Dr. Mia Castries is a recurring character on NBC drama series New Amsterdam. She is newly appointed head of the holistic medicine department hired by Dr. Veronica Fuentes in New Amsterdam Medical Center. She is portrayed as Genevieve Angelson.
Appearances[]
- New Amsterdam (season 4; 7 episodes)
Biography[]
Dr Mia Castries is the former Chief of Holistic Medicine at New Amsterdam.
She was brought into the Hospital by Veronica Fuentes during her rein as Co-Medical Director/Medical Director to run the new Holistic Medicine Department as a way to spike interest and profits for the hospital.
Throughout New Amsterdam Series[]
Season 4[]
In Talkin' Bout a Revolution, Dr. Mia Castries is introduced to the other heads of department. Lauren Bloom and Floyd Reynolds whisper to eachother about whether Veronica 'just said holistic medicine' and that they 'gave up half their departments for crystals and hand massages'. Mia holds a crystal up to her head and jokes that she senses a powerful energy here, which is met with confusion by the other doctors. She says that she is joking, only to explain that it is because she is using the wrong crystal for energy discernment. A majority of the doctors do not clap for her, including Lauren and Floyd. However, Elizabeth Wilder smiles at her and claps.
After her introduction, she clashes with Lauren Bloom on a patient, Greg Triyez, who believes he is cursed. He had been brought to the ED after being struck by lightning, and Mia is performing accupuncture on him to rebalance his chi. Lauren, however, does not believe in Mia's practices and mocks her throughout the episode, insinuating that her medicine is not 'real' and saying that 'everything she does is rooted in science, unlike energy work, or curses, or magic rocks which only power is in your head'. Despite clashing with Lauren, when they discover Greg has cancer and he refuses to do the surgery believing something will go wrong even with Lauren's insistence it wont, Mia manages to convince him. Greg's surgery gets cancelled as a result of Veronica's policies surrounding 'elective' and 'non-emergent' surgeries. At the end of the episode, Mia is paged to the ED about Greg, and is told that he is in the Post-Op ward recovering from his surgery, which is met by confusion from Mia.
In The Crossover Mia bumps into Elizabeth Wilder outside of the morgue. She is confused what Elizabeth is doing here, to which Elizabeth lies and says she likes to come here to think. Mia makes a joke about how dead bodies are quiet, but if you listen closely you can hear them from the other side which confuses Elizabeth, who seems to believe her. It is revealed that Mia has been looking for Elizabeth and has been placed in the Oncology department by Veronica as her treatments can be helpful for those going through cancer therapies. Elizabeth quickly shuts down the conversation, telling Mia that she will see her around, to which Mia smiles and leaves. Off-screen, Elizabeth asks Mia for help with Willow. Elizabeth is skeptical of Mia, and states that she does not know her or trust her, but is willing to put that aside if Mia can help Willow. Using accupressure, Mia is successfully able to help restore Willow's appetite and reduce her nausea. Elizabeth touches her on the back, grateful for her help, and the two share a smile. At the end of the episode, Elizabeth and Mia are walking toward the morgue, now comfortably smiling and talking to one another. Elizabeth asks Mia to join the resistance, to which Mia is surprised, but says yes.
In Unto the Breach, Mia is seen speaking to Veronica in her office about more funding and space for acupuncture and meditation. When asked about why, Mia quotes Russian Literature Writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, saying that 'low cielings and tiny rooms cramp the soul and mind'. Veronica recognizes the quote and Mia is surprised, Veronica explains she understands and that's why she hired her. Veronica tells Mia that she can give her what she wants, and that's going to help her, but she needs Mia to tell her something that's going to help the whole hospital. Mia is enthusiastic and tells her she will do anything. Veronica then asks what Mia knows about the resistance. Later in the episode, Mia is in the meeting room with the other members of the resistance, including Elizabeth Wilder. Mia is taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, and Elizabeth looks at her, suspicious of her involvement in the Resistance being revealed. After Elizabeth takes full responsibility for the resistance and tells Veronica not to punish anyone, saying that she will resign, Veronica threatens her, saying she will go to the Medical Board and tell them about what happened if she does so. Mia looks at Elizabeth, wide eyed in concern and surprise. Veronica tells Mia that if she were not the only practitioner of Holistic Medicine, that she would fire her aswell, but she can't. It is revealed that Mia had the chance to tell Veronica about the resistance, but she didn't. Elizabeth is visibly surprised by this. When the meeting is over, everyone leaves and walks their separate ways.
