I began watching this on the day it first aired on Rai1. And to date, missed only one night (two episodes, that is). Much as I have been holding myself for long, after past week's opening of Season 2, nothing can stop me from laying it bare while laughing out loud.
Okay, so... The premise derives from an actual experience by an Italian medic. He was in a coma for over a decade. Then wakes up, finds things have changed in the world. Even Michael Jackson has died. But most importantly, his wife is no longer his wife. Water has run under the bridge. Can he be trusted as a medic still? Nope. He cannot remember his past self well, but is informed that he was mightily disliked. But now that life is starting anew, his overall humor and bits and pieces of his attitude show signs of change. Given a chance at the same hospital where he once directed colleagues, he is now an aide. But that won't stop him from uncovering what kind of a conspiracy had led to his attempted murder by the father of a patient.
I won't even get into how much of the basic, strong premise holds up after the first half of the first season. Nor will I care to point strongly at the fact that 80% of what the episodal stories of this series follow the path of House, MD.
Nope, I won't even focus too much on why and how a medic would go about his whole day with a huge smile on his face, more like neglecting the actual challenges of life than attempting to pump up hope.
Guess what, I won't even rate this series. Because whatever score I would give would be unjust on some front. You can give it a 10 with respect to how entertaining it is. Or you can give it 1 (the lowest on IMDb) for how terribly certain medical facts have been used in attempts to build up drama. The scientific details may be true, but the storylines are so far from being realistic that... Well, y'know what... Forget it.
What I will focus on is only the 1st episode of the 2nd season. Because the level of "who cares!" in the foremost element of that key episode speaks volumes about this series.
Now, the writers have decided to somehow integrate the Covid pandemic into thair narrative. They could not have done that in the 1st season as more than half the episodes were shot back when the pandemic began, and the episodes shot later under Covid measures were simply following the already constructed story arcs.
Good... Let's see how they have decided to tackle the issue of Covid without soaking the whole show in those horrors people have already been tired of seeing in the news.
So, they decide to dedicate this S2E1 to how the pandemic unfolded (in Milan, Italy!) in its early days, only to then fast-forward to a "near future" where "Covid still exists but not as the major issue it once was".
Wow, actually that's clever. I liked it. This way, they can embed into the flow of the show how the pandemic started, and then keep on with "business as usual" as Luca Argentero (who plays "Dottore Housetti") can keep thinking out of the box to tackle mysterious cases. That is, while the politics behind hospital management and relationships between the team of good-looking medics can keep our interest alive, knowing one medic has deceased during the pandemic.
To be honest, the "solution" to address Covid without getting lost in it was really smart. But HOW they executed it was... Well, I had to do a face palm while looking at the TV screen, because I was kind of ashamed on behalf of whoever wrote those dialogues!
First quarter of 2020: The Housetti/Argentero character (our hero) reads newspapers and follows social media. And learns of "Covid19" (pay attention to that particular name!) So, when a patient with mysterious symptoms arrives, he tells his colleagues (other medics!) that it could be "Covid19".
And they ask Housetti: "Covid19? What IS that?"
And he explains: "It is a brand new virus that emerged from China recently!"
I felt like peeing when I heard that. The show even exceeded the level of becoming a parody of itself. They expected viewers to believe that, in the early times of the pandemic, ONLY ONE MEDIC in a major hospital in Milan KNEW OF what was going on in China! Ignore all the professional networks and curiosities - those other doctors had even NO CLUE on what TV news, incoming and outgoing passengers, even ordinary people on the streets had been paying attention to!
So, it was ONLY Argentero/Housetti that LEARNED OF the existence of a mysterious, brand-new virus FROM MAINSTREAM MEDIA!
Ooooh, and that is not even the punchline: Considering ALL of Italy was under lockdown several weeks BEFORE the name "Covid19" was given to this virus, he had to be gathering information from the FUTURE in order to "inform" his colleagues on what was going on. Because THAT was the name he used as he literally "educated" others!
