Joan Ridley stepped into the halls of Westside and instantly shook everything up.
And that’s exactly what the incomparable Felicity Huffman loved about the character and what she brought to Doc.
We had the privilege of catching up with her for a chat about Joan’s shocking chief resident decision, her dynamic with Amy, and how Doc continues to champion powerful, complex women onscreen.
Joan has been such a fascinating character. What attracted you to this role?
Well, when they were like, “Hey, we’re interested in you.” I think they were interested in a bunch of people, but I started looking at the ratio of women to men in medicine, and what the ratio of female chiefs of internal medicine are at big hospitals. And it is a tiny fraction.
And women are really unrepresented in the medical field, as you can tell by how much they know about the female body.
So that is really interesting to me. And I started doing a deep dive into female heads of hospitals and women who are renowned doctors, and where they came from.
I love the idea of a woman who made it to the top in her field, deciding that what she was going to do is lift women up. I like the idea of a champion being a woman who made it up in a man’s world, who made it up the ladder in a man’s world, and then was going to reach down and pull other women up.
And I also love the idea of a coach. She’s basically a coach who has a star player, played brilliantly by Molly Parker. She wants Amy to be the superstar, the David Beckham of the medical field. And she is going to make sure that happens.
It really feels like Joan views Amy as her legacy. Is that a fair assessment?
Yeah, I think that’s a great assessment. I think she wants the overarching aim is that Amy recovers from this head injury from this eight years of losing her memory from being lost in her own life, and becomes who she was meant to be.
And also, since she’s now Chief of the IM, to turn this hospital into one of the best hospitals, if not in the country, then in the whole world.
Her overall thing is to make sure everybody is excellent and brings their A-game. And if you do that, fantastic, you can play on the team. And if you can’t, no harm, no foul, you should go to a different team.
It feels like Joan is probably the only person who could really level with Amy and bluntly call her to the carpet. And Amy can really hear her. Can you talk a bit about their dynamic?
I’m going to start with a macro for a second. I wrote a little thank-you note to Barbie Kligman and Hank Steinberg, because I wrapped on Friday.
And I said, “Thank you for making a show where a female doctor is the center, and that a woman in her 50s who’s a doctor is in the center, and her best friend, that’s the primary relationship.
The men are important and three-dimensional characters, but they are in orbit around her Sun. And that is a wonderful thing for people to see because, as I said, women are unrepresented basically everywhere in the workplace.
[But back to your question… ] yeah, it’s a wonderful thing, and that’s thanks to the writers. The writers really wrote that, and Molly Parker and I are lucky enough to get to just act it out.
But it’s about hard truths. It’s hard to hear hard truths from parents, but you can hear hard truths from a sort of surrogate parent, from a coach, from a mentor.
And that’s part of a mentor’s job, not just to be a cheerleader, but also to bring you up short when you’re falling short. That is an important dynamic in there.
Because Joan is committed to Amy being the superstar doctor she is, she won’t pull her punches when Amy’s going in the wrong direction, since that wouldn’t be a service to her.
When she’s chasing her memories instead of chasing her life, she’s the one who’s going to go, “You’re going in the wrong direction, and I’m not supporting you. And I’m now your boss.”
That was probably one of my favorite scenes. I loved how she said she was also speaking from a place of humility, drawn from her own experiences. It made the scene and moment richer for them because it was evident she was coming from a place of knowledge and tough love.
Yeah, I think that’s exactly right! I love that scene too.
So, we get to the end of Doc Season 2 Episode 19, and Joan’s decision was a shock. What was your reaction when you read that script? Were you surprised when Joan named Amy and Sonya co-chief residents?
Well, yeah! The genesis of that is the writers came and went, “OK, we’re going to actually make Sonya the chief resident.” And I went, “What? What are you talking about?”
Because we’ve just had a whole season where Amy has outperformed Sonya hands down. How is that going to make any sense?
And then when they came and said, ” Well, actually, we’re going to make them co-chiefs.” And I went again, “How is that going to make sense?”
