Doctor Odyssey Season 1 Episode 6 Review: I Always Cry At Weddings

Not even a threesome can distract from narrative and tonal inconsistencies, but it’s a start. Doctor Odyssey Season 1 Episode 6, “I Always Cry At Weddings,” has its “we’re going there” moment. It doesn’t disappoint.

However, it’s still an interesting episode, but the plot needs some work.  

Doctor Odyssey sticks with the classics by having another penis-related disaster. This time, it’s stuck in someone. The show is very obsessed with that organ.

We also get a bunch of strange illnesses, including a very severe case of ringworm and bad suntan. But, that’s not the main health concern: It’s all about mental health.

“I Always Cry At Weddings” takes a dramatic shift when one of the Odyssey guests dies by suicide. It’s unexpected. However, this death allows guest star Kelsea Ballerini to show off some solid acting skills.

Her performance is one of the episode’s biggest strengths. She effortlessly plays a terrible bridezilla turned grieving woman. You hate her at first but then understand and sympathize with her pain.

If “I Always Cry At Weddings” had been less chaotic (most of it silly), it could have been a more cohesive and thought-provoking episode. 

A tone shift works when blended well, but that’s not the case here. The episode transitions from a ridiculous storyline about a stuck penis to trying to thoughtfully address sensitive topics such as addiction and mental health.

This discussion feels disingenuous and simply like a plot device to move the story but not to connect with something deeper and profound. We barely understand the almost-husband character before he jumps into the ocean.

His actions seem melodramatic but should feel more intimate, introspective, and heartbreaking. We should feel more of his mental health struggles.  His fiancé tells us about them, but this is another example of Doctor Odyssey‘s failure to show not just tell. 

Then it overshadows the situation by focusing on Avery, Max, and Tristan finally doing something interesting with this love triangle. They have a threesome.

Doctor Odyssey likely decides to do this to lighten the mood after such a heavy topic of death by suicide. However, that isn’t the right decision.

If you’re going to address this topic, do it with more care and consideration.

TV shows have the power to teach, create empathy, and inspire change. There is nothing wrong with some lighthearted entertainment, but if you decide to present a serious topic, consider the approach and execution.

It doesn’t feel like Doctor Odyssey gives mental health and the repercussions and heartbreak of this type of decision and death the proper storytelling.

Ballerini does a fine job of creating sympathy for her character. However, the series doesn’t do enough to create the same sympathy for the man who decides to die and the topic of mental health.

It feels like a shallow attempt at something profound and meaningful.

Now, in typical Doctor Odyssey fashion, let’s shift the tone of this review. That threesome…

The series makes the right decision by having them have it. It’s also time to admit that Max and Tristan also have feelings for each other.

The show better not somehow try to still make them both heterosexual. We better not hear that they avoided each other in this threesome. Also, a few episodes ago, didn’t Tristan basically start a relationship with Vivi?

She is noticeably absent from “I Always Cry at Weddings.”  We have to wonder if she may complicate this potential new throuple.

Now that Doctor Odyssey went there, it needs to fully go there and make Avery, Max, and Tristan a throuple.

“I Always Cry At Weddings” has a jaw-dropping moment that’s exciting for the show’s future, but we cannot ignore some of Doctor Odyssey’s questionable decisions with its approach to mental health.

Stray Thoughts

• So Max doesn’t care that he’s breaking so many codes of conduct by sleeping with not just one subordinate but two? Yeah, he’s trying to get fired.
• With next week’s episode being gay week on the Odyssey, hopefully, we get some frank discussions about Max and Tristan’s sexuality.
• The show has played with the idea of Max being open but had him say no when asked about being fluid. So hopefully we get a little clarity on that, even if it’s just a he doesn’t like labels statement.
• Doctor Odyssey could have utilized Margo Martindale better. The writers didn’t give her much to play around and work with.

What did you think of this episode of Doctor Odyssey? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Doctor Odyssey airs Thursdays at 9/8 c on ABC.

 

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