Critic’s Rating: 4.2 / 5.0
4.2
There are so many emotions with Doc.
The series is a total “Feels” fest, and it manages those emotions so well during Doc Season 1 Episode 2.
The second installment builds on the foundation of the Doc series premiere and settles nicely into itself. It makes it easy to bask in the series’ humanity.
Did I tell you all that I’m a character girl? Because I am, and thus far, Doc is doing a great job of putting the characters first and allowing all the medical plots to enhance the dynamic character exploration.
Again, Molly Parker is fantastic in this role, and she has such an incredibly difficult feat of capturing a multi-faceted Amy to such a degree that we can see and acknowledge her flaws and mishaps and still utterly adore her despite them.
Amy is in an unusual and impossible position. It warrants so much grace, yet it’s been fascinating (and infuriating) to see how few characters extend that to her.
When most of the characters look at her, they still only see the cold woman they knew before and cling to how slighted they felt by her or maybe how intimidating it was to be in the shadow of her greatness.
When navigating the halls of Westside it’s tough to suss out who are friends and who are foes.
The worst part is that Amy’s friends are sometimes so caught up in what they think is best for her that they, too, can stand in her way.
We saw that when it came to Amy returning to the hospital again as a doctor.
Sure, she was a liability in the sense that she wasn’t actively practicing as a doctor and had sustained a serious head injury, so she shouldn’t have been jumping into the fray with Simone’s case.
However, the entire hour I found myself grunting ” ADA” through gritted teeth as those in the hospital spoke to and dismissed her as if she was no longer of value or a doctor because of her TBI.
For a hospital that seems very fixated on its image and avoiding lawsuits, it was remarkable that most couldn’t muster up enough energy to kiss Amy’s butt a little.
The board, in particular, was a soulless brood. And they evoked all the typical disdain one feels about the suits in charge of a hospital often making decisions without a hint of empathy or the medical knowledge to support their positions.
Amnesiac Amy is all vulnerability, confusion, and earnestness. Katie parroting old Amy’s sentiments about what medicine has become wasn’t so much cynical as it was tragically realistic and honest.
Medicine used to be art, then a science. Now it’s just a business.
— Amy (Via Katie)
Watching a bunch of frowny-faced stiffs who didn’t seem particularly fond of Amy in the first place callously shut her down was irritating.
In the end, I was grateful that Michael reminded them of the sh*show on their hands if Amy lawyered up and came after them discrimination.
It’s evident that there’s a tightrope walk in the boardroom, and Michael likely has to do a lot of placating to keep his job.
I don’t envy his position. It leaves him in murky waters, trying to do what’s best for Amy, himself, the hospital, and so forth. He’s an ally for Amy, but there’s a hint of strings there.
Michael is in an intriguing position right now.
One gets the sense that he eventually gave up on Amy, but now he’s seeing the sparks of the woman he loved for so many years, not just as a person but professionally.
And he cautiously gives in to it and her while still trying to maintain some distance.
Admittedly, the subtle little things like that are why I find their side of this unorthodox love triangle so intriguing, and I can’t quite write him off as the past in favor of the younger, newer, flashier energy that Jake brings.
Not yet, anyway. With more time together during this installment, I’m also enjoying Amy and Jake’s layers.
Simone’s case gave us a peek into their easy professional chemistry and how that could evolve.
There’s something inexplicable but special about work dynamics, and they’re often underrated.
It’s hard to describe how great it is when a dynamic clicks into place over a shared goal or uniting purpose. Some people can push you in the way you need at the right time in the best way or whom you can troubleshoot and brainstorm with properly.
Sometimes you have this shorthand, and it garners the best results. Great working partners are such solid dynamics and the best thing about workplace series like this.
Amy and Jake must have had that or at least had it pre-season. One can see why he was her star pupil.
Jake’s unwavering trust in Amy and his respect for her as a doctor meant he didn’t go all-in on her diagnosis despite his constant warnings that she needed to stop doling out advice.
And even when it caused him trouble and potentially a lawsuit, he backed her again when she got it right.
He’s such an Amy loyalist, but it’s beyond his love for her and every bit about how much he admires and respects her as a brilliant doctor and doesn’t believe her TBI changes that.
