Date of airing: June 28, 2011 (Global TV)
Audience viewership information: 1.550 million viewers
Here I was, thinking that COMBAT HOSPITAL would stay away from all the soap opera dramas that have defined the years between 2005 and 2009 of American medical television dramas, but with the introduction of the so-called Snake Eater named Joe, Rebecca Gordon suddenly became the love interest of Canadian’s famous to-go actor when an Indigenous character is needed, and with it comes a repertoire the two future lovebirds were already sharing after only one episode, putting potential in the prospect of him returning in an upcoming episode, just so he and Rebecca can continue flirting and go for the fluid transfer via the mouth. It seemed quite intriguing that Rebecca and Joe did not end up kissing in a dark corner, hidden from the eyes of their superiors, because COMBAT HOSPITAL really must have made the decision to stay away from the usual relationship drama and shipped around the cliches of the genre by specifically not bringing Rebecca and Joe together for this episode. He went back to his business at the end of the hour, Rebecca went back to her workout regimen at the same time (I cannot imagine going on a run with a gun strapped to my upper thigh – I would be scared for it to fall out of the holster and accidentally go off), and there even was a whole different story not involving the two of them that made it certain one more time that the writers were never interested in relationship drama or writing according to the genre rules of soap operas.
Here I still was, thinking that Rebecca’s story from the previous episode, her pregnancy scare, ended when she found out the results of the pregnancy panel. That it was still a topic for her in this episode could mean a few things: For one, this episode could have easily been set a couple of days after the pilot (even if it didn’t look and sound like it was, as Rebecca and Bobby were already well-oiled doctors in Kandahar, behaving like they have been part of that group for months), and number two, the writers may have cared about Rebecca’s series-opening arc a little too much. Maybe they couldn’t get out of the soap opera trap when it came to her and the backstory she came to the war zone with, or maybe someone in the writers’ room thought that the writers needed to be reminded that Rebecca came to Kandahar as a newly single woman and that the emotional pain of being broken up could define her actions her emotional reactions for a couple of episodes.
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| Enjoy every romantic and sexy emotion you can find, because it could be your last one. |
The thing is just, those actions have not materialized and every time her pre-Afghanistan time with her ex comes up, it’s in a conversation with Bobby when she is talking about her test results and whether or not she is stressed. Granted, this could become a medical problem for Rebecca sooner or later (too much stress leads to illness, which will then be a story for her), but the way her problems were written into this episode – outside of all the other medical stories (even literally, by placing her conversation with Bobby outside the hospital and away from other characters) – gives this show a feeling of not knowing what it wanted to do when it comes to Rebecca and her mental health, with the word “mental” in brackets here, because it never looked like that was actually the issue here. Plus, TV writers didn’t focus on mental health storylines much a decade ago.
Rebecca has proven with this episode that she allowed herself to go above and beyond to save a patient’s life, even risking their lives in the process of her breaking some rules. The writers have made it themselves pretty easy by killing the threat of Afsoon’s father being a hard-ass, punishing his daughter, and cursing Rebecca into the afterlife (circumventing the stereotypes of Afghan family men), but there was something about Rebecca’s way of breaking the rules and not giving a damn that made me more appreciative towards her. It could prove to be a convenient way to get a little excitement into the narrative, as Rebecca continuously pushes the boundaries to save her patients, but it could also lead to some difficulties with her colleagues in the long run. The pilot had Colonel Marks still being somewhat nice and complimentary to her, even after he told her off. This episode had him telling her off a little stronger, giving her a warning, and proving that Rebecca truly likes to bend the rules for the sake of her patients, which in this case is a little problematic for the sake of the mission. Now imagine how troubled Rebecca will be if she continues to be reckless in her ways of treating patients. Not that this will ever happen, since Rebecca is a responsible doctor and Major in the Army, but it’s the thought that counts.
Meanwhile, this episode had a storyline about an infectious disease spreading from patient to patient, and in this day and age, it’s only natural that you feel the urge to compare it to the real-life pandemic everyone is suffering through. Not that the story is good or important enough to be put into a playlist of entertainment programming involving infectious diseases (as I did with CONTAGION, OUTBREAK, I AM LEGEND, and the ER two-part episode with the monkeypox at the start of the pandemic in March 2020), but it was certainly one way to keep entertained during a time that’s possibly beating you mentally every morning you wake up and every night you go to bed. Maybe watching stuff that is terrifying in real-life, but entertaining in scripted programming is how I cope best?
Besides that, it’s not like the infectious disease making its way through the base’s ICU was a major story here. In fact, it may be one of the more forgettable ones, because I could barely remember it when the episode ended, since what the writers focused on was the panic that came out of trying to save a patient and having to close the ICU (which, by the way, had no repercussions, as there has been no onslaught of patients needing ICU treatment). The storyline took as much focus as Rebecca’s trip to the women’s clinic in town and her decision-making to smuggle a patient onto the base, as well as Simon’s non-love story with a German soldier who isn’t really a German soldier at all (her accent sounded Russian, and Beverley is an uncommon name in Germany). The result of the infectious disease storyline was as follows: One patient died, but other than that everything was kept under control, with the writers delivering the message to clean your surfaces with ten percent bleach, in case you have a deadly contagion threatening the insides of your four walls.
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| The Colonel is doing what he has been doing this entire time: chastising Rebecca for a job well done. |
During one of the team meetings, Colonel Marks was mentioning an article from Edmonton, with Graham having to interrupt his Colonel’s speech with a loud “Go Oilers!” Canadians and their ice hockey... This being a Canadian series, it was no surprise that hockey would become a topic or a joke at one point. And what the show really needed more of was a little bit of humor. Yes, some was delivered in the previous episode with a snake in the OR and maybe even Rebecca falling asleep during rounds and the reaction of her waking up, but considering the setting of the show and some of the stories, it would be helpful to have those little moments of comedy that are super random and maybe even forgotten again by the end of the hour – so you can enjoy them once more the next time you watch the episode, which, judging by the show’s short lifespan, I am probably the only one doing so.
By the way, when Rebecca “smuggled” Afsoon out of the women’s clinic with another soldier’s uniform on, what happened to the soldier whose uniform Afsoon put on? Did she slip into Afsoon’s clothes, waiting for Rebecca to finish her surgery and bring Afsoon back, or did one of her soldier friends come by with a second set of uniform clothes? I get the feeling having an answer to those questions may be important, since a soldier without a uniform in the middle of a war zone could easily lead to that soldier’s death if there was a sudden attack.
