S01.E06: Truce

[formerlyfreedom]

Secrets revealed at a major fundraising gala for the hospital threaten to end a tenuous truce between Dr. Sam Griffith and her father, Griff. Also, cardiothoracic resident Dr. Lex Trulie makes a decision that could alter her career trajectory.

Airing Wednesday, February 23, 2022.

[preeya]

After what looked like a turn around in the last two episodes, tonight we're presented with "SOAP OPERA 101"

[Lady Calypso]

Oh, and we're back to crappy episodes and annoying characters.

Was there a single character I liked tonight? Nope. Griff did a slow turnaround back into his asshole self, Lex turned into an antagonist, and Malcolm also turned into a complete jerk.

Sam wasn't much better, but seeing her people turn from her bit by bit (being berated by Lex for rightfully not being happy with the relationship, her mother kind of implying that she wouldn't vote for her, Malcolm's freak-out), can't really blame her for going back to her alcoholic ex (who seems fine besides pushing Sam for a relationship every other episode). 

I think I might have to call it quits on this show. I made it six episodes, hitting my promised six episodes test, but I don't think I can come back for a seventh. It's just such a terrible show.

[FlowerofCarnage]

Believe people when they show you who they are! If Griff treats his own daughter like crap, what makes Lex think he wouldn't do the same and worse to her when she no longer catches his fancy? 

[Avabelle]

This show is just… so badly written. 

[jabRI]

Just horrible. I like none of these people, would not even have a cup of coffee with them, much less let them treat me.

Seriously, if I was her I'd just leave.  Lost her father, mother, best friend and boyfriend.  Move to California and put these people in the rear view mirror.  

 

[historylover820]

Oh no! Now don't know if I want to watch this tonight on demand. (I've got a love-to-hate-watch thing going on with A Million Little Things, so that's where my interest is on Wednesday nights now).

Still.... Jason Isaacs.... I guess I'll check it out.

[mommalib]

So her and Malcolm have an argument and the first thing she does is go running to her ex?

[Lady Calypso]

3 hours ago, historylover820 said:

(I've got a love-to-hate-watch thing going on with A Million Little Things, so that's where my interest is on Wednesday nights now).

I thought I'd just stop watching AMLT after I missed the last couple episodes but, compared to this show, AMLT isn't so bad. So I guess I'm choosing that show over this one.

[historylover820]

Am I missing something here? I don't understand this hostility everyone has in this episode towards Griff (Jason Isaacs). And at every point, I was going "Is this where Griff is going to display that he's an irredeemable jerk?" And then, I wouldn't see it. 

Granted, I'm biased. Love Jason Isaacs, and not a fan of Sophia Bush. But, I was reading as Griff actually trying to be less of a mustache-twirling villain, but Sam is becoming one.

When the waiter collapsed and they had to remove that glass, and Sam yelled that Lex is emotionally compromised, my first thought was "And you're not?" I liked Lex calling her out on that.

I thought at the breakfast that Griff actually tried to make an attempt to say that he and Lex were seeing each other again, but Sam shot that down before he even began. And, for the sake of the truce, he didn't pursue it. He should have, but when would he have gotten the chance to during that day

The talk with Malcolm's dad--the dad was doing the talking, putting down both of their kids. Griff absolutely wasn't fighting for Sam, but he wasn't the one doing the insulting. He was chuckling, but you can argue that he was also smoozing the board president. Sure, I think something would have been said that would have put down Sam had the conversation continued, but what we saw, it wasn't.

Griff volunteering Sam to make the speech may have been jerky. Except, if she's going to be department chief like she's desperate to be, she's going to have to be called on to make those kinds of speeches at events. And he also, politely for him (!) bowed out of the picture of the Chief only.

Was Griff just making small talk with Malcolm about Malcolm's mother? Personally, I don't think so. But, just judging from this episode, I think he was actually trying to be a father and a mentor. He just is very bad at it. But, from what I saw in this episode, he wasn't the one sabotaging what was happening. Sam found out that Malcolm doesn't get along with his mother and called her to try to sway her vote. Sam stormed in on her mother, demanding that she vote for Sam. Sam was emotionally compromised--she threw a temper tantrum at finding out Griff and Lex were still an item. Sam leapt to conclusions when she overheard Malcolm's dad's and Griff's conversation. 

Yeah, too little too late. Sam wouldn't be reacting this way if he hadn't been the way he was for 5 episodes (and who knows how many months and years in this universe). But I'm honestly not seeing Griff as the villain in this episode.

