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Happy Holidays to you and yours. I hope your holidays were wonderful and busy and family filled as mines was! Time for a new year and new reviews!
The mob doctor was a show that just recently wrapped on Fox and won't be returning for a second season. It was based on a book called, "Il Dottorre: The Double Life of a Mafia Doctor. It follows the story of Grace Devlin, a thoracic surgeon who becomes indebted to the South Chicago mafia and is forced to be a mafia doctor while also working at a top prestigious hospital.
This show premiered to very low ratings and just could not find a home to any key demos. In complete defense of the show, it's not a bad one. The acting was at least believable, Jordana Spiro did an amazing job, all the mafia stuff was cool and interesting, and the plot line was easy to follow. How can a doctor keep her ethics and morals while being indebted to the mafia? That's like perfect drama meat for any network.
What I think killed this show was the lack of marketing power behind it and the time slot it was in. I think networks need to start working together just slightly. It makes no sense to have four different good shows on at the same time. People can't watch four shows at once and most DVR's can only record two shows at once. This show came on Mondays at 10 with Revolution coming on at NBC, Castle comes on ABC, the football and baseball games puhing the episodes back, and so on. To have a freshman show immediately plugged in with those shows on other networks was a gross injustice. Yes, Revolution is a freshman show also but it came from the genuis mind of J.J. Abrams. And Castle has been on for a while so it has its legions of fans.
Looking at it, the Mob Doctor was probably set up to fail. Which is a shame because I actually enjoyed it. There'll be a whole section on the way Fox aired the final episodes. It was really messed up.
The show begins with Grace working at the hospital. Everything is fine and dandy but quickly, you start to get the sense that she's not all there because she keeps getting a phone call. Finally, she relents and it's quickly discovered that she's dealing with some shady people. As the show progresses, you learn that it's not her choice to work with the mafia. She's doing it to keep her little brother safe.
She narrates the beginning and ending of the episodes, commenting on the themes in the episode like many other narratted shows do. Mostly it revolves around her dad and how much of a dead beat he was. This lead me to believe that the show was moving to some climactic scene with her dad suddenly showing up and she has to deal with her abandonment issues and how he treated her badly even when he was there. But it's quickly shown that her first taste of the bad side of life was finding her dad dead in some dump site and she sees an anonymous car driving away.
In a lot of ways, this disappointed me. I felt like she talked about her dad a little too much for him to just be dead. I guess the writers were trying to excuse her "I'm all alone, I can only trust myself" thing she had going on. She was another cliched character with the she can't trust anyone and so her coworkers or even family members are frustrated that she won't let anyone in. For the purpose of the show, it's more than a little necessary for her to be that way but I felt like they could have given her a better crutch than her dad.
Had he remained alive and suddenly shown up in her life, that would have been a different story. I've never read the book, but it wouldn't be the first time that a TV show deviated from the books. Pretty Little Liars anyone? I feel like the writers missed the mark on that point.
As the show goes on, it becomes more of a procedural as Grace has almost two patients per week. There's the one connected to the mafia that she can't tell anyone about and then there's something going on at the hospital. I think there's a good balance between her two jobs. She's upset she has to work for the crime bosses and she's trying to play catch-up at the hospital.
As I watched the show go on, I couldn't help wanting a little more action. There's plenty of action, don't get me wrong, and plenty of drama, but because one of the crime bosses, Constantine, has a soft spot for Grace, she can get away with a lot of things. I've seen characters be frustrated with their predicament, I've seen characters with the take charge attitude and try to change their situations, but I've rarely seen someone enjoy their situation. Yes, working for a major crime boss would not be at the top of anyone's to do list, but still, the way I see it, she could've done no wrong in Constantine's eyes. She could ask for more money and get herself out of that neighborhood or at least a better car, she could beat up anyone she wants, she could basically hold all the power because Constantine's goons aren't going to say no to her. There were only like two instances where she did abuse her power but that was about it. I think the show would have been a little meatier if they made her an anti hero and made her drunk on her own power.
I have no clue what is with society's fascination with love triangles. It's hard enough finding and getting involved with one person, especially for someone in their adult life and in a career as demanding as a surgeon's, so what gives? Grace is first dating her coworker but since he always comes second to her, they break up. They broke up a little too amicably for my tastes. Like I get not every breakup is going to be fireworks and heartbreak, but she should have fought it at least a little. And then she just jumped right back into things with her ex, using the excuse that she knows everything about him and he knows everything about her so she doesn't have to keep her guard up. I understand that, but she jumped back into it too quick especially after all the crap he pulled. I just didn't like the romance in this show but it was interesting enough to make me keep watching.