I was on social media while watching this, and felt the need to post out with the relevant hashtag how extremely dumb the episode was. It looked unbelieveable to me that, merely 21 months after the horror began and struck hard Italy, an Italian show could extend and misuse the dramatic wiggle room for "make-believe" to such lengths.
Honestly, I was expecting the fan base of the series to revolt in anger as they were made to witness not only the most unrealistic, but also the most careless and incoherent coverage a fiction could provide for those early days of Covid.
And guess what: No one seemed to care!
That's it! That is exactly why I cannot rate this show. It is beyond my comprehension of "what the public wants or accepts".
If I were a writer for that show and if that brilliant idea of using only the early days of Covid (to rapidly fast-forward to a near future) was what I had to work with, I would care about what pointers to use. I'd make it coherent with how it actually unfolded. Because it was not only very possible to do so, but would also help build-up the drama in an honest, respectful way.
They messed it up ridiculously, yet no one even cared!
"Okay, I give up" I said to myself. I tried to "accept" it as it was, and kept on watching. And you know what happened? In the 2nd episode, as we were witnessing that "near future" where "Covid has not totally disappeared but its emergency has", no one in the hospital was wearing a mask. Not the medics, not the orderlies, not the patients. No one.
So, their imagination of the "post-Covid world" was one in which not even hospitals would require masks, social distancing or anything else.
Sure, they have to show the faces of those good-looking medics. That is what matters the most for the show. But still... Come on!... At least, implant some sort of a made-up "explanation" as to how the whole world could switch back to "the old normal".
What happened? Did the virus get "eradicated"? Not only THAT virus, but the potential threat of ANY viral infections that might bring forth new pandemics is also off the table???
I checked the relevant social media posts and saw to my (this time not so big) surprise that, again, no one cared.
"DOC - Nelle tue mani" is top-notch entertainment! Because it makes sure that NO ONE CARES about coherence, realism, logic or any other non-impulsive thing.
It is just about the immediate reactions our lizard brains would give to moving pictures on a screen, and it reigns in its own realm.
Applause!
Okay, so... The premise derives from an actual experience by an Italian medic. He was in a coma for over a decade. Then wakes up, finds things have changed in the world. Even Michael Jackson has died. But most importantly, his wife is no longer his wife. Water has run under the bridge. Can he be trusted as a medic still? Nope. He cannot remember his past self well, but is informed that he was mightily disliked. But now that life is starting anew, his overall humor and bits and pieces of his attitude show signs of change. Given a chance at the same hospital where he once directed colleagues, he is now an aide. But that won't stop him from uncovering what kind of a conspiracy had led to his attempted murder by the father of a patient.
I won't even get into how much of the basic, strong premise holds up after the first half of the first season. Nor will I care to point strongly at the fact that 80% of what the episodal stories of this series follow the path of House, MD.
Nope, I won't even focus too much on why and how a medic would go about his whole day with a huge smile on his face, more like neglecting the actual challenges of life than attempting to pump up hope.
Guess what, I won't even rate this series. Because whatever score I would give would be unjust on some front. You can give it a 10 with respect to how entertaining it is. Or you can give it 1 (the lowest on IMDb) for how terribly certain medical facts have been used in attempts to build up drama. The scientific details may be true, but the storylines are so far from being realistic that... Well, y'know what... Forget it.
What I will focus on is only the 1st episode of the 2nd season. Because the level of "who cares!" in the foremost element of that key episode speaks volumes about this series.
Now, the writers have decided to somehow integrate the Covid pandemic into thair narrative. They could not have done that in the 1st season as more than half the episodes were shot back when the pandemic began, and the episodes shot later under Covid measures were simply following the already constructed story arcs.
Good... Let's see how they have decided to tackle the issue of Covid without soaking the whole show in those horrors people have already been tired of seeing in the news.
