Diagnosing Doc Season 1: Scrubs, Scandals, and Second Chances

Until you’ve been beneath a rock, you’ll know that Doc has been among the finest and most profitable choices of the 12 months.

With its character-driven storylines and powerful solid, we’ve all fallen in love with Amy Larsen and this pleasant genre-bending medical drama.

Hopefully, you’ve checked out our Doc Critiques and exclusives, however now, it’s time to interrupt down the highs, lows, and Amy of all of it relating to Doc Season 1.

From one of the best characters to one of the best episode, we’re right here to unpack every part about Doc Season 1.

There’s loads to debate, however be sure you hit the feedback under along with your ideas as effectively.

Did Doc make the grade? Test it out!

Finest Character – Amy

Is it even a shock that one of the best character on Doc is Amy? It shouldn’t be. She’s one of the crucial complicated main characters at the moment on the air, and to say I’m obsessed is an understatement.

On the heart of Doc is watching this actually intriguing character navigate so many modifications and shifts in her life, and there’s nothing linear or clear-cut about how she does it.

Molly Parker is the present that retains on giving as Amy Larsen.

She buoys an extremely robust solid as she brings these fascinating human tales and eventualities to life in a approach that connects with the viewers.

This season, the spotlight of Doc’s journey has been following Amy’s journey, which has been fairly emotional whereas concurrently peeling again layers of this profoundly multifaceted character.

Amy’s grief doesn’t make her a simple individual to like, but her humanity and relatability make her lovable regardless of that.

The season does a beautiful job of exploring how she acquired to the model of herself earlier than the accident and the way she will waver between that model and one other afterward.

By the tip of the season, she nonetheless leaves craving extra, uncertain if we’ve barely even scratched the floor of unpacking who and what this character is.

I eagerly await the return of her character onscreen. She’s undeniably gripping.

Finest Episode – Doc Season 1 Episode 10: … Should Come Down

Sure, relying on who you ask, it might be a controversial opinion, however the season finale was the season’s strongest episode.

A lot of what we constructed up all season got here to a head throughout the finale, which made a lot of the payout worthwhile. It was notably nice when the reality about Richard got here out, and the man acquired his comeuppance.

The practice derailment was an interesting case, and it was a few of Doc’s most substantial medical work on the collection. Usually, it feels much less concerning the medical care and extra concerning the medical doctors themselves.

However the season finale was thrilling and fast-paced. They managed to cram so much into that closing hour whereas setting us up for an enormous return. We’re left with many questions and in dire want of solutions, particularly about Doc’s relationships.

The cliffhanger, whereas controversial, could possibly be the proper setup for a powerful opener subsequent season. The finale, teasing Amy’s darker facet once more, leaves the door open for her to discover extra of her character, which fits past what we’ve seen.

Worst Episode – Doc Season 1 Episode 4: One Small Step

Effectively, “worst” appears harsh when Doc constantly places ahead some actually nice content material.

But when I had to decide on a weak installment from this season, it could be Doc Season 1 Episode 4.

The astronaut’s medical case wasn’t precisely gripping. Its solely spotlight was that includes TJ effectively.

We additionally had Katie and Amy working towards reconnecting, however a protecting Michael lashed out at Amy in a genuinely offputting method. His character was not at his greatest for all the hour, together with the peek into his cracked residence life with Nora.

The one factor that made up for it was the emotionally uncooked second on the museum the place he relived the trauma of dropping his son to assist Amy, they usually prolonged grace and forgiveness to at least one one other—a shiny spot in an in any other case underwhelming installment.

Most Irritating Character – Sonya

Generally, we will’t assist however marvel if we’re too exhausting on Sonya as a personality. Nevertheless, she additionally makes it tough primarily based on her involvement in some plots.

Sonya’s strongest episode was Doc Season 1 Episode 7, the place we acquired to see one other facet to her as her previous sexual assault got here to mild and prompted a harmful response upon crossing paths together with her rapist.

It was beautiful to see extra of Sonya, and Anya Banerjee gave her strongest efficiency of the season all through that hour.

However then Sonya reverted proper again to the one-dimensional character she was earlier than. It stays irritating that a lot of Sonya’s character revolves round her animosity and resentment towards Amy and nothing extra.

Storyline That Despatched Us on a Rollercoaster Trip – The Love Triangle

Whether or not you really liked it, hated it, had an extremely scorching canine on this race, or didn’t, EVERYONE is speaking about this love triangle. How might you not?

