‘Doc’: Felicity Huffman Talks Joan’s Health, Thoughts on Amy’s Changes & More

She gathers her staff at the end of the episode and says she’s aiming to make everyone better. In two months, there will be an official evaluation, and some may not survive it. But what she’s not telling anyone, including Amy (Molly Parker), who doesn’t remember she knows about this, is that she has health issues; she worried about leukemia in a flashback, and she gets an email with results in the present.

Below, Felicity Huffman unpacks Joan’s health concerns, relationship with and thoughts about the new Amy without her memories, the love triangle, and much more.

We see in the flashback, Joan was concerned about the possibility of leukemia and now in the present, she gets those results that she’s hesitant to read and then Amy and Gina walk in. So we don’t see what they are. So what can you say about her health? Because my guess is that’s not a good news email.

Felicity Huffman: Because why would they have a good news email? What’s the fun in that? What I can say about her health is it’s going to be revealed that she’s battling a serious health issue. And you find out that Amy found out about it before the accident but has no memory of that. And I think what this disease does for Joan, particularly now since she has the chief of internal medicine job, is it raises a question: What are you going to do with the time you have left?

And the writers, Barbie Kligman and Hank Steinberg, have introduced this character at a fulcrum in her life, which is, of course, the mark of great storytelling. And before we meet Joan, her whole life has been scattered and traveling, and Doctors Without Borders, and a very peripatetic lifestyle. But facing this illness and having this job, taking on this job, has allowed to stop and focus on what she’s best at: making others great. And that’s how she makes this potentially fatal illness manageable. She’s anchored it to a bigger purpose than whether or not she’s sick. She’s anchored it to, “What am I going to do with the rest of my life? I am going to make this hospital great. There are talented people here. There are people with a lot of heart. This could be the best hospital in the country.” So, it’s a golden opportunity.

She had confided with Amy in the past, but how does she feel about confiding in Amy with who Amy is now without her memories and everything?

I don’t think the reason Joan is keeping it a secret is because she didn’t trust the old Amy or she doesn’t trust the new Amy. I think the reason that Joan wants to keep it a secret is because it doesn’t advance her larger cause, which is bringing excellence, and people will treat her differently. She wants to lead people and I’m not sure that they’ll follow if all they’re doing is going, “Are you OK? Are you OK?” It makes it harder to take a stoical approach, and she wants to get the job done.

In the flashback, Amy had had that warning that Joan wouldn’t be able to perform surgery anymore if she got bad. And we know what being in the OR means to Joan because she had that, “I need one day of dedicated OR time,” she tells Michael (Omar Metwally) —

Oh, you’ve really been paying attention when you watch. Yes!

So I don’t think that Joan would ever jeopardize a patient, but is she the kind of person to find a way around it that might not be the smartest way so she can operate in the safest way?

No, 100% no. Joan would never jeopardize a patient. She lives and breathes for the patient. And as a matter of fact, it’s a great question because that has been her issue with Amy since Episode 2, which is Amy’s relentless pursuit of memories from her past — personal memories, not doctor knowledge, but personal memories — puts her ability to be a good doctor at risk, which means she’s putting her patients at risk, and that can’t fly.

Joan puts everyone on this clock of two months before the official evaluation and warns that some of them will not survive it. How serious is she about that and how much is it her trying to just use that almost as a motivational tool to make sure they’re their best?

I don’t think Joan is sort of tricky that way. “I’m going to say this in order to get this result.” I think she’s blunt and I think actually this disease has even made her more blunt — not because she’s a hard ass, but because it’s results, results, results and tell the truth. It’s always the easiest thing to remember. And how serious is she? I think she’s as serious, no pun intended, as a heart attack because it’s turning to your team and going, “We’re going to the Super Bowl and in order for everybody to go, in order for us to go to the Super Bowl, everybody’s bringing their A+ game. And if you can’t bring you’re a+ game for whatever reason, whether you don’t have the talent or like Amy, if you’re more involved in finding out your personal memories, then God bless you, but you can’t be on the team.”

Amy’s trying to get her memories back using TMS and the tank. We’re seeing the side effects of that. Does Joan miss the old Amy more than she likes the new Amy?

Wow. No one has ever asked that. That’s a great question. Oh dear. I don’t know. I think that Joan believes that Amy lives and breathes in being a brilliant doctor. She’s the Steve Jobs in the medical field and when you have that kind of God-given talent, you’ve got to use it or it eats you up. And so I think she wants Amy to get back to doctoring. I think what she would say is, I wish Amy was before she lost her son because then it would be Amy not in pain. If she had to pick an Amy, it was before her child died. And I think Amy would choose that, too.

