#New Amsterdam Season 3 Episode 14 Review: Death Begins In Radiology

So ends another season of this delightful medical drama.

And New Amsterdam Season 3 Episode 14 had a unique format; each character’s arc felt like a chapter of an overarching book. The hour poignantly closed a chapter — a bookend for a segment of Max and Helen’s life, and it turned a page to start something new.

It was a lovely note to end the season — an understated simplicity to the hour that managed to pull the ripcord on a slow-burn romance that’s been building since New Amsterdam Season 1 Episode 1.

The formatting of the hour felt very artsy and avant-garde. It broke away from the show’s typical format, and it was a bold choice to rely on it to close out a season of this caliber.

It’s probably something that people would either love or hate, giving us these snippets of each character’s life, focusing almost exclusively on them for a chunk of each installment, save for the times they crossed each other’s paths.

While divvying up each act per person isn’t something you’d expect to see often, it worked here. Some of them worked better than others — Iggy and Helen’s time away from the hospital was refreshing, and it had the intended effect.

Their oasis of escape made their portions feel as though they were each in their individual film or show. It allowed you to escape with them and devote yourself to their time.

After a season that started with the powerful blend of heaviness and hopefulness that came with addressing COVID during New Amsterdam Season 3 Episode 1, it was pleasant to have the season end on this lighter, quieter, relatively low-key note.

They also dropped the issue a week format; instead, choosing to focus on the characters.

Each character is in a state of transition in their life, and while the medical cases are always intriguing or a natural part of the show’s appeal, it’s nice to check in with the healers themselves and their personal lives.

Lauren

On the surface, Lauren’s arc didn’t seem as though it brought as much to the table, but it all changed when she found out that Leyla got accepted into a residency program on the other side of the country.

We’ve never seen Lauren as happy as she’s been with Leyla. She’s all-in when it comes to their relationship, so without a doubt, there isn’t anything she wouldn’t do to protect that happiness.

Leyla is a smart woman, and I’m glad she got into a residency program. She’s deserving of that. Sadly, she wasn’t the first choice for New Amsterdam.

It’s reminiscent of what NBC’s Canadian import, Transplant, explored regarding doctors from foreign countries, like Pakistan, who are excellent at their craft. Unfortunately, their credits aren’t translated here in the States.

It’s strictly elitist and xenophobic. Leyla probably has more experience than the average doctor in the States. A medical professional from places like Pakistan sees and experiences things more hands-on than doctors here. They’d be akin to medics in the military, yet they don’t get treated with that same value.

Lauren didn’t handle it well when she learned that Leyla got a position across the country. It speaks not only to how much she’s fallen for Leyla but what could happen if she loses Leyla.

It’s a scary thought. Lauren’s breakdown in the supply closet was beautifully filmed. There were some great shots of Montgomery, perfectly capturing Lauren’s anguish and anxiety.

The voiceover of her reciting the Serenity Prayer was impactful and elevated the scene.

And Lauren has shown that she’s willing to do anything out of love for Leyla and desperation. It’s disturbing that the Dean of Medicine accepts bribes from people. It’s illegal, after all.

But Lauren gave in, and she must’ve paid him off. Leyla will start as a resident at New Amsterdam, and she and Lauren can be together. The question is, at what cost?

No way this doesn’t come back to bite Lauren in the ass later, and it’s like the sword of Damocles hanging over Lauren’s head.

Leyla is none the wiser, so this has the potential of putting a strain on the very relationship that Lauren is desperate to protect.

And yet, the best thing about this is that Leyla will be working a New Amsterdam. It means we get the chance to know her outside of Lauren and in the field.

She seems like a great woman, and the bubble they’ve been in has been a highlight of the season — their relationship is a definite bright spot.

They’ve cultivated that, and now we’ll get to see more outside of that. Assuming, of course, this doesn’t all come crashing down around Lauren.

Floyd: I guess I just assumed you took it off on purpose.

Max: No. I don’t know. It still means something, I guess. I mean it’s everything we had, you know? I, God, it can’t be gone.

Floyd: You know, I felt exactly the same way about Evie’s ring, after we, you know.

Max: So what changed?

Floyd: Well, I realized I wasn’t hanging on to Evie’s ring because she still had a big piece of my heart. I was hanging on to it because she didn’t. And the ring wasn’t about our love anymore. I was about my guilt.

The thread is an effective one to leave dangling for next season as Lauren continues forward with this new chapter in her life.

Floyd

Floyd’s chapter is both surprising and also not.

He couldn’t resist Lyn, and the two of them have such incredible chemistry that there wasn’t a chance the show wouldn’t make use of it.

It seems Floyd followed Lauren’s advice and jumped into the deep end, but he’s not comfortable there. He’s an Alpha man, territorial too, and it’s killing him to share this woman he has feelings for with someone else.

