Doc Season 1 Episode 4 Review: One Small Step

Amy learns the truth surrounding the day her son died on Doc Season 1 Episode 4, causing tension with Michael. Our review!

The post Doc Season 1 Episode 4 Review: One Small Step appeared first on TV Fanatic.

If there’s one thing about Doc, it will evoke all of the emotions and “feels” out of the viewer.

 

If you weren’t at least a bit misty-eyed after watching Doc Season 1 Episode 4, were we even watching the same installment? 

The hour did a solid job of expanding the focus to other characters who aren’t typically at the forefront while yanking our hearts out with the circumstances surrounding sweet Danny’s death. 

Luna’s case was fascinating, and it paired a genuinely likable character, TJ, with one consistently offputting thus far, Sonya. 

There’s no mistake at all that Sonya is a great doctor. The hour works to show her softer side and how she, too, advocates for her patients, ironically, not that differently than Amy. 

TJ was insistent on opening Sonya’s eyes up to see that. Otherwise, she’s a difficult character to enjoy when she spends more time being snarky or harboring a vendetta than anything else.

Sonya was becoming dangerously close to her entire personality revolving around her distaste for Amy, which got old roughly halfway through Doc Season 1 Episode 1. 

It’s a shame that she comes across a certain way when she’s not with her patients because it notably resulted in TJ losing respect for her and challenging her authority in a way he otherwise wouldn’t have any other time. 

When it came to Luna, Sonya had an innate understanding of the woman. She was adamant about protecting her privacy and self-interest, even if it meant going up against the U.S. military, and that was truly admirable.

TJ’s approach to Luna became apparent when we learned that he served. He disagreed with her treating herself off the books and lying to the military in the process. 

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And he often narrowed in on how it could jeopardize the mission rather than thinking about Luna as an individual. It meant he had some rough moments with her during the case. 

However, it’s something he quickly worked at, and he came in clutch with his threat about how the oxygen deprivation training Luna endured could’ve been what ultimately disrupted her health. 

I appreciate that TJ doesn’t allow hierarchy and rankings to interfere with him standing up for what he feels is right. 

It’s so quintessentially Millennial/Gen Z of him to buck up against authority and challenge the notion that one’s placement in some manufactured hierarchy automatically puts some in the right over others. 

He’s been the one character who has exuded a consistent, reasonable level-headedness with Amy and this entire situation, and he isn’t afraid to speak his mind, whether it’s to residents, attendings, or nurses. 

Luna’s case didn’t go in the direction I expected. The kickass opening of her stopping a robber before she collapsed and subsequent scenes had me thinking we’d get into super secret spy stuff rather than astronauts. 

But the case, or more so the politics and grandstanding around it, were interesting. 

One downside to the case is that it was the perfect opportunity to get more insight into what Michael actually does and contributes to the hospital. 

Unfortunately, Amy’s bringing up Danny threw him into a tailspin, and we didn’t get to see him strongarm the military much, trading barbs, or playing the word games of chess you’d expect from him in this position. 

He spent most of the time avoiding dealing with the situation, and it’s been the second time thus far, that we’ve seen some board members undermine him. I need Michael to fight back more and show some more gumption!

Nevertheless, the man still has my heart, no matter how challenging he is, and he was in full form during this installment. 

His desire to protect Katie is admirable, but he comes at Amy as if she’s the antichrist and Katie isn’t old enough to speak up for herself. It’s frustrating. 

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The way he bogarted his way over to the table with all of these assumptions and accusations instead of at least feeling out the situation to see if Katie needed his help when talking to her own mother was irritating. 

Sure, there’s eight years of pain within this family, and it’s all getting shaken out and reexamined now that Amy is struggling to remember, but Michael needs a cooler head. 

Of course, we got to the root of the issue when we learned that the reason he didn’t want to get into detail about Danny was because Amy spent a long time blaming him for Danny’s death. 

You can imagine the pain that he endured when he had to mourn his son, take the bulk of the blame from his talented wife, and raise their other child by himself while she threw herself into work. 

In many ways, it doesn’t feel like Michael ever had the time to actually mourn Danny himself because he had to pick up the pieces and carry some burdens that weren’t on him to carry. 

He did nothing wrong at that museum. Understandably, after a rough commute that even had him queasy, he trusted his son when he said that vomiting was him overreacting and getting car sick. 

Any parent would’ve had a similar reaction and wouldn’t have immediately thought to take their child’s pulse, and not even Michael, a doctor himself, would’ve changed that. 

Frankly, Amy may have reacted similarly for all we know. There’s no alternate universe where somehow either of them prevented their son from dying on that day. 

It was a relief when Michael gave in after all that resistance, deflection, and avoidance, and he took Amy to the museum and explained what happened. 

Amy has hurt a lot of people amid her pain. Nevertheless, she deserves to know about her own life, and it’s incredibly frustrating that everyone around simultaneously gatekeeps all of his information from her but still treats her like she was before the accident. 

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Not only does she rarely get to know and understand why people behave the way they do with her, but they still hold these grudges to the point of lacking basic decency and professionalism. It’s maddening!

Even now, Michael and Amy have made great strides within this hour, but no one has told her about Nora and that she’s pregnant, which is incredibly messed up. 

The news won’t get any easier to digest the longer it takes for the truth to come out. If anything, the secrecy will cause more harm. 

Nora seems nice enough, I guess, but we don’t spend much time with her enough to invest in whatever that relationship is. 

However, they had me glued to the screen and hugging myself when Amy acknowledged that she wasn’t a good friend to him and extended the comforting words he needed for nearly a decade. 

My heart ached for him as he sobbed in her arms, and you could sense a weight was lifted from him at that moment. 

What can I say? I still genuinely enjoy the chemistry between Amy and Michael. Their tragic history makes me root for them. 

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But Jake is still a genuinely great character. He handled Amy’s former patient well, and he wasn’t above putting Amy back in her deserved white coat to get the job done. 

Jake will always find ways to circumvent the leashes placed on Amy, and I respect that he’s respecting her when everyone else pities or loathes her. 

Miller was still irritating, and I couldn’t roll my eyes hard enough when he wanted to flex on Amy and tell her that her prognosis and idea for testing were wrong. 

His logic didn’t even make sense because if Amy doesn’t remember overdoing it with testing before her accident, why would that urge still be driving her now? 

He wants to keep asserting authority and dominance over her, but he’s the one who looks like an idiot because she’s so unfazed and unbothered by him. 

His paranoia even extended to ear hustling while she and the toxicologist in the M.E.’s office spoke. And he couldn’t leave it there; he had to send his stupid little email to remind her of her place and Amy’s as well. 

Miller is the WORST. It’ll be a satisfying day when the truth comes out, and he goes down. 

Over to you, Doc Fanatics. 

Did emails about Miller fall in that missing time frame? What are your thoughts on Danny’s tragic death? Should Michael tell Amy about Nora? Hit the comments!

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The post Doc Season 1 Episode 4 Review: One Small Step appeared first on TV Fanatic.