Scott Wolf‘s character on Doc finally faced the consequences for his actions leading to a patient’s death. The storyline leaves viewers wondering about Dr. Richard Miller’s fate on the show.
During the finale of the Fox series on March 18, Richard admitted his wrongdoing, resulting in his dismissal from Westside Hospital. With his termination, the position of Chief of Internal Medicine now hangs in the balance as his medical license is also threatened.
Reflecting on his character’s journey, Wolf, aged 56, shared with Us Weekly, “It felt inevitable to some degree. I didn’t know in the beginning exactly how things would play out, but it feels like a tragic story from the start. And tragic stories tend to end tragically.”
Wolf appreciated how Doc made Richard address the mistake he made, adding, “What I love about the show is that every character has their day in court no matter what they’ve done. So by the end, there are these well-rounded human characters that you might still not be rooting for or against. But in the end, it had so much dimension and complexity to it that it felt like something that could happen to me or you or anybody.”
When Doc premiered in January, Richard found himself at odds with Dr. Amy Larsen (Molly Parker) after she hinted to knowing something about his now-deceased patient. Richard denied any wrongdoing and then Amy got into a car accident that caused extensive memory loss.
The issue resurfaced when Amy found an email in her work inbox indicating that she had concerns about a patient’s cause of death. She looked into the autopsy report and realized Richard gave the man medication that led to his death. Richard, however, lied to Amy and told her she was the one who ordered the treatment.
Amy ultimately found out the truth — that Richard made a mistake and tried to cover it up — and he was reported to the hospital.
“It ends in a way that feels not the way Richard would’ve hoped because I do believe that this is a character who sees a version of all of this that nobody has to get hurt,” Wolf noted. “If he could have chosen differently and if he could go back, he would definitely make different choices.”
Wolf found it “tragic” the way that Richard was dealing with a mistake at work as a result of his home life. (Throughout the season, the viewers learn that Richard’s son is dealing with mental health issues that subsequently result in him checking into a facility.)
“In some ways, he is just responding to the next thing that is in front of him. He is just trying to get ahead of it, keep his family safe and then just sometimes you can lose control of it,” the actor explained. “Then you can actually be forced into situations where you’re behaving in ways that you never thought you would.”
Wolf added: “I’m always a fan of stories where it’s not black and white and where you’re compelled as an audience member to kind of go, like, ‘Well, what would I do? Could I have been that person?’ And that’s really fun and Doc is full of that.”
Luckily fans won’t be kept in limbo about where Richard’s story goes from here. Before Tuesday’s finale, Doc was renewed for a 20-episode plus second season and Wolf is excited to see whether Richard could get a redemption arc.
“This is a wonderful group of people and I love working with every one of them — including the crew and our producers and writers,” he told Us. “And the show is about second chances. I believe in second chances. So redemption is important, anything’s possible and I’m open to it.”
Fox has renewed Doc for season 2 and episodes are available to stream on Hulu.
With Christina Garibaldi
