Besides watching Amy and the rest of the hospital staff treat patients, episode 2 of Doc season 2 was really about the introduction of Dr. Joan Ridley. She's an old friend and mentor of Amy's who returns to Westside Hospital after being abroad for some months. She seems very supportive and kind to Amy at first, but as Amy recovers an old memory, it looks like there might be more to Joan than meets the eye. Let's see what happens next in the third episode of the season titled "New Blood."
Major spoilers are ahead from Doc season 2 episode 3!
Amy treats a patient with hepatitis
The third episode opens with a woman in the backseat of a taxi. She's on her way to the airport to head to Mexico City when she starts coughing up blood. The taxi driver then takes her to Westside Hospital, where she becomes Amy's patient. Before we see Amy meet this patient, we're shown her talking with Gina in one of the rooms in the hospital.
After finishing up one of her TMS treatments, Amy brings up the memory she recovered of her and Joan at dinner. What's really interesting about this scene is that we learn that Gina doesn't like Joan for some reason. Before leaving the room, Gina asks Amy if she's had any side effects from doing the treatments, and she responds by saying that she's just had headaches.
Now, it's time for Amy to meet her new patient. Her name is Claire. Amy shares with Claire her findings of what's going on with her. She tells her that she has drug-induced hepatitis and that she's going to give her steroids to help her. But Amy's main concern is finding out what drugs Claire's been taking. She wants to know what caused the liver inflammation in the first place. According to Claire's profile, she's taking several different medications to treat her multiple sclerosis (MS). However, Claire tells Amy that she has stopped taking them and is instead using traditional remedies.
Amy explains that those remedies couldn't be the cause of her liver problems. This is when Claire comes clean. She shares with Amy that she's been getting experimental stem cell injections in Mexico. However, she refuses to believe that they are what brought on the hepatitis. According to Claire's scans, the injections have been helping tremendously with her MS, even putting it in long-term remission. Amy finds this strange and needs to dig deeper.
What does she do? She calls the doctor in Mexico who's been administering the injections. The doctor asks Amy when Claire can get on a plane to come to Mexico for an evaluation, and Amy responds end of the week. But this isn't going to work. The doctor explains to Amy that Claire is due for more injections that day, and if she doesn't get there within 24 hours, she will be dropped from the drug trial. Now, Amy has to figure out a solution quickly.
Joan and Amy butt heads about a patient
Amy contacts Michael first to see if he can arrange a chartered medical flight to Mexico City for Claire, but he explains that he can’t authorize anything without consulting the Chief of Internal Medicine, Joan. They all talk to each other on a three-way call, and Joan basically turns down the idea. She explains that letting the patient go to Mexico City for unconventional treatments could put the entire hospital at risk. She tells Amy that the best thing she can do for her patient is to find a local drug trial for her to participate in.
After the phone call ends, Joan confronts Amy about going over her head by talking to Michael first. Amy explains that it's just an old habit, but it looks like things between them are getting rocky. Later, Amy and Gina inform Claire about the situation and attempt to convince her to participate in one of the local drug trials. But Claire refuses to. She starts packing her things and states that she's going to Mexico City herself, but Gina threatens to put her on a 72-hour psychiatric hold.
Later, a desperate Claire calls over a nurse practitioner to administer the injections that she had sent over from Mexico while lying in a hospital bed. Amy finds out and threatens to call security, but after hearing Claire's pleas, she decides to administer the injection herself. Uh oh! That can't be good.
Later on in the episode, Amy checks on Claire and everything seems to be going well. She leaves the room and bumps into Joan. She lies and tells her that she found a drug trial at MYU for Claire to participate in, but suddenly, her nose starts bleeding. This can't be good either. Joan tells Gina about the nosebleed, but Gina basically brushes her off.
Amy returns to check on Claire and finds her looking uncomfortable and disoriented. Her heart is acting irregularly. Seeing this, Amy brings a crash cart into the room and calls Jake for assistance. With no other option, she admits to administering the injections. After they work together to stabilize Claire, Jake pulls Amy into an on-call room. Amidst a heated argument, the tension between them escalates, and they end up sharing a kiss.
TJ helps a disgruntled war veteran with his prosthetic leg
TJ struggles with his recovery after being shot in the leg. He's unable to work, and it's got him feeling down in the dumps. While attending physical therapy, he meets a frustrated veteran with a prosthetic leg named Kevin Cross. Another doctor explains to him that Kevin lost his leg in Afghanistan 12 years ago. She also tries to convince TJ to talk to him and help him out, but TJ isn't ready to engage at first.
He changes his mind eventually and goes to talk to Kevin in his room. However, their first meeting doesn't go well at all. While having a heated discussion, Kevin's leg that had to be amputated starts hurting. TJ looks over at it and notices a big red bump. Kevin starts forcefully putting a covering over the bump, which causes blood to spurt from it. TJ immediately yells for help.
After Sonya looks over the bump, she and TJ relay some bad news to Kevin. Unfortunately, the best way to treat him is by cutting off more of his leg. As the surgery is about to start, Sonya stops it from happening. Apparently, Kevin's liver isn't functioning properly. TJ looks through his records to find the hospital that did his first amputation, but when he calls them, the staff claims that they have no record of Kevin ever being treated there.
Tj eventually finds out the real problem. Kevin has metallosis. The surgery ends up going well, and TJ and Kevin have a heart-to-heart conversation afterwards.
Joan has a big secret
Well, well, well. Joan has a secret after all. At the end of episode 3, Joan is shown going through her emails when she comes across a message from a lab with her test results. The scene then flashes back to before Amy’s accident. Joan is lying on a couch while Amy tries to encourage her. Joan confides that she has myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and that there’s a risk it could progress to leukemia. Their conversation takes a tense turn when Amy points out that if her condition worsens, Joan might no longer be able to perform surgery. This comment angers Joan. The episode then returns to the present.
Joan calls Amy and Gina into her office. She found out about Amy administering the injection to Claire and confronts her about it. Amy comes clean, and Joan reminds her that she's still auditioning before telling her and Gina to meet her in another room because she has a big announcement to make to the entire department.
So, what’s the big news? Joan announces that the hospital will hold an official evaluation in two months. Everyone will need to be on their best behavior, carefully following protocol and performing at their highest level. Once she finishes the announcement, she tells the staff she’ll see them all tomorrow and then leaves the room. The third episode ends here.
The fourth episode of Doc season 2 is scheduled to air on Fox on Oct. 14, 2025, at 9/8c.