SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Doc Season 2, Episode 2.

The second episode of Doc Season 2 is not kind to Dr. Amy Larsen. “Delusions of Grandeur” features some very harsh criticism of Amy, as well as reminders of how harsh she once was as Chief of Internal Medicine. The end result is that the FOX show feels like it’s going around in circles.

The cases of the week—most notably a member of a commune who believes she’s pregnant when she isn’t—are almost secondary to the personal drama at Westside Hospital. The wrinkle of the commune slash possible cult is resolved almost as quickly as it’s introduced; once the woman sent to supervise Amy’s patient is threatened with a call to law enforcement, she literally walks away from the situation. Elsewhere, a man with a very prolonged case of hiccups is mostly there to establish the competency of Felicity Huffman’s character, Dr. Joan Ridley.

It’s the introduction of Joan that is the primary storyline in the hour, which makes sense given how heavily FOX promoted Huffman’s addition to the cast. Audiences learn quickly that Joan is Amy’s beloved mentor, but then bits and pieces throughout the episode show that Joan is no better than Amy used to be. In fact, Amy recovers a memory that Joan encouraged her to leave Michael. That one hits doubly hard, because Michael decides to hire Joan as Dr. Richard Miller’s replacement, and gives her plenty of power in doing so. All of this is surely dramatic and there’s no denying that Huffman has the gravitas for it; this is basically her character from American Crime Season 2 in a lab coat. But it also feels frustratingly familiar.

Once again, it’s the person who is acting Chief of Internal Medicine who is positioned as an antagonist to Amy. Even though they have all this friendly backstory, the way that Joan acts with everyone else makes it relatively obvious that she’s going to be a problem. (Moreso for anyone who watched the teaser trailer for Episode 3.) And Joan isn’t the only one who has this issue. Dr. Sonya Maitra is back to being bluntly critical of Amy, blaming her for the events of the Season 2 premiere and flat-out telling her, “You don’t belong here.” While her criticism may be valid, the comments afterward are indicative of the same role Sonya grew beyond by the end of Season 1. And Sonya being a rival for Dr. Jake Heller’s affections is back, too, as Jake likewise has a critique of Amy before going to a bar with Sonya.

The caveat with Doc is that since it’s based on another TV series, one always has to allow for how much the creative team are following the source material. Are they leaning on previously established plotlines? But the characters all feel like they’re taking a step back toward Season 1, with Amy having to prove them wrong and sort out her own feelings. The only two people who seem to be in Amy’s corner are her ex-husband Michael and her longtime friend Dr. Gina Walker. At least Amy and Gina’s relationship is showing signs of improvement, as “Delusions of Grandeur” includes a too-brief talk in which Amy apologizes to Gina for her past behavior.

Doc picked up steam at the end of last season when it gave the characters around Amy more in-depth stories of their own. Whether it was learning all the other complications Richard was dealing with (and viewers now know they haven’t seen the last of him), or Sonya’s powerful backstory as an assault survivor, these plotlines were well-written, well-acted and helped everyone stand on their own. So far in Season 2, almost everything is back to revolving around Amy, and the characters feel back to where they started. Hopefully the season will find a new rhythm now that all of the major players have arrived.

Doc airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on FOX. Photo Credit: Courtesy of FOX.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.