Well, there are two modes for Doc this season, and they step on the gas in either one.
For much of the season, we’ve been bogged down with revenge plots and a steady stream of everyone coming after Amy.
And while there was a touch of that on Doc Season 2 Episode 14, personally and professionally, we also got that soap opera mode that Doc delivers.
But let’s get into the medical cases. They were strong, and I’ll give Doc credit in its sophomore season for really delivering on that front more.
Much of Doc Season 1 felt like a personal drama that just so happened to take place at a hospital, and sometimes the cases reflected that.
But during the sophomore season, they’ve managed to balance both much better, giving us medical cases and patients who are interesting to watch on their own in addition to serving as beautiful tie-ins for the characters in many ways.
The case involving Andy and Andi was one of those.
While I chuckled at the fact that this is the second time recently that chimeraism found its way into a procedural — High Potential Season 2 Episode 11 also dedicated an installment to this — the case itself was emotional and heartbreaking.
We had a happy couple who had been together for only ten months but were already expecting a baby. But it goes to show you that time isn’t everything. As they said, “When you know, you know.”
And I didn’t miss that shared look between Jake and Amy when they said that.
Maternal mortality is such a huge problem globally, and it’s especially bad in the States, so while it absolutely broke my heart that Andi died, I almost braced myself for it happening.
Doc hasn’t been holding back with the deaths of patients, and as devastating as it can be at times, I appreciate the realism.
Andy’s world was already shifted on its axis with the abrupt loss of the woman he loved, and then they had to deal with the fact that he and his child didn’t share a blood type that would make them statistically related.
I felt for Amy and that she did not want to break that news to him and wanted to do whatever she could to go around the rules, for the sake of sparing that man more heartbreak.
Afterall, the “truth” would result in him leaving that hospital without the woman he loved and their child.
And having to rip a parent away from their child is one of the worst things ever, especially when you already don’t agree with the decision.
As easy as it was to cosign Amy, Michael actually abiding by the rules was essential here, especially when he’s already been skating on thin ice.
But I also chuckled at Amy going looking for zebras, or in this case, unicorns, because she couldn’t bear the thought of tearing apart a family.
You could sense it felt deeply personal to her. Hell, she’s already had to deal with the whole Clark sibling fiasco, let alone all the drama within her personal life.
Amy pulling out the chimera angle was such a long shot, but I rolled with it for the happy ending. And Amy essentially getting to name her was the perfect cherry on top for that case.
Julie’s case was also fun to watch. With more screen time, Julie has undergone quite an evolution as a character, and she’s even become someone worth rooting for more often.
They played into the humor with her stomach issues and wanting to avoid embarrassing herself much further in front of Shane, but then it just got Hallmark Romance levels of cute, and the pair had me holding my hand over my heart and beaming from ear to ear.
Julie’s second chance at love is such a sweet turn of events, and I’m happy for her. Her ex-husband may be a loser, but hot Cowboy Shane is a real catch, not just that, but a real MAN.
Her potential medical issues didn’t scare him away. Shane was right there by her side, happily, easily, from the moment they wondered if it was food poisoning to when it got more serious, and they feared it was Crohn’s Disease or a tumor.
Shane proved that he’s in it for the long haul, and he didn’t let Julie push him away, nor did he accept her attempts to use TJ and Sonya as buffers.
There was so much levity and comedy in that side arc, and it really allowed the supporting characters, who tend to get shuffled around or sidelined, to shine a bit. It also allowed us to see more of how the hospital functions when Amy isn’t at the center of things.
It’ll always be Amy’s show, and I certainly love her to pieces, but the show can really thrive when it fleshes out other characters beyond solely their connection to her.
Because it still managed to tie in with certain themes of the hour anyway. Shane is a good man, and he’s not going to throw away his shot at real love and connection.
It served as inspiration for TJ and Sonya, since they’re going full steam ahead into whatever is brewing there.
They’ve been dancing around each other and flirting for a few episodes now, and it oddly enough feels like they’re going at a warped speed, with flat-out acknowledging it to each other when they grabbed drinks.
I didn’t think they were at the point of calling it what it was, but okay! Of course, their first conflict as a pairing is what they plan to do about Joan.
Setting aside the flirting, they were also able to piece together that Joan’s sick and hiding it because she’s been missing work for “conferences,” which is unusual and too last-minute to be normal.
And Sonya remembered the headaches while TJ shared the shaky hands issue.
It puts them both in a tight spot since Sonya is still holding out for Chief Resident, and TJ has become Joan’s prized pupil, having impressed Joan’s replacement when he scrubbed in on Julie’s surgery.
Presumably, this is the next big issue for the season to tackle, and I’m curious how this one will play out.
The Good Guy Shane bit also tied into other cases. Shane established himself as the guy who shows up, stays, and works through challenges. And, of course, Jake is the same.
