Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
From the moment that I pressed play and saw Jake’s Dad in a coffin, I started crying my eyes out. Death is always hard to watch, and losing a parent and revisiting the past is never easy. Then, diving into revisiting the pandemic is very hard to watch. But the thing about DOC is that it has gone above and beyond this season, and as we enter the ninth episode, it remains that way. DOC has solidified itself as a staple in medical dramas, and we hope that it remains that way. With DOC, Season 2, Episode 9, Kaddish – it definitely does just that.
Jon-Michael Ecker continues to enthral me. In the flashbacks or present, the way he plays Jake and brings him to life makes me so invested in his growth and his character. The character of Jake is one that influences everyone, and I am not just talking about him being the boss. It’s the feeling of his genuine sentiment as he portrays Jake that draws you in.
But there is this wonder that I want to understand – what made him fall in love with Amy? What was it about her that made his walls fall down? Was it revenge on his wife for cheating? Was it a rebound?
This episode, though – it was Ecker’s time to shine, and he did just that. He took you on a roller coaster of emotions. It was a lot to take in, but it was also an episode of DOC that was reminiscent of the first season, and it also established that DOC will keep you on your toes. You don’t know what is coming.
And will that be enough to keep gaining new viewers and growing?
I do not know. But one thing that I do know is that DOC is a show that I do love, even when it is hard to watch.
THE FUNERAL
When I saw Jake’s Dad in the coffin, I started crying. Losing a parent is the absolute worst, and the whole ceremony of having to say goodbye is hard. You have to hold yourself together when all you feel like doing is falling apart.
Jake is doing a good job of holding himself together, but I am not sure if that is for himself or the others around him. I do believe he will break at a point. While I am worried about Jake and how bad this could be for him, I am trying to focus on the now.
Right now – that’s me looking at the father that he is. I love seeing how he’s making sure that his little girl feels the least amount of pain.
It’s just at what point does Jake allow himself to deal with all of the things that he’s holding in? I am worried that when he finally lets himself feel all of the things, he’s going to hurt not only himself, but others.
ASKING FOR A LETTER
Seeing Jake in the past, I wonder why it is that he fell for Amy. It doesn’t make sense to me. It feels like he’s afraid of her, and I wonder why. Or is he not afraid of her and just likes a woman in charge? I need to understand what it is.
He is talking to his wife, and he basically hates Amy. He tells his wife that he’s going to ask for a movie recommendation and be part of the team at Johns Hopkins. Yet then, when he sees Amy in her office, talking about Covid, he doesn’t and instead asks to see patients on his own. What happened? What did I miss?
I will be honest, I really will never be ready to revisit the pandemic in any way – it is traumatic. But I know it’s going to happen, and I know that others are ready. Jake thinks that his patient has COVID and is going to Amy, and then she thinks that too? Is it that Amy validates him that makes him like her? She’s hard on him, but she also sees that he’s a great doctor and gives him room.
I did like the way that he looked happy when he knew that she believed in him. He needed that, and I can respect that about him. The hospital didn’t believe in anything either was saying. Jake was the one keeping everyone calm and trying to do everything correctly. He didn’t want to scare anyone – he just wanted to save his patient.
THE WAKE
Part of the hardest part of anyone passing is the wake. At least I think that it is. You have to entertain a bunch of people and talk about what and who you’ve lost, and that may be the last thing that you want to do. You need to move forward, and everyone wants to live in the moment.
Everyone needs to grieve in their own way.
A lot is happening at the wake. A lot of people have shown up from the hospital, and I do love that support for him. There’s just so much drama at the hospital that spills over to the wake. Michael, looking at Amy, TJ and Sonya holding their own stuff in, Hannah searching for any clue that will help her destroy Amy.
There’s Jake, trying to tell Amy that he’s sorry if he sent mixed signals. The thing is that he knows that he did – he sent clear signals that he wasn’t over her. Amy was kind when she said that she figured that he needed a friend – and yes, he did. But he was also saying a lot more.
Jake has this way of trying to make everyone else happy all the time. Everyone but himself. Why does he feel the need to sacrifice himself all the time?
JAKE AND HIS SISTER
When you look back at life – having a sister/brother that you can talk to, Jake talking to his sister about the last time that each one of them saw their father – it was moving. I appreciated that he opened up to his sister and told her that the person he was seeing at the time was Amy.
He should have known, though, that it wouldn’t stay between them.
When he told his sister that the last time he saw their Dad, he left Amy alone with him, I smiled. I smiled because it reminded me of how much he trusts Amy. I also realized that the only person outside of the hospital who knew about them was his Dad.
