Thoughts About Doctor Odyssey

[yourlibrarian]

I watched all of S1 of Doctor Odyssey. It didn't take too long because I am not a fan of medical dramas and forward through all the stuff I don't need to be seeing. But I have to hand it to this show for putting everything on the table as if they weren't expecting a S2.

This ship has already been through everything in 8 episodes including hurricanes, surgeries during hurricanes, more than one person overboard, awkward family reunions, shipboard weddings, plastic surgery nightmares, people poisoning themselves with quack health products, a gay cruise, viral duck activity, and staff medical crisis. I have no idea what's going to be left for a S2 -- maybe a giant squid attacking the ship.

But all the kudos to them -- whereas another show would drag out a boring love triangle for 4 seasons before probably writing someone out of the show, Odyssey went full bore into a threesome by episode 6. FINALLY.

Given it ended in an uncertain pregnancy and the character was going to be starting med school anyway, I am cynical enough to wonder if S2 won't take a hard pivot by writing her out of the show and replacing her, depending on how well received their canon threesome is. Hopefully not, as I'd really like to see a show tackle this.

At any rate, overall I found the show a mix of things where the fanfic will likely be better than the show. I generally found the guest stories tiresome, probably because they're so over the top and the guests generally unsympathetic. At the same time, because the guests take up a good chunk of each episode the rest of the crew is fairly undeveloped because all the show has time for is its main cast. I'd rather like to see more about them and less about the crazy guest issues. But clearly this would be a very different show were that the case.

Comments

[starfleetbrat]

The only way I reconcile this show is adhering to the theory that is floating around the internet that everything happening is actually a covid/coma dream the doctor is having and he is dying, and the ship is ferrying passengers to the afterlife.
https://tvline.com/lists/doctor-odyssey-max-dead-alive-covid-coma-dream-theory/1235340470/

Because otherwise the show is... not good, and a bit too over the top, with some things not really making sense and it has a weird aesethic for a real cruise ship. Even when they have days off they are still wearing the same colours of blue/gold/white which I find really odd.

[yourlibrarian]

I heard about that, and I can see it being an AU sort of interpretation but who knows? With this show they may just lean into this big time 😉

[feurioo]

I continue to be intrigued by everything I read about this show, even the bad things. :D

[yourlibrarian]

For sure it's not afraid to stand out!

[delphi]

I really need to give this a try. It sounds pretty wild!

[yourlibrarian]

It's something alright. I don't know if it adds up to a good show but it does not do middle of the road.

[shadowkat]

Have you seen the 9-1-1 franchises? Or Nip/Tuck? Or Glee? Because that is kind of Ryan Murphy's thing? He likes to take a genre and go over the top with it? And satirizes/parodies it at the same time. I mean Doctor Odysessy is basically Murphy's take on the Love Boat. While 9-1-1 was his take on the whole Chicago Med, Chicago Fire procedural. And the shows are pretty absurd.

These shows either work for folks or they really don't.

[yourlibrarian]

I've only seen Glee and I suspect that one didn't go as far due to the age demographic being reached and the setting. But yes, the absurdity was definitely there.

[shadowkat]

No, Glee didn't - or not as far as they'd planned. Apparently they intended to have Mr. Shue and Rachel Berry have an affair, and have Rachel get pregnant, etc. The network nixed it. That show as supposed to be more over the top and much darker than it was.

Murphy is heavy-handed in satire. Grostequerie, Scream Queens, Monsters: the Mendez Brothers, and American Horror Story are all his creations.

[tinny]

Thanks for the review! (I still havent found the time to write one, myself. November was cray.)

I feel like I've completely forgotten about all the ludicrous guests and their problems already. The main crew (cast) is really what makes this show, and I just enjoyed coming back to them and their problems love every week.

[yourlibrarian]

Yeah I think that's what stays with viewers.

[lauramcewan]

If they do continue the show, I hope they don't write out Phillipa Soo, because she was the reason I started watching it in the first place. It's an ok show. Good for doing my cross stitch to.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, she seems really key to me in terms of casting .