Doctor Odyssey's Two-Part Season Finale Brings the Waves of Change (and an Actual Wave)
During the two episode finale of Doctor Odyssey’s first (and only?) season, we received an earthquake, a tsunami, an aftershock, a rather disrespectful watching of a man dying, 22 weddings, and the awful inclusion of “Despacito" on a beach. So, how did we get here? Well, because this show takes the natural world and throws it out the window, we took a journey to arrive at this finale.
Very quickly, Avery and Max try to cope with the “I love you" bombshell that ended episode 16. Of course, Avery is confused, because that’s the only personality trait she was given by the writers. Max feels like he opened up and isn’t receiving the response he deserves, but he can’t seem to realize he remains a messy, messy man. They don’t have a lot of time to ponder, as a massive multi-couple wedding is set to take place on board. As 22 couples prepare for this group charade, a smaller group heads out on a hiking excursion.
Whilst hiking, an earthquake hits, knocking a hiker down a hill and screwing up his knee. Max enlists a mighty talkative gay man to help aid the in-pain hiker back to the ship. However, as the tsunami warning goes off, Max confers with the Captain that they will instead find higher ground as the ship works to avoid the worst and head to sea.
Prior to departure, the boat welcomes locals who are trying to escape the impending disaster, meaning the infirmary is going to be at full capacity when this wave hits. The Captain puts Avery in charge of the medical proceedings, as Max is still stuck on land. Mere moments before the worst, Avery decides to tell Tristan about the “I love you" speech and her mixed feelings on the whole thing. Tristan is livid, because this throuple won’t allow themselves to sit down and get nasty together, so he retreats to his room to drink. This relapse is almost immediately resolved, adding nothing to the plot.
Both crews, on shore and on land, deal with their fair share of accidents. One man disobeys orders in order to secure a book for his soon-to-be step child, having shards from a broken chandelier wedged all over his body. He ends up being fine. A wedding planner comically falls down a flight of stairs a la the Katie Couric impersonator on The Late Late Show. She recovers and decides to get a divorce. Annie Mumolo (i.e. the star of the world’s greatest comedy) is a racist, entitled passenger who didn’t know she was pregnant. Giving birth makes her realize she shouldn’t be xenophobic. Oh, and the chatty gay male? He has a brain bleed, has a hole drilled in his head, and then marries Aaron Samuels from Mean Girls.
Amidst all of this, the Captain is dealing with disobeying orders to do the right thing. Though corporate representatives repeat that he needs to leave land all together, he orders the ship to return to pick up his left passengers and crew members. He takes a phone call where they call his bluff, announcing that he will be removed from service for disobeying. However, the entire crew strikes, saying they will quit if they don’t give the Captain back his job. It’s hilarious. Capitalism would laugh in their face.
Avery, though viewing the abundance of wacky cases, realizes there is a way to put herself first on both fronts: relationship and career. She tells Max that she does, in fact, have feelings for him and they both decide they are ready to figure out some path forward together, whatever that may be. They dance to “Despacito" on a beach. It remains a wild song choice.
As the season ends, possibly doubling as a series finale if need be, the last scene ends with a cheeky call out of fan theories. The trio discuss how this “paradise" has been a lot more tumultuous than one might think, deciding it’s a beautiful purgatory-like space. Was this definitely the writing team being like “HAHA those dummies?!" Oh, absolutely, but I appreciated the reference nonetheless.