Upamanyu Biswas
The medical drama series ‘Doctor Odyssey,’ follows Doctor Max Bankman, a new medic atop the luxury cruise ship known as The Odyssey. With the aid of his two nurse practitioners, Bankman embraces the life of the high seas while navigating the bizarre medical cases that crop up occasionally. Amidst the chaos of running the ship’s sick bay, Bankman also has to navigate his personal affairs as love and lust come crashing together aboard the Odyssey. Therefore, the ship plays a pivotal role in elevating the entertaining drama as it sails off into the sunset with its charming protagonist at its helm! SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Odyssey is a Fictional Ocean Liner With No Ties to Reality
The Odyssey, which serves as the primary backdrop of ‘Doctor Odyssey,’ is a fictional ship crafted by the show’s creators and writers, Ryan Murphy, Jon Robin Baitz, and Joe Baken. It is a majestic cruise liner with state-of-the-art facilities catering to high-end clients. Every part of the ship is decked out with luxurious attractions, while the sick bay itself, where the show’s central characters spend most of their time, is an advanced area with serious equipment capable of performing onboard surgeries if needed. Between work, Bankman and his crew find themselves either hanging out on the cruise’s top deck, enjoying their rooms’ privacy, or catering to people’s needs when duty comes calling.
While expensive cruise ships are a luxury in and of their own, the show is not filmed on any real cruise ships. For Joshua Jackson, who plays Max Bankman, this was a matter of relief as shooting on an actual cruise ship would “make it very hard” to drop off his daughter at school in the mornings, as per an Entertainment Weekly interview. Instead, a studio set in Los Angeles, California, is utilized for the interior scenes of the ship. The exterior shots of the Odyssey are filmed in the Wilmington and San Pedro neighborhoods of the City of Angels. However, the ship’s design, architecture, and overall grandeur come through in the interior scenes as viewers get a glimpse into the opulence on display through the guests and other inhabitants.
Like any procedural story, an intimate and lived-in setting is integral to the show’s structure. The Odyssey performs this task through a combination of wealth and elegance but also offers a bizarre environment for the central characters to flourish at their job. The many shenanigans throughout the various episodes are only exacerbated further by the odd cases of health concerns and injuries that crop up at an alarming rate. From food poisoning to people going overboard, the Odyssey is brimming with unconventional cases, and it is up to the medical crew and its protagonist to sort out the issues before they go up to higher management. It is conducive to a unique environment despite the ship being unattached from reality.
Max Bankman: The Doctor With Vague Connections to the Coronavirus Pandemic
Like the rest of the show, Max Bankman is a fictional doctor conceived by Ryan Murphy, Jon Robin Baitz, and Joe Baken. He is a charming and competent protagonist who becomes the new medical hire atop the Odyssey after his previous incumbent is fired from the job. While he settles into his task with a degree of smoothness, an intriguing aspect of his backstory comes to the fore in the initial parts of the story. During an intimate moment with one of his nurses, he reveals that the reason behind him taking the job on The Odyssey is tied to how he became patient zero for the COVID-19 pandemic. Bankman seeks to renew his life following his recovery and the devastating effect it had on him psychologically and health-wise.
In an interview with TheWrap, Joshua Jackson went into the topic further by stating that it was something that grounded his character in the troubles of the real world and something people had experienced themselves. “I think it’s a beautiful launching episode for the show, because I just feel like we all were there,” he said. “Not all of us decided to go work on a cruise ship, but all of us thought about it, ‘Maybe I do need to just start again’ or ‘Maybe I’ve just been quietly getting through but not really living my life.’ Everybody’s been in the spot that Max is at, and that’s what launches the show.” The doctor’s efforts are put to good use as the series progresses, albeit after going through a bit of a learning curve. However, outside his vague connections to the COVID-19 situation, Bankman is confined to the realms of fiction.