As much as he’s trying, Floyd isn’t exactly the type of man cut out for a poly relationship. But as someone who is often rigid in his ways, perhaps he deserves credit for giving it a try anyway.

It feels like this can only end in disaster, but that’s before the hour added another wrinkle into this layered relationship.

Lyn’s a wily one. What is with her inability to share things fully?

You would think that she’d mention they both work with her husband!

Flores came across as a bit of a hardass when they introduced him, but he runs a tight ship, and he’s all about getting the job done. He’s damn good at his job and recognizes skills when he sees them.

Floyd’s demotion of sorts when he returned to New Amsterdam is something that needed amendment. The hospital wastes him when he can’t put all of his skills to use, so it was great when Flores offered him the job.

But all of that changed when he discovered Lyn and Flores are married. And on top of that, Lyn acted as if she barely knew him.

Floyd got in bed with Lyn and her husband in more ways than one. His personal and professional life is leaking into each other something fierce right now.

How in the hell is he supposed to work with Lyn’s husband every single day? He can barely handle that she has one!

Iggy

Darling Iggy’s time with his family was a sweet bit of escapism.

Everything about Iggy, Martin, and the kids are so wholesome and cute. Goodness, they are the absolute best as a family unit, and anytime we spend time with them, it’s enough to make you smile.

Iggy and Martin have such a solid relationship. Even when they have their ups and downs, they know each other so well. They balance each other out well, too.

Martin, you give me everything that I need. Our family gives me everything. We can go home whenever you need to. No more running, I promise. But I’m not going to see patients anymore. I’m done with that life.
Iggy

As much as Martin enjoyed the time with his husband and their kids, a full-month getaway in an RV, he knew Iggy was running. Iggy didn’t want to go back home after what happened to Chance, and he wasn’t ready to face anything.

They found heaven in their slice of escapism, and going back to normal wasn’t ideal for Iggy. It’s something he recognized in Samira, too.

Kids are so damn stressful! Their one son shrieking like that made me think he got bit by a snake or something. Instead, he got a splinter. Iggy handled it well, and it’s so precious to see him in Dad mode.

And then Samira vanished without telling anyone, and we spent a pulse-pounding couple of minutes thinking the absolute worst. It turned out she wanted some space by herself, and she lamented going back home and getting to normal.

Iggy’s words about normalcy felt apt, especially in these weird post-pandemic times. As customary, Iggy advising someone else often triggers him to evaluate and apply it to himself.

His conclusion that he’ll go back home but not see patients again is a bit heartbreaking. It’s doubtful he can stick to it. Helping people is in Iggy’s blood and bones.

But his experience with Chance rattled him, and while it’s disheartening to know that he’s considering a world where he doesn’t see patients again, it’s coming from an understandable place.

Iggy has been through it this season, so not only did he deserve that escape with his family, but he’d be deserving of a break from seeing patients, too.

Helen

Helen’s time in London felt abrupt. Overall, Helen’s familial arc has been unsatisfying.

Mina wasn’t the best addition to the series, and it felt as if she consumed too much of Helen’s time and sucked the life out of her. She wasn’t the most likable character, and it was hard to form any real attachment to her.

Helen going to London for a month to get Mina settled and say goodbye was a bit bizarre. But most of all, it left one wanting.

We met Helen’s mother for the first time, and it felt as if it was in passing. The time the series spent with Mina could’ve been devoted to a storyline with Helen’s mom instead.

The month away must’ve done the two of them well since Mina was pleasant with Helen and grateful for what Helen did for her. The girl has run hot and cold all season, so there was no real feeling behind these two women saying goodbye to each other.

Good riddance, Mina.

The tension between Helen and her mother in the few minutes we saw it was far more interesting. Helen’s request that her mom checks in with Mina, if needed, made sense for Helen. She’s such a warm soul, but it was a big ask, given her family’s history.

Hi, um, I very much enjoyed your message. My flight’s not until tomorrow, but um, I’ve been doing some fantasizing of my own.
Helen voicemail

Her mom’s health scare brought Helen to a clinic she used to work at, and the comments about how Brexit affected everything and their need for a medical director felt like an opening for something. However, I can’t imagine why that would pop up again.

I wish we spent more time with Helen in London and found out about her mother’s diagnosis while we were there instead of at the end of the hour when she shared it with Max.

Max

Max’s wedding band was probably the last thing he held onto that kept him from moving forward with anything.

Using the loss of it as a vehicle for him to make a move was smart on the writers’ part.

The guy spent the majority of his time during this installment looking for his wedding band. It’s good that his check-up went well, and they didn’t throw some twist at us that would make us concerned about his health.

But the rest of the time, he was grappling with what it meant that he lost his wedding ring. Max freaked out about it.

