TNT's newest addition takes your typical medical drama and, well, does very little to re-invent the wheel. No matter how much star Michael Vartan (Agent Vaughn of Alias fame and Big Shots infamy) seems to think this show is a completely new spin on an old premise, he's sadly mistaken. No, no, you see, this time, the show focuses on nurses, so it's totally different! Oh, sweetie, it's cute that you think that...This show manages to take all the standard medical show clichés that exist, multiply them by 100, and squeeze them all into the pilot alone. Truly, the only way in which HawthoRNe (which, can I tell you how much I hate the cheeseballishness of putting the RN in caps? Gag me) could be considered innovative is that it is operating on the overweening assumption that, quite simply: Doctors baaaaad. Nurses good! It's a conceit that only succeeds on a case by case, doctor by doctor, nurse by nurse basis, so when it's shoved down your throat with each passing patient, it gets real annoying real fast.
HawthoRNe follows the trials and tribulations of Jada Pinkett Smith (in the titular role of Christina Hawthorne) and her band of nurses as they save lives from the largely evil, criminally negligent, grossly incompetent doctors... or at least that's the impression the pilot seemed hell
bent on giving. I'm not saying that there aren't uncaring, pompous doctors out there in the world, but the show seems to think that nurses are the only caring souls in the whole hospital (with the exception of Dr. Vaughn, of course, because he gives lollipops), and as someone who happens to know a hell of a lot of doctors (and nurses for that matter), it just isn't the case.Flaws in conception aside, the show falters equally in execution. The pilot begins with Christina, lying in bed, talking to someone off camera. Her conversation is just cheesy enough and contains just enough clunky exposition that it comes as little surprise that she's really talking to an urn containing the remains of her dead husband (yes, I'm serious). I suspected she would be talking to a picture of him or something, but either way, the reveal was wasted. As with so many sub-par pilots, the writers felt the need to explain every minute detail of who everyone is, what problems they have, and how they relate to everyone else, that even from this first scene, and throughout the rest of the pilot, it felt like a recap of the past few years rather than a natural window into their lives. The pilot basically felt like the longest previouslies in history. "Previously, on the past decade of HawthoRNe..." and then threw 43 minutes of back story and medical show clichés at the audience.
Anyway, as the viewer couldn't help but to learn right off the bat, Christina's husband died a year ago to the day of the pilot. Fortunately, Christina has been through the writers' room about 17 times a
nd is tough as nails, but sensitive and compassionate, so she puts on a brave face and does whatever it takes to be the best damn nurse that she can be! She's a badass who isn't afraid to break the rules in order to do what's right. She's smarter and stronger and caring-er than anyone else, so when the shit hits the fan, she's the only nurse for the job... Sadly, that's not even that over the top a description of the show. Unfortunately, as a nurse, and not a doctor, most of her badassery revolves around reprimanding mean doctors, arguing with social services, and placing an IV. You want a badass nurse who bucks the system? I'm calling Nurse Jackie, thanks.As I've mentioned in previous posts, I fully acknowledge that nurses are absolutely essential to pretty much everything that happens in a hospital. As Nurse Jackie would say (matter-of-factly, not saccharine after-school-special-y as Nurse Christina would), "Doctors diagnose, nurses heal." Where Nurse Jackie takes the perspective of nurses and offers a uniquely captivating, mordantly funny, realistically gritty character piece, HawthoRNe only manages to reinforce all the standard medical show clichés that we've seen a hundred times before, only with a lot less of the cool medical stuff.
Take, for example this exchange between Christina and Dr. Vaughn as they stand in the hospital hallway, discussing the anniversary of Christina's husband's death.
Dr. Vaughn: You should really go home, Christina.
Christina: This is home.
Ugh. I knew it was all down hill from there. Add to that about a dozen other cheeseball medical show staples and you've got yourself this pilot. It's fine to examine recurring themes to the profession, issues that arise again and again, and character traits that ma
ny nurses and doctors may have in common, but this pilot had zero subtlety about it and was in no way as unique as they'd like to think. Quite frankly, if you've never watched a medical show before, you'd have very few problems with this show and probably be fascinated by the interplay between patients and their caregivers, but that's a pretty small percentage of the population. Anyone who would be turning into this show in the first place is probably a fan of the genre already, and has seen these things before, or the much-cooler equivalent.Christina's fellow nurses and some assorted doctors round out the cast. The nurses are pretty much invariably saint-like, and with the exception of Vaughn, the doctors are almost invariably horrible. Now, I don't doubt that there is sometimes tension between the nursing staff and the doctors and am certain that some doctors don't give nurses their due, but from what I hear from the medical professionals I know, the two groups work together quite harmoniously most of the time and
appreciate each other for the skills and dedication that is brought to the table. This knowledge made watching the doctors yell at the nurses for nothing, sleeping instead of treating patients, and only showing up after Super-Nurse had already saved the day was tedious and nonsensical from the get-go.It's really a shame that this is the angle chosen by the writers because on the whole, the cast is good, the productions quality is fine, and the bare bones of the premise could have been turned into something wonderful. Instead, the viewer is left with redundancies, fallacies, and eye-rollingly cheesy, ham-fisted, well, everything (although that's starting to sound kind of tasty--nice and breakfasty).
The show held no surprises and very little charm or humor. At every turn, I could hear the writers room in my head and see exactly what they were trying to do. "Okay, here's where we set up an unlikely romantic pairing to keep people interested... Okay, so this male nurse is going to be the nice guy pining after the unattainable girl... Okay, to make this character more layered, we're going to give her a prosthetic leg, and to show the audience the prosthetic in a really exciting way, we're going to have a maniac stab her with a knife!" You think I'm joking with that last one? Wow, how I wish I were. It would have been an interesting and uncommon character aspect for her to have, but it was revealed in the lamest, more convenient possible way. In spite of this, her character really is the best of the pilot, as far as I'm concerned. Her line delivery was such that the painful dialogue was considerably more palatable. Not an easy feat.
I think this show most boils down to wasted potential. I realize it's unfair to judge a show based entirely on the pilot (a hell of a lot of shows have had bad pilots and yet turned into great serieseses), but everything that was set up was trite, over-thought, and forcibly ea
rnest. Such qualities do not bode well for the series as a whole. This show honestly has some decent elements to work with, but if the writers keep insisting on the current treatment, I'm afraid I can't be bothered to care.If I want to watch a truly complicated, strong, layered, badass nurse, I'll take Nurse Jackie any day. She'd take that million CCs of cliché and flush it right down the toilet--just like so much dismembered ear...
2 comments:
But Lacey, you didn't say ANYTHING about the blonde nurse with the huge hair and strangely tailored scrubs. Where do they find these people???
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