Off the Map: Pilot

Saved by the Great White Hope

The new series Off the Map brings an exciting cast to the small screen.  We have our three young doctors who have moved to South America to practice medicine: the emergency doctor, Dr. Lily Brenner, played by Caroline Dhavernas (Wonderfalls, Passchendale); our infectious disease expert, Dr. Mina Minard, portrayed by Mamie Gummer (The Good Wife, Meryl Streep’s daughter and spitting image); and Dr. Tommy Fuller, who is keen on plastics and played by Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights).  Then there are the doctors who seem to run the place: the tall, dark and handsome Dr. Otis Cole, depicted by Jason George (Grey’s Anatomy, Sunset Beach); Cole’s potential beau, Dr. Zee (Zitajalehrena Alvarez), portrayed by Valerie Cruz (Dexter, Nip/Tuck, True Blood); and finally the one who founded the clinic, Dr. Ben Keeton, played by Martin Henderson (The Ring, Little Fish).  We know little about her at this point, but Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight) graced us with a few minutes of airtime as Dr. Ryan Clark. 

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While the opening scene started the series with a little bit of cheese, it served the purposes of providing a beautiful ocean view, a glimpse into the potential excitement of the cases, and showed how fine Otis and Ben look without their shirts.  One has to wonder when the two of them find the time to keep in such good shape.  Next we get to see our team of doctors yank a sting ray out of a man’s foot.  I’m assuming the patient is the man that Otis and Ben cliff jumped to rescue in the scene prior.  Though the scene was exciting and cringe-worthy, it seemed questionable that only little Lily held the man down on the one side, and Otis, Mina, and Tommy held down his other.  It was no wonder he was able to knock her away.  Maybe some strategic planning in this situation would have prevented the need for punching the patient in the face.

The three newbie doctors get to branch into their own separate storylines:

Tommy, who seems like a bit of an idiot, goes on a house call for a family suffering from TB, and they are refusing treatment.  Here we are introduced to the character, Charlie (played by John Castellanos), who is the clinic’s 13-year-old translator.  He apparently has a lot more sense than the doctor he is translating for on this particular mission.  I have a feeling Charlie could turn into one of my favourites of the show.  Tommy makes a speech (why does there always has to be a speech?) about why he is the way he is, which only bumped a couple points in my ranking from negative 10.  This is how he convinces the family to make take the medication.  I was very relieved, but it’s really too bad it was already too late for the wife.  

Unfortunately for her, Mina gets to hang around at the clinic since she neglected to pack her trauma kit.  She is fairly entertaining when she over-examines the patient with tennis elbow, alas; it causes her to under-examine her asthma patient.  Later we discover that she overlooked a child’s symptoms back home, and the mistake turned out to be fatal.  This must contribute to the past she is trying to escape from.  Mina also seems to spend a little time with Otis, and at first I thought I could sense some chemistry.  Then I remembered he was supposed to be hooking up with Zee; could there be a triangle in the future?  I really like Zee though, so I hope it doesn’t get too out of hand if they do choose to go that route.  As for Mina pulling out Little Miss Attitude in telling Otis to “go to hell”, I could not imagine telling any co-worker/supervisor (not exactly sure of Otis’ rank) that on my first day of work!  I was also surprised to see him laugh it off.  Both of these characters seem like they have the capability of stirring the old pot of drama for the series.  

Finally, we followed Lily on her adventure with Ben.  They had to rescue the entangled man from the zip line.  First off, how could that even happen?  Actually wait, I don’t want to know.  Lily showed lots of courage being able to stay calm and do what needs to be done however many feet in the air with a horrified man.  Later we learn he was travelling to spread his wife’s ashes.  Lily insists on allowing this man his closure, which Ben decides to allow even though the man needs to be transported.  Now, I think the gesture was very kind and touching for the man, I can’t help but think of all of those patients awaiting doctors back at the clinic while these guys row this man out.  Speaking of this lake, I will officially dub it as the most romantic destination on this earth.  Guys, if you ever want to impress a girl, take her there!  We also learn that the person Lily lost was her fiancé.  I think revealing this so early was a mistake on the writer’s part.  Allowing some time for speculation could have really added to the story.  

Thoughts for future episodes:

I apologize in advance for my Grey’s Anatomy comparisons.
I hope to see some strong friendships develop, comparable to Meredith and Christina of Greys.  We’ll probably see some of this from Lily and Mina.  Throwing Dr. Ryan Clark in this mix could be interesting too. 
I hope Tommy is eventually redeemed (but not too fast) like Alex of Greys.  Perhaps Tommy and Lily could have a similar relationship as Meredith and Alex: they understand each other and support each other, but never anything sexual. 
There is obviously something brewing between Ben and Lily, but it seems there may already be something with Ben and Ryan.  We’ll have to see where this goes.  Is Ben the McDreamy of the jungle?  If so, I can’t wait to see who is cast later as McSteamy; he’s always been my favourite.
Every show seems to need a triangle of some kind, so my current choice would be Mina, Otis, and Zee.  I could be way off though.  We’ll have to see what happens!