Molly Parker stars in Doc, playing a physician whose memories are wiped out by a brain injury
Doctor Amy Larsen, chief of medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis, is a brilliant physician, if not a very nice person. Colleagues fear her, family members avoid her and maybe worst of all, none of this seems to particularly bother Amy. But when a car accident leads to a brain injury that erases the past eight years of her life, it’s like an entirely different person emerges from the wreckage. The old Amy, that life never pummelled, now has to figure out her place in a world where she has no recollection of the people she’s crossed, the fellow doctor she’s been sleeping with or the family tragedy that, at one point, changed the course of her life.
The idea of a do-over was a fascinating prospect for series creator Barbie Kligman (Magnum P.I., Private Practice) and executive producer Hank Steinberg (The Last Ship, For Life). “It gives us the ability to explore the themes of identity and second chances,” says Steinberg. “Who am I? Am I who I remember? Is there something innate in me that will react to the same situation if I’m presented to it twice? Or will something change?” Amy’s memory loss also has a ripple effect on the other characters in her life, like her ex-husband Dr. Michael Hamda (Omar Metwally), for whom the past eight years have left a mark. “Michael is not with Amy anymore, but now she’s back [as] the version of her that he loves,” Steinberg says. “What will that do to him? These are all very universal questions that were so interesting to us.”
The series that takes place both in the past and present creates quite the challenge for its cast. To tackle the duality of Amy, Kligman and Steinberg trusted Deadwood and House of Cards actress Molly Parker. “You know how certain people have that thing?” Kligman muses. “She has everything. She is not only playing the softer side of Amy, the harder side of Amy, the vulnerable side of Amy, the defensive side of Amy, but she plays it all in the same moments. There are lots of talented people out there, but this was even hard to write it, in terms of making sure that [the character] wasn’t just one thing — and then Molly came in and blew us all away.”
For Parker, the key to portraying Dr. Amy Larsen was figuring out her core, first and foremost. “To me, there wasn’t an old Amy and a new Amy, they were all the same person,” the actress explains. Alas, in the time period that Amy has forgotten, she experienced a loss so profound that it completely changed her. But the only recollection she has of the hardened person she became as a result is through the eyes of others. “She has to trust them because that’s all she has,” says Parker. “Part of how she dealt with the loss the first time around, and the grief of that, was to just shut down and shut people out. This time, she’s given an opportunity to do it differently.”
Beyond just the high-concept hook, it is perhaps the three-dimensional ensemble around Parker that makes Doc stand out from other procedurals. Making sure that all of the characters felt fully fleshed out was no small feat for the writers. “One of the things we worked hard on was, with the pilot, making sure when you’re entering the story, the characters already feel lived-in,” says Steinberg. “You’re entering in the middle of dynamics that are already alive.” And indeed, each of the regulars who touch Amy’s life get more exposure as the show progresses. “We were very mindful about creating that tapestry, really honing in, as specifically as we can, to the characters, the situations and the dynamics,” Steinberg continues. “If you cast the right actors for the right roles, the audience can project onto them this depth.”
The series is based on an Italian drama, which in turn is based on the real-life case of a man losing 12 years to a brain injury. For both the cast and the creative team, these hypothetical circumstances have raised questions about the possibility of “sliding doors” moments of their own lives. “At the heart of our show is this question of, ‘Given another chance, what would you do differently? Would you do anything differently?’ And I feel like that’s a fascinating question,” says Amirah Vann (How To Get Away With Murder), who plays Amy’s closest friend, neuropsychiatrist Gina Walker. “Seeing Amy live life all over again and seeing the differences, it is like, ‘I could have gone this route had I made that one different choice, had I run into that one person, had I had that one conversation that was life-changing for me.’ It could be sad, but it’s also very hopeful. We always, at any moment, have the opportunity to change the course for the better, with one conversation or one different thought.”
Doc premieres on Tuesday, January 7, on Global & Fox