Season 1, Episode 4
Date of release: March 12, 2025 (Apple TV+)
Written by: Julia Drache, Lisa van Brakel, Korbiniah Hamberger
Directed by: Fabian Möhrke
”Viktoria's smoking in the toilet again.”
“As long as she doesn't set the smoke alarm off, it's fine.”
No one gives a damn in this hospital. Patients are waiting in the hallways overnight, and staff are too busy to check in on them because the hospital administration figured they don't have to hire new doctors and nurses (hey, it's the age-old problem in German healthcare). Homeless people and drug addicts park themselves behind the building or in the toilets to do their business, and as long as nothing goes up in flames or starts beeping, it's fine (security probably doesn't earn enough to care about that anyway). And when I look at Dominik Kohn, the hospital also doesn't seem to check if their doctors are who they say they are, and are proficient in the field that they say they are an expert in.
Because after this episode, I doubt that Dom is actually a doctor. He has certain clinical skills, but those feel like they are from when he was a medical student, and he stopped learning ever since then. The KRANK is developing into the worst hospital in the country, thanks to the understaffing, the fact that there's no money to hire people or update the ER, because of some drug-addicted doctors, and now the fact that some doctors don't know what they are doing. Parker believes that Dom is one of the better ones – her heart and soul are going to break into pieces when she finds out that Dom has been cosplaying as a doctor this entire time. And then she is really going to flip out when she discovers Ben's addiction.
By the way, all of that begs the question of who is to blame for the teacher's death on May 1st: Ben because he was high during treatment and made mistakes, or Dom because he didn't figure out what the teacher's problem was and gave her the wrong meds?
What I like about the show (and, to an extent, Ben) at the moment is the focus on the people living under the radar: the homeless, the drug addicts, the immigrants who don't have any papers. Ben tries to be empathic, helping them in his own little office, but even he gets to realize quickly that it's growing out of control (especially now that Emina knows about his “office hours”). It's one of the parts of medical dramas that don't get the deserved attention from the writers, and while KRANK BERLIN is using the premise to lead Ben into the abyss, it's at least a good attempt at showcasing how much of an issue that part of life is – not just in Berlin, but in any metropolitan city.
And finally, how long will it take for Emina and Olivia to start dating? They are clearly into each other, but there isn't much time left this season to get something properly started between the two.
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| Everybody's just playing along to not disappoint the boss. |
