Note: This story contains spoilers from “Pulse” Episode 10.
“Pulse” may have kicked off with a big focus on the complicated romance between Danny Simms and Xander Phillips, and by the end of Season 1 the messiness between them seemed to fade into the background thanks to a long-awaited apology and an admission of guilt.
After Danny (Willa Fitzgerald) rescinded her sexual harassment claim against her ex, her future at the hospital remained under threat by Xander’s (Colin Woodell) influential parents, who hoped to get her out of their son’s way. When Danny confronted the disgruntled parent of a patient of her sister Harper’s (Jessy Yates), Natalie Cruz (Justina Machado) told Danny that she now had cause to fire her from the residency program.
Natalie faced pressure of her own: either fire Danny or give up control of the hospital’s emergency room. In the end she chose her pupil, whom she recommended to become the official chief resident for the coming year. But the new ER chair had ideas of his own, surprising by announcing that it would be Sam Elijah (Jessie T. Usher) instead.
But Danny wasn’t bothered by the snub. The finale ends with Xander and Danny having a conversation on the beach where he apologized for putting her in the uncomfortable position that led to their messy breakup in the first place. Though next year will see him rise to attending while she remains a resident, the conversation clears the slate between them.
“The thing that Danny didn’t know that she wanted was for Xander to simply say, ‘I’m sorry.’ An apology is such a powerful thing,” series creator Zoe Robyn told TheWrap. “It’s frustrating too, because he’s still her boss, so they can’t really be together even though they do love each other.”
The finale shows Danny seemingly letting go of all the chaos in her life, with a cathartic final scene where she goes for a swim in the ocean. Fitzgerald told TheWrap the scene was a challenge to shoot given her personal fear of the ocean, but praised director Carlton Cuse and the crew for helping her work through it.
“There was a real release of a lot of things happening in that moment, and a real sense of going with the tides — the metaphor is right there,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s a real surrender that’s happening in that moment for Danny. It’s beautiful.”
Reflecting on Natalie’s sacrifice for Danny, Machado said her character never considered throwing her under the bus for her career.
“It’s heartbreaking for her to lose the ER, but she’s also mot going to penalize this woman because people want her gone … she does the right thing,” Machado said. “I don’t know what they’re writing for a second season … but I cannot imagine she’d go down without a fight.”
While Danny and Xander’s drama may be in the rearview — though Xander will have to face the consequences of his past mistakes after losing a patient coming to light — the other doctors left plenty of cliffhangers to address should “Pulse” return for Season 2. Dr. Tom Cole (Jack Bannon) faced losing his job after Dr. Soriano (Nestor Carbonell) learned about his inappropriate relationship with a patient.
On the relationship front, Sophie Chan (Chelsea Muirhead) seemed ready to confess romantic feelings for Daniela Perez (Camila Perez) to convince her to stay at the hospital. Dani does decide to stay, but the conversation is interrupted when her fiancé arrives to pick her up — leaving Sophie in shock. And as Sam celebrated his new promotion to chief resident, he couldn’t help but take a moment to think about his lingering feelings for Danny. Could a love triangle be on the horizon for them?
“We have all these incredible actors on the show and everybody brings their A game,” Cuse told TheWrap, “We want to expand out from Danny and Phillips and really dig into some of these other relationships.”
“Pulse” is now streaming on Netflix.