Mia is next seen in Two Doors, when Elizabeth Wilder shows up at her door. Mia smiles when she sees her, and invites her in. Elizabeth asks if she has a minute to talk, before beginning to explain that she has a patient, Lewis, who is dying of stage 3 bone cancer and his only wish is to make it to his daughter's wedding in 3 months, but Elizabeth does not think he will make it that long. Elizabeth begins nervously tripping over her words, trying to ask if Mia would have a way to extend his life through means andmethods outside of the realm of scientific study. Mia tells her she came to the right place, saying that she's making a elixir from the springs of the Loxahache River, where in 1513, Ponstillion searched for the fountain of youth. Elizabeth is shocked, and asks if she's being serious. Mia says that it's vinaigrette for her arugula salad, in disbelief that Elizabeth fell for it. Mia gets upset and begins to explain that she doesn't make magic potions, and Elizabeth quickly tries to say out loud that it's okay, trying to stop her. Mia tells her she can't wave a magic wand and heal her patient, even though she wishes she could. Elizabeth looks hurt, saying out loud that she's sorry, and tells her to enjoy her salad before walking out. Mia watches her leave and looks sad, realizing she has hurt her. Later in the episode, Mia opens the door to the section between the hospital room and the hallway, where Elizabeth has been standing and watching Lewis on the phone with his daughter. She takes a deep breath, watching for a moment before she walks in. Elizabeth smiles when she sees her, and Mia says that she knows people trained in western medicine don't understand what she does. Elizabeth tells her she didn't mean to ridicule her specialty, to which Mia cuts her off and says that she knows, she was struggling with her limitations and she came to Mia for help and she whiffed it. Elizabeth says she knows she has used every tool in her toolbox. Mia looks at Lewis, and then says that she thinks she has one left in hers, before smiling. Elizabeth looks at Mia, before turning back to Lewis and smiling aswell. At the end of the episode, Elizabeth smiles as she watches Mia approach the bed, speaking to Lewis about singing bowls. Using the singing bowls, Mia transports Lewis to a vision of his daughter's wedding where she and Elizabeth are also in attendance sitting side by side, and he peacefully passes away. Mia asks Elizabeth if he's gone, and Elizabeth nods. Despite being visibly saddened by Lewis' passing, Elizabeth tells Mia that she got Lewis to his daughter's wedding and smiles at Mia, placing a hand on her arm again. Mia smiles back.
In All Night Long, Mia is present at the Urgent Medicine Inc/New Amsterdam karaoke night, presumably invited by Elizabeth, as it is mentioned by Floyd that “Elizabeth mentions karaoke once and half the hospital shows up”. At the beginning of the night, she is seen with Elizabeth when Casey enters the bar, with their arms around eachother's backs and rocking back and forth to the music. Throughout the night, she is seen in the background talking with Trevor a majority of the time and gives him a shoulder massage while Elizabeth and Max are singing on stage. Later, Mia is sitting alone at the bar and looking through the songbook, when she is approached by Floyd. She notices Floyd’s aura is clouded and offers to help him. Using vaccaria seeds on pressure points on his earlobes, Floyd feels better. The two of them talk, and Mia mentions that she prefers meditation for clarity, specifically on the new Pier in Long Island. Mia suddenly receives a text from a man named Kevin, who tells her “Jules trip cut short, DON'T COME OVER”. It is implied that Kevin is having an affair with Mia. Mia gets visibly upset and Floyd tells her she looks like she needs a drink. Mia says she doesn’t drink, usually. She stops Elizabeth who is carrying a tray of drinks by touching her hand, takes two shots, drinks one, and walks off with the other. As everyone is leaving the bar, Mia takes her bike to the pier, nearly cycling right into Trevor and Iggy. At the pier, she begins crying, before stepping up onto the bench and looking out over the water. Mia suddenly stops crying, and sways slightly forward, before the screen cuts to black. It is not confirmed whether or not Mia had been attempting to commit suicide during this scene.
The next day, in Unfinished Business, Mia is discovered by Floyd, hypothermic and unconscious on a grass patch under the pier when the team realizes that half of their karaoke party is missing. It is presumed that the spiked shots she and the others had drank the previous night had caused Mia to fall off the pier. Back at New Amsterdam Medical Center, Floyd and Walsh struggle to warm her in the Trauma Bay despite using cooling blankets and monitoring her closely. Her heart goes into arrhythmia when someone bumps the table, which luckily resolves. Unable to bring her body temperature up through conventional methods, Floyd administers a drug Mia is allergic to in order to cause an anaphylactic reaction to bring up her body temperature.