We haven’t seen a love triangle fairly like this one on primetime tv, because it’s giving cleaning soap opera at its absolute most interesting. Nonetheless, the funding degree and complex feelings make it an unbelievable experience, regardless.

Amy’s coronary heart holds house for 2 completely different males, and each are head over heels in love together with her, however so many elements are in place that ping-pong us forwards and backwards.

Amy and Michael’s chemistry has simmered all through the season, and it appears like their relationship was all the time completed—a semicolon, however not a interval.

Nevertheless, regardless of Amy not remembering that they had been relationship earlier than the accident, she finds her approach again to Jake anyway. The attract and chemistry between them had been too robust, as effectively.

It leads to an extremely layered mixture of dynamics and an not possible state of affairs through which the feelings of all events typically conflict with the truth of what’s taking place.

Extra so than Amy’s TBI and try to reclaim her life in some capability, the love triangle was the season’s largest hook and sparked probably the most ardour.

Character Who Wants Extra Exploration – Jake

I do know it’s like whispering within the wind as a result of, setting apart that Jake is, the truth is, the least developed character regardless of a lot display time, he’s additionally probably the most genuinely good and likable character whom everybody adores.

Jake is a stable sufficient character. He’s a terrific physician, and Jon-Michael Ecker is charismatic on this function.

However once you put aside Jake’s involvement with the love triangle, we don’t know a lot about him as a person. All the things about Jake to date is outlined by his unwavering love and devotion to Amy.

His clearly outlined love and devotion make him a stable romantic lead. Nevertheless, he additionally suffers as a person character exterior of that when the season largely has him enjoying a obligatory however restricted supporting function for Amy.

We don’t be taught a lot about Jake throughout the season, and it’s straightforward to miss that when there’s a lot else taking place. He’s a terrific physician, a loving dad to a daughter we’ve solely heard about and appears to be a person of religion. His ex-wife doubtless cheated on him.

He’s seemingly good, dangerously near a Gary Stu, however the thrilling factor about Doc’s 22 Episode Season 2 Order is that we’ll have a lot time to construct on this character subsequent season. It’s truthfully one of many issues I’m most enthusiastic about!

Most Underrated Dynamic – Amy and Katie

Doc juggles many issues, however one of the crucial compelling dynamics on this collection is that of Amy and Katie. We don’t see the exploration of a mom and daughter attempting to reconnect beneath circumstances like this.

What’s refreshing is that Doc doesn’t depict Katie because the obnoxious teen or lean into the tiresome tropes that usually crop up with youngsters onscreen.

Amy and Katie’s well-established previous defines their relationship and its present state. We additionally see how the pair is engaged on it, and Doc permits this to unfold organically with out invalidating both of their emotions or positions.

Doc doesn’t appear too involved about boxing any of its characters into hardline archetypes of fine and dangerous or mistaken and proper (even when viewers handle to anyway), which liberates them and permits them to discover the characters as weak people.

That’s what makes Katie and Amy’s relationship so intriguing within the current. Amy doesn’t know the best way to navigate motherhood in addition to she does working towards medication. Nevertheless, teen Katie retains Amy grounded and trustworthy, and watching these two determine issues out between them is one in every of Doc’s strongest arcs.

Most Misunderstood – Michael

I’ve to be trustworthy; I don’t notably perceive the extent of animosity waged towards Michael, and I in all probability by no means will.

Michael isn’t a lot Amy’s foil however as a substitute serves as the opposite facet of the coin. They’re so inextricably linked as characters, notably by means of mutual grief, that it’s difficult to think about one’s stance with out contemplating the opposite. Effectively, no less than for me.

Michael’s function performs off Amy’s fantastically in telling this wealthy story of how grief completely shatters individuals. Extra overtly, we deal with Amy’s grief and the way the lack of her son leads to eight years of her shutting down emotionally earlier than making a flip forward of and post-accident.

Nevertheless, in the identical vein, Michael’s grief additionally defines the character and his relationship with Amy. On the floor, we see a person nonetheless in love along with his ex-wife and resentful of his new, pregnant one.

Nevertheless, once we be taught that Daniel died in his arms, Amy spends a rare period of time blaming him for not saving his son.

He distracted himself and by no means totally processed his personal grief due to the guilt and necessity of taking good care of Katie when Amy checked out. We now have one other engrossing exploration of what grief does to a personality, and the state of affairs is way extra layered than simply his function in a messy love triangle.

Michael is about as damaged, flawed, and sophisticated as Amy herself. Sadly, he isn’t typically acknowledged that approach, which is unlucky and why he’s one in every of Doc’s most misunderstood characters.