As stated, Grace Devlin is played by Jordana Spiro. She brings a tough gal vibe to the character without making her seem like a man in a skirt. She has emotions too, she knows when to stand down and not make everything seem so dramatic. I would have liked her to be a little more emotional, but I couldn't imagine anyone else playing this role. Her loyalty and devotion and sense of what is right makes Grace Devlin on my list of top female characters that I enjoyed watching.
Grace has a little brother who she tried to protect which is Nate Devlin played by Jesse Lee Soffer. I think he played his character really well. At first, from Grace, I got the vibe that Nate was a sort of screwup who kept getting into trouble until finally Grace made a deal and he started to try and get his act together. I'm glad he stepped up and took his own debt into his own hands. Though it didn't relieve Grace of her duties, Nate was a quick study and quite apt to pick up the tools of the trade and rise quickly within the ranks of Constantine's army. I'm guessing he was supposed to be some doe eyed screw up, but don't let his good looks fool you. Nate is actually really smart.
Maybe it was just me, but I would have liked a little more from Nate. I can't quite put my finger on why, but I just feel like Nate was kind of cheated in his role. Jesse played it amazingly. I believed he was a tough kid in the wrong neighborhood who didn't want his sister fighting his battles. Still, I think Nate's story wasn't finished and I'm sad that there won't be any more episodes.
The guy in Grace's life is Brett played by Zach Gilford. He's a cool, smooth doctor who genuinely wants to help anyone who needs it, especially Grace, but he doesn't come off as an arrogant All American, in your face good guy. I can't quite put my finger on it, but Zach brought something to this character that made him so enjoyable to watch. He didn't take crap from anyone but he didn't come off as a jerk, he helped without being too helpful, he was sexy not in an overstated way but as in a this is what I am way, he was smart without being too smart. This is as close to a great character played by a great actor anyone is going to get on a TV show like this. Obviously he's not the only great character or actor on TV, but he should be ranked up there.
What I also liked was how he wasn't a dramatic kind of guy.He handles his breakups like a man. No yelling, no fighting, just talking it out. He was masculine enough to voice what wasn't working and he knew that he didn't want to be a second choice. So often do people, including myself, overlook men's feelings in things because they were bred since birth to never show emotion. There is a reason why they have such a hard time voicing their feelings. Women aren't the only ones who want to come second fiddle in their minds. So I think Zach handled it in a way without seeming like a bitch and he was really one of my favorite characters on the show.
As for him and Grace, I just didn't like them together. This could have easily been a show about a dark angel in love with the light and trying to redeem herself in his eyes. They kind of touched on that theme, but I felt that Grace should have stuck with Brett with a haunting dilemma about him finding out the truth, what he'd think of her, would he stay would he go, and things like that. Instead, the writers took the easy way out with pairing a dark angel with another dark angel which is Franco.
The first mob boss over South Chicago was Moretti played amazingly and perfectly by Michael Rappaport. With his voice and demeanor, I think Michael will always and forever play or voice gangsters or mobsters. He's just the perfect person for it. He played the loud, hands on, dramatic gangster and I think he did an amazing job. Again, I won't ruin anything but just keep your eye on him.
The next crime boss is Constantine played by William Forsythe. I think he had the whole package. He had the voice, the cool deameanor, the wardrobe. Constantine was just one of those cool mobsters that belongs in the 50s. He's that cool. But he's not all talk. When all is said and done, he would throw down with anyone else. He would get his hands dirty if the situation calls for it. He does represent that old school mob thing. He has loyalty, he has an honor code that he lives by and he'll do anything within his power, sometimes even beyond his power, to do what it takes to protect his own.
Towards the end, you could see how the show was going to wrap. It was a little foul that they tried to get it off as soon as possible. First of all, the show kept getting pushed back because of baseball and football. If they knew that baseball and football season was going to air on Mondays, WHY would you try and air a show at that time? I felt like that was a really dumb decision. And then the guys in the programming department want to sit there and look stupid when the ratings aren't where they want it.
So since the Mob Doctor got an early cancellation, they began airing the remaining episodes on both Saturday and Monday until they were done. I hated the finale, there are so many things I didn't like, don't even try and get me started. I felt like they really cheated the show even if it was going off air.
But all in all, I felt like the show was a good gamble. It was well thought out, well written, with an amazing cast that just wrapped everything up in a neat bow. I felt like they had a lot of things to work with in upcoming seasons had they got it and I really enjoyed it. I hope you take the time to look for it and watch it because it really was a smart show.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the review!
