There was a brief time when Thursdays were overloaded with great medical dramas. “ER” and “Chicago Hope” collided.
And now? Tuesdays are the time for very good – and, at times, great – ones.
Last week (Oct. 25), it was “The Resident” with one of its best episodes, complete with a wedding and a crisis. This week (Nov. 1), “New Amsterdam” (shown here) soared, in an episode you can find on Peacock.
The two don’t directly compete anyway; “Resident” is usually 8 p.m. on Fox, “New Amsterdam” is 10 p.m. on NBC. That’s especially true this week, because the World Series has taken over Fox; “Resident” fans might seek out “New Amsterdam” to fill their no-doctors-tonight void.
It would be a disservice to even tell you what this episode is about. The first couple minutes, dialog-free, set that up.
Just be prepared for some sharp opinions on one side … and, with one well-written character, briefly on the other. All of this plays strongly through great work from:
— Janet Montgomery and Jocko Sims as Bloom and Reynolds, ex-lovers, now guiding a hospital tour (shown here) for gifted teens.
— Tyler Labine as Iggy, the psychiatrist. He’s gay, married, a dad, usually a peacemaker.
— Sandra Mae Frank as Wilder, a hearing-impaired surgeon.
— Debra Monk and Ryan Eggold as Brantley and Max, the hospital’s administrator and medical chief. She urges him to take strong action.
That’s the one part of the story that sometimes goes off-the-rails, as Max’s schemes drift from possibility. The rest of the hour, however, is amazing, especially at its quietest moments.
Reynolds slowly acknowledges the past; Iggy sees his daughter in a new light. Almost wordlessly, powerful emotions are transmitted.