Every week, Doctor Odyssey welcomes a unique group of guests on board. Episode 4, ‘Wellness Week,’ was far more unique than we imagined. One would think a week dedicated to wellness would have no issues, but not on this ship. There were a whole host of problems to contend with, from guests getting sick to having to ride out what could have been a catastrophic event. Let’s unpack all that went down onboard The Odyssey.
Bethany (Amy Sedaris) is a famous wellness guru with 10.2 million followers. She has a contract with the Odyssey to bring all her wellness seekers on for a week filled with weird blue smoothies, rectal machines, and all the lip creams you can get. This week, we learned that Avery is all about Wellness Week, unlike Plastic Surgery Week. In fact, like Max was having a fanboy moment over the “Human Ken” (RIP), she is falling all over herself to see Agnes Simkin (Kate Berlant), some psychic chick who we think sucks and has a terrible attitude. This was probably the first episode with us yelling at the TV, “Shut up, Agnes.”
That old saying, “Never meet your heroes,” could not be more accurate in this situation because Avery quickly learns that Agnes isn’t as great as she thought. The first time they meet, Agnes refers to Avery as someone who “works for the enemy” because she’s a nurse, and apparently, all nurses and doctors are all about big pharma and don’t care about the well-being of their patients. Avery takes offense to this, and rightfully so. But Agnes quickly learns that her little wellness smoothies aren’t so great after she develops issues with her liver. Watching Max and Avery work to help her was annoying. She was one of the worst patients to treat, and considering what else occurred on the ship, that’s saying something.
As Avery and Max are handling the care of the patients, Tristan, who was voluntold, is working in the kitchen to ensure the raw meat menu Bethany wanted was being handled appropriately by the guest chef Vivian Montgomery (Laura Harrier). There is an immediate attraction between the two of them the first time they meet, and it only grows. That seems to bother Avery, which is odd because, as Tristan points out in a confrontation the two have later in the episode, she rejected him. Not to mention, she’s getting closer to Max right in front of Tristan’s eyes. So, we’re unsure if Avery truly knows what she wants in that relationship. But now that Captain Massey has hired Vivivan to finish the rest of the season (No surprise there), things will get even more interesting for the love triangle. Or is it now a square? We didn’t get the sense that Max was into Vivian, but only time will tell. Four people spending all that time together on a ship will get interesting.
We look forward to meeting new characters on Doctor Odyssey every week, but honestly, it was so nice to finally see more of the people behind the ship. Those who work so hard to keep The Odyssey running smoothly out on the high seas. Remember that picture we showed you in the preview for episode 4 that had Captain Massey sitting at a table playing a friendly game of strip poker? Well, this is some bonding time for the crew. During the game, we get introduced to a few more crew members. First Officer Spencer, we already met in episode 2, ‘Singles Week,’ but this time, we got to meet Rosie, the engineer. And according to Captain Massey, she’s one of the best. We’re inclined to agree after the way she kept it together and maintained her calm despite the crazy hurricane the crew had to get through. Captain Massey trusts her with everything he has. As we said, he runs a tight ship. As a matter of fact, everyone is relatively calm. They couldn’t afford to lose their calm when one of their own was facing a medical emergency. All while trying to keep the ship from going down in a hurricane.
One thing about Max, Avery, and Tristan is that they are a great team. They had one medical case after the other and handled each without even blinking an eye. But, when the patient became Avery, who needed an emergency appendectomy, that calm slipped a little. That’s understandable, though, because Max and Tristan had to operate while Captain Massey and his team were driving through the waves. Captain Massey takes some unorthodox measures and does something called “trough riding.” It’s supposed to be a way to buy them time to allow Max and Tristan to complete Avery’s operation. It was probably one of the tensest TV moments to watch. As Captain Massey and co are all focused on keeping the ship afloat and the passengers safe, Max and Tristan begin to operate.
The procedure, which should be simple, becomes Max’s most challenging case. As he and Tristan attempt to complete the procedure, the ship rocks back and forth, and they must hold on to Avery to keep her secure. Oh, and they also have to protect the instruments from falling on the floor and maintain a sterile field because if anything falls, it’s immediately contaminated. Max can get Avery’s appendix out, but because of the way they are being tossed around in the ship, he’s unable to keep a good clamp on her, and she starts to have some uncontrollable bleeding. That is, of course, fixed, but then Max has difficulty sealing Avery’s wound. Tristan steps in and sews her right up in a moment that had us asking if he was also supposed to go to school to become a doctor. The more time we spend with these three, the more we learn about them, and after that, we’re even more curious about Tristan and what he wants for himself. Does he want to stay a Nurse? Or does he really want to be a doctor?
Doctor Odyssey has been keeping us engaged since the pilot episode. While the medical cases are unique (Bethany contracting copper poisoning due to her consumption of raw meat and a guest getting a punctured lung from acupuncture needles), the series keeps us invested because of the relationships being formed. Avery, Tristan, and Max have become a family of sorts. When conflicts arise, they tackle them head-on. Max knew something was up with Avery and Tristan, and he made them squash it because he didn’t want anyone taking whatever beef they had into the medical suite. They are all there to do a job. And that job is to protect the passengers, which means putting all the mess aside. Doctor Odyssey is a very good show that delivers unexpected moments every week. We don’t know what else is in store with this series, but we know there is still much more drama to come.
Other Nautical Thoughts
- I loved Captain Massey’s conversation where he schooled Rosie on the realness of global warming. He’s got years of ship navigation under his belt, so trust the expert.
- “I forecast smiles, smooth sailing, and sunny skies.” Captain Massey saying this was the equivalent of Nurses saying “It sure is quiet on the unit today.” That’s asking for trouble.
- Avery got the scholarship! woo-hoo!!
- Sean Teale’s accent is delightful.
- I need to start paying more attention to The Odyssey’s walkway as the guests are coming in because I just noticed it changes based on the theme for the week. Wellness week having pills floating around was an odd choice considering so many of the guests were so against “Big Pharma.”
- ”Bethany telling Max his aura was a crimson bloody shadow… Ouch. We learned why she was seeing that aura, but still… ouch.
- Raw red meat and sushi are not the same.
- Judy (Margaret Cho) and Agnes’ beef was petty. So petty. But again, Agnes is annoying so I would probably want to fight her too.
- So, First Officer Spencer spent the first half of the storm high off a shroom-laced piece of taffy.
- “You’re higher than Snoop DO double G.”
- We love that Max took charge to get Avery to the infirmary despite her protestations. As we said, medical professionals make the worst patients. But Max made it clear they do not self-diagnose. They get treated like anyone else in need of medical care.
- Ahh, the old “Grab and stab” Bethany definitely needed that dose of Ativan.
- Max making that request to Captain Massey to have 20 minutes of calm seas so he could operate on Avery had us saying, “Yeah… that’s not gonna happen.”
- Worst Wellness Week EVER.
- Captain Massey ending the wellness week contract was the best decision ever. He doesn’t need that kind of drama anymore.
Doctor Odyssey airs on Thursday nights on ABC.
