S01.E03: Butt of the Joke

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

When Dr. Sam Griffith refuses to concede her role as chief, her father, Griff, orchestrates a costly surprise; Sam's mother turns to her new spouse for help navigating the battle between her daughter and ex-husband.

Airing Wednesday, January 19, 2022.

[shapeshifter]

I just can't continue with this show and it's family drama. I have more than enough of that in real life. I just quit in the middle of this episode and started watching a Quincy M.E. rerun on YouTube. (I didn't have a television when Quincy originally aired.) 

[windsprints]

I love medical shows but I'm out. The father is such an miserable ass that he makes the show unwatchable. If he leaves the hospital or dies then maybe I'll check out another episode.

[Lady Calypso]

I'm struggling a little bit to keep watching. I really do enjoy Sophia and Jason, but Griff is going way over the line from being a dick and a shitty father to being a genuinely bad person with no remorse. What he did to Sam, his own daughter, was really gross and I feel like also illegal? Something that could genuinely not just get her in trouble, but get her fired. And the power struggle between the two is already getting tiresome to watch.

I do think the premise is good, but they're going too far in on some aspects and they need to tone it down. 

On the plus side, I liked getting to see Caleb and other doctor Isan get a subplot together. Good, we're getting to know the other members of the team more. And hey, an accidental patient death and a wrongful death law suit is always a plot that...happens. Not saying it's great or interesting, as I don't foresee anything new being done with it, but at least it's something. 

Oh, hey Sendhil Ramamurthy! As Wendy Crewson's younger husband! 

Lex was...mostly just there this time around. They also need to give her more development because, so far, a lot of her scenes, if not all, center around her sleeping with Griff. 

[Madding crowd]

They are making Griff just too awful for me to like this show. It’s hard enough to believe three family members could report to each other in a hospital; but I find it impossible to believe Griff has the authority to order 2 million dollars in devices without approval from the hospital board. He also seems really hateful to his daughter and it’s not fun to watch.

[historylover820]

I.... actually didn't mind this episode that much. Doesn't mean that it was good, though. 

But, I'm glad that there's someone else who seems to be wondering if Sam's boyfriend only exists to back up Sam, get caught in her drama, to call her beautiful.

But, did they say that Griff and his wife built up this hospital? Did I catch that correctly? 

I still am amused at Griff, but mainly because, of Jason Isaac's perfect dry delivery. Just tickles me. I still enjoy him. And,, yeah, 90% of it is Jason Isaac's performance. But, also, in three episodes, there has only been one brief moment where I have liked Sam. And that moment came in this episode where she was standing up for Lex.

But definitely wish they would put more nuances into Griff. Heck, Captain Lorca had much more heart and sympathy even when Star Trek Discovery made him a mustache-twirling bad guy! It's hard to know where Griff's coming from, and yeah, I don't think what he did was legal. And it's hard to get behind him when he's acting like that. If Griff was played by a lesser actor, I'd be out now. I'm still sticking around, for now. 

I'm also still really liking Caleb. I laughed when he told Lex that they were over Lex and Griff and that there have been 20 others sleep together since that news broke. And I didn't mind that subplot that he and that other doctor were in. 

[kwnyc]

I know the father/daughter dynamic is the crux of this show, but if fictional character Sam had an ounce of self-protection, she'd take a cushy job at a big hospital in another city. So yeah, I'm having problems with the raison d'etre of the show. Makes it hard to watch. Though hell yeah for the plastic surgeon who kept kicking Griff's ass.

[Lady Calypso]

1 hour ago, historylover820 said:

But definitely wish they would put more nuances into Griff. Heck, Captain Lorca had much more heart and sympathy even when Star Trek Discovery made him a mustache-twirling bad guy! It's hard to know where Griff's coming from, and yeah, I don't think what he did was legal. And it's hard to get behind him when he's acting like that. If Griff was played by a lesser actor, I'd be out now. I'm still sticking around, for now. 

Even Gregory House from House had more nuance than Griff does right now, and House was a well known dick on his own show. 

39 minutes ago, kwnyc said:

I know the father/daughter dynamic is the crux of this show, but if fictional character Sam had an ounce of self-protection, she'd take a cushy job at a big hospital in another city. So yeah, I'm having problems with the raison d'etre of the show. Makes it hard to watch. Though hell yeah for the plastic surgeon who kept kicking Griff's ass.

It's sad because she was shown to have been ready to take another job in the pilot before Griff was shot. I wish she still took off, in all honesty. 

[Driad]

49 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

House was a well known dick on his own show. 

