"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Thursday, April 10, 2008

New Amsterdam 7: What Kept John from Dying?

Next to last New Amsterdam on Monday - at least, for this season, and no one is saying at this point if it there will be another. This hour moved the story forward on one crucial point:

Apparently Dr. Sara is not the one for John. He's shot (again) at point blank range, comes close to dying, but survives. The implication is the attack would have killed a mortal man. Were Sara the one, and this reduced John to mortality, as per the original prophecy, he should have died.

Reasons for John surviving, if Sara indeed was the one, and John was mortal, could only be if the damage done to him by the gun was not that serious. That would be a rather weak move for the story, so I'm assuming that's not the case.

Another possibility - especially given the other main story in Episode 7 - is that John may be slowly dying from the lead in his body. This is what happened to John's prior partner. He was shot, survived, but eventually died of long-range complications.

But I'm betting that what's going on is John's current partner, Eva, is John's true love.

Will this be revealed next week?

Either way, I'll be sorry to see this promising series end.

See also New Amsterdam, 1,2,3 ... 4. Poetry and Parenthesis ... 5. Meets Mad Men ... 6. The DNA of Art ... 8. New Amsterdam Bows: Lessons in Cons and Backsides





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3 comments:

Michael A. Burstein said...

I considered another possibility, which is that Sara is indeed the one, but all that means is that John will now start the process of aging. He's still protected from other harm, but he can now eventually die of old age.

Because, otherwise, the show could end with John finding "the one," and then killing himself. Wouldn't be very satisfying to the viewer.

Unknown said...

Didn't like this series at first but it seems to be growing on me.

Coincidently, happened to be watching this on Tivo when I read this post. Shame if it goes off the air.

Jericho is another program I hope comes back next season.

Paul Levinson said...

Good points, Michael and Tolo...

Tolo - welcome to Infinite Regress!

(I'd welcome Michael, too, but he's been here many times....)

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