Doctor Odyssey: Joshua Jackson sails as a relaxed father [critique]

The former Dawson star plays a doctor in charge of passengers on a cruise liner. Spectacularly vain.

20 thousand leagues from Menendez brothers, Ryan Murphy abandon sociopaths and others Horror Story to launch into a totally different genre: silly and fun entertainment. If the (very) prolific producer had already dabbled in medical series 20 years ago with Nip/Tuckher Doctor Odyssey this time has a clearly more limited ambition.

Joshua Jackson plays the title role, that of Dr. Max Bankman, hired by a shipping company to direct the medical department of a luxury cruise, aboard a sumptuous liner. With the assistance of a nurse (attractive, of course) and an orderly (charming, of course), he treats the small aches and major injuries that occur on board the ship. And when the passengers are not there, another story (romantic, obviously) begins on deck.

Very quickly, we understand that Doctor Odyssey is an old-fashioned series. A “Network” series – as opposed to streaming series with big means and grand designs – broadcast at prime time on a national channel (ABC in this case in America) and which aims to “sell available human brain time to Coca-Cola“, according to the established expression. Doctor Odyssey thus has no other objective than to entertain the viewer for 40 minutes, banking everything, absolutely everything, on the charm of its casting and a totally relaxed atmosphere which (vaguely) takes you on a journey.

It's all spectacularly futile. Nothing seems to stand up in the first episodes, stuffed to the point of indigestion with medical intrigues, each one more enormous than the last. After 8 days of cruising, Dr. Bankman has already saved a man who fell into the water from the rail, stopped an epidemic of syphilis among the passengers, operated on his captain who suffered a heart attack or a South American migrant lost on board of a makeshift raft… Doctor Odyssey flounders in nonsense and a disconcerting quasi-surrealism, to the point where certain theories (he would be asleep / in a coma and all that would just be a vast dream…) are already starting to flourish on the forums, to try an explanation.

While we wait to find out if Murphy set us up, we can't say that Doctor Odyssey or a successful medical series. On the other hand, it is a Love Boat totally charming. As The Cruise has fun At the time, the series linked passengers and little stories at a delightful pace, riding on the devastating smile of its master on board. Joshua Jackson is absolutely perfect as a cruise doctor with an inordinate ego. The former friend of Dawson had already played the scalpel brilliantly in Dr. Deathbut with a big dark side as well. This time, everything is light to better make his white teeth sparkle in the rays of the setting sun over the ocean. Alluring seducer, charismatic leader and doctor worthy of McDreamy surrounded by supporting roles dedicated to making him shine (the pretty Phillipa Soo and the Don Johnson of Miami Vicealways as classy), it is the salt of this sea crossing which will not make you nauseous but is, for the moment, really nothing essential.

Doctor Odyssey, season 1 on Disney Plus in France, from October 24, 2024.