean that he gave up on their relationship, however, as he followed up by asking Martin out on a date. The marriage chapter has seemingly come to a close, but that doesn’t 100% mean the end of the story. Labine continued:
The marriage that we knew, the relationship that we knew, is over. It's no more. The sooner you can accept that, you can come to completion about something like that. Whether you're rooting for them to be together or not… It doesn't necessarily rely solely on whether they're married or not. A marriage is one thing. A marriage is a piece of paper. Marriage is a tangible thing… but what they have might be bigger than just their marriage. They have to be co-parents, they have to learn to navigate life together still. So there's a lot of love and respect, and there's a big journey ahead of them still, whether they're married or not… I think they're gonna have to learn to be together in a certain regard no matter what, and live happily alongside one another, no matter what.
The episode ended without revealing whether or not Martin would go on a date with Iggy, and his expression was pretty ambiguous. That said, as Tyler Labine pointed out, their lives are tied together forever because of their kids, and they still love each other. Will Iggy signing the divorce papers and then trying to start over work to rekindle their romance into something even healthier? Or is it too late, and they’ll have to settle for co-parenting?
Only time will tell on that front, even though there’s not a whole lot of time left before New Amsterdam comes to an end on January 17. In light of Tyler Labine noting that he doesn’t necessarily agree with how Iggy handles situations, I asked if that’s challenging to play, and he shared:
Yeah, but I also love it. I know that there's a lot of regrettable decisions that Iggy made, and there are things that I think people have been groaning about, and like, 'Oh, how could Iggy do that?' But we're just looking at a small portion of a person's life. It's a TV show. We're zooming in on elements of a person's life, whether it's been five years or not, it's still a short period in this guy's life. And it's a rough period. The last three years have been rough, and I think we all do and say things and make mistakes that are regrettable. We just don't have a TV show chronicling them. [laughs] And you hope, 'Oh, man, I can make up for that. I'm going to pick up the pieces in another way. And I'm going to learn from these mistakes.'
Iggy certainly isn’t the only New Amsterdam character who has shown signs of struggle over the seasons since the doctors had to deal with COVID, and some have dealt better than others. Of course, as Labine said, Iggy’s scenes are only glimpses of the character’s life, and New Amsterdam is largely an ensemble show with a lot of stories to tell. That doesn’t mean that Iggy’s storylines haven't been frustrating for some, though! The actor went on to explain why it’s fun to play somebody who’s not perfect:
Playing a flawed character, or someone who is imperfect and making mistakes is like, yeah, what else would I want to play? I don't really want to portray a character that's just like, 'Got it. Thanks. Thank you. Just watch me be perfect. Thank you.' I don't want to watch that. I don't want to play that. So it's been really fun, the more curveballs they throw me. I mean, yeah, I had moments where I was like, 'Oh, my God. Why? Why do you want Iggy to try to adopt a baby without telling his husband, or hire this Australian stud muffin assistant?' I was like, 'I don't want that,' but I also think it's more entertaining and more fun to play, and more realistic to play a flawed character.
Iggy hiring dreamy Australian nurse Trevor was arguably the straw that broke the marriage, which wasn’t altogether shocking as soon as Martin found out about how close their relationship had become. Iggy had to face the consequences of hiring the man who had flirted with him as far back as the job interview. It’s hard to say if Iggy and Martin would have split if not for the Trevor fiasco, but it sure didn’t help!
For now, fans can only hope that Iggy and Martin find a happy status quo before the final credits roll on the series finale, which airs in just a couple of weeks. Max seems set on a happy ending of his own after Helen’s return gave him some clarity about wanting to pursue his relationship with Elizabeth, and actor Jocko Sims previewed what fans can look forward to before the medical drama concludes for good.
The two-part series finale of New Amsterdam will air on Tuesday, January 17 on NBC, starting at 9 p.m. ET in the 2023 TV schedule. Be sure to tune in to see how the journeys of these characters ultimately end, and revisit earlier days of the series streaming with a Peacock subscription.
