Doctor Odyssey Feels Like a Fever Dream Because It Is a Fever Dream — Here’s Our Not-At-All Crazy Theory

Claire Franken
·4-min read

Dr. Max Bankman seemingly has it all: good looks, a charming personality, a cushy job… but does any of that matter if what he’s experiencing isn’t reality? Allow us to explain.

In ABC’s Doctor Odyssey, which premiered on Thursday, Joshua Jackson plays the titular cruise ship’s new onboard doctor. But he’s not just any healthcare provider; he was also patient zero at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Max tells nurse Avery that he has since recovered from the illness — but what if he hasn’t?

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Here’s our theory: Max never beat COVID. He’s stuck in a coma, hanging somewhere between dead and alive. The Odyssey is heaven, beckoning him to cross over to the other side. The ship does not exist! How else do you explain Dr. Max’s otherworldly aura? How else could it make sense for a vessel of this size to employ only three medical professionals? How else do you explain the nonsensical whimsy of it all — how the crew is treating a man for eating too much shrimp one minute, then partying on a beach the next, seemingly leaving The Odyssey’s guests to fend for themselves?

If you still aren’t on board with this theory, let’s unpack the particulars. Right off the bat, the series looks like a dream. Aesthetically, it’s giving 2015 Instagram filter, called something like “Paris” or “Lux.” It’s glitzy, it’s bright… it looks expensive, but it doesn’t look real. Jackson himself seemed to allude to this quality when he told TVLine, “The word that [executive producer Ryan Murphy] first used with me is ‘sparkle,’ that everything should have a sparkle in your eye.” Call it a sparkle, a wink, a nudge of the elbow — one thing is certain: Something is afoot!

Just take the name of the ship itself, The Odyssey. “Odyssey” literally means “an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest.” Dr. Dreamboat is clearly under a sort of subconscious spell. He’s on a quest to claw his way back to life… or settle in on a cruise ship in the sky forever. He’s drugged up and in a daze — as exemplified by an initial flash when Avery goes to inject him with vitamins. But perhaps this is no flashback at all. Perhaps this is Max nudging up against his present reality as his subconscious overlaps with his physical existence.

What if Tristan and Avery are not in fact Dr. Max’s support aboard The Odyssey, but part of his care team in those alleged flashbacks? Plus, remember when Max told Avery, “I refused to sleep [during COVID] because I was afraid I wasn’t going to wake up”? He recounts experiencing “total darkness, just black,” but he knew that he wasn’t dead because “dead people don’t pray.” As far as medical mysteries go, if Grey’s Anatomy taught me anything it’s this: “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.” And I am hearing a stampede straight from the source! The doctor himself practically revealed the entire underbelly of the series, and sometimes the answer is the obvious one: Max’s mind went black and he is stuck in the purgatory of consciousness.

Still not convinced? A previous ABC teaser seemingly dropped its own major Easter egg in the form of The Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” The lyrics go, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could wake up in the morning when the day is new?” And as the song continues, we hear a hospital monitor beep in the background. Could it be any more obvious?

And perhaps the title Doctor Odyssey is an homage to Homer’s Odyssey, which would signal that this is not a straightforward medical drama. It’s the winding journey of a hero’s story.

And finally — the most obvious clue of all — Captain Massey literally tells Dr. Max that the boat is “about as far from hell as you can get… This ship is heaven.” And soon after, Tristan refers to Max as “Dr. Odyssey.” Massey does too! But what a peculiar thing to do. He’s Dr. Bankman (or Dr. Max, if you’re nasty). I, for one, have never called my primary care physician “Dr. Mount Sinai.” It seems the crew is not only welcoming Max to the ship, but stripping him of his humanness. Because in heaven, what is a name, really?

At this point, you’re probably asking yourselves: Would a medical drama really take on such a cerebral approach? We’re so glad you asked! Should Doctor Odyssey all be a dream, or a farce, or a comatose illusion, it wouldn’t be the first of its kind. After all, St. Elsewhere’s 1988 series finale famously revealed that all six seasons of the NBC classic were a figment of Tommy Westphall’s imagination (revisit the iconic closing scene below). Perhaps The Odyssey is Dr. Max’s own very sparkly, very glamorous, very hot — in every sense of the word — snow globe.

Have we convinced you that Doctor Odyssey is not what it seems? Let us know your theories in the comments.

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