Mia is paged by Lauren Bloom in No Ifs, Ands or Buts when she discovers her patient, Kyle, who presented with gastrointestinal symptoms, was a patient of Mia's. Lauren and Mia clash again when Lauren tells her that the fecal matter transplant Mia had done was unindicated and dangerous, and they begin to go back and forth about which of them were doing traditional/modern medicine. Lauren tells Mia she wants to say awful things to her, but she knows its not okay, though unfortunately for Mia, she hasn't found a better way to deal with her negative emotions and that she should leave very quickly. Mia suggests that she enjoys a weekend of hot yoga and honey elixirs and tells Lauren to feel better before leaving. Later in the episode, Mia is treating Kyle with cupping when Lauren knocks on the door and begins to berate her for stealing her patient. Mia calms her down, telling her she didn't steal her patient, and that Kyle is feeling better now. Lauren apologizes, explaining she's been having a hard time and is lashing out because the crutches she used to rely on aren't working. Mia tells her that a crutch is 'leaning on something instead of fixing what's really wrong, and she only knows that because that was her for a long, long time' but that the 'big irony is, you think you're skipping the feelings, but you're really prolonging them, and they're still in there waiting to be let out.' This implies that Mia has ended things with Kevin, and has had time to reflect and realize why she had gotten involved in his affair, and likely as well is in reference to her implied alcohol abuse. Mia and Lauren discover that Kyle, who runs a calzone shop, likely has Crohn's. Mia says that she is sorry, and Lauren is confused why she would be apologetic that he does not have Multiple Sclerosis, to which Mia says it must be hard to have something you love hurting you. Lauren leaves, and when Mia finds her to congratulate her on the diagnosis, she finds Lauren crying. Lauren confesses that something she loves is hurting her, and Mia asks how she can help. In the end of the episode, Mia is seen giving Lauren cupping therapy and using her singing bowls.
In Rise, Lauren mentions to Walsh that Mia has been 'helping her cupping and accupuncture and all that crap' and that 'she thinks it might actually be working'.
Season 5[]
Elizabeth Wilder mentions that she has tried acupuncture for her carpal tunnel in Heal Thyself. Considering Elizabeth's lack of prior knowledge of alternative medicine treatments that is clear throughout her interactions with Mia in season 4, it is possible that Mia could have been the one who she had tried acupuncture with. At the very least, it is highly likely that Mia's presence and their time together had made her aware of accupuncture as a form of treatment.
In All the World’s a Stage, Iggy struggles to find a physical diagnosis for janitor who claims to be psychic. At the end of the episode, it is mentioned he is referred to the holistic medicine department, meaning in the timeline of Season 5, Mia is still likely present at New Amsterdam given that she is the only one in her department.
Trivia[]
- Genevieve Angelson and Sandra Mae Frank have been vocal about their support for the ship between their characters, Mia Castries and Elizabeth Wilder, giving the ship their name, responding to fans on Twitter, liking tweet about the ship, fanart, edits and joining in on fandom jokes.
- They first named the ship in a series of tweets where fans on Twitter were asking if it was 'Wildies' or 'Wildstries', to which Genevieve replied, 'What do you think? @sandy21mae 🥰' and Sandra replied, "It's #Wildies alllll the way, 😎😉".
- Genevieve tweeted, "I'm callling it. #WILDIES." and Sandra quote tweeted saying, "Agreed, we make a great team, and the #DamFam fans agree! 🥰 Let's go with #Wildies 😎 BTW, I hope you enjoyed your salad..."
- In the comments of Genevieve's announcement post about guest starring on The Handmaid's Tale, Sandra referenced an ongoing joke within the Wildies fandom about salad dates, saying "Let's have a salad date soon, #missingyoutoowithlove ✨"
- In response to a fan asking if Mia Castries would be back for Season 5, Genevieve responded 'i bet if you send cupcakes to @aaronginsburg anything is possible" and Sandra quote tweeted this saying 'And send #salads... a lot of salads."
- After the finale of New Amsterdam aired, Genevieve posted a boomerang of her and Sandra smiling at the camera from the BTS of All Night Long on her Instagram story with the caption 'I still have hope @sandramaefrank ⚡❤️#wildies @nbcnewamsterdam'. Sandra reposted this on her story with a salad sticker and 'How's it going with your salad?'
- According to Mia's Hospital ID card, she is an M.D, and not a D.O. as previously listed on this wikia. It is likely she did a fellowship in integrative medicine to specialize in it.
- In a now deleted YouTube video on her channel 'ASMR with Genevieve Angelson', Genevieve said that she initially thought that Mia was a 'hippie' before she thought that you'd have to 'have a lot of money to be able to afford all these alternative treatments because they aren't covered by blue cross, blue shield'. Genevieve said you'd have to be one of those people who 'graduated from Yale' and that she had realized that Mia was 'Gwyneth Paltrow and goop', that she genuinely believed in everything that she did. She played her that way for her audition, which the showrunners had said that was exactly what they were looking for.
- As mentioned in Unfinished Business, she is allergic to Dranova.