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After getting a double-barreled promotional push behind American Idol last week, New Amsterdam settled nicely into its regular time slot tonight with an installment that asked: what will John Amsterdam do once the path to his newly found "one" becomes a bit bumpy?
Star-crossed spoilers below.
It's only the third episode, but already the structure of the show is well established, with part of the episode devoted to Amsterdam's personal life and search for the one, part of the episode devoted to the murder of the week, and the final part devoted to flashbacks to a period in Amsterdam's previous life (which helpfully tie into his case of the week and shed some light on the psyche of a person who's lived for over 400 years). So far, the weakest portion of the hour has always been the murder of the week, and unfortunately this one was no different.
This week's murder victim was Dr. Evelyn Prender, a psychiatrist who worked with veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She was found bludgeoned to death in her office with an award she won for her work helping vets. Fingerprints on the murder weapon lead detectives to one of her patients who holds a grudge because she wanted him to go on medication to help him forget his experiences and all he wants to do is remember them to honor the friends he lost in the war. The case then leads them to a very mentally unbalanced vet (twitchy guest star Orlando Jones) who is so far gone that he can barely remember talking to Dr. Prender, let alone murdering her. Still, Amsterdam interrogates him until he falsely confesses to the murder. Amsterdam is not happy with the confession, however, and continues to investigate which leads him to Dr. Prender's former emphasis on repressed memories and a family she tore apart because of memories one of her former patients discovered. This experience caused her to split away from her partner at the time and devote her time to debunking the theory of repressed memories, even going so far as to write a book that implied her partner also knew the process was tainted and yet continued with the practice. Of course, the former partner then killed her to prevent the book from being published, a fact Amsterdam found when he recognized Dr. Prender's desk as a Civil War era piece and discovered the manuscript in a secret compartment. Little payoffs to the "he's really old" premise like those are fun.
You can see why this was the most tedious part of the hour. Just typing that made me bored.
Tied in with the murder of the week were Amsterdam's flashbacks to 1862 and the battle of Antietam, where he was apparently a medic. Is there any traditional occupation Amsterdam hasn't tried? Is he smart enough to be able to do whatever he wants? Because it would really stink to be alive for 400 years and not have the mental capacity to do all of these cool, exciting jobs. During his time as a medic he amputated the leg of a young solider who had his own case of PTSD (then called "soldier's heart") which caused him to take his own life. Amsterdam relates to Orlando Jones's war vet because he feels he couldn't save the soldier so many years ago, so it is his duty to save Jones now. The best part of these flashbacks was the reveal at the end that his medic partner was none other than Walt Whitman, who gives Amsterdam one of the first copies of Leaves of Grass. Neat. The worst part of these flashbacks were the beards. Can we get a bigger beard budget on this show, please? Being able to see the beard glue on HDTV is getting very distracting.
The best part of the episode, as always, was Amsterdam's search for "the one" Dr. Sara Dillane and his interactions with son Omar. Since Omar gave him her name last week he's been researching (a.k.a. stalking) Sara, and ends up serendipitously meeting with her when the week's murder victim happens to work closely with Sara at the hospital. When they first meet she questions him as to where they have met before, but he blows it off. The next time they meet, however, she calls him out on being her dead patient and he explains how he woke up in the morgue and casually asks, "has that happened before?" Hee. When she mentions his strange test results (toxic levels of lead, extinct blood type, etc.) he agrees to let her run a multitude of tests on him to appease her curiosity. This leads to a fantastic montage where Sara and Amsterdam make lots of flirty eyes at each other while blood is being drawn and x-rays are being taken. It's like the children's game of playing doctor, except all grown up. Just when things seem to be going swimmingly, though, Amsterdam "runs into" (a.k.a. stalks) Sara on the streets and meets someone he wasn't expecting - Sara's husband! Looks like Amsterdam is one crappy detective after all. I mean, how hard is it to find out if someone who is supposed to be your long-fated true love is married? Come on, John!
What did you guys think? Are the cop stories working for you? Are you buying Sara as Amsterdam's one true love? And how about that husband reveal?
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You know, it was worth sitting through the dull case to get to that scene where Dr. Dillane is giving him a quick exam. Wow, he was really enjoying it, and his face showed it.
It's scary, I saw your entry after I wrote my own blog on the subject, and we have some similar sentiments. I think that Nicolaj really plays well to the camera, probably better than anyone I've seen in a while.
