Season 1, Episode 6
Date of release: March 26, 2025 (Apple TV+)
Written by: Lisa van Brakel, Paulina Lorenz
Directed by: Alex Schaad
”I can't believe how quiet it is.”
“No! Not that word!”
KRANK BERLIN does not suffer from the curse that, when you, as a healthcare professional, say that it's too quiet, you will suddenly be bombarded with the most patients ever. The ER stayed pretty quiet for the entire episode, with only a couple of cases sprinkling in here and there. But the cases that did come in were major enough, with Dom's future father-in-law's infarct proving once more that Dom either does not know at all what he is doing this entire time, or he is simply a fraudster; and the racist gang member showing how much patience the nurses and doctors have. Although the racism of that guy was maybe a little too thick and obvious at times. Bleeding out on a gurney is definitely the best time for the guy to bitch about the skin color of his doctor...
I'm still interested in Ben's story. He woke up ready and happy for the work day, but it seemed obvious that his good morning was fleeting, and that withdrawal would kick in. The story of a drug-addicted doctor may be filled with storyfied tropes, but just like Chloe Lewis during the first two seasons of the 1990s medical drama ER, I feel like the story is more heartbreaking and serious (and as close to realistic as possible) because of the actor's performance. Slavko Popadic never made me believe that he was just an actor playing an addict suffering from withdrawals. Together with the make-up and his dirty stubble, it felt like he knew how to perform the role. And I was quite happy that he completely crashed at the end, breaking the drug locker and shooting up at the hospital, for everyone to see and find his unconscious, high-riding body. The next episode could go in different directions: Either everyone is angry that they were fooled by him, and this was his last day working as a doctor, or they will help him get clean, and this is his last day as a doctor on a temporary basis. I heard there is a facility in Atlanta that specializes in doctors having addiction issues...
I don't believe for a second though that the emergency department was this quiet the entire day. This is Neukölln we're speaking about, the hub of Immigration Station in Berlin. There could not have been a day in which almost everyone decided to leave their knives and guns in the drawers – which is probably something the writers thought as well, hence the storyline of Olaf and Olivia coming across the gang activity out on the streets, and having to wait for the police to arrive before they could go out there and help the wounded man. Back in the 90s drama ER, the paramedics just threw on bulletproof vests before helping a gang member with their gunshot wounds while being surrounded by dozens of people, some of them possibly carrying...
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| Dr. Kohn is all in on breaking the rules and making himself a criminal. |
