Doc season 2 episode 3 recap: Joan’s “two-month purge,” Amy’s risky shot, and a secret test result

Doc season 2 episode 3, titled New Blood, tightens the season’s focus and resets the power map at Westside Hospital.

The hour drops Joan Ridley into the chief’s chair while Amy Larsen faces a high-risk multiple sclerosis case that forces a choice between protocol and a patient’s remission.

Airing October 7, 2025, on Fox, Doc season 2 episode 3 features Molly Parker as Dr Amy Larsen, Felicity Huffman as Dr Joan Ridley, Jon Ecker as Dr Jake Heller, Omar Metwally as Dr Michael Hamda, Amirah Vann as Dr Gina Walker, Patrick Walker as Dr TJ Coleman and Anya Banerjee as Dr Sonya Maitra.

Developed by Barbie Kligman and Hank Steinberg from the Italian series Doc- Nelle tue mani, the episode threads a private health reveal for Joan through a public crackdown that puts the entire department on notice.

Doc season 2 episode 3 also advances TJ’s recovery arc and the Jake-Amy stalemate, setting up fallout that will shape the next run of cases.

Joan’s two-month purge begins in Doc season 2 episode 3

Doc season 2 episode 3 opens with a taxi passenger, Claire, coughing blood on the way to the airport. The driver veers to Westside, where Amy triages and orders labs that point to drug-induced hepatitis.

Before that, Amy checks in with Gina after a TMS session, noting a new fragment of memory about Joan.

The case collides with the regime change when Amy learns Claire’s MS has been kept in remission by experimental stem-cell injections in Mexico, and that the study will drop her if she misses the day’s evaluation.

Amy tries to arrange a medical flight with Michael, which routes to Joan because she is the new chief.

On a three-way call, Joan blocks the flight and pushes for a domestic option. Joan Ridley stated,

“the best thing she can do for her patient is to find a local drug trial.”

Doc season 2 episode 3 tightens as Claire packs to leave. Gina warns she can initiate a 72-hour psychiatric hold if the patient is unstable. Claire then has a vial shipped from Mexico and summons a nurse practitioner.

Amy intervenes, worried that an unsupervised bedside injection will do more harm, and administers the shot herself.

The decision keeps Claire in the study window, yet it sits outside U.S. law and hospital policy, so the stakes jump when Claire’s rhythm slips and a crash cart is wheeled in.

Jake answers the call. After the save, a hallway argument about risk and honesty turns into a charged kiss, a brief truce that does not erase the rule Amy crossed.

The episode threads these beats around Joan’s quiet preparation for a department-wide reset, the first sign that Doc season 2 episode 3 is about accountability as much as medicine.

At the tag, Joan gathers staff and lays out the terms that match the season’s headline tension. Joan Ridley stated,

“In two months there will be an official evaluation. Some of you will not survive it.”

The speech lands right after Joan confronts Amy for the unsanctioned injection and reminds her that she is still auditioning, which reframes every relationship in the department under a clock.

Amy’s risky shot at the Claire MS case

Doc, season 2 episode 3, turns Claire’s admission into a debate over harm and help. Amy confirms hepatitis, connects the flare to the recent regimen, and calls the Mexico team.

The timetable is brutal, with 24 hours to be evaluated or be removed from the study. Joan blocks the flight for liability reasons and instructs Amy to push local trials.

Claire refuses and reaches for the vial. To keep control of the setting and dosing, Amy injects the hospital with monitoring. The rhythm trouble that follows tests everyone’s judgment.

Jake steps in to stabilize the patient, which reopens a bond Amy has been edging toward as memory fragments resurface.

The episode layers in TJ’s subplot, and it matters. Sidelined by his own injury, he still reads a veteran’s worsening pain correctly and pushes the team toward metallosis and cobalt toxicity rather than more amputation.

That call changes the surgery plan and gives TJ a clear marker in his climb back to the ED. The personal win threads with Amy’s case, since both stories hinge on listening, pattern recognition and knowing when to insist.

A secret test result changes the board

Doc season 2 episode 3 closes on Joan alone at her desk, eyes on a new email with lab results. A flashback confirms Amy once knew that Joan had myelodysplastic syndromes, with a risk of progression to leukaemia.

The show keeps the present result off-screen, so the reveal is motivational rather than diagnostic. It explains the blunt edges of Joan’s policy push and the depth of her fixation on outcomes.

As cited in a TV Insider interview dated October 7, 2025, Felicity Huffman, who plays Dr Joan Ridley, remarked,

“it raises a question: What are you going to do with the time you have left,”

and later framed Joan’s approach as

“results, results, results and tell the truth.”

The evaluation clock is not only a power play. It is a strategy to build an elite unit while she manages her own horizon.

Doc season 2 episode 3 ends with that agenda set, Amy exposed by a single risky choice, and a department that now has 60 days to prove it belongs.

Stay tuned for more updates.