Sure, there’s some Main Character Syndrome with Amy Larsen on Doc, but that’s because she is the main character.
We’re following her story, and as the protagonist — even a deeply flawed and somewhat tragic one — we’re inclined to sympathize with and root for her. She feels like an underdog, and we want her to persevere.
However, just because Amy feels like the hero in our story, does that mean the other characters are villains?
Doc Calls For Us to Sympathize with Amy, and We Do
The series makes us sympathize with Amy. When we met her, she was cold and blunt and didn’t care about a filter. It was apparent that most people around her had grown tired of her brusque delivery and prickly personality.
But we’re used to a character like this.
Many of Amy’s traits as a medical professional aren’t new. From The Resident to Grey’s Anatomy, House M.D., and The Good Doctor, we’ve seen doctors on all spectrums ranging from full-blown jerks to emotionally inaccessible or socially awkward and challenged.
Amy Larsen’s behavior isn’t outside of the realm of what we’re used to. While she poses some challenges from other characters or even viewers that could be rooted in old-fashion sexism (somehow, men are always allowed to be dicks!)
But even ahead of her anxiety that wiped away her memory and her curmudgeonly ways in Doc Season 1 Episode 1, we saw that she had a softer side with her hottie subordinate Jake and that she was at least a ball of snarky fun when paired with her best friend, Gina.
As a result, Amy was a character you rooted for, even when she had some unsavory and prickly moments.
Sonya Seems Mean, Petty, and Childish
As we instantly connected with Amy and learned to sympathize with her post-accident because of her amnesia, we also could ascribe her unsavory behavior to her grief pre-accident.
When you can at least understand why someone behaves as they do, even if you don’t excuse them, it’s easier. Doc does well with this regarding Amy, who has the luxury of being a deeply flawed character while still being likable or relatable.
Shouldn’t this also apply to all the people affected by Amy? You would think so, right?
Something gets lost in translation when it comes to characters like Sonya, who reads as childish and petty regarding the grudge she still harbors against Amy and who says some incredibly mean things.
It was uncomfortable to witness a bunch of Amy’s colleagues commiserating over her misfortune, cracking jokes at her expense, and coming across as disturbingly insentive as it gets for a bunch of medical professionals.
Yet, as the anti-Amy (or victim of Amy) who gets the most consistent screen time, Sonya typically experiences the brunt of backlash and criticism from viewers because of her anti-Amy stance.
But is that fair?
Amy Wreaked Emotional and Mental Havoc on Everyone Around Her for Years
We’re coming into Amy’s story as her world is upended. She’s the woman who lost her child, and her grief caused her to lash out at everyone around her at all times for many years.
Now, she’s in the dark about how she treated others and completely eroded healthy and meaningful connections in her life.
It’s worth sympathizing with Amy, but it doesn’t erase all the horrible effects she had on other people, and none of them disappear because her memory did.
Sonya feels deeply hurt by Amy. Thus far, we only know that Amy questioned whether Sonya should be a doctor because she didn’t like how Sonya handled something.
We saw that once Amy got her teeth into someone for their errors or incompetency, she didn’t let go. She was vicious and mean, and it may not have been the best approach to bringing out the best in others.
No good comes from downplaying how Amy’s comments or treatment affect others, and it’s not some badge of honor for those who are fine putting up with it. The implication of that is toxic in its own right.
Amy’s comment was mean, but it didn’t seem like one single incident that would cut Sonya so deeply that she couldn’t let go of it. There has to be something else. Perhaps we’ll get more details as the series progresses.
We Don’t Know What Sonya Overcame to Be A Doctor
The limited character development and background for Sonya is a double-edged sword here.
Not knowing much about Sonya means it’s more glaring for viewers that her entire personality as a character seems to be hating Amy.
As a result, her anger comes off as one-note because, unlike Amy, we don’t have a wealth of information to help us sympathize with this character.
But not knowing much about Sonya also means we could be missing the bigger picture regarding why there’s tension between her and Amy.
Offhand, we don’t know what it could’ve taken for Sonya to become a doctor, how passionate she may have been about the job, and what it’s like for her to follow her dream.
Amy Possibly Not Upholding an Unspoken Expectation of Uplifting a Fellow Woman is An Affront
Depending on her story, Amy’s challenging and downright dismissal of Sonya’s capabilities could be heart-shattering and demoralizing for Sonya.
It’s difficult enough as a woman in male-dominated fields, let alone as a woman of color.
It can sting when you’re eager to find encouragement, allegiance, and solidarity in an accomplished woman you may look up to, only to get the same type of dismissal one would get from heaps of men.
It could explain why Amy’s words and mistreatment are far worse and have greater implications and effects on Sonya than anything or anyone else in her life. It’s a specific type of betrayal – breaking an unspoken contract.
We don’t know the whole story behind Amy and Sonya’s beef, but if she thought Amy would be a mentor for her and Amy fell short of that quickly, it would make sense that Amy’s behavior was a personal affront to Sonya and one she can’t let go of.
Considering we don’t know how deeply Amy hurt Sonya (or much about Sonya), is it possible that we viewers are too hard on her?
If we can extend Amy grace and sympathy because we understand the root of her pain and behavior and see the wonderful person she is now, should we give Sonya that same courtesy?
Sonya Still Makes It Very Hard
Maybe we should be able to give Sonya some grace and take into consideration what she has endured, but Sonya makes it pretty damn hard to do that.
To do that with her, we’d still need her to extend the same to Amy in some capacity, and because she doesn’t, it’s difficult.
Unfortunately for Sonya, we don’t see much of how Amy may have affected or hurt her. We see and hear all of her attempts to undermine and demean Amy.
To Sonya’s disservice, it merely comes across as an unresolved vendetta that Sonya can’t let go of long enough to maintain a sense of professionalism and decorum.
Because we only see Sonya’s reactions in a professional setting at the hospital, they consistently portray her in an unflattering light. It also doesn’t help that Sonya’s apparent animosity toward Amy often comes out unprompted.
It often seems that Sonya wants to influence how other people treat and perceive Amy through her actions and behavior.
It’s the most likely reason her behavior stands out to viewers and prompts them to be much harder on her than they are sympathetic.
Are some of us Doc Fanatics too hard on Sonya? Possibly so, but until they develop the character better, there’s little to work with regarding Sonya.
But you be the judge. Let us know. Are Doc Fanatics too hard on Sonya? Let’s hear it below.