And Rhonda can take a long walk off a short pier. I hate her so much. This soap opera isn't enough but we have to get a big bad in here.

I don't know. It feels like I'm missing something you guys saw with Griff in this particular episode, because I absolutely didn't read anything the same way you guys did.

[jabRI]

50 minutes ago, historylover820 said:

Am I missing something here? I don't understand this hostility everyone has in this episode towards Griff (Jason Isaacs). And at every point, I was going "Is this where Griff is going to display that he's an irredeemable jerk?" And then, I wouldn't see it. 

Granted, I'm biased. Love Jason Isaacs, and not a fan of Sophia Bush. But, I was reading as Griff actually trying to be less of a mustache-twirling villain, but Sam is becoming one.

I also love JI, and I think that they 'tried' to write a redemption arc beginning last episode, but the situation is so overly complicated, there's really no way for that to happen without him bowing out of the picture altogether.  His daughter will never feel he won the chairmanship fairly after all his shenanigans, and he should not have taken up with her friend without clearing the air and making sure everyone is OK.  The whole episode was just about 'telling' Sam, never allowing her to voice her hurt or feeling of betrayal.  She would just be told and left to deal with it however she wanted to.  I'm not saying that adult children have any claim to dictate how their divorced parents can live their lives, but in this case, it was with her (now-ex) best friend that she knew longer than him and worked with everyday.  Lex is not some random person he met in the normal course of events with whom his daughter has no history, and no basis for passing judgement.  It's like when a divorced father starts dating the ex's sister or their nanny, a line is crossed and it needs to be addressed.  And I don't think Lex came off in a very good light either, it's not like she ever tried to explain to Sam that her feelings for her father were real and valid.  She (as she said she would) put herself before Sam and let the chips fall where they may.  Unlike Griff, at least she owned it.

[historylover820]

Yeah, definitely complicated situation. And I know that if he showed that he wanted to be a father or a mentor long before the last episode it would have been better.

I posted in the last episode that this was too little too late, and I still feel like it. I just wasn't understand the animosity towards him in this episode and thought I was missing something.

(And, yeah, Griff and Lex isn't kosher. And it started when he was department head and therefore her superior which is a power imbalance. So, yeah, that's wrong. But, I do think Griff at least attempted to tell Sam about their relationship now.)

[statsgirl]

WHY IS EVERYONE ON THIS SHOW SO STUPID?

Of course the CMO, ex-wife of one candidate and mother of the other, should recuse herself from the vote. Boards have a policy on who needs to recuse because of conflict of interest Kingsley risks having the vote overturned if he makes her vote. Kingsley is also stupid for nor considering the clinic. Where I live, counselling is not paid for by provincial insurance unless provided by an MD but as the Chief of Paediatrics in my local hospital told me, they offer it as a loss leader for community good will.

Sam refuses to use her power as Chief and let's people push her around. She should have told Griff to get out of the patient's room when he took over her interview with him. (He is constantly crowding her when she tries to do her job, a common and despicable bullying tactic.) When Lex showed up at the surgery, Sam should have kicked her out, on trauma or not. Not to mention, it was no longer a trauma, it was now a valve-replacement surgery so Lex had no right to be there at all.

Residents would not been able to afford $500 gala tickets given their large college and med school debts. And Lex is an idiot if she thinks that showing up as Griff's date is going to win her any favours with her colleagues or the hospital staff who would look down on her as sleeping her way up. If Lex wants to be taken seriously as a surgeon, she needs to step back from him.  In an episode full of people being stupid, Lex seems to be the stupidest.

If Malcolm made it through business school, he should have learned that calling board members to get their support is step #1 to winning a vote. It was childish to make Sam's call all about him. And if he doesn't want her calling his mother in her official capacity, he shouldn't get a job in a hospital where she is on the board.

Sam's dress looked like she stuck giant lasagne noodles on it. Like she's going to prom rather than the head of a hospital department.

"A community clinic that serves all patients regardless of income at last!"  Says the Canadian actress whose whose home town has a whole row of these hospitals.

3 hours ago, historylover820 said:

The talk with Malcolm's dad--the dad was doing the talking, putting down both of their kids. Griff absolutely wasn't fighting for Sam, but he wasn't the one doing the insulting. He was chuckling, but you can argue that he was also smoozing the board president.

