In the series premiere of the upcoming medical drama Pulse — debuting April 3 — a severe storm is racing toward Miami. But the staff of Maguire Medical Center are just as concerned about the pressure rising within their facility as the dangerous conditions outside. 

Dr. Danny Simms (Fall of the House of Usher’s Willa Fitzgerald) and her supervisor, chief resident of emergency medicine Dr. Xander Phillips (Colin Woodell) are at the center of the hospital chatter. Their fellow doctors and nurses have a lot of questions about Danny and Xander’s relationship, and you can watch the pieces start to come together in the video above of the first five minutes of the series. 

“The premiere is so great because it launches you into the dynamics of everyone at this hospital,” Fitzgerald tells Tudum. 

The first characters we see in the Pulse clip are third-year emergency resident Dr. Sam Elijah (Jessie T. Usher), second-year surgical resident Dr. Tom Cole (Jack Bannon), and ER nurse Luis Dominguez (Arturo Del Puerto). Sam reveals that golden boy Xander was reported for sexual harassment the day prior. And, much to the surprise of everyone at Maguire, Danny is the person who filed the complaint. When we meet Danny, she’s understandably mortified that she’s become water cooler gossip. Pulse examines how Danny manages the fallout of her report amid a rapidly worsening storm, a hospital lockdown, and an onslaught of trauma cases. 

“No one knows why Danny reported Xander. But suddenly Danny is on the back foot with all of her co-workers,” Fitzgerald says. “They don’t know what the clothes are in her dirty laundry yet. But now it’s all out there for everybody to see.” 

The clip gives a taste of the range of reactions from Maguire’s  staff to this sudden and murky development. Xander, who’s nursing a hangover with a hot shower, is “at rock bottom,” Woodell tells Tudum. “He’s been suspended from the job that he loves. He’s blindsided by news that he was not expecting. He’s got a lot on his plate.”  

Meanwhile, Sam — Danny’s best friend — is coming to terms with the news. “He’s very shocked. Sam always felt like Danny would’ve come to him about something like this,” Usher tells Tudum. As it turns out, Sam is actually one of the last people to find out about Danny and Xander. Then there’s Tom, who just wants to debate the subject, and Danny’s sister Dr. Harper Simms (Jessy Yates), who isn’t impressed by Tom’s attitude. Pulse follows the cast as they continue to process these revelations, balance their own personal and professional challenges, and work under the stress of a raging hurricane. 

“In Pulse, we get to enjoy the high-pressure, high-stakes environment in which the team works,” co-showrunner Carlton Cuse (Lost) tells Tudum. “But, fundamentally, the series starts with this nucleus of Danny and Xander’s relationship. Then we start to see all the relationships around that.” 

So, creator and co-showrunner Zoe Robyn explains that she and Cuse tried to have the Maguire staff respond as “realistically” as possible to Danny’s HR bombshell. “What we’re trying to illustrate with our other characters is that everyone has a different reaction when they hear this kind of story without knowing the real details,” Robyn says. “The interesting thing for us was tracking how all these characters’ perceptions change as details come out over the season. How are their own stories being affected by this news?” 

No one but Danny and Xander knows the full truth of their history just yet. Cuse reveals that Pulse uses flashbacks throughout Season 1 to help explain their relationship. “Whatever you think you might believe at the beginning, I am pretty sure your mind is going to be changed by the time you get deeper into the season,” the Emmy winner says. “What we’re trying to explore is, when two people decide to engage in a relationship that has a bunch of complications — some of which are easily seen, and some that are not easily seen, but are more meaningful — how do they navigate that?” 

As Danny, Xander, and the rest of the staff attempt to do just that, a shocking wrench is thrown into the situation. You’ll have to watch the whole video to learn about the latest development rocking Maguire Medical Center. 

Tune into all 10 episodes of Pulse when it premieres on April 3 to see how — and if — those complications are resolved. For even more Pulse news, keep coming back to Tudum. 

The Trailer for Pulse