The Fox television series “Doc” recently aired the finale of its second season, concluding its 22-episode, 8-month run. The show has all the trappings of a daytime medical drama: episode-long diagnostic mysteries, romance between coworkers and contrived moral dilemmas that force one to choose between intuition and risk avoidance. You’ve seen it before. Consider the intra-circle romances of “Grey’s Anatomy”, the procedural predictability of rare patient disease presentation and their untraditional, unprofessional treatment pathways in “House”. It is unrealistic. It is hokey. It is formulaic — in all the best ways.
If this genre is not your style, you should not expect “Doc” to innovate beyond the format. In fact, the new season leans even further into the tropes of its predecessors. By centering specific patient cases in each episode, “Doc” shifts further from a narratively cohesive plot and closer to that of a traditional medical procedural drama.
Overall, this strategy works in favor of the season’s quality — there’s a reason why the formula has been so successful. Even more realistic medical TV series like “The Pitt”, which has reached critical acclaim, rely on such tropes for audience entertainment. While “The Pitt” is more factual in terms of the medical phenomena it portrays, it has captured national attention as a result of its soap-opera melodrama and personality-driven cast.
These throughlines are further highlighted by the ways in which the new seasons of “Doc” and “The Pitt” approach modern issues within the broader medical system. In general, this is done with little tact — and addressed quite directly — since our time with each patient is limited. While the goal of raising awareness surrounding topical debates, biases and conflicts within the medical field is culturally important, this method of incorporating sensitive topics can create a “very special episode” atmosphere, rather than that of a unique, thoughtful approach to heavy topics. However, given our limited expectations for medical procedural dramas (how much complexity can they really address in under an hour?), these instances feel more like an honorable attempt at provoking audience thought than a contrived device for sparking controversy.
Similar brief shifts of focus overshadows the main topic of the first season: Dr. Amy Larsen’s (Molly Parker) amnesia coming out of a car accident-induced coma. In focusing more on the hospital setting for drama compared to the previous season, Dr. Larsen’s memory recovery process — a primary focus of the preceding season — takes a back seat. Instead of driving episode arcs, her recollection of memories functions as a plot device for other dramas. Indeed, Larson’s ability to recollect lost memories possesses a psychic quality with regained memories inevitably lining up with developments in her current interpersonal situations, informing how she approaches each one.
While this new shift certainly creates a decreased sense of severity within Amy’s tense personal life, it also lowers the stakes in a way that comfort daytime TV necessitates. The additional and ongoing strife in Amy’s relationships may be cause for greater audience concern and discomfort if treated with realistic gravity. But, with the addition of the fun, mystical element of Amy’s “That’s So Raven”-like abilities, the fictionality of the story gives viewers permission to think less critically about the emotional pain of the characters — and more about the melodrama causing it.
This is not to say that “Doc” is in the habit of capitalizing on low-stakes, frivolous, interpersonal drama. Rather, the love triangles, familial angst and professional rivalries that constructed the first season are ever-present, but this time with a greater emphasis on how the medical staff treat each other and their patients.
The new season of “Doc” solidifies its place as a traditional flavor of daytime medical drama — a title not to be taken lightly. It requires a balance of stakes and novelty, seriousness and whimsy and, of course, chemistry between new patients, staff and the characters you’ve come to know so well. It may feel melodramatic, and it may feel contrived at times, but this is part of what I love about it.
The show’s ambiguous title, “Doc,” sums up this view of the series pretty well: Sure, it is a bit generic, and often relies on the tropes of its medical procedural compatriots, but ultimately it provides the escapist melodrama needed at the end of a long work day. Here’s to hoping this trend continues into Season 3.
Daily Arts Contributor Margaret Cox can be reached at margcox@umich.edu.
