‘Pulse’ stars on the ‘incredible’ opportunity to incorporate Spanish in the medical drama
“Pulse” is the latest medical drama to hit the small screen and this time, it’s set in Miami.
The Netflix series has a dynamic cast that includes a slew of Latino actors who incorporate Spanish into scenes with one another and the patients in need.
For star Justina Machado, acting in both languages “is incredible.”
“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do,” Machado told the 3rd Hour co-hosts during an April 21 TODAY appearance, adding that the creators “let us have our authentic accents” for their characters.
“I’m Puerto Rican, Nestor Carbonell is Cuban, Daniela Nieves is Venezuelan,” Machado said. “So you got the whole mix up in there and it’s fantastic.”
Machado plays Dr. Natalie Cruz, the chair of emergency medicine at a trauma hospital in Miami. She oversees the challenges that the trauma center endures as a hurricane makes its way towards Miami. At the same time, she deals with the romantic and professional fall out between third-year resident Dr. Danny Simms (Willa Fitzgerald) and beloved Chief Resident Dr. Xander Phillips (Colin Woodell).
After Xander is suspended for their illicit romance, Danny is thrust into his high-pressure position as the rest of the ER is left to deal with their own complicated lives and patients.
Throughout the series, Machado’s Dr. Cruz and Carbonell’s Dr. Ruben Soriano, a senior surgeon, communicate in Spanish to discuss the day’s issues, as well as their own personal matters.
But what makes “Pulse” unique is that the Spanish dialogue among the cast doesn’t always come from a Latino actor. At time, it comes from a medical profession like Danny, who, as actor Willa Fitzgerald tells TODAY.com, would have picked up the language from living in the predominantly Latino city.
“I don’t speak Spanish, but several of the people in the cast did, several of us didn’t,” Fitzgerald says. “Those of us that didn’t, we all did Duolingo all day, every day. We were like, ‘We have got to learn Spanish!’”
While she jokingly considers her Spanish-speaking ability to be at “2-year-old level,” Fitzgerald enjoyed incorporating Spanish into her character when helping out a patient in need.
Danny’s Spanish is effective enough to help a man who is adamant about not having his foot amputated in the show’s fourth episode.
“I was like, I don’t think it should sound like she’s a native speaker,” she says. “I think that she learned it because she works in a community that has a lot of Spanish speaking people.”
While not a native Spanish speaker himself, actor Colin Woodell applauds the team for making the show feel authentic when it comes to Spanish-speaking scenes.
“The writers also really wanted to make sure it was authentic, and I knew that there was going to be different vernacular for different parts of the world,” Woodell tells TODAY.com. “I think a lot of the actors took a lot of ownership over how they would sound, what they would say, especially Justina, and Arturo (Del Puerto) and Daniela as well. It was really cool.”
“Pulse” is now streaming on Netflix.