His conversation with Floyd was interesting. Floyd touched on the fact that his holding on to Evie’s engagement ring was about guilt. And while their circumstances are drastically different, that is a factor in why Max couldn’t let it go.

Karen had an enlightening perspective on it, too, but she got cut short when Sandra found the ring and returned it to Max.

Karen: Max, look at me. She’d understand.

Max: I almost took it off. On the anniversary of her.

Karen: Why didn’t you?

Max: Because when I look at Luna, I don’t see Georgia anymore. I see my little girl. And when I look inside, Georgia isn’t there either. That ring, it’s our whole life.

Max’s statements about how it’s the last piece of Georgia and their relationship that he has were illuminating. He doesn’t see Georgia in Luna anymore. He’s not close to Georgia’s parents, and Georgia’s presence at their home isn’t there anymore.

His wedding band was that last thing he could cling to without feeling as if he forgot her. But it was also something that held him back from being happy.

We’ve seen Max toy with the wedding band before and even almost take it off. Fear kept him from making that move, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a healthy dose of guilt over Georgia’s death and the fact that he started falling for someone else while he was with Georgia.

It’s been two years, though, and the timing feels right for Max to take this big step. And that’s the thing; Max had to be the one to take it.

Sharpwin

His wedding band was holding him back, but he does get credit for making moves. He was the one who told Helen his feelings while lying in that hospital bed.

And the yearning in that voicemail was unmistakable. No way could they have been able to walk any of that back.

We’ve never heard Max that open and honest about his feelings for Helen as we did during that voicemail, and it’s commendable that he put himself out there like that at all.

Even Helen was delighted and caught off guard by it.

Hey, it’s, uh, me. I miss you. I can’t keep you out of my head. It’s very distracting. Um, we said things to each other that were just the beginning, and uh, we never quite, um, anyway. Now you’re going, and it feels like its been forever, and I really need, I need to see you. I need to talk to you. I need to be with you in all the ways that I’ve been dreaming of.
Max

It turns out Max can’t handle being away from Helen for too long. Her month departure had him losing his mind. The man couldn’t even focus.

The foreplay doesn’t get any better, no? While they dragged out the Sharpwin goodness until the last few minutes of the hour, they delivered on the rom-com goodness, and it was effective.

Helen was so charmed by the message he left her, and hers was almost as sweet, albeit flustered. Helen was excited to come face to face with him again, but then he brought up his wedding band and how freaked out he was, and it was a douse of cold water on whatever they built.

Helen couldn’t be the one to put herself out there when she wasn’t sure if Max was ready. And you could see her shutting down when she thought that after all that progress they made, Max was backtracing on her.

Their silent walk was sweet, though, and the tension between them thickened again. Max and Helen’s awkwardness at the doorstep showed how much Max wanted to leap but was too afraid to do so.

And it was crushing when Max walked away. But in true romance film fashion, he had that epiphany and went running back to her, banging on her door, and it felt as if we were transported to something else entirely.

It worked, though. Max slipping off his ring and banging down Helen’s door before going in for the kiss is the kind of build-up that fans of this relationship have waited for it.

The payoff is satisfactory for them. Maybe we could’ve gone a bit more before the door closed, but after three seasons of teasing, we got something.

Thank goodness Helen no longer doubts that Max isn’t ready to move on, and as a Sharpwin ‘shipper, the hour couldn’t have ended on a better note.

It’s the beginning of something new for these two. Max and Helen’s indefinable relationship now has definition, and there’s so much to explore from this point forward.

More than anything, we no longer have to feel as if WE’LL spontaneously combust from all of that crackling chemistry between them. It was getting to be too much.

Kudos to the show for finding that sweet spot on when to pull the trigger on this relationship. The slow burn was worth it, and it added to the appeal of this pairing in the first place.

But any longer than this, and it would’ve been too much. It was time to pull the trigger on these two, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

It’s not as if there isn’t a whole other chapter of uncharted territory to explore moving forward as these two navigate this new phase in their relationship.

I mean, for starters, we can pick up on whatever happened in that hallway. Assuming they haven’t made it to the bedroom by now, of course.

Over to you, Dam Fanatics. Did you like the formatting of this finale? What did you think about it?

Max: Do you wanna walk me and talk about your, mum, did I get that right?

Helen: I’m a little talked out at the moment.

Max: Yeah, me too.

Helen: Maybe too much was said already.

Max: Helen, can I just walk with you? We don’t need to talk.

Will Iggy give up seeing patients? What do you think will happen with Floyd, Lyn, and her husband? Will Lauren’s bribe come back to haunt her?

Are you thrilled they’ve finally given us Sharpwin? Hit the comments below, and let’s discuss, just as soon as I’m done basking in Sharpwin feels!

To relive the season and all of its best moments, you can watch New Amsterdam online here via TV Fanatic.

Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.