Poor Rachel got a reality check about the person she cheated on him with because she may be facing down a cancer diagnosis, and David didn’t know how to deal with that or support her as she needed.
But Jake does.
After Amy told him she had bumped into her at radiology and that she never called him back, he went right to her house to talk to her about it. And he surely was piecing together that something else was going on.
Jake is a great guy. Doc routinely establishes that he’s the perfect guy, so it’s no surprise at all that he’ll be right by Rachel’s side as she deals with these health issues, whether or not it’s cancer.
Their divorce doesn’t mean they stop being family. Whether this will be a conflict down the road remains to be seen, but chances are Jake and Rachel can navigate it better than what is going on with Amy, Michael, and Katie.
So, we get to the Michael of it all. He was an asshole who was dodging accountability at every turn and in every scene.
It was off-putting and annoying, but this is where we are now, so whatever, I guess.
Michael blaming Amy for everything, including Nora leaving him and Katie’s panic attack, was insane. Like, not just, “this character really sucks insane,” but “I have whiplash right now. Because plot…” levels of insane.
I get that many viewers never liked Michael. And that’s fine, but it honestly feels like we’re in this weird territory where the character no longer makes sense.
It’s been happening for a bit, slowly but surely, but this hour just clinched it for me.
Amy’s appeal as a character was always that she was beautifully messy, layered, and complicated. But sometimes, it feels like they don’t afford the other characters that opportunity.
For so long, Sonya has suffered the most from this, always cast as a one-dimensional antagonist for convenience, even when she’s ripe for exploration of why she could be who she is with Amy.
Doc never really leans into her layers enough to matter.
Whereas Jake is nice and perfect. A live-action Disney Prince. The series has just barely scratched the surface of his depth, though, especially as a person outside of Amy.
One of the things that made Doc’s love triangle more appealing than most (I’m not a fan of the genre) was seeing it involving older individuals with more layers.
It also felt like Doc never intended to paint any one option as “good” or “bad,” but instead explored the layers of each that made each dynamic appealing.
Even when they had their finger on the scale, it was still compelling to explore what everything meant for the characters. My biggest issue with love triangles is when the triangle comes ahead of the characters.
It kind of feels that way now. Presently, it feels like Doc requires two things: more conflict for Amy and a pathway to remove Michael from Amy in a romantic fashion to go all-in with Jake and Amy.
Both are fine. The execution is a bit off for me, though.
Perhaps the intent is to show Michael as a man spiraling, who never received the therapy he clearly needs to work through his own issues. And that’s potentially worth exploring for the character.
I just don’t find this execution, if that’s what they’re doing, interesting, complex, layered, or even meaningful. It just feels like plot twists and messiness just for the sake of it.
So, this installment reveals that Michael is a typical man resistant to therapy and so unwilling to sit in his own crap that he wanted to switch Katie’s therapist out. That’s not controlling and self-serving at all!
He’s still angry at Gina and Amy because of his own actions, and he’s not afraid to let them know it.
Oh, Amy felt like a ping pong between Joan and Gina, allowing both of them to influence her in some capacity or another.
She bought that apartment five years ago, but she orchestrated a date night with Michael to work things out after talking to Gina. And they reminisced and spent the night together.
And, presumably, finding out that “Nate” was really “Nora” was likely the tipping point in their marriage ending for good, and in Amy hating Michael’s guts until her memory loss.
Personally, I liked it when it was more layered than something as tired as infidelity. This revelation is also irksome because the little grace and good standing Nora would’ve had (and, despite not being a fan of hers, she had some) go out the window.
Nora, being jealous of Amy because she felt she could never measure up, and being insecure, while annoying, is still sympathetic.
However, Nora, being the person Michael had an affair with, and her having the audacity to be angry at Amy all the time, is just ridiculous and makes her unsympathetic.
And Michael, yeah, I got nothing.
Meanwhile, there are such legitimate things to have dug into with Katie and her conflict with her mother, without reducing her to the girl who always whacks Amy for everything.
The idea that she’d beg her mother to change so her father wouldn’t cheat made me cringe even more than her going through her father’s phone.
Yeah, so maybe I’m in the minority, but I think there’s an avenue for Amy to have a fulfilling, healthy life that can include her family AND Jake.
It’s getting a bit bizarre that Jake is framed as her “one good thing” because her other dynamics are so messy and conflict-ridden.
I don’t feel like we should ever be in a place where this whole segment of her life, an essential part, comes across like something she needs to extract herself from to thrive.
It especially rubs me the wrong way from the angle of potentially sacrificing a compelling dynamic worthy of deeper exploration: Amy and Katie’s relationship, in favor of Amy’s romance.
But that’s how I feel about Doc. I’ll leave it to you to share your thoughts in the comments below!
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