If Griff had any integrity, he would have told Kingsley "Our kids are smart and we trained them well. We should listen to what they have to say, see if they have any good ideas to contribute." But he was too busy schmoozing to get the chief job back to defend his daughter from an unjustified attack. Another crap father.

[Court]

Does this show actually want me to think Lex has a point? Because I don't. Dating your best friend's asshole father is shitty especially when you keep it from her. Sam has her faults but I have yet to see where Sam ignores Lex until tonight. 

Also, there are so many other problems with Lex dating her boss even before this! What happens if he becomes her boss again? This show sucks. I'm disappointed because I wanted a drama to replace one of the other shows I gave up on. 

[kitmerlot1213]

I knew Lex was going to pull "You promised to support me" when Sam found out about Griff and Lex getting back together.  And I'm also completely done with Lex's angry "I'm done putting myself second" as if it's Sam's fault that Lex decided to martyr herself?  The Lex/Sam friendship is as toxic as the father/daughter one and I don't know if I want to keep watching this ridiculous show.

[Lady Calypso]

12 hours ago, historylover820 said:

Am I missing something here? I don't understand this hostility everyone has in this episode towards Griff (Jason Isaacs). And at every point, I was going "Is this where Griff is going to display that he's an irredeemable jerk?" And then, I wouldn't see it. 

I adore Jason Isaacs, I appreciate the attempt with Griff this episode, but I do think it was still a slow turnaround back to the jerk he's been. He may be trying, but it's really not enough. 

I think the show did a great disservice by throwing Griff and Lex back together the episode that Sam/Griff make a small step toward reconciliation. Because then we get stupid drama like this, where Lex becomes Sam's enemy for things that Lex did herself, and Griff having to choose between his daughter and his girlfriend, where he chooses someone who's not his daughter yet again. 

There's really been not much progress at all if Sam loses once again. 

And I'm frustrated by Lex suddenly blaming Sam for not forgiving her and Griff fast enough, I guess. Because Lex isn't in the right, either. Sam is allowed to take her time to process these emotions. She only just found out about Lex/Griff when he woke up from his coma, which was...what, only a couple of months ago? And Sam's put in the effort with Lex. She's defended her when she was still pissed at her. She hasn't barred her from work or anything. She may have taken steps back to process and still isn't ready to discuss Lex/Griff as a couple because it's freaking uncomfortable for her, but who wouldn't be? And of course she's mad at Lex/Griff again, since Lex PROMISED it was over and now she sees that she lied or changed her mind.

She obviously can't stop the romance from happening, but she's allowed to be upset by it, especially with the HUGE age gap and the clear power imbalance (I mean, previous power imbalance but one that's still kind of there anyway).

I'm more pissed at Lex than Griff this episode, but he can't change overnight, so he's still a jerk. That came out more at the end of the episode than anything, but it's just frustrating because I don't think the show can afford the slow redemption route with him. He's not really a rootable character with the damage that he's already caused. Even with a likeable actor, they made him way too much of a villain too early. Spending millions of dollars and then trying to throw your daughter under the bus is crossing a line that can't be brought back. 

[jabRI]

And I think the big problem for me is, none of these characters are at all likeable.  Do I really care if Sam keeps the chairman job? Has she shown much reason for us to like her very much, or care about her future?  Lex and Griff deserve each other.  He's a lousy father and she's a worse friend. And for a medical show, all the cases are resolved with a very quick discovery of something chronic but treatable, etc.  Boring medical stuff with high school drama. I'm done with this, will find something better to binge watch on Prime.  

[FlowerofCarnage]

I am still trying to figure out how Griff didn't face any reprecussions for engaging in a sexual relationship with a subordinate. 

[jabRI]

42 minutes ago, FlowerofCarnage said:

I am still trying to figure out how Griff didn't face any reprecussions for engaging in a sexual relationship with a subordinate. 

Yeah, if her colleagues know, the whole hospital must know.

[statsgirl]

Griff and Lex kept it quiet before the attack. Now that he's not Chief, I don't know what the situation is. He should suffer repercussions but for some reason the hospital board lets him get away with everything he wants. And Lex isn't going to report him to the AMA. Honestly, she's so self-centered and arrogant they deserve each other.

1 hour ago, jabRI said:

And I think the big problem for me is, none of these characters are at all likeable.  Do I really care if Sam keeps the chairman job? Has she shown much reason for us to like her very much, or care about her future? 

