MovieChat Forums > Bodies (2004) Discussion > Jumped the shark

Jumped the shark

posted 19 years ago by Gary-161
27 replies | jump to latest

*SPOILERS*

Pretty quickly in episode one when Whitman tried to kill one of his own patients to stitch Hurley up. That sort of Hitchcock nonsense just smacks of desperation in keeping a second series turning over. Every scene now has to have some heavy intrigue going on.

The sex scenes I think are exploitative. Did we really need such a graphic bonking session between Lake and Rix again?

It also defied belief that he'd stay for several more rounds with Hurley just for a nurse he couldn't even stay faithful to for five minutes.

Bodies made its point in one series. My interest is waning in the second.

[–] bigfatpig 19 years ago

I think the second series is even better

[–] Gary-161 19 years ago

I didn't realise that it was by the same guy that wrote 'Cardiac Arrest'. Is he up to speed with what's happening in the medical profession today? We're talking fifteen years, here. Certainly, the book version has had mixed responses as from profession. Whether the tv series has made changes, I don't know.

[–] DeMarkov 19 years ago

I think this series is better as well. Now there are two b**stards and Keith Allen is great when he is wicked.

I have to agree about the sex scenes, there's something disturbing about them and not at all sexy. They are only just more watchable than the birth scenes!

[–] Gary-161 19 years ago

I'm not talking about quality so much as redundancy. For instance, Dr Lake tried to kill one of his patients in series one. So they made that point.

[–] saintOthers 19 years ago

I still think it's fun to watch, although I am getting a bit sick of the stereotypical 'evil administrator character' in BBC dramas.

[–] Gary-161 19 years ago

Hurley was botching operations left, right and centre in series one. That's almost been forgotten about in series two. He's like a normal doctor again and Whitmore is the baby killer.

Saturday's episode was so sensationalist. The only way they're going to top it is to have Whitmore have his way with the corpse of a patient he's just performed involuntary euthanasia upon while Dr Lake gives him an enema. Meanwhile, nurse Rix is naked under the hospital bed snorting cocaine off a stool sample. Can't wait.

[–] allseeing 19 years ago

I think that the fact Whitman (Keith Allen) is more devious and desperate this series only highlights the complexity of people's characters and makes the series more realistic. He may be a great doctor but underneath he is selfish. Hurley (Patrick Baladi) is still making the same inexperienced desicions that he was in the first series. Insisting on the HRPU is one example and using the forceps outside of theatre another.

[–] Gary-161 19 years ago

I was surprised Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy was used in saturday's episode considering it's recently been widly discredited as a serious medical condition. In fact, the doctor who came up with it was involved in some sort of malpractice case involving the medical authority (forget its name) recently. It just seemed incongrous. Not sure where they were going with that. I don't think Dr Lake's valedictory address rang true, either.

At the end of series one he had confessed to malpractice, and covering it up. "I want to be judged."

So why wasn't he? It's been forgotten about in series two.

[–] christopherbentley 19 years ago

For my money it jumped the shark when Rix suddenly deceided to take heroin for no apparent reason.

And Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy has not been "discredited", despite what you might read in the newspapers. It exists and there is video evidence of mothers harming their kids in this way. The program was making the point that to doctors risk comitting career suicide by trying to protect these kids; because they know that if they make a mistake (or even if they are correct) they will be hung out to dry by a court system which is desperate to cover up its own inadequacies.

[–] moomin-4 19 years ago

If I had some diamorphine given to me 'on a plate' as it were, to be dispose of, and I was under the kinds of pressures from every direction that Sister Rix had, I might well use it. To say she took it 'for no apparent reason' is bizarre. What was brilliant about it for me was that I'd got so tense and edgy just *watching* that episode that I felt an immediate visceral sympathy (as well as shock) at that scene.
I'm glad so many people are winging about this programme though. The last thing I'd want would be for it to get popular. It's much too good for that.

[–] puffinnook 19 years ago

Hello.

