Doc Season 2 Episode 12 Finally Ends One Revenge Plot … and Sparks Another

Critic’s Rating: 4.4 / 5.0

4.4

If Doc could kindly get these people off Amy’s back for a moment, it would be great. Thanks!

Most of Doc Season 2 Episode 12 was infuriating, in a fast-paced, teeth-gnashing type of way that had you leaning forward and on the edge of your seat, shouting at the screen.

Or maybe that’s just how I get when I’m watching some of my favorite shows.

Max’s Cold War Against Amy Continues

Nevertheless, the entire hour was less about medicine and more about a carefully orchestrated “witch hunt” between two bald, evil men who can’t stand Amy’s brilliance.

And they were willing to utilize anything to bury her.

Can we take a moment to talk about how abhorrent Max is? He’s such a small, sad, pathetic man, and if anyone deserves to be on the receiving end of Amy’s wrath, it’s him.

In fact, if Amy can tap into the version of herself that everyone hates to curse him out one good time, it would probably clear pores and give a serotonin boost.

We’ve known since Doc Season 1 that Max has had it out for Amy. He’s been the one leading the charge in not wanting her back at the hospital, and he looks for any excuse to hang her out to dry or find a way to boot her from the hospital under the guise of “protecting the hospital image.”

The Board Takes the Worst, Most Ineffective Shots at Amy

But he was at his most diabolical by taking what amounts to a serious hack that nearly resulted in the death of one patient and the actual death of another, and using that to set Amy up and potentially oust her, or worse.

Because, in reality, what difference does it make what may have motivated Hannah and her brother to do all of this to Amy? It doesn’t change the fact that they did it.

They racked up more felonies than a person can count, and Hannah should just set fire to her medical license at this point. She’s an INTERN, and her brother has a record. There’s nothing worth getting ahead for the sake of protecting the hospital’s image.

There’s no polishing up what they did, no matter how sad their backstory is, so the idea that Amy was a full-blown victim in this.

People actually died, but somehow she was supposed to sit idly by as a shady investigator strategically built a case around destroying HER career, which was jaw-dropping.

And the crazy thing about it is that, regardless of what transpired during her hearing — and truthfully, an unbiased person hearing it wouldn’t have had sufficient evidence to punish Amy — all evil, incompetent Max would have done was open the hospital up to the same discrimination suit Amy threatened the first time.

Doc Needs to Rethink the Everybody/Big Bad versus Amy Narrative

Amy was right about most of the men at Westside; they really are incompetent.

Was spinning this web, in which Amy had to rely on resources from friends, supporters, and even foes to piece together what happened to Brian Clark and save her job. It was exciting to watch. Sure, yes, it had its moments.

It certainly had me emotional watching the hour, swearing under my breath, and passionate about the outcome.

But I also must point out that for Doc to sustain itself and the quality that we love most about it, the show has to be willing to shift from this narrative of everyone coming after Amy with such intensity as an ongoing arc for her.

Two of the biggest issues with the revenge arc were that it descended to such ugliness and cruelty that it turned off many viewers, and also, it lasted too long.

Ultimately, there’s so much going on with Amy that we don’t necessarily need her to have her back against the wall fighting her way through some big, bad antagonist all of the time.

Life itself has been her biggest antagonist, and it continues to bear fruit, with branches Doc has barely scratched the surface of.

We don’t really need Hannah, Charlie, Richard, or Max to swoop in and wreak utter havoc on her life all the time, disrupting things to such an intense degree.

Doc is, in itself, great with its very premise of Amy struggling to integrate these different versions of herself, her memory, and this new life post-accident.

Those stories, struggles, and the dynamics that Amy has in relation to them are more than sufficient.

That’s the thing; Amy has plenty of regular conflict to explore without dipping into a similar well.

Can Doc Finally Put the Amy/Sonya Conflict to Bed?

But, of course, before Amy could even process that the young lady she was mentoring had been ruining her life and career because she’s incapable of a simple conversation, with Amy, her mother, and a damn therapist, Amy was in the trenches again.

And it meant interacting with all sorts of people.

I had a modicum of respect for the likes of Julie and Sonya because this hit job and railroading were exactly what they were, and they weren’t willing to give in to it.

Julie has come to develop a healthy respect for Amy as she is now, and regardless of how many people Amy made cry, that had little bearing on the situation at hand.

And Sonya always realizes much too late what she partakes in and how it could impact people.

MAYBE, she can stop acting like a petty, childish teenager by gossiping so much that she can avoid such situations. I did appreciate the precise moment when the investigator parroted back some of the things she had heard from other people, because you could visually see it was a reality check for her.

Amy Really is Like a Dog with a Bone

I also appreciated it on a micro-level as a WOC, because it’s practically ingrained to move through professional settings with some caution, precisely because you can so easily get pulled into something or scapegoated.

There are certain things you keep in-house and don’t discuss in “mixed company,” and the fact that she was almost used to scapegoat Amy was a great reminder of that.

I’d wonder if this is a necessary turning point for Sonya and Amy, especially when Amy extends a bit of an olive branch by referencing how Jake wants them to get over this crap. But, I don’t know. I also struggle with how little the series knows what to do with Sonya beyond the Amy bit, so I’m not holding my breath yet.

