“Gringo” doctors want a fresh start Off The Map

After watching the pilot episode, I made some observations and encountered some questions I’d like to share. If you want to get my take on the what to expect on Off The Map please visit my preview post, and then jump back here to let me know what you thought about the premiere.

As much as I enjoy the idea of American doctors trying to make their mark in the jungle, practically going back in time and using coconuts and reeds as their medical materials, quite a few things have me, shall we say, puzzled …

• When Charlie starts to guide Tommy to his “house call,” he calls him a gringo. Tommy asks what gringo means. Really? Are we to assume an upper middle class kid who made it though medical school has never heard the term gringo, or do the writers think we are so naïve we’d not know the meaning: “it means white people.”
• Mina mentions that the clinic website said there was a beautiful beach and wonders where that is. The website. How much homework did they do before deciding to practice medicine in a jungle? Just perusing a website doesn’t seem like much due diligence.
• Lily gave up her residency after her fiancé passed away, and Mina was kicked out of hers. Are we to believe they are continuing their residencies at Clinica Cruz Del Sur? Or do they just take whoever they can get, fully credentialed or not? Even worse … do I really know absolutely nothing about medical school?
• Not one of them seems to speak Spanish. Even I would have bought the Rosetta Stone course if I knew I was off to the remote areas of the earth to treat Spanish-speaking patients.
• They’re all surprised how hot it is in the jungle at 3am. Living on the east coast in summer can give that same reaction. Seriously, where the hell did these people come from?

Ben has done his homework on these kids and they were specifically chosen for the Clinica. Given the above commentary, I wonder if he thinks these docs are smart but will not get a fair shot in the States to finish their education and earn self respect. If I only learned about them what is listed above, I wouldn’t have picked these particular doctors to staff my remote jungle clinic. Maybe they’ll explore his process in future episodes, or by then I won’t care.

Not since George and Izzie on Grey’s Anatomy has a young doctor cared as much about a patient as Lily did about Ed Greenman. There is no way in the world that medevac unit would wait for over an hour while they rowed him to scatter his wife’s ashes in the lake of the fireflies, but it really tugged at my heartstrings.

Even with some corny and incongruent moments, Off The Map is enjoyable, entertaining and satisfying. If we’re going to compare it to Grey’s Anatomy, you have to toss in a little MacGyver and China Beach. People go to the Clinica to start over, find themselves and give back when they thought they had nothing left to offer. I look forward to more feel good and adventurous moments than self-indulgence and that, alone, will set it apart from the other Shonda Rhimes shows currently on the air.

Clacked by Carissa Pavlica
on Jan 12, 2011 @ 23:41 EST5EDT