Here's my blog entry on this episode if you're interested:
http://johnnewamsterdam.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-amsterdam-soldiers-heart-gets-my.html
I was skeptical of the show at first, due to the story not being too original. However, I gave it a shot because I enjoy these type of shows. It is a slightly different twist on the whole immortal plotline.
I agree that the murder-solving stories are a bit boring, but they are a good writer's tool to bring up past memories.
All in all, I think the show has potential. However, with a lot of shows on FOX's plate right now, unfortunately I don't think it's going to get a renewal.
I absolutely love this show!! I hope to goodness Fox will renew it. I think there are many directions a show like this can take, and i think it's one of the better ones Fox has come out with lately. The murder of the week plots are a little anticlimactic, but i think that has more to do with establishing the core characters, which every new series has to do. Hopefully those plots will become better written as the show progresses.
I don't buy it. He has a healthy heart yet has a heart attack on first sight and then nothing in subsequent meetings? He should be having a severe reaction every time. I would expect him to start aging and taking longer to recover from injuries. This should be his clue that he's met his soul mate and to try to figure out who it is. It could still be the pretty Dr but I think once she knows his story she'll start helping him find his soul mate too. - Jim
I'm a little confused. If he meets his soul mate is he going to age immediately and then die?
He won't begin to age until he meets the one AND their souls are united (according to the Native American woman in the 1st ep). He will then age as a normal mortal, not immediately get old and die.
Here's my five cents (used to be two cents, but we're in a recession): the reason why most of us find the mysteries to be tedious is that we've seen just about every possible way to kill somebody there is, as well as all the motives, all the reasoning behind the solutions and just about every imaginable type of villain/non-villain that even a hack writer could dream up. There is nothing new to any mystery/police procedural, because Perry Mason pretty much did 'em all back in the 1950s. What makes New Amsterdam so unique, and therefore watchable, is the could-be-stupid-but-thankfully-isn't premise of the lead detective being immortal. While this lends itself to potential problems in and of itself (as in, how many people outside of Forrest, Forrest Gump would have been around for just about every important event over the past 400 years, as well as meet a Who's Who of historic personae?), I don't imagine New Amsterdam will be on long enough to get to the point of me going, "Yeah, right," every time he meets somebody new and perhaps-famous, or has a role in a historic event question from Jeopardy! Part of me wants to pick things apart more than I've been doing already, because there are certain things about the show that still don't set well with me (such as the New Age concept of a "soul mate" existing back in 1695, when it didn't). However, since I pretty much knock the stuffing out of myself trying to parse the plotlines of Lost every week, I think I'll just watch this show and enjoy it. Given that it's on opposite Deal Or No Deal, which NBC has been trumpeting as the "most watched show on television" (not something I'd be proud of, if I owned a network), I would be surprised if New Amsterdam makes it to the end of its first season, let alone gets a second one. Considering how horribly NBC treated Journeyman, I doubt Fox (which also has a tendency to shoot for the lower parts of the evolutionary scale, where viewers are concerned) will do much to save this show. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I kinda doubt it. One last thing: I just finished reading Duma Key, by Stephen King, and in it was an interesting friendship between two grown men that is similar to that between John and Omar. It was just really cool to read, as a lot of adult male friendships are exactly like these, just rarely portrayed on TV. Usually men are shown as buffoons (Two and a Half Men, According To Jim, etc) or hard-***ed jerks who you wouldn't want to take to a worm wrestle, much less out for a drink. John's and Omar's frienship is real and meaningful, even if it will end up just being one in a long run of temporary relationships for John Amsterdam. Men can be, and often are, mature (and act that way on a regular basis), and I give kudos to the writers for making both of the men in this show look like the grown-ups they are, rather than the beer-soaked couch lizards that infest most shows. Now if they could make John's partner a little less of a stereotype, the show would be just about perfect.
oh conando! what will you do now that the love of your immortal life is married?
I was getting a bit worried that Amsterdam and the lady doctor were getting all lovey dovey far too quickly. So many lingering looks etc, so I was glad they threw in that little revelation of her being married at the end. Obviously a show can't have its lead find his true love in episode 3, there have to be obstacles along the way.
I actually quite liked the veteran angle to the murder, and I quite like John's partner (don't know her name). Maybe I am the only one, but I'm not a fan of the past flashbacks. Too gimmicky to my mind...
I like the show. I like the major actors and actresses. I think they are doing a great job. Now with the reveal that the Doctor is married should mean that she is off limits. It seems like Amsterdam has lead a noble life, and chasing after a married woman is not noble.