‘DOC’ ON FOX

There is no lack of medical dramas on network television and streaming services. ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” remains a long-running series, along with NBC’s “Chicago Med.” New to the scene is MAX’s “The Pitt,” starring Noah Wyle as a doctor.

This review focuses on FOX’s new series “Doc,” which fascinates from the point of view that it derives its premise from an Italian series based on the true-life story of Dr. Pierdante Piccioni.

For anyone knowing Italian, the title of the fictionalized version of Dr. Piccioni’s story of serious injury to the cerebral cortex is “Doc – Nelle tui Mani,” which translates as “Doc – In Your Hands.”

The Italian medic suffered a coma during an accident in 2013, and upon waking up from a lesion on his brain, his last memory is that of the day of his son’s birthday in 2001. He lost all memory of the previous twelve years of life.

Set in the year 2024, the first episode of “Doc” finds Molly Parker’s Dr. Amy Larsen, a hard-charging, brilliant Chief of Internal Medicine, engaging colleagues as well as patients in a brusque manner. She exudes no warmth and lacks a fuzzy bedside manner.

The series opens with a horrific car crash when Amy is driving home from a late night at the Westside Hospital where her unsparing workaholic attitude rubs most of the staff the wrong way. The accident leaves her with partial retrograde amnesia.

After the opening credit, the story shifts to 24 hours earlier, allowing us to witness Amy in action, bossing the medical staff around and treating a very pregnant woman suffering an undiagnosed life-threatening malady with the compassion of a dead fish.

Flashbacks will be frequent so that we know more about Amy’s past than she does, considering how she now has no memory of the past eight years, yet remembering that she was married and had an estranged daughter.

Amy is shocked to learn that she’s been divorced for four years from her beloved husband, Dr. Michael Hamda (Omar Metwally), who also works at the hospital. In fact, her entire family is not what she remembers, rocking her sensibilities to a distressed state of mind.

Fueling a greater sense of bewilderment is the strained relationship with her resentful teenage daughter Katie (Charlotte Fountain-Jardim) who can only be remembered as an innocent nine-year-old.

Even worse for her than the marital discord and estrangement, Amy is traumatized to learn the passing of her son, which turned her into a cold and callous person who grated on colleagues and patients alike.

She also can’t remember her secret romance with handsome Dr. Jake Heller (Jon-Michael Ecker), who is evidently younger. This creates an awkward situation for Jake who fondly remembers the intimacy they once had, including a sexually-charged passionate moment in a parked car at the hospital.

Amy’s remaining best friend at the hospital, neuropsychiatrist Dr. Gina Walker (Amirah Vann), has little guidance to provide for her new reality since matters of the brain are, even to the experts, still a big mystery.

Gina may be hopeful for recovery, but it’s uncertain if Amy will regain her memories. In Amy’s fragile state, Gina must choose carefully what information from the past eight years to reveal, lest too much too soon could prove more harmful than good.

Meanwhile, just before the accident, Amy was waiting for an autopsy report that might reveal that fellow doctor Richard Miller (Scott Wolf), may have been responsible for a medical decision gone horribly wrong that could be a career-ending move.

In an ironic twist, Richard is promoted as the interim Chief of Internal Medicine, a position he has coveted and would hate to forfeit should Amy’s memory return. One can wonder what tricks might Richard have up his sleeve in desperation to avoid further scrutiny.

Adding to the drama is Amy’s predicament with her previously contentious and harsh behavior that left her with more than a few enemies at the hospital, including Dr. Sonya Maitra (Anya Banerjee).

Pleasantly, Amy fondly remembers intern Dr. TJ Coleman (Patrick Walker), an orderly eight years ago who was inspired by her to pursue a promising future in a medical career.

Unaccustomed to being merely a patient, Amy starts to meddle in the affairs of other patients, giving advice that may run contrary to the primary attending physician’s diagnosis, but may show that she hasn’t lost her touch, as she desperately seeks to convince superiors of a desire to return to practice.

The Italian doctor rebuilt his life and began treating patients again. Will “Doc” take a path for Amy’s redemption and return to medicine? Where the storyline may possibly go warrants watching more episodes.

Medical dramas often feel overextended with a basic storyline. “Doc” moves on a different path outside the standard genre, by concentrating its attention largely on the struggle of one doctor to recover from serious injury and return to the practice of medicine.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.