They very intelligently said, “Wait a second. What does the chief resident need?”
Yes, the chief resident needs to be excellent. But also, the chief resident is a teacher, has empathy, has been where those students were not that long ago, so can understand where they’re coming from, and is interested in bringing people up, has patience.
And that is something that Amy does not have.
So that’s what Sonya brings in that department. Amy brings the excellence, and they can each learn from each other because Sonya needs to step into her shoes and stand up as the excellent doctor she is. She needs to take charge. And Amy needs to learn to have compassion and be a teacher.
So it’s sort of a perfect solution. But believe me, when I first heard it, I went, “What?” But the argument, I think, is sound.
Joan also surprised me because she endorses Michael as her successor. Why do you think she fully backed Michael when we’ve kind of seen her be a bit more critical of him in the past?
Yeah, it’s a great question. Again, I think the writers did a good job.
Well, I mean, they created a wonderful scene where it happens in the scene, which is the most dynamic, you know, Joan decides in that scene.
And you’re right. I think Joan’s opinions of Michael before were, “You’re great behind the desk. And that’s what you should do. You should do admin work. You know, you should be the bridge between the board and the hospital.”
She didn’t really see him as someone who wanted to come on the field and play.
But when he says,” I want to get back in,” and she says, “Oh, you just, you just got a taste of it. Now you want more.” And he said, “No, I think I can be a great doctor. And I know I can be a great leader.”
It’s because he wants it so bad. That’s part of figuring out a great team is who is willing to work hard and who sees what it takes. She sees in that moment that he has what it takes.
It’s a wonderful interim step.
Ultimately, Joan would like Amy to step into that position, but she’s not quite ready. Joan decided in that scene that Michael would look out for Amy. And she wants someone in that seat who will look out for Amy because she’s our star player.
Joan doesn’t buy into the Richard Redemption thing. We see her encourage Liz to speak up about Miller. Can you talk about that?
Well, if Joan is committed to leaving the hospital in the best position she can to be the best hospital in the country or possibly one of the best hospitals in the world, you can’t have a dysfunctional workplace.
And if you are employing doctors who abuse power with young nurses and no one calls it out, and it continues, that is not a hospital that is going to flourish.
So what she needs to do is kind of like the saying, “Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day, teach him how to fish, and he’ll eat forever.”
As a woman, she wants to empower this young nurse. She wants to go, “You have a voice. So you’ve got to use it.”
Because yeah, it’s not just about taking Richard down. It’s about how this is not a healthy workplace. And in order for us to be the best team we can be, it has to be a healthy, functioning workplace.
Joan really is a “Girl’s girl”, and I love that. You don’t always see that displayed as prominently on television. So, what kind of legacy does Joan leave behind?
Well, I can’t believe Richard’s still working there, but whatever. That exists too. I mean, it can’t just be like, the bad guys go away.
[Laughs] True!
What lasting impact on Westside? I hope, and I think she said this in [Doc Season 2 Episode 17], in her farewell speech, I hope that everyone is dedicated to excellence. And they will accept nothing less from themselves and from each other in the supportive, truthful atmosphere.
And, you know, excellence also includes harmony. I hope that what she instills in them is: “I want to be the best I can be. I want to help you be the best you can be.”
Because for Joan, being a physician is a sacred profession. And I think she’d like to leave that with, I hope that everyone signs up for that.
I know you’ve touched on it a bit already, but what’s been the most rewarding part of playing Joan?
Yeah, I did touch on it. But, you know, it’s lovely to get to act a character, obviously, that’s well written. Because if it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage. So the best part was the great writing.
Part of that great writing is that they’ve given her a fatal disease that gives her a 10,000-foot view. Because when you’re facing mortality right around the corner, you kind of go, “Oh, I don’t have time to mess around. And I also don’t have time to take anything too darn seriously. So let’s just work together and get it done.”
I loved her. I loved her honesty. I loved her sense of humor. And I love that she was a woman in charge.
Doc returns with an all-new episode Tuesday at 9/8c on FOX.
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