We know how Gina feels about Joan and that she never trusted her and never will, but she acknowledges the good things that Joan has done for Amy. How does Joan feel about Gina?

Well, Gina is not under Joan’s jurisdiction. Gina is not a part of the internal medicine staff. I think she appreciates her love for Amy and she wishes that they were on the same side. And I don’t think she plans on fighting Gina. It’s like, “Look, I don’t need to take up arms against you. You can hate me or not hate me. It’s OK. Whatever you want to do is fine.”

We know what Joan thought of Amy and Michael’s relationship and that he held her back because of that dinner flashback we got when Amy was getting the memory back. And we also know that Joan knew about Amy and Jake’s (Jon Ecker) relationship before Amy lost her memories. What would Joan think of the way that Amy and Jake seem to be starting things back up in such a complicated way at the end of this episode? What does she think of Jame for Amy?

Joan didn’t tell Amy to leave Michael because he held her back. Joan told Amy to leave Michael because she can’t forgive him for their son dying and you can’t have a marriage with that. So it’s already dead. And what do I think Joan thinks of Jake and that union? If they want to sneak off and have sex in some closet somewhere, that’s fine. I think Joan’s probably done that for years. But when it gets in the way of Amy’s ability to be a doctor, then that’s a problem. And that includes getting along with the other staff, that includes being distracted, so that’s why it would be a problem.

Then there’s also just what Joan is seeing in Jake as a doctor because we see her give him more responsibility with the intern interviews in this episode. What does she want to see in him by doing so? And what is she looking for in this new intern? Because this would also be the first person that she brings on as chief.

Well, part of getting everyone to bring their A game is giving them opportunities to display their A game. So, that’s what she’s doing with Jake, which is take the reins, take the responsibility, let’s see how you do. And he’s the one that hires Hannah [Emma Pfitzer Price]. I mean, great leadership, from what I’ve read, empowers people. You don’t give people a job and then micromanage it. You go, you got the job, you make the choice, it’s on you. So we’ll see what his new hire turns out to be. I know she’s a wonderful young actress, that’s for sure.

Richard (Scott Wolf) is coming back later in the season. What do you know about what his and Joan dynamic is going to be like and has been in the past?

Joan would only know what Amy has told her. And Richard was pretty nefarious in Season 1 and pretty backhanded. I mean, he stood up in the end, and good for him. So I think that Joan is going to be a little worried about Richard coming back on and I think she’s going to want to make sure that Amy is safe.

Who is Joan outside of the hospital? What can you say about her personal life?

Joan was married and then got divorced. She has a son who lives in the middle of the country whom she is estranged from because he’s chosen not to reach out. He’s chosen to cut off his mom. And I think she’s a pragmatist, which is, I think it breaks her heart. And I also think she respects what he needs to do, which is to, at best, distance himself from his mother and at worst cut her off. And I think she lives for her job. I think she probably has a few old friends that she came up in the medical field with that she meets and has a scotch with and puts up their feet. And then she lives for her job, particularly since her diagnosis.

With whom besides Amy does Joan have the most significant conversation in coming episodes?

I think it’s going to be Michael. Michael played brilliantly by Omar Metwally.

What can you preview about that? Because I like that dynamic from the first scene with the two of them, I have to say.

I know, I love that scene when he came and offered her the job. I just love that scene. I think she respects Michael. I think she really respects that Michael knows his limits. I mean, I don’t think Michael was a great surgeon, so he went into the administrative side of it, which he’s brilliant at. I think she knows that Michael loves Amy and she knows that Amy loves Michael. And I don’t know if I personally was a betting woman, I would bet on Michael and Amy. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that.

I think you are.

I don’t know. Who are you rooting for?

I feel like it depends on the episode almost and what’s going on with the characters because neither one of them is a bad choice.

Yeah, that’s true.

Doc, Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox

More Headlines:

• ‘Doc’: Felicity Huffman Talks Joan’s Health, Thoughts on Amy’s Changes & More
• ‘The Voice’: The Coaches Get Picky as They Complete Their Teams in Final Blind Auditions
• ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Recap: Whitney Tops the Leaderboard & Another Shocking Elimination
• ‘Murder in a Small Town’ Producers on Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Final Role, Karl & Cassandra’s Clash & More
• ‘Jeopardy!’: Can Reigning Champ TJ Fisher Make the Tournament of Champions?