We Got It All Wrong About That Max & Helen Scene on New Amsterdam

It seems like fans of New Amsterdam have got it all wrong about that much-debated Max and Helen scene in the recent episode titled Falling.

While some viewers were relieved that Max finally made a decision and chose Elizabeth, others were left disappointed by the way Helen was portrayed in the episode. Many fans were angered by the fact that Max didn't even go inside the bar to talk to Helen and sort things out; instead he was shown standing pensively outside before going straight to Elizabeth.

But, as it turns out, using old footage instead of filming a new scene where Max actually talks to Elizabeth was a necessity. According to New Amsterdam executive producer David Schulner, the original plan was for Freema Agyeman to reprise her character as the show came to a close with new material.

"We originally wanted to save Freema's return for the finale," Schulner tells Give Me My Remote in a recent video interview. "We were really close to having the stars align and everything work out with that. And then it didn't happen. So we're like, shoot, because we had already committed to using this footage for episode 11."

Schulner goes on to explain that the show's creators knew that if Max and Helen had a conversation about their past and future before Max made his decision, it wouldn't have been a very heroic decision.

"The heroic decision is to go to Wilder without knowing why it happened. Why she left him at the altar, why she blew up their relationship. That's the heroic decision: To say, 'I choose you, without knowing why this other thing happened.' Like, I'm taking the leap into my future instead of going back to the past. So we knew we didn't want there to be a conversation between them. But we knew he still had to make a choice."

So there you have it, fans. It seems like we all got it wrong about that Max and Helen scene on New Amsterdam. The finale itself, "How Can I Help?"—the second hour of a two-episode block airing on Tuesday, January 17 at 9/8c—will finally give us some answers and closure to the ongoing love triangle. Let's just hope we don't get too disappointed with the outcome.