What's it about?
For most physicians, the Hippocratic oath is sacred. But for one Chicago doctor, who is indebted to the mafia, saving lives isn't her only concern. THE MOB DOCTOR is a fast-paced medical drama focusing on a young female surgeon caught between two worlds as she juggles her promising medical career with her family's debt to Chicago's Southside mob.
(from FOX.com)
You should watch if...
•...you're a medical procedural junkie.
•...you're a crime procedural junkie.
•...you're a plucky-young-pretty-resourceful-heroine junkie.
So, how was it?
FOX must have pretty high hopes for this show, considering it's the only new drama they're premiering this fall. So it's really a pity the show isn't any better than it is. That's not to say it's horrible - I'm sure there will be many fans, as THE MOB DOCTOR is essentially a mash-up of the medical and crime procedural genres. But for anyone looking for an original drama with three-dimensional characters, this will likely fall short.
Jordana Spiro (MY BOYS) is Grace Devlin, our plucky-young-pretty-resourceful heroine doctor who is dedicated to medicine and loves cute kids but unfortunately has a debt to the mafia that requires her to occasionally pull screwdrivers out of mobster's frontal lobes. Spiro is likable enough and could easily carry a well-written show, but this character is too one-dimensional to really let her shine. We're led to believe that Grace is smart and capable, but then she has her mob boss's phone number programmed into her phone UNDER HIS REAL NAME. What, her boyfriend doesn't think it's weird that infamous mafioso Moretti is calling her up on her cell? Grace isn't the only one to act uncharacteristically stupid; after Grace is assigned to save a man who is a mob informer, Moretti sends her a flower arrangement complete the utterly un-subtle note: KILL HIM. You know, because there are no such things as nosy coworkers who might want to know why someone other than the pretty surgeon's doctor boyfriend is sending her a flower arrangement.
The rest of the cast is rounded out by a bunch of character actors in roles that all seem lifted from better shows (and losing at least one dimension in the process). Zach Gilford (stuck playing a doctor for the second subpar show in a row, after OFF THE MAP) is Grace's handsome-smart-talented-understanding boyfriend. William Forsythe (BOARDWALK EMPIRE) is Constantine, a mobster straight out of a direct-to-video Goodfellas ripoff. There's also an arrogant doctor who doesn't give two craps that he's responsible for the death of an eight-year-old boy, a stuck-up coworker who makes life difficult for Grace, a sexy-but-doofy brother who is in deep with the mafia, and a sleazily-charming mobster who's got the hots for Grace. Even Zeljko Ivanek, one of TV's greatest character actors is utterly wasted as Grace's chief of surgery.
Grace's main conflict in the pilot is whether or not to kill the informer as ordered. Doesn't this seem like the kind of moral dilemma we should be spending the season leading up to? Shouldn't we spend some time getting to know Grace and her life and the day-to-day of what she has to do for the mob before jumping right into the highest life-or-death decision? Isn't killing someone about the worst thing her mob boss could ask her to do? What else is the season going to build up to? I'm not sure, but I probably won't be around to find out.
And the verdict is:
** Meh. Not the worst but not for me.
Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised to see this show find an audience -- it's got a cast of solid actors and just the right blend of medical cases, crime drama, and a little action to keep some people hooked. It just didn't have enough originality or substance to earn a spot in my ever-burgeoning Hulu queue. But I also wouldn't be surprised to see this show canceled by November/December and replaced midseason by something else. It's a coin toss.
What did you think, Fellow Addicts? Were you attracted to the medical/crime blend? Or turned off by the stock characters and cliché plot twists? Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!
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