And played the piano very well too.  House was a multi-track dick; nobody knew what he might do next, which kept him more interesting.  Griff has one track, and needs more.

[jabRI]

Quote

 

With the Tracy storyline, I find it hard to believe within the same hospital they would not immediately share medical records and histories.  If the surgeon hadn't mentioned the Bowie concert, they never would have known her true age?  Ridiculous. 

I love Jason Isaacs as an actor, but he really has no redeeming qualities at this point.  Lose the hospital $8M to make his daughter look bad, really?  He should be fired, much less passed over for getting his job back.  And if that really happened, you don't think the board would want a full reckoning of what went down?

[historylover820]

2 hours ago, jabRI said:

With the Tracy storyline, I find it hard to believe within the same hospital they would not immediately share medical records and histories.  If the surgeon hadn't mentioned the Bowie concert, they never would have known her true age?  Ridiculous. 

I love Jason Isaacs as an actor, but he really has no redeeming qualities at this point.  Lose the hospital $8M to make his daughter look bad, really?  He should be fired, much less passed over for getting his job back.  And if that really happened, you don't think the board would want a full reckoning of what went down?

Heck, I have a doctor at one hospital, and a doctor at a another hospital, and I allow the doctors to share my medical records. And since everything is computerized, it's easy for them to look things up.

So, yeah, that's ridiculous.

[jabRI]

19 minutes ago, historylover820 said:

Heck, I have a doctor at one hospital, and a doctor at a another hospital, and I allow the doctors to share my medical records. And since everything is computerized, it's easy for them to look things up.

So, yeah, that's ridiculous.

They have to have a situation every episode where Sam gets to play Nancy Drew and save the day.  The writing between the main characters is really bad, but the supporting cast is growing on me.

[Dowel Jones]

The family fight might be interesting if both were at least marginally respectable, but it isn't.  Sam should go to the board, dump it on their laps with full disclosure, and hand in her resignation.  Let them deal with Dr. Asshole.  She may even get her job back, but that would be the end of the series, more or less.  And, just in case anyone thinks shenanigans like that don't happen, the hospital in the neighboring town to me (Tulare, CA), actually shut down, fired the entire medical staff, and was closed for about a year when it went bankrupt due to the financial malfeasance of some of the medical board.  The director was eventually indicted for embezzlement.

On another note, does anyone know if that photo of the freeway interchange in her office was real?  That thing was massive, almost hypnotic to me.  You could run out of gas driving around on it.

I'll give it one more try, but I'm not impressed.

[Tachi Rocinante]

This show is offensive to those with even a hint of medical and hospital administration knowledge; I cannot imagine what actual doctors and professionals think.

Isaacs is really good at being a dick.  

Sophia Bush's dinner dress was very unflattering.

[SnarkShark]

On 1/20/2022 at 9:16 AM, Lady Calypso said:

I'm struggling a little bit to keep watching. I really do enjoy Sophia and Jason, but Griff is going way over the line from being a dick and a shitty father to being a genuinely bad person with no remorse. What he did to Sam, his own daughter, was really gross and I feel like also illegal? Something that could genuinely not just get her in trouble, but get her fired. 

And unemployable elsewhere. 

[jabRI]

On 1/21/2022 at 8:29 AM, Tachi Rocinante said:

Sophia Bush's dinner dress was very unflattering.

I was half watching and at first thought it was her mother.  It's one thing to dress professionally, but she looked really matronly.

[KLovestoShop]

A plot line of buying $2 million of butts?  Really?   Very stupid plot.  I certainly would not want Sam or her jackass father to be my doctor. 
 

I’m not a Sophia Bush fan as I think she’s not a good actor and her little girl sounding voice is irritating.  She seems to overact in most scenes she’s in.  Took this show off my recording list. 

[tinkerbell]

On 1/20/2022 at 9:53 AM, Madding crowd said:

They are making Griff just too awful for me to like this show. It’s hard enough to believe three family members could report to each other in a hospital; but I find it impossible to believe Griff has the authority to order 2 million dollars in devices without approval from the hospital board. He also seems really hateful to his daughter and it’s not fun to watch.

Yes, even if she gets the job, she will have to deal with her asshole father every day, undermining her authority.  He is such a complete asshole it's hard to watch.

On 1/20/2022 at 1:07 PM, kwnyc said:

I know the father/daughter dynamic is the crux of this show, but if fictional character Sam had an ounce of self-protection, she'd take a cushy job at a big hospital in another city. So yeah, I'm having problems with the raison d'etre of the show. Makes it hard to watch. Though hell yeah for the plastic surgeon who kept kicking Griff's ass.

