Recap: Hot Tub Week on "Doctor Odyssey" Brings Force Ghosts On Board
After multiple weeks of nothing remotely dealing with our trio of medical professionals onboard The Odyssey, this week basically ignores any emergencies happening on board and instead sets its sights on the staff. With that in mind, let’s get the injuries out of the way.
Cheerleading Week on board (which was improperly discussed from a sport-accuracy standpoint and remarkably unsafe from a human person standpoint) led to some stunts taking place in the hot tub. For why? Who knows, other than a key cheerleader personality trait is “doing stunts where they shouldn’t." In this case, the stunt led to cracking a suction valve within the hot tub. As one of the cheerleaders took a dive to wash off (?), her hair was yanked within the suction, keeping her submerged.
While a horrifying image, it’s a remarkably simple fix: cut her hair? Yet, instead, the college educated medical professionals instead give her a tube to breathe and, upon closer look, help to lodge a piece of plastic from the drain into her neck. We, as an audience, are expected to think this was the best solution? Some true trickery happening at Mr. Ryan Murphy Inc.
As for the rest of the medical cases, Captain Massey has shingles and a cheerleader is lightly drugging her roommate so she’s too tired for an upcoming audition. We barely scratch the surface with either and, honestly? That’s for the best.
Instead we finally are given the time to sit with the conundrum of Avery’s baby and the possible father. Immediately following the drowning girl, Avery asks for Tristan and Max to take a paternity test. The timing was less than to be desired, but it’s all been leading to the big reveal: who is the father?
As the results are being determined, Max and Tristan find Avery in the hot tub…drinking champagne? Alas, there was no baby after all. With seven separate episodes dedicated to this gosh darn baby, Avery has an ovarian cyst leading to the false positive test. While the men try to calm her, she’s understandably distraught.
Now, this show is stupid. We all know this. If you’ve stuck around this long (which is unlikely, due to the ratings HELLO!), you come to expect a certain level of dumb from this primetime soap. However, this episode took an uncanny valley tour. As if it was a failed Girl Meets World plotline, the hot tub slowly becomes a place to reckon with their past. As the trio sit in the hot tub the next day, discussing the aftereffects of the no-baby knowledge, the scene cuts to younger versions of themselves discussing their future. Alone in my home, I audibly uttered “huh?" as if I was in the middle of a college lecture of quantum physics.
Mind you, the trio come to terms with the what-could-be moment, but it still remains wackadoo. Captain Massey interrupts the gathering to unveil his sexy new bout of shingles, then later in the evening uses the hot tub to soothe the rash. Whilst there, he also gets turned into his younger self, meeting his late wife Catherine (Give Diana Agron better parts, universe!) for the first time. Part flashback and part mushroom-infused imagery, he then talks to her ghost for approval of his new baby with Shania Twain. Using this conversation as a guide, Captain Massey then calms Avery as she finally reveals the not-pregnancy. It’s a sweet little moment, but feels like a whiplash after the dream ghosts.
Avery ends up having the cyst removed with her two guys holding her hands as she goes under. Dare I say, the throuple is back!