Fans Question Veronica in ‘New Amsterdam’ and Feel Karen Has Alternative Motives

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 4, Episode 3 of New Amsterdam.

We suspected that we would have some twists and turns when the show hit the air again for Season 4 of New Amsterdam. But we’re not sure that we were ready for some of the drama that is heading our way or the questions it’s leaving us with.

Like, why did Karen hire Veronica? Is she really just there because she’s the best? Or is something bigger going to go down? Because it all seems super suspicious — and we have questions.

Season 4 of New Amsterdam hit the ground and took off running. There was no slow buildup to the drama in this season. Instead, the first episode had fans worrying about all the ways things could go wrong.

The first phase in the shakeup was the introduction of a new character — Dr. Veronica Fuentes (Michelle Forbes). During the second episode of the season, Karen Brantley (Debra Monk), Chairman of the Board of Directors at New Amsterdam Medical Center, makes a phone call.

And next thing we know, Dr. Veronica steps into the role of the new medical director. It was clear pretty early on that she was coming in to shake things up. It fit well with what was going on in the lives of the other medical staff — namely Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) and Helen Sharpe (Freema Agyeman).

The timing of a new director was suspicious. We recently learned that Max and Helen were planning to leave their roles at the hospital and move to London. The two were officially an item after a whole lot of drama and tension in the previous season.

And Karen wasn’t likely to let that happen without putting herself in the way of it. We knew there was going to be a shakeup, but we didn’t know it was gearing up to be as dramatic as it’s looking.

According to showrunner David Schulner, Dr. Veronica was hired to the hospital because the position would be open with Max leaving. Fans bought that until it was revealed that Max and Veronica have some history.

“She and Max have a history together and she’s the opposite of New Amsterdam,” David said to TV Insider. “No one believes Max as he tries to convince everyone that she’s the absolute wrong person for the job. Then slowly we start revealing why she’s the absolute wrong person for the job, which makes Max leaving New Amsterdam even more difficult, knowing he’s leaving it in the hands of his opposite as opposed to someone like Dr. Wilder."

But according to David, Karen did hire Veronica because she “is the best at what she does. She comes into a failing hospital and turns it around. There is no one better than her. Karen hired the best for when Max is leaving.”

All that sounds well and good, except fans are suspicious. And Veronica’s actions aren’t helping. We quickly learn that her first order of business after taking on the medical director responsibilities is to basically undo everything Max had worked hard at setting up.

Max is having a hard time wrapping his head around the budget and fiscal reality of the hospital. And Karen told him that before his last day in three weeks, he and Veronica need to agree on the moves necessary to position the hospital’s budget.

And it becomes apparent almost immediately that the two are going to butt heads. Veronica makes it really clear she has no intentions to work with him. She’s just waiting until Max leaves — to London with Helen — before she makes the changes she wants and potentially destroys the hospital.

That’s what fans are reading into. They believe that Karen hired Veronica knowing full well that with her in charge, it’s going to make it incredibly hard for Max to follow through with quitting and moving to London. Karen may be sneaky, but would she risk the hospital just to keep Max around? We'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

New episodes of New Amsterdam air Tuesdays on NBC at 10 p.m. EST.