Warning: The following contains major spoilers for Tuesday’s New Amsterdam. Proceed at your own risk!
New Amsterdam‘s fall finale delivered on showrunner David Schulner’s promise to TVLine that he never saw the last of Freema Agyeman as Dr. Helen Sharp.
The NBC drama ended at the end of season four, but the actress, who lent her voice to the farewell letter at the opening of season five, returned unexpectedly early at the end of back-to-back episodes on Tuesday. Raise your hand if you think it won’t reappear until the finale.)
Helen’s appearance came at a pivotal moment in the burgeoning relationship between her ex-fiancé Max and his potential new love interest, Dr. Elizabeth Wilder. The shock of seeing him again, even on the TV screen, will have a huge impact on Max’s personal life.
“I wanted to bring back Helen Sharpe to test Max’s resolve. To test his feelings for Wilder. To test if he’s really cured,” said the showrunner. David Schulner told TVLine. “And we knew we wanted it to happen for him at the worst possible moment.
Read on as we recap the episode’s biggest developments and get the scoop from Schulner on what awaits when the series returns on January 3rd. Then rate the fall finale in the poll below.