I think that Sam is a better Chief of CT Surgery than Griff (who should not be running anything involved with people who have to report to him) but other than that, no. Sam needs to grow a backbone that goes beyond just wanting to fight her father before I'll root for her to keep the job.

[Lady Calypso]

1 hour ago, statsgirl said:

I think that Sam is a better Chief of CT Surgery than Griff (who should not be running anything involved with people who have to report to him) but other than that, no. Sam needs to grow a backbone that goes beyond just wanting to fight her father before I'll root for her to keep the job.

Honestly, I'm rooting for her to get a Chief job elsewhere and start over. She is never gonna have the respect at that hospital like her father does. She'll forever be tainted by his image so she might as well cut her losses and leave. She can get a Chief job anywhere else.

[jabRI]

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

Honestly, I'm rooting for her to get a Chief job elsewhere and start over. She is never gonna have the respect at that hospital like her father does. She'll forever be tainted by his image so she might as well cut her losses and leave. She can get a Chief job anywhere else.

That's what a reasonable adult would do, why keep banging your head against a wall?

[Simba122504]

Is Lex's father still alive?  Sam should go find him and sleep him. They're now even. 😐

[historylover820]

Yeah, I'm obviously making it no secret--the only reason I'm watching because I like Jason Isaacs. 

And it does suck that his Captain Lorca, who became a Mirror Universe villain in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery was infinitely more nuanced than this supposedly real character of Griff.

And I agree, except for Caleb and that gay doctor whose name I'm blanking out on and his boyfriend, and possibly a nurse, there really is no character on here worth rooting for.

House would have a medical mystery of the week that would take up the majority of most episodes but also inform on the characters. Except for the last episode, the medical conflict takes a backseat and doesn't inform on the characters (except, of course, the gunshot victim, which, so far, has been the best episode). But, House was also a soap opera, but it did have likeable characters, even if House was a jerk. Although we knew why he was a jerk and he could be sympathized with. 

This one is a soap opera and "Oh, yeah, we need some sort of medical issue because this is a hospital!" thrown in. I wish it was the other way around. Because I hate the family soap opera. I hate that the show feels the need to have a big bad in what should be a random doctor. I hate the unprofessionalness of every character on this show.

Because I agree with all of you--except for the three characters mentioned above, none of who are the main characters, there really is no character to root for. And, yeah, if you only go "Well, I can sympathize with this character because I love the ACTOR," there's a problem. I should like the character and forget about the actor. And obviously, I don't.

I'll probably continue watching because, again, Jason Isaacs. He's a really good actor who is charming, funny, and should be in better things. I agree-this show is not it. And I'm pretty sure it's not going to last. Then again, I've been very wrong at predicting what catches on and what doesn't.

[l star]

I think what I hated most about this episode was the implication that Sam was in the wrong. She’s a weak lead but she wasn’t wrong. She didn’t ask Alex to put her first or devalue her happiness in any way. From what she saw, Alex lied to her and hid it. She didn’t do anything unreasonable with her boyfriend either. If he really wants her to keep chief, he should be expecting and encouraging calls like that. She didn’t do anything to Griff. He hid something from her, again, and didn’t respect her enough to do anything but smile and nod when boyfriend’s dad was trashing her and boyfriend. She could have handled the conversation with her mother better, but her mother could have handled it a LOT better. Yet the end of the episode seemed to be implying that Sam’s awful day was her fault like she had to crawl to the one friend she had left. The hell?

[SnarkShark]

On 2/24/2022 at 12:38 PM, Avabelle said:

This show is just… so badly written. 

It's just flaming poo poo.  

Sophia Bush is lovely, but it ain't enough to keep me watching. 

[Beezella]

On 2/24/2022 at 10:09 PM, statsgirl said:

Sam's dress looked like she stuck giant lasagne noodles on it.

I was so disappointed with this episode: Chekov's pool did not materialize. There were so many good candidates to be shoved into the pool.

"Sam's dress looked like she stuck giant lasagne noodles on it." This cracked me up so bad! It would have looked funny going into the pool. Speaking of ugly dresses, Sam's mom looked like she was wearing glitter wrapping paper. Lex was the only one who bagged a gorgeous dress and she looked great in it.

I hope this gets cancelled, because I can't seem to stop watching it. it is so soapy, I have been trying to guess who is going to suddenly have an evil twin, or maybe in this case, a good twin. I do like Sophia Bush though, and the show is light escapism, a welcome relief from the world.