We can’t stay there, though, because drama is about to unfold. It didn’t matter that there was a funeral and a wake – Hannah and Charlie decided what they were going to do. Charlie sent an email under Amy’s email to Nora and to Jake. Nora listened and ran out. Michael lost his mind and confronted Amy, but it wasn’t Amy. He looked so angry at Amy and Gina. When he looked at Gina and said that she should lose her license. What I was happy about was that Michael didn’t call Amy a liar. He realized that there was a hack and dove into fixing it.
The email had one of Amy’s sessions with Gina. The session that was sent was personal, and it was unhinged to send. Hannah and her brother are so wrong for destroying people’s lives, especially because they don’t know what really happened with Amy and their Dad.
This forces Amy to leave, and when she goes to say goodbye to Jake, she tells him that she remembers some of what their dinner was. It makes Jake happy – you can see that. But you can also see that there is something between them, and it’s really bad that his ex-wife can see it.
And that his sister confirmed it.
CRACKLES
I find doctors so fascinating. Amy and Jake – in the flashback – were dead set that there was the possibility of her having COVID. They are making a test and trying to figure out what is happening. The lab is helping them. It doesn’t matter what others are saying – they are going to do their job as doctors.
The patient is showing signs. When she goes into respiratory distress, and they have to intubate her – I admit I was a little panicked. Why? Because her Mom was on FaceTime and it brought me right back to that moment where everything started going really wrong during the pandemic.
Seeing Amy and Jake work together was nice. It was nice because you could see that there was chemistry between the two. But you could also see that everything in the hospital was changing at that moment. They are willing to do whatever to save their patient; only what they have to do is going to press buttons.
The moment they realized that COVID had made it to them – that their patient tested positive – I was proud of them. I was also freaked out for them. It was the moment that changed everything for them, whether they knew it or not.
RECKONING
I don’t understand why Hannah and Charlie are out to ruin Amy, and I know I keep saying that, but I really don’t get them. Michael has talked to IT, and they see that it’s just Amy who is targeted. No one knows why, and IT can’t figure out where it’s coming from, but they will.
It’s when Michael comes to Amy’s and wants to talk about what happened. He wants to tell her about IT, but also talk about the things on the recording. Michael should be trying to fix things with Nora, but he’s at Amy’s, telling her that Gina wasn’t wrong. He is letting Amy know how he feels and how he feels lost. And I start to cry for him when he tells Amy the house is nothing without her and Danny.
He tells her that he’s lost, and she tells him to go home. I don’t know how she did it. She loves Michael, but she knows that this is for the best. Michael has just had a child. They need space.
I do feel bad for Michael, because when he does get home, his wife is gone. She’s moved out with their son. Nora didn’t ask for this. This shouldn’t be happening to her.
JAKE DOESN’T WANT TO WAIT
Well, since Jake’s wife has found out about Amy, she decides to confront him. Part of me thinks that she just wants to justify what she did. I also think that she’s jealous, and she’s upset that she didn’t know.
It really wasn’t fair that anyone came at Jake on that day, but also it’s not fair for anyone to come at him any day. He didn’t do anything wrong by loving Amy. Their relationship happened, and no one really knows what it was.
Jake has to hear the way Rachel talks to him and worry about his relationships and his daughter, but also know that he’s been putting up a wall with Amy to keep himself from getting hurt – it’s a lot.
I think any viewer realizes that he loves Amy. He’s tried not to love her, but just because you try doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. I think that it’s his sister telling him that their Dad would just want him to be happy is which moves him forward.
What I do think is a testament to who he is – well, that is when he hears the voice recording, and he heads straight to Amy’s. He doesn’t care about the recording – he automatically knows that someone is trying to destroy her. He doesn’t care about Michael – he knows that Amy and Michael will always have love for each other.
What he cares about is if Amy wants to be with him. Jake doesn’t want to wait anymore – life is fleeting. He doesn’t care about anything else but that moment and his time with Amy. He only cares about his love for Amy.
Am I happy that my ship is setting sail? Yes. But I am also scared. Jake is grieving, and I am not sure how well this will end. I just feel like the hurt has just begun.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Jake’s speech at the funeral had me in tears. I love this character, but like I have said, I am worried about him and what could/can/will happen to him.
- What broke me a bit was when Jake was upset that the woman who helped his wife cheat on him showed up, and he asked for to be gone. He looked so hurt
- Jake’s sister was telling Amy that Jake and his ex-wife always make up – I felt for Amy there
- Amy had written Jake his letter of recommendation, and though he wanted it, he saw her teaching, and he threw it away.
- Rachel blames Amy for them not moving to Baltimore, and she believes that Jake was having an affair.
- I was shocked that TJ didn’t know about Amy and Jake
DOC airs Tuesdays on Fox.
