it's more apparent than ever that Rhimes only has one very specific card to play, so she plays it again and again and again.All the elements that worked in her previous shows (the once-awesome Grey's Anatomy and the befuddlingly successful Private Practice) are present in her new show, and had I never seen her previous work (or any other medical drama ever), I probably would have enjoyed this show quite a bit more than I did. As is, I spent the entire pilot remembering that I had seen this dog and pony show before, with the exact same dog, and only a slightly different pony (a less exotic pony with duck lips, as it were).
As with its predecessors, Off the Map focuses on some eager new doctors as they make their way into the medical world. But this time, it's completely different because they're working in a small, rural clinic in the jungle. You'd think the new location would engender a lot more differences than it did. I don't know if I've just seen it all too many times before, but I was pretty bored. If you've seen one medical drama (especially a Shondaland medical drama), you've seen them all. Try as they might to give the cases-of-the-week urgency, personal investment, and excitement, I just couldn't seem to care all that much. Sure the mode of injury was a bit splashier than usual, but the basic fundamentals of a doctor show bled through every scene. A-plots in general aren't really my cup of tea, so when it comes to a procedural or medical drama, it has to boil down to character development and ongoing arcs and themes. As with the set-up, there wasn't anything specifically wrong with the characters, I just felt like I'd seen them all before.
The real highlights of the regular cast are Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep's daughter, most recently guesting on The Good Wife), and our good friend Zach Gilford (whom you know better as Matt
Saracen from Friday Night Lights). They both did a great job embodying eager young doctors (but with heartbreaking baggage, of course) who have found themselves in some of the most difficult working conditions around (although to be honest, for as rural as this clinic is, it seems surprisingly well outfitted). I can't remember their character names (or anyone else's for that matter), but these two are up and coming power-players who made the most of what they were given... which sadly, wasn't a whole hell of a lot. Or maybe it was. I honestly can't tell anymore with this genre, but it all seemed pretty hackneyed and overly-familiar to me. Their character designs did little to break the mold, and somehow the writers actually managed to make Matt Saracen kind of a dick, but the actors both added as much warmth and quirkiness as they could to make them the best part of the pilot. It was really nice to hear Matt Saracen without the mumbly teenage Texas drawl, even if what he was saying was eye-rollingly trite. Weird, but nice. (I think I forgave his character a hell of a lot of his unappealingness simply because I adore Matt Saracen...) 
The rest of the cast is all likable enough, with the hunky Dr. McDreamy character bringing quite a lot of charm and sex to the table, but for me to really invest in such a predictable, formulaic show, I think I'm going to need a whole lot more in terms of character.Clearly, Off the Map is unabashedly Grey's Anatomy in the jungle, with the usual cast of beautiful young doctors embarking on a medical adventure with equally beautiful mentors. It pretends to be set "somewhere in South America," but it's quite obviously Hawaii. Sadly, trying to identify exactly which Lost location they were standing in was one of the most entertaining aspects of the pilot. It was also a bit distracting, to be honest. I was trying to care about whichever random patient they were treating at the moment, but it always ended up in the realm of, "Boy, that guy's arm looks really bad, I wonder if he'll-- Hey, look! It's Hurley's golf course!" I realize that logistically they couldn't actually film in South America, and the Lost locales are gorgeous and always nice to see, but
at the very least they writers could have come up with an actual location for the story. Instead, all we get is the vague "somewhere in South America" card on the screen and some similarly vague tidbits about the location like it's 200 miles from the nearest hospital and that there are mountains and cliffs to avoid. Even that would be easy to overlook if it didn't present some serious logistical nightmares for the narrative. In a desperate attempt to reinvent an overdone genre, I fear the writers may have shot themselves en el pie.You see, when you're in the middle of nowhere South America, 200 miles away from civilization, you're going to be surrounded by a local community that speaks Spanish (or any host of indigenous languages). Even this would be surmountable if the principle cast were multi-lingual, but instead, the writers have gone out of their way to make sure that none of the new, hot young doctors
speak even basic Spanish. It was only the pilot and I was already annoyed. Don't get me wrong, I'm aware that ugly Americans expect everyone to speak English, but for them to uproot their lives and move to South America without even having learned travel Spanish is absurd. Quite frankly, for people in their twenties, who grew up in the US, most from major cities, to not speak any Spanish is in itself ridiculous. I kid you not, as one point, cocky party-boy doctor Matt Saracen (so basically, the Alex Karev of the show) was called a "gringo," which is a term he had apparently never heard before. Really, show? You expect me to believe that a twenty-something guy from Chicago has never heard of a "gringo" before? You have got to be kidding me. He also didn't know what "trece" meant, which, I'm sorry, if you're moving to South America, you're going to at least learn basic numbers.Again, if you really want your characters to be that utterly clueless, fine, that's up to you, but its going to make your job a hell of a lot harder and make watching your show a hell of a lot more annoying. Most of their patients will logically speak Spanish in the local community, so in order for the doctors to actually be able to speak with people, they either need a translator (not exactly an ideal narrative set-up) or you're going to have to have patients who just so happen to speak English. Which is essentially what they did for the pilot and is what I suspect
they'll be doing all series long. The main patient in the pilot was an American tourist injured on a zip line and the main patient in the next episode appears to be an English-speaking adventurer or wildlife scientist or something. How incredibly convenient! We're in the middle of nowhere and yet we're surrounded by English speakers who just so happen to need serious medical intervention! Who knew this location that's so obscure it can't even be given a specific name was such bustling tourist attraction!? Suffice it to say, the language barrier is going to be a problem. A major problem. I realize that having the barrier adds to the "fish out of water" aspect of the show, and the ugly Americans notion, but I'd much rather read subtitles than watch the majority of the principal cast making ridiculous hand gestures at people and talking too loudly. For the sake of the writers, the show, and the audience, those characters can't learn Spanish fast enough.Overall, it's a well-made show with beautiful scenery, but very little spark or sizzle (or, you know, logic). It had all the basic elements that a formulaic network medical drama always has, but very little else. For as much as the writers were clearly hoping that the exotic
location would invigorate a tired genre, for me, a guy bleeding to death is a guy bleeding to death, pretty foliage notwithstanding. The characters were all very pretty and likable, but not all that interesting. The pilot rather ham-fistedly imparted some backstory for each of the new young docs, but none of those stories struck me as particularly unique or intriguing. I found myself wishing that the actors had been given a lot more to work with, because frankly, the cast is extremely talented and could have made this show something really special, given the chance. As is, they were unceremoniously plopped into a genre, from which there seems to be no escape... even in South America.If the medical drama is a genre that you aren't completely sick of, you'll probably enjoy this show quite a bit. They did very little to reinvent the wheel here, so if you're looking for anything beyond your typical, predictable doctor show, you should probably look elsewhere. I often think that when it comes to programs about doctors, lawyers, and cops, there's simply nothing left that can be done. I think to myself that the genres have been so overdone that there's no way to invigorate them again. But then a show like Mamie's most recent credit, The Good Wife, comes along and proves me wrong. In the proper hands, even the most exhausted of conceits can be given new life, going well beyond the standard cliches and instead giving audiences one of the best shows on air. What I'm trying to say is that it is possible for the medical drama to thrill audiences once again, but Off the Map
fell short. I'm going to stick around for a couple more episodes for Mamie and Matt Saracen (who will hopefully get better material to work with in coming weeks), and I'd like to think that something about the show will grab me, but I'm doubtful. Even the best of characters are going to have a hell of time overcoming the confines of Shondaland. Methinks Mamie and Matt would be better suited to a different show (especially Matt, who plays adorable better than douchey).Pilot Grade: C
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