Yes, Sam would me smart to get a job at another hospital,  move far away,  and never see her father again.

[Driad]

9 minutes ago, tinkerbell said:

Yes, Sam would me smart to get a job at another hospital,  move far away,  and never see her father again.

Some people are more stubborn than smart.  Maybe it's hereditary.

[statsgirl]

19 minutes ago, tinkerbell said:

 He is such a complete asshole it's hard to watch.

He really is. There was a faint hope for him in the first couple of episodes as the character kept insisting "I can make her better" but it's clear now that he doesn't want to make her better, he accepts her only as someone far beneath him and if she's not, he's going to grind her into dust, daughter or no daughter.

The plots are paper thin too.  The idea of blowing Sam's budget was clever but did no one at the company question one hospital (not eve a medical school), purchasing $2 million worth of fake butts? That couldn't have been a normal order   And the idea that any company that has enough money to donate $20 million to a hospital would need the recommendation of what appears to  be a second or third tier hospital to make their name makes no sense.

There was a throw-away line that Sam wanted to get the money back because losing it made her look bad but she really should have let the contract stand and then taken it to the Board as an example of how incompetent/untrustworthy her father is. It should have been a slam dunk firing then.

This show is hard to even hate watch.

[tinkerbell]

19 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

There was a throw-away line that Sam wanted to get the money back because losing it made her look bad but she really should have let the contract stand and then taken it to the Board as an example of how incompetent/untrustworthy her father is. It should have been a slam dunk firing then.

 

Yes, she said something about how it made her look bad, like she couldn't control her staff. But that's ridiculous, as her father "trying to make her look bad" would be obvious to the board. Who plays a 2 million dollar prank? And how is the target of the prank at fault?

I was also trying to figure out the justification for the hospital paying for golf clubs. 

This show is bringing up, at least for me, anger at how hospital costs are so high.

[statsgirl]

Griff said that he needed the golf clubs because he was going to play golf with a potential donor. His own clubs were somewhere else and could not be fetched as the resident that he usually sent on his errands was busy in a surgery. 🤯  It makes no logical sense, Griff just wanted a new, expensive set of golf clubs and a power play to show that he could still get whatever he wanted .

Medical director Mom agreed in order to get the name of the person Griff made the butt deal with so that it could be cancelled. That doesn't made sense either since no matter who made the deal, Sam should  have been talking to the head of the company to cancel it.

Just as Sam needs to distance herself from Griff, so does her mother. He still manipulates her effortlessly . Breathing exercises or even a new husband make no difference. And since she sat with him every day while he was in the coma, she's still under some spell cast by him.

The B plot of the episode, the resident losing his patient in a routine appendectomy, has potential but is lost on the Griff/Sam plot.

ETA: while the idea that they forgot to take Griff off if the hospital credit card, I can't accept that he could casually charge $2 million on to it just like that. That amount would take contracts and levels of approval .

The problem for me is that the characters on the show aren't attractive enough to hand wave the plot holes.

Edited January 24, 2022 by statsgirl

[kwnyc]

I realized (because I've spent so much time in non-profits) that the deal Griff cut with Waxman is completely illegal. Good old boys doing business on the back nine has been happening for generations, but actually saying it out loud: we will buy $2 million in equipment from him and he will give us $10 million is flat-out against the law. At that point, a CEO or CFO would absolutely HAVE to report it. It would also have to appear on the hospital's annual tax return. (As well as Waxman's, but he has people to hide things like that.)

Board members aren't allowed to profit financially from non-profits they are part of. Not to mention if Griff had a piece of Waxman's business, that also violates a lot of laws.

You know how actual cops and medical people get on sites like this when procedurals violate all the actual rules & ethics? THAT's how mad I got when I heard the reason for the expenditure. 

Though if they go down the path of Griff going to jail, I'm here for it.

[ShellsandCheese]

I feel like this show would have worked better if it was just about the behind scenes intrigue. Board members and administrators jockeying for power and trying to get their guy or gal the position as chief. Like I just don’t buy Sam or Griff as Chief material, let alone doctor material - but I could buy them as hospital administrators who are battling each other to get big donors and whatnot. 

[historylover820]

Funny thing--I can actually buy Griff as a surgeon. Maybe not department chief or anything, but as a surgeon. He's got the arrogance for it. And he seems to have the skills for it.

[kaygeeret]

Having known a few surgeons in my time, Griff fills the stereotype perfectly.  A relatively rotten chief, but a good/great surgeon.

For me, Sam does not project the confidence, perfectionism and leadership to be this greatly accomplished surgeon - at such a young age no less.

The show doesn't work for me, but the comments have been interesting.