Tyler Labine Breaks Down that Shocking ‘New Amsterdam’ Mid-Season Premiere [Exclusive Interview]

On the midseason premiere, New Amsterdam Season 2 Episode 10, “Code Silver,” the hospital comes under lockdown when prisoners from Rikers break free and roam the halls on a murderous mission.

But believe it or not, the most intense moments of the episode happen behind closed doors where everyone is completely safe. 

I got to talk to Tyler Labine about the potentially lifechanging diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) that his character Dr. Iggy Frome receives from Dr. Tabatha Park (Adina Verson), one of the doctors he oversees. 

At this point, we don’t know if her diagnosis is correct, but her assessment definitely impacts Iggy.

“He definitely knows the diagnosis, and he goes in and researches what the diagnosis is and how it relates to him. He starts kind of taking that to work with him and losing focus on things that he should be focusing on rather than thinking about himself, you know?” he said. “His cage gets rattled for sure.”

It’s definitely shocking to think of the empathetic doctor as a clinical narcissist. But as we’ve seen throughout Season 2 of New Amsterdam, perhaps the disorder is not such a far stretch for Ignatius Frome the husband and father.

One has to be pretty selfish to start the process of adopting a child without mentioning it to their spouse. 

Tabatha’s diagnosis comes after an intense therapy session she conducts with Iggy and his husband Martin (Mike Doyle) in which Iggy admits that self-hatred motivates a lot of his behavior.

“The heart of Iggy’s problem in that scene and what he addresses is that he doesn’t know what his value is as a human being other than the fact that he helps people,” Labine said. “I can relate. I spend a lot of my time thinking ‘what am I worth if I’m not a funny guy?’” 

“It actually was my first time ever having like a full-on emotional breakdown on camera,” Labine said of the scene where Iggy calls himself a “corny, nerdy, fat, worthless nothing” and admits that he doesn’t feel worthy of his husband’s love. “But it was really rewarding and cathartic and — I don’t know, I want more.”

More is coming, that’s for sure. “You can’t just say, ‘I don’t like myself, so I tried to adopt a baby without telling you,’” Labine noted. “Think of that episode as the tip of the iceberg for Iggy actually getting to the bottom of why he does a lot of the things he does, and why he had sort of deceived Martin like that.”

Labine has spent most of his career in comedy, so being a series regular on a drama provides him with an opportunity to explore the genre in more depth.

The preparation is unique for sure. To prepare for the therapy scene, Labine spent a lot of time making emotional connections between himself and Iggy. “You have to dredge up a lot of really uncomfortable and sad stuff to go there,” he said.

“Going there” for this episode included researching NPD, which Labine confessed reminded him of pieces of his own personality. “Once I researched the diagnosis myself, I think, speaking from my own personal standpoint and from Iggy’s viewpoint, both of us really do check a lot of the boxes for having NPD.”

“It was funny, and I started reading that and thinking ‘Oh man, did they put this in here because this is what they think of me, Tyler Labine?’ And then I was like ‘that’s a pretty narcissistic thing to think.’”

We all fall victim to catastrophizing and self-centered behavior sometimes. But whether Iggy has NPD or not, the episode led Labine to have discussions with the writers about his life that became material for Iggy’s vulnerable journey throughout the rest of New Amsterdam Season 2.

Fans may be worried about the funny, kind, non-judgemental psychiatrist they fell in love with, but we don’t have to worry about his patients.

“It’s not going to affect the fact that he’s good at his job. I think that’s a given. In fact, that is probably his vice. That’s his way of escaping, is being there for somebody.”

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Watch Tyler Labine’s journey as Iggy on  New Amsterdam, airing Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC, and if you haven’t already heard, New Amsterdam scored a three-season renewal! We still have more to come from our chat with Labine, so stay tuned!

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