Heading into the Doc season 2 finale, we knew to expect deaths. The cast made it clear that not everyone would survive the events of the two-hour finale, but the specifics around how the characters' lives would be in danger and who exactly would be in danger were not immediately made clear.
The finale certainly lived up to the promise of deaths.
The extended finale saw Westside going into an emergency lockdown after a fast-acting and extremely deadly virus was discovered to have been brought to the sixth floor by an ill patient. Once the lockdown was triggered, the team on the floor worked to contact trace, triage, contain, and find a cure for the virus, which quickly created mayhem in the hospital.
It didn't take long before the virus spread, infecting both other patients on the floor and members of the Westside staff, including Amy, Richard, Liz, and Lucy. As teased, there were several infected who died from the virus, including nurse Lucy, who has been a part of the show since the first season.
Lucy's death marked the first major death of a series regular or recurring character on the show; however, it seems the show also killed off another more prominent character in the episode... fans just didn't see the death occur on-screen in the episode.
Doc executive producer confirms Joan died in the season 2 finale
Heading into the Doc season 2 finale, Joan was one of the characters we were most worried about. Even before we knew the episode would see the hospital battling a deadly virus, we knew that Joan's time was running out with her health declining.
We anticipated that Joan's death would occur in the finale, and it did. However, the writers chose not to have her death occur on-screen. instead we got to see Joan have one final moment in the OR as she teamed up with Ben and TJ to operate on Amy, saving her life in the process.
Following the surgery, Joan had a really sweet final moment with Amy in which she encouraged her friend and mentee to keep giving all she can while admitting that she'd given all she had to give.
“I’ve given all I had, but you, you, Amy, you’ve got plenty more to give, so give,” Joan told her friend. The final shot of Joan in the finale sees her lying in hospice care, a moment that indicated Joan's death was imminent. While Joan's fate was left a bit ambiguous, executive producer Barbie Kligman has since confirmed that Joan died off-screen. This was a decision made to give Joan dignity in death, and it certainly felt like the right decision.
“I think actually seeing her expire on camera wasn’t necessary. We know it’s coming. And I feel like we just decided to give Joan the dignity to … You know how when someone you love, a lot of times, they wait for you to leave the room for that actual moment where they go to the other side. They want you to be there before they go. They want you to say goodbye. They want to say goodbye. But for the actual moment, the death rattle moment, sometimes they don’t want anyone there. And I feel like that’s what we did," Klingman told TV Insider. "Joan was sort of going off strong into that good night having given everything she had to save Amy. And now she gets to be with her family, which is what she needed to do for the end. And it can be a more bittersweet thing than a depressing thing.”
While Felicity Huffman's time on the show has come to an end and Joan has died, the door thankfully remains open for the character to return in the future -- though no plans are in place at the moment for Joan's immedaite return.
Given that Amy is prone to having flashback moments of her memories, the show could find a way to bring Joan back via flashback sequences from Amy's past at some point down the line. That would certainly be a welcome move, as Joan was an incredible character and we'd love to see more of Huffman in the role!
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