'Doctor Odyssey: Shark Attack' Needed More Sharks

We have waited three and a half months for ABC’s Doctor Odyssey to return from hiatus. And I have been very excited for them to come back with this crazy, two-part shark attack episode because it looked ridiculous and over the top in all of the ads. I even woke up early to watch both parts together this morning. And I was left disappointed and feeling betrayed. I was expecting Sharknado, and I got a medical drama instead.

First of all, there were hardly any sharks involved. The inciting incident was First Mate Spencer Munroe (Marcus Emanuel Mitchell) being bitten by a shark during a surfing lesson on the crew’s day off, and the medical team jumped into action to save his leg. The entire scene is incredibly sterile and almost bloodless. If this had been an episode of CSI or Bones, there would have been spurting arterial blood and massive wounds. But Doctor Odyssey kept everything clean and in soft focus.

While the ship was en route to port for medical services, they got an SOS from a small craft that had been disabled and was sinking in their vicinity. There were sharks in the water, but they said something bigger than a shark cracked their hull. On the tender as part of the rescue crew, Doctor Max (Joshua Jackson) almost falls face first into a shark’s mouth. He’s saved by the sexy trauma surgeon who happened to have been aboard the sunken vessel (The Orville’s Adrienne Palicki).

We don’t see any other sharks until one takes a kamikaze run at the Odyssey’s motor, knocking out all of its power and leaving the ship dead in the water at the end of the first episode.

The second episode’s title is “Shark Attack: Orca,” which makes about as much sense as naming a show FBI: CIA. It’s one or the other and cannot be both. You promised us sharks, and then you bait and switched us into a story that took advantage of the Orcas Sinking Yachts meme instead. What the hell? Where’s the shark storm? This could have been an action-packed return with hilariously bad CGI sharks, but they decided to play it safe.

Both episodes are more focused on the doctoring part of Doctor Odyssey than any previous episodes. To the show’s detriment, there were no passengers aboard, so there were no B plots or distractions from the main action. And there just wasn’t enough action there. The guest stars they had, besides Palicki, Rumer Willis, and Kurt Yaeger, were completely underutilized as well.

Avery (Phillipa Soo), Tristan (Sean Teale), and Dr. Max were dealing with the repercussions of their thrupling. And honestly, Dr. Max failed spectacularly. He was very paternal and annoying about everything. Avery brushed him off a few times before Tristan had the opportunity to prove he was the better man who understood how to be supportive without centering himself in her decisions.

Anyway, back to the sharks. Wait no, it’s orcas. There are about five minutes of adrenaline rush in the second episode when Avery attempts to get the shark/orca attack survivors to shore on the tender only to have it attacked by the pod of orcas, forcing them to turn back to The Odyssey. And then the issue is resolved by using loud noises and fireworks. The end.

I know I should have more realistic expectations for a Disney/ABC Network show. But Doctor Odyssey insists on setting up ostentatious storylines and then backing just far away enough from the idea to keep the normies from calling the network Standards & Practices Department. The sexy threesome became a moral tale when Avery got pregnant. And thoughts of continuing any sort of unconventional relationship are pretty much over. Avery and Tristan had a little makeout session once the shark/orca threat was resolved and set a date to get burgers. How quaint! Even Riverdale, a show about the most American teenagers that ever existed, knew it needed more than the malt shop to keep viewers invested. We all know Ryan Murphy isn’t above titillating or even prurient stories. I wish they’d stop trying to make Doctor Odyssey a respectable show and just let them have fun.