One of the biggest issues I have with this season was how unfunny the funny parts are.
You’re supposed to laugh at the annoying pretentious white boy be annoying and pretentious, but it doesn’t land when he actively makes the people around him, particularly two women of color (Joy and Javadi) suffer without consequence.
“Point and laugh at the white guy being oblivious to his privilege” is not a funny joke without some comeuppance or growth, neither of which Ogilvie gets. He gets one snark from Garcia after pulling out the glass piece and one of his patients dies, something that is part of the job and which he literally gets coddled over by the other infinitely wise white guy his age.
The consequences for the white men is the emotional damage of knowing they fucked up. It’s all internal. The woman get that plus being chewed out by a superior, cuz otherwise how will they know they need to do better??? Robby quickly consoles Ogilvie that these things happen after their patient takes a turn, and then turns to Samira to dismantle any confidence she has as an ER physician.
It just makes all the previous moments of Ogilvie speaking over others even more unfunny. Especially since none of the people who are “teaching” him actually ever correct his behavior!
Robby and other residents watch the bickering med students like it’s a fun circus, ignoring the fact those are thier monkeys. The only time Ogilvie’s behavior gets corrected is when Victoria gets sucked into his competitive trap, so both of them get told to be team players. As long as the women allow themselves to get stepped on, there’s no issue, but the moment they try to advocate for themselves, they’re the problem. The only person who maybe made a difference, or at least tried, was Cassie addressing his fatphobia, but there’s no indication any of that sunk in.
I watched this man smile when his coworker got injured and when a patient started bleeding out, and you want me to sympathize when he feels sad over losing a patient we barely met?? Fuck no
We love a character that’s fun to hate, but Ogilvie quickly crosses that line into just plain hate. Even during the few times he actually gets to suffer (e.g. the disimpaction), I found no joy in it and simply wanted to watch the more interesting characters.
(Complete side note with no real bite, but since we’re on the topic of complaining about humor: I was convinced that since there were two occasions of cases involving someone’s finger up an elderly patient’s ass, they were gunna follow the rule of three and there would be one more. Was waiting for it all season. The real joke was on me, I suppose)
You know what else I found zero humor in? Everything Whitaker was doing the last few eps. I would have given the absurd amount of screen time allocated to Dennis looking for his badge a break if there was plot relevance to the outcome, but it turns out to be fuckin Digby and therefore a massive waste of time.
And the motorcycle scene??? I could not have been laughing less. One, what is Dennis’ plan here holding up it up? Wait for someone to help and then what? What do you think you’re accomplishing? Just set it down, man. Two, I know you’re gargling Robby’s balls but you are a doctor. There is a building full of patients and your priority is holding up an already damaged bike? Cool
Aw look, Denny lost his first paycheck trying to do a nice thing cuz his one character flaw this season is that he’s too kind and giving. Don’t you just feel so bad for him and his funny shenanigans? Don’t even think about how Samira just had a panic attack, got berated by her superior, patient tried committing suicide, and now her career plan is blowing up in her face. Don’t think about Baran grappling with the limitations of her body for the nth time in her life and being threatened by her coworker to get her fired, also possibly blowing her career plans up in her face. Don’t think about Trinity being on the verge of self harming after being faced with a superior that previously berated her and tried to have her career blow up in her face. Don’t think about Victoria being on the edge of quitting medicine and being verbally berated/threatened by both her superior and her mother. Just laugh at Dennis’ silly little woes.
Look, being unfunny is one thing. I’m not gunna ream a show for not landing a few jokes, but when it takes up space that could be used for the multiple complex characters going through life altering circumstances, none of whom get a satisfying ending, it feels like a fuck you to those characters, and the audience. This is not the time for bits. Especially when the actors keeps saying the heavier, character driven scenes had to be cut for time.
Not to mention the ‘Langdon wanders around and recognizes random patients’ gag. No idea what that was supposed to accomplish for the plot or his character, so I must assume it was for some attempt at comedy as well.
As a drama, you add comedy when you have time, and episode 14 in particular felt like the worst use of that runtime possible. They did not have the time, and chose to instead cut out the heart of the show for the blandest gags with the blandest characters.