Just visiting and wondering:

I am currently watching Bodies, series 2 on BBC Canada. I think there may be some editing as it's shown in one hour and includes commercials. How long does it run in the UK?

I wonder if I've missed some scenes because the whole Rix heroin thing caught me off guard. I wasn't even sure what was happening. (My friend thought that Lake was drawing blood from her!)

Plus, does Lake really throw away his blood sample, which he was supposed to have checked for HIV?

Any thoughts?
puff

[–] allseeing 19 years ago

As far as I remember it runs for about 1 hour in the UK, but with no commercials.

The Rix morphine incident does come out of the blue. There is no mention of it before the event and it isn't highlited in any way.

Yes he does simply throw away the blood sample.

[–] puffinnook 19 years ago

Thanks, all.

I know there are some bits edited when shown on BBC Canada to allow for commercials. It drives my nuts. But I figured that if there was something as big as explaining why a nurse is being injected with morphine by her lover-doctor, they would be smart enough not to cut that bit.

cheers
puff

[–] ruttlesRevenge 19 years ago

Dr Lake did not try to kill, he did kill but this was due to error and arrogance.

[–] Gary-161 19 years ago

Dr Lake tried to kill a violent man in series one. He tried to put something lethal but possibly undetectable into the man's drip. At the last minute he changed his mind.

Munchhausen is not universally accepted as a mental condition. Maybe not discredited, but not accepted. It was the controversial invention of one man. Video surveillance of parents based on this belief also proved to be controversial and by no means conclusive. This is off the top of my head, I'll have to research.

[–] henry999-1 19 years ago

> Dr Lake tried to kill a violent man in series one. He tried to
> put something lethal but possibly undetectable into the
> man's drip. At the last minute he changed his mind.

Erm...the point is that he changed his mind and did _not_ try to kill the violent man.

If you are sleeping and someone stands next to you and points a gun at your head but then turns it away and leaves without shooting, he did _not_ 'try to kill you'.

[–] Gary-161 19 years ago

Ridiculous sophistry, Henry. He tried to kill him.

[–] henry999-1 19 years ago

Not at all. He thought about killing him. He even prepared to kill him. But he made no actual attempt to kill him.

[–] Gary-161 19 years ago

My memory may be faulty, but I think he injected the plasma, Henry. That is an attempt to kill him. The point of that scene, and the scene with Whitman and the negligence of Hurley, is that doctor's have the power of life and death over you, not: "well, nothing actually happened here. Move along."

[–] allseeing 19 years ago

I think your memory is faulty. Lake didn't inject the man with anything. At the last moment he changed his mind and ripped the needle from the guy's arm.

[–] Gary-161 19 years ago

Injecting the plasma is from a film called 'Paper Mask'. Nevertheless, what you have described changes little.

[–] jameslamont 19 years ago

I still think the show is as good as the first and is still brilliant edge-of-the seat viewing. I am scared there is not going to be a third however.

[–] ruttlesRevenge 19 years ago

I can't believe they got rid of Whitman.

[–] Gary-161 19 years ago

Oh, do tell!

[–] atm-25 19 years ago

I thought that sequence was a seamless mixing of his dream, triggered by the reality of dealing with the man who tried to torch his pregnant wife. Wasn't it there to illustrate how cynical Lake felt about the hospital? The sound and the direction seem to support this, and the fact that it begins with Lake waking in his room, to a distorted beep from his pager.

[–] allseeing 19 years ago

No, I think it really happened. It was not a dream. However the scene, I'm sure, was there to illustrate how Lake was able to choose life or death over patients. It is in this moment that he makes his decision to come clean.

[–] jenny1234 19 years ago

This programme is fabulous the writing (he is an ex doctor) and the acting especially Max Beesley - no in fact all of them- is the best on TV.
I think this hasn't gone to a third series because it was just too graphic and hard hitting for people to enjoy on a Saturday night. But I loved it, and can't wait for the special