Jake still has the harder task of maintaining a professional relationship with Amy while hiding that they were together.
Their interactions are just so angsty and filled to the brim with longing. On one hand, he’s constantly trying to check himself and maintain some professionalism, but on the other hand, you can see him willing her to remember what they had.
Being in such close proximity to the woman he loves while unable to express it is tough. But Jake is handling it in stride.
Sonya, on the other hand, armed with this information, is visibly annoyed. It seems like she harbored feelings for Jake, and learning that the woman who made her feel like a crappy doctor was carrying on with Jake likely fuels that animosity more.
I’m patiently waiting for more exploration of Sonya, so we’ll have more depth to this character, who is otherwise tiresome.
She’s not terrible for pointing out that Amy’s loss doesn’t justify her horrendous treatment of others. And she shouldn’t be made to feel that way.
Yet, we still know so little about her that she’s grating.
At least Gina and the friendship with Amy make up for things.
The flashbacks were illuminating, and Gina was such an admirable person and friend.
It put into perspective how much she’s been there for Amy over the years. According to Gina, she’s the only person Amy didn’t succeed at pushing away.
Gina was there for Amy when she lost her son and divorced Michael, and she’s here for her now.
She’s helped Amy through some big transitions in her life, but I’m curious as to if that’s come at any cost to her.
For one, she was having another pep talk with Amy during dinner with her wife.
I love these two. What stops me from arguing that maybe the series’ best love story is between these two women is wondering about aspects of their friendship.
Did Amy not tell Gina about Jake or is that something Gina is keeping quiet about?
Gina loves Amy, but Gina tends to withhold information often and her motivations for doing so are always unclear. You’d expect her to be brutally honest with her friend, but she tends to skirt around things a lot.
Perhaps a large part of that is genuine concern for Amy’s emotional and mental well-being, but you’d expect the one person to consistently tell Amy the unfiltered truth would be her best friend.
She was more blunt during this hour, especially when hedging into how things were between Amy and Katie and letting Amy know that getting her crap together was essential.
It’s the tough love you’d expect from Gina and what I appreciate most. I’m also a sucker for Amirah Vann playing no-nonsense characters.
The case, as becoming a pattern, was a great way to explore personal bits about the characters. In this case, Amy needed to hear what Simone’s daughter had to say about complicated mother/daughter relationships and how kids are the ones who have unconditional love for their parents.
The case really helped Amy and Katie make more progress in a few days than they had in eight years.
Sadly, Amy checking out was a pattern after Danny died, and poor Katie felt it. She never got her mother back the way she had her; if anything, she kept slipping away.
We saw via flashbacks how, two years after Danny’s death, Amy was still this detached and despondent person, and Katie craved her love and attention and was hurt that she didn’t get it.
It’s no wonder she moved in with her father permanently. Even through his grief, he never stopped being a parent. He couldn’t afford to with Amy checked out.
In that aspect, Michael is an intriguing character, and you wonder if he ever got the chance to really grieve himself.
Amy’s grief was so pronounced and took up all the space in the room, and Michael may have had to keep pushing his down and keeping at bay just to keep things together and pick up where she slacked off.
But it’s also one of those things that makes you think about how mothers may grieve a child differently because their attachment to them may be different if they happened to grow and carry that kid.
Some mothers who carry their children and discuss things like loss speak about how it feels as if they’ve quite literally lost a part of themselves.
Grieving looks vastly different for everyone, and these flashbacks keep enlightening us about how it presents in different characters.
One flashback that stood out was how Amy and Richard were genuinely friends at some point. Did it really fall apart because she lost her son?
Richard is so far removed from caring about Amy now that it’s hard to believe he ever did. He only cares about covering his tracks, and now that the autopsy results don’t look like a giant red flag for him, he’s milking his new position for all that it’s worth.
He’s such a wretched person. One good thing is that even if Amy can’t remember anything, her spidey senses are tingling. Also, Jake doesn’t trust him either and pays attention to his every move.
Over to you, Doc Fanatics.
Should Amy return to Westside as a doctor? Are Amy and Jake a formidable duo? Was that apartment the most impersonal thing you’ve seen in a while? Sound off below!
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