Dr. Floyd Reynolds is once again putting his heart on the line for a woman who may be unavailable on New Amsterdam.
In the show’s recently aired fall finale, Floyd and traveling nurse Gabrielle grew even closer, but at the same, the date for her move out of New York City also grew closer. However, compared to Floyd’s last relationship with Lyn Malvo — a polyamorous one in which she got pregnant with Floyd’s baby and moved away with her husband — might navigating his situation with Gabrielle be a walk in the park?
Below, star Jocko Sims weighs in on Floyd’s romantic life and whether he’ll try to convince Gabrielle to stay at New Amsterdam.
TVLINE | At the end of Episode 10, Floyd’s dad tells him, “Go for the girl.” Is he going to follow his dad’s advice?
Yeah. I mean, isn’t it time for Floyd to finally find some love? Now we’re building on whether or not it would work out. I hope it does. But he’s definitely going to give it a shot. He’s going to go for it. But naturally, it would make sense to try to find a way to make all of it work, right? Work with dad, and work with the girl.
TVLINE | This relationship with Gabrielle started off as this casual, fun thing. So how invested is he in it, and how deep are his feelings for her at this point?
Well, I have to say that Floyd has really made it a point to sort of be serious when it comes to finding a relationship that is lasting. So he has some trepidation with this one, because not only is she a nurse, but she’s a traveling nurse. She gets paid bonuses to just up and leave and go somewhere else. That causes some concern for him.
TVLINE | And she continually brings up the fact that she’s got “X” number of weeks until she leaves. As that date draws closer, is he feeling more and more anxiety? Is he thinking like, “How can I convince her to stay?”
We know, historically, that Floyd, from the beginning, he’s the type of person to kind of just go with his heart or his loins. [Laughs] He got a little bit deeper involved with Bloom, initially, than he felt that he should. Same thing happened with Lyn Malvo, who turned out to be a married woman. And so, I don’t think the fact that this is a traveling nurse, ultimately, would stop him from pursuing it strongly. And of course, it’s going to cause all the good conflict.
TVLINE | All those women that you mentioned, they’re all very strong women. That’s clearly something that he is attracted to. At the same time, there’s something a little bit different about Gabrielle. What is it that you think draws him to her, specifically?
Now that you asked that, I think that there’s a little bit of Bloom in her in that she calls him out on his stuff. The first time they met, she was telling Floyd that he needed to basically apologize to Dr. Flores for taking over her procedure that she was doing on him. And also, the fact that she just basically pointed out that these were very capable women, both his mother and Dr. Flores, and she made him see that, and he liked that. He really liked that. When he first meets Gabrielle, he wakes up from the procedure and says, “What’s your name?” he was very intrigued, and she [doesn’t tell him her name] and walks away. Like, “Challenge accepted!”
TVLINE | Gabrielle’s looking for fun. He has, historically, been looking to get married, have a family. He even says to her that he’s not where he thought he would be at this point in his life on a personal level. How much is he struggling with navigating the fact that he’s got feelings for this woman, but it’s possibly in conflict with his own desires to settle down?
I think through the relationship with Lyn last season, Floyd’s open. I’m glad we’re having this conversation because it’s like, “Where do where do I land with that, character-wise?” and I think that Floyd has evolved. He started out by saying he wanted a traditional family, wanted a Black family and kids, and he ended up in a polyamorous relationship, and that was quite different. [Laughs] So this this is a walk in the park. He can handle it.
TVLINE | Coming out of this episode, Floyd and his dad seem to be in a very good place. Is there more struggle ahead for them? Or have they passed a turning point in their relationship?
For the most part, they’ve seemed to have found a good place, which is great. [When his dad moves out], that’s tough, because I remember playing that scene, and it’s written that he’s afraid to lose him, and his dad says something very poignant. He’s like, “Last time, I left for selfish reasons. I left for me. But this time, I’m leaving for you,” and I took that to mean that, “I’ll be back. I’ll be around.” … [His father] being bipolar is not going to go away. So we’ll probably have to deal with that at some point. But I know that you will see his father again.
TVLINE | How has this experience with his dad changed Floyd’s views about the trajectory of his own life?
I think even prior to his dad coming into his life, his experience or lack of relationship with his father has molded him into who he was, in a way. Especially with having brought a kid into the world, it was important for Floyd to just figure out that relationship with his father. I know that more than anything, it’s what caused him to want to be there for his kid, which they should write more of that. We gotta bring the kid back. [Laughs] But I think if anything, it’s taught Floyd that when it comes time to have a family of his own, he’s definitely going to do everything he can to hold it together.
