New Amsterdam returned from nearly two months of break with an episode that started with fun karaoke shenanigans and ended with the lives of no fewer than five key characters in question. Helen, Wilder, Casey, Trevor, and Dr. Castries are all seemingly down for the count, and the doctor of holistic medicine was not in good shape the last time that viewers saw her. The next episode will reveal all of their fates, but director (and former Lost star) Nestor Carbonell broke down the cliffhanger for Dr. Castries, and shared with CinemaBlend why it was “insane.”

Unlike Helen and Dr. Wilder, Dr. Mia Castries wasn’t at home when whatever happened started to affect her. She rode her bike to a pier after getting what seemed to be some distressing news about a relationship, and was looking over the edge… dangerously close to the railing on a very cold night. When I spoke with Nestor Carbonell about his work on the spring premiere, he explained what went into filming Dr. Castries’ ambiguous ending in the episode:

That was the coldest day I think I’ve ever spent on a set. And God bless Genevieve [Angelson] and God bless the crew because they were extraordinary. It was certainly below freezing. I want to say it was 12 degrees. It was insane. And as you see, she’s not wearing too much. You know, she’s wearing pants, but it was a thin jacket. I’m thinking ‘Oh my God, how is she [going to do this]? And she’s gonna get emotional.’ So we found this phenomenal location, which is overlooking the water. And the challenge was that this is not a suicide. She’s not committing suicide, so we had to come up with ‘Okay, this has to be an accident.’
Actress Genevieve Angelson – whose character initially didn’t get the warmest of welcome from the doctors who thought she was a plant by Veronica Fuentes – wasn’t exactly bundled into layer after layer of thermal gear for her scene on the water in New York. So, as the director noted, she was very cold while also playing Castries slowly succumbing to the same ailment that had Helen passed out cold at the end of “All Night Long.”

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