So, they decide to dedicate this S2E1 to how the pandemic unfolded (in Milan, Italy!) in its early days, only to then fast-forward to a "near future" where "Covid still exists but not as the major issue it once was".
Wow, actually that's clever. I liked it. This way, they can embed into the flow of the show how the pandemic started, and then keep on with "business as usual" as Luca Argentero (who plays "Dottore Housetti") can keep thinking out of the box to tackle mysterious cases. That is, while the politics behind hospital management and relationships between the team of good-looking medics can keep our interest alive, knowing one medic has deceased during the pandemic.
To be honest, the "solution" to address Covid without getting lost in it was really smart. But HOW they executed it was... Well, I had to do a face palm while looking at the TV screen, because I was kind of ashamed on behalf of whoever wrote those dialogues!
First quarter of 2020: The Housetti/Argentero character (our hero) reads newspapers and follows social media. And learns of "Covid19" (pay attention to that particular name!) So, when a patient with mysterious symptoms arrives, he tells his colleagues (other medics!) that it could be "Covid19".
And they ask Housetti: "Covid19? What IS that?"
And he explains: "It is a brand new virus that emerged from China recently!"
I felt like peeing when I heard that. The show even exceeded the level of becoming a parody of itself. They expected viewers to believe that, in the early times of the pandemic, ONLY ONE MEDIC in a major hospital in Milan KNEW OF what was going on in China! Ignore all the professional networks and curiosities - those other doctors had even NO CLUE on what TV news, incoming and outgoing passengers, even ordinary people on the streets had been paying attention to!
So, it was ONLY Argentero/Housetti that LEARNED OF the existence of a mysterious, brand-new virus FROM MAINSTREAM MEDIA!
Ooooh, and that is not even the punchline: Considering ALL of Italy was under lockdown several weeks BEFORE the name "Covid19" was given to this virus, he had to be gathering information from the FUTURE in order to "inform" his colleagues on what was going on. Because THAT was the name he used as he literally "educated" others!
I was on social media while watching this, and felt the need to post out with the relevant hashtag how extremely dumb the episode was. It looked unbelieveable to me that, merely 21 months after the horror began and struck hard Italy, an Italian show could extend and misuse the dramatic wiggle room for "make-believe" to such lengths.
Honestly, I was expecting the fan base of the series to revolt in anger as they were made to witness not only the most unrealistic, but also the most careless and incoherent coverage a fiction could provide for those early days of Covid.
And guess what: No one seemed to care!
That's it! That is exactly why I cannot rate this show. It is beyond my comprehension of "what the public wants or accepts".
If I were a writer for that show and if that brilliant idea of using only the early days of Covid (to rapidly fast-forward to a near future) was what I had to work with, I would care about what pointers to use. I'd make it coherent with how it actually unfolded. Because it was not only very possible to do so, but would also help build-up the drama in an honest, respectful way.
They messed it up ridiculously, yet no one even cared!
"Okay, I give up" I said to myself. I tried to "accept" it as it was, and kept on watching. And you know what happened? In the 2nd episode, as we were witnessing that "near future" where "Covid has not totally disappeared but its emergency has", no one in the hospital was wearing a mask. Not the medics, not the orderlies, not the patients. No one.
So, their imagination of the "post-Covid world" was one in which not even hospitals would require masks, social distancing or anything else.
Sure, they have to show the faces of those good-looking medics. That is what matters the most for the show. But still... Come on!... At least, implant some sort of a made-up "explanation" as to how the whole world could switch back to "the old normal".
What happened? Did the virus get "eradicated"? Not only THAT virus, but the potential threat of ANY viral infections that might bring forth new pandemics is also off the table???
I checked the relevant social media posts and saw to my (this time not so big) surprise that, again, no one cared.
"DOC - Nelle tue mani" is top-notch entertainment! Because it makes sure that NO ONE CARES about coherence, realism, logic or any other non-impulsive thing.
It is just about the immediate reactions our lizard brains would give to moving pictures on a screen, and it reigns in its own realm.
Applause!