Abhiroop Das
Developed by Barbie Kligman, Fox’s ‘Doc’ tells the story of Amy Larsen, an accomplished doctor who loses eight years’ worth of memory due to a traumatic brain injury. However, before she can even grapple with her displaced sense of time, the protagonist has to parse through all of her transformed interpersonal networks, with seemingly every relationship she has had with friends and family taking unrecognizable turns. In the second season of the show, Amy tries to balance her dynamic with her former husband, Dr. Michael Hamda, and her present lover, Dr. Jake Heller. With the inclusion of her former mentor, Joan Ridley, in the game, the boundaries between truth and lies get blurrier by the minute. In such a scenario, fresh faces in the hospital, such as Hannah Clark, come as both a chance to start things from scratch and as a reminder of the past that is now buried deep within Amy’s psyche. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Hannah Clark is Doc’s New Intern With Old Wounds
Hannah Clark is introduced in episode four of the sophomore season as the newest intern at Westside Hospital. With Dr. Jake Heller as her supervisor, Hannah finds herself right at the center of the hospital’s most intense activities, and with that comes a meeting with familiar faces. Her first interaction on screen ends up happening with Amy, wherein the young doctor gushes about the protagonist’s memory. It is indicated from this brief but dense exchange that Amy’s circumstances have pulled her into a medical celebrity status, but that might not be the only reason Hannah is familiar with the past. A flashback unveils a whole other dimension to her character, as not just an intern, but also the daughter of one of the hospital’s former employees, Dr. Brian Clark. We learn that Amy, prior to her accident, had actually met and interacted with Hannah, and the latter’s decision to hide this fact speaks to possible ulterior motives.
In the present, Hannah and Amy have a follow-up conversation where Hannah comes clean about pretending not to recognize the protagonist. Going deeper, she reveals that a part of her reason to join the hospital is a quest for truth, as her father took his life shortly after quitting. While the young intern struggles to find an answer, we get a deeper look into the past, as the flashback sequences show thick tensions between Brian and Amy. On one occasion, she confronted him about seeming carelessness with the patients, and while Brian made his case, his angry display eventually proved Amy’s point. However, this did not stop him, as he filed an H.R. complaint, which Amy successfully defended herself against. Defeated and with seemingly no way out, Brian proposed a compromise: he would leave the hospital in return for Amy’s secrecy. While it appears that Amy and the hospital might have played a part in Brian’s decision to die by suicide, Hannah has no idea about any such connections.
As the story continues, Hannah proves her abilities as a doctor on multiple occasions, with the most noticeable characteristic being her ability to learn from her seniors. Both Jake and Amy double as her mentor figures, helping the young intern figure out the nitty-gritty of the medical industry. However, with Joan tightening the screws on her employees in the form of an inspection round, it becomes all the more important for Hannah to not just excel in this hospital but to stay around long enough to gather answers. The big break comes when she meets the H.R. manager, who, upon learning of her parentage, accidentally slips out a word of sympathy. Hannah pushes deeper, threatening the manager about her apparent breach of confidentiality, only to learn that Brian’s exit from the hospital was informed by his back-and-forth with Amy. This revelation flips the established dynamic between mentor and mentee on its head, ushering in a new challenge that they must overcome together.
Actor Emma Pfitzer Price Pours Life Into Hannah Clark
While Hannah Clark is a steadfast, confident inclusion in the narrative, her traumatic past indicates that there is more to the character than meets the eye. Actor Emma Pfitzer Price brings this contrast out into the open, putting all of her skills to use in the creation of the young doctor. Price’s career has seen her taking on a myriad of diverse roles, starting with ‘Viral Vignettes’ and ‘American Rust.’ From there, the actor stepped into the role of Jennifer Duarte for the show, ‘Evil,’ before essaying Becca Morgan in ‘FBI: International’ and Bride Victoria in ‘Poker Face.’ Still a budding talent in the industry, the actor served as the perfect fit for a young intern, with the experience she has accumulated, helping with the character’s believability.
Alongside acting on screen, Emma Pfitzer Price is also a trained thespian, having debuted with ‘Becomes a Woman,’ a production by Betty Smith. Price won the prestigious Theatre World Award for her performance and has since participated in plays, adapting classics such as ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ When not on stage or on screen, the actor is an avid animal lover and travel enthusiast, and loves to spend time with her near and dear ones alongside honing her craft. In ‘Doc,’ she brings a whole spectrum of emotions into life, going from a nervous but excited doctor to a daughter horrified to learn the truth about her father. Her acting prowess plays a defining role in adding to the story’s stakes, as well as to her character’s interiority.
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