Amy even had to track down a nurse she couldn’t remember to discuss one of Brian’s emphasis incidents, in which he left a patient on the table for an hour. Frustratingly, Amy burned this woman so badly that she didn’t even want to go on the record.

That, too, was frustrating.

Perhaps it’s because of something I can’t abide by — I don’t have to like a person to acknowledge wrong is wrong and right is right in a situation. It’s just remarkable how many people formed opinions about situations they didn’t know about and projected them all on Amy.

We’re Back to Richard Miller and His Agenda

I do think that Amy could’ve made headway with acknowledgment before peppering the nurse with questions that she needed to save herself. It’s the air of self-absorption that doesn’t win people over.

But ultimately, it was clear that no matter what she pieced together, it wouldn’t matter when there was a clear agenda. Max and the investigator made that abundantly clear.

If not for Mrs. Clark, whom they couldn’t deny, they would have continued railroading and escapegoating Amy. The moment with Mrs. Clark was nice.

It made you consider how so much of this was avoidable with a simple conversation or two, but that’s what happens with poor communication. She knew her husband was drowning in debt, gambling, and deeply in trouble, and he would’ve taken his life regardless of Amy.

But what’s especially damning and frustrating is that Richard and a few others knew what Amy did for him, yet that wasn’t enough. Like a gosh damn weasel, he sat on the fact that he respected her for helping Brian and protecting his image and legacy.

Michael is the New Scapegoat

Yet, he pounced at the chance to push a narrative to ruin Amy. Why? Because he feels inferior to her, and she threatens him? Oh, because she’s moralistic in her practice of medicine and holds people to account. Wait, it’s because she was mean and stopped being his friend.

The thing with Max and his shadiness is that he keeps coming for Amy, but he can’t win. So now, he’ll go after Michael and Joan to make Amy hurt in a different way. It’s very clear that Michael likely won’t have his job by the end of this.

What’s often frustrating about Michael is almost a sense of naivete, where he can recognize what’s happening, but he still thinks that if you abide by the rules properly, things will work themselves out. To Amy and others, it just appears like he’s tap-dancing for the board, and hell, he is.

He tries to give the impression that there’s no impropriety or bias, but there is.

And he’s been sticking his neck out so much for Amy as it is that he’s lost standing and credibility. But there’s also the awareness that if he’s not sitting in that chair, things for everyone could be infinitely worse.

Michael is out of his depth, but I don’t know where else he fits, either. So, the hunt ultimately shifts to him, and he can easily be the scapegoat.

Joan’s Secret Faces Exposure

And the scope is also on Joan at a time when she can’t afford to be under the microscope.

She can barely perform surgeries anymore without her hands shaking. Joan’s secret is getting out sooner than later, and it’ll be exactly what the board needs to nail her to the wall and Michael, too, for hiring her.

The power plays are in full effect.

Doc has barely wrapped up this arc with Hannah and Charlie, and now we’re hurtling into a new one. Better the devil you know, right?

They still doubled down on just how tragic things have been for Hannah and Charlie. And I sympathize with their situations, ranging from drug abuse and mental breakdowns to debt. But it just wasn’t enough for me to care after seeing how destructive they’ve been.

I’m glad Charlie is okay, and Amy is competent enough to save him without her feelings getting involved, which is, ironically, what they often punish her for.

But hopefully, that means we’re moving on from this?

Thoughts and Things:

• They went out of their way to remind us that Amy was hell on wheels with her disposition. Sometimes it was wrannted, but some approaches weren’t, and they would be an issue for anyone. The key is recognizing that, when understanding these things, grace and context extend to everyone, not just Amy.
• To that last point, publicly berating someone IS an issue and is unprofessional; no amount of hurt Amy feels diminishes that. Brian sucked, and that’s clear. That’s why you pull people aside. Ultimately, that’s what screws Amy too — her grace was never as loud as her disrespect.
• I also found her disposition in the daughter-and-mother case frustrating. There are two points: Yes, it’s annoying when people search the internet and undermine doctors; however, it also ignores medical misogyny and its prevalence…
• Women have learned to advocate for themselves as best as they can in medical settings because of their poor treatment — being a condescending, arrogant jerk doesn’t dissuade what amounts to a genuine, reasonable fear and concern.
• “I know a male coworker burst into her office, yelled at her, swiped things off her desk, and was generally VOLATILE, but what did she do or say to provoke that?” Screw. YOU. Amy NOT being a snitching baby is a character asset because she could have the entire hospital in a vice grip a million times over by now.
• TJ will be the one to clock Joan, and I’m not ready for that!
• Jake is NOT cut out for secrecy and drama. He fumbled so hard trying to get answers from Hannah. Bless his heart.
• If they don’t fire Edie, I’m going to be PISSED.
• What’s Richard’s angle here? How does he reasonably think he’s going to worm his way back into Westside? He’s ridiculous.

You know the drill. We’re Doc diehards over here, so hit the comments with your thoughts so we can chat, share if you care about the show and/or us, and thanks for supporting indie sites like ours!

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