"Trauma" premiered last fall with helicopter crashes and multiple-car pile ups on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. After a hiatus, the show is now back on NBC, and the second half of the season will cut back on the special effects and focus more on getting up-close and personal with its cast of characters.

"At the beginning, these were larger-than-life characters, super heroes," Aimee Garcia, who plays helicopter pilot Marisa Benez, tells ET. "Rabbit [a daredevil flight medic played by Cliff Curtis] shows up with sunglasses; Marisa is chomping on her gum and flying her helicopter. There is that super-hero complex these people have. You do have to be confident in your abilities so you can calm the victim and the victim's family. But there is much more to what these people do after work."

So with the new episodes, we will see the more human side of Rabbit, Marisa and the rest of the medics and EMTs on the show, but their essential character traits will stay the same.

"One thing that is not going to change is Rabbit is going to be very bad, and get in lots and lots of trouble," Cliff adds, "but after that, my character tries to be good to keep his job."

He also tries to be on his good behavior to save his romance with Nancy (Anastasia Griffith), which was heating up until he acts out in her apartment, but bottom line is that Rabbit is a cowboy and an adrenaline junkie.

"We spend our lives trying to save people's lives, but who is going to save us?" asks Cliff, as Rabbit is headed for therapy.

Rabbit isn't the only one with a hookup on "Trauma," as Aimee tells ET that Marisa may also be getting a little action -- and not just from flying around San Francisco saving lives.

"I feel like it is the age of the strong woman," she says. "I get to be a part of the boys' club. I get to fly a utility 212 Bell. I am an Iraq war veteran who got shot at. And she gets to be sexy, too. She has a fling going on. I won't say with who. I think that women are so complicated in general, but now women are smart, strong, funny, and tomboyish and I feel really lucky that I get to play her."

"Trauma" airs on Monday nights at 9 p.m. on NBC.

'Trauma' Takes to the Streets of San Francisco Oct 05, 2009 01:40 AM