Criminally Underused – Gina

In hindsight, we didn’t get a lot growth or an actual peek into Gina (or her and Amy’s friendship) till the season finale. It was riveting — Gina’s breakdown with Michael nonetheless offers me chills.

Like Jake, Gina has spent the season, most of the time, in a supportive function to Amy, besides she didn’t have the identical quantity of display time.

Amirah Vann is phenomenal, and it’s all the time nice when she’s onscreen, particularly as we be taught extra concerning the character or discover that dynamic with Amy additional.

Gina additionally has an interesting place as each a psychiatrist and a neurologist. Therefore, the variety of medical instances they’ll discover in her subject makes her Doc’s personal secret weapon on that entrance.

Her worth to each the hospital and in lots of characters’ lives as a buddy, confidant, and therapist ought to make her one in every of Doc’s most formidable powerhouse characters come subsequent season now that they’ve laid the groundwork for it right here. Hopefully, they’ll proceed to construct.

Finest Storytelling Automobile – Flashbacks

Not each collection can pull off flashbacks, or they’ll typically really feel overdone or pointless to the plot.

Nevertheless, Doc’s flashbacks are instrumental to the character constructing for Amy and plenty of different characters, touching upon all these dynamics with out counting on heavy exposition or detracting an excessive amount of from different plot factors.

Whereas it’s endearing to see the burgeoning of Jake and Amy’s love story in smooth moments or how a prickly Amy spurned Sonya, Richard, and others, what’s most compelling concerning the flashbacks is how they discover grief.

We see the devastating moments of when and the way Danny died.

However we additionally witness these uncooked moments within the aftermath and the way the Larsen-Hamda household fell aside due to that.

The flashbacks are a wonderful approach for viewers to reconcile who Amy was earlier than this tragedy, instantly after, and now, and the way it’s formed her life and relationships.

Doc’s flashbacks are so illuminating as a result of they do wonders at additional increasing upon the characters, largely Amy. Hopefully, they’ll proceed subsequent season as effectively.

Honorable Point out: The Needledrops

Significantly, Doc’s music advisor and all the musical staff are laudable. The collection makes use of the proper songs and music to seize the feelings of each second.

There’s a motive why followers had been looking each crevice of the web for the unreleased Birdy tune swelling throughout Doc Season 1 Episode 4’s devastating Michael/Amy museum scene.

And the professional use of a coveted needle drop punctuated the season’s cliffhanger splendidly.

Between you and me, this collection has added so many underrated or beforehand unknown songs to my playlist, which harkens again to the times of one other medical drama spawning a musical revolution in popular culture.

Most Surprising Second – Miller Blaming Amy for His Error

Miller was by no means a one-dimensional antagonist for the collection, which made him extra fascinating to observe. Plus, Scott Wolf is all the time superb.

As we discovered extra about their earlier friendship and his residence life, it offered sufficient context to possibly perceive how Miller landed on this horrible place.

Simply as we turned a nook in coming to know Miller, he orchestrated a last-ditch effort to cowl his behind by weaponizing Amy’s TBI and blaming every part on her.

It was so jaw-droppingly despicable it left many people reeling till the collection returned.

Miller sank to an unthinkable low with that maneuver, and what little goodwill and religion he earned over time fully vanished after that transfer.

General Grade: B+

There’s a motive Doc has taken Fox and broadcast tv by storm. It has robust characters and nice storytelling, and it retains you wanting to observe it time and again.

By specializing in character-centric storytelling, Doc resonates with its viewers in a approach many collection fail to do today, and as we watch characters we love (or possibly even hate) expertise the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of life has made Doc the precise kind of consolation tv that we would have liked.

Amy is among the most exceptional and fascinating characters onscreen, and probably the most alluring facet of the collection is following her journey as a lady who will get a second likelihood at life.

The primary season solely gave us a style of what this collection might be transferring ahead and, in form, left us clamoring for me. From the friendships and mentorships to the romantic drama and angst and even the thrilling medical instances, Doc is well one of many 12 months’s greatest watches.

It’s no shock that its debut season was so robust. This pleasant collection has really warmed the cockles of our hearts, and we can’t look ahead to its return.

The primary season had a number of bumps right here and there, nevertheless it’s in any other case a powerful collection. However there are our ideas on the matter.

What Would You Grade Doc Season 1?

Hold forth under with all of your ideas on the highs and lows of the collection. Will you be returning for extra?

What are you most trying ahead to when the collection returns? Let’s hear all of it under within the feedback. I’ll see you there!

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