"What happened here, will happen again."
These words serve as a chilling warning during Dr. Death, the absolutely terrifying new Peacock series starring Joshua Jackson as Dr. Christopher Duntsch, the former neurosurgeon who was accused of injuring 33 patients and killing two of them while operating in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It was considered a historic, precedent-setting case at the time, so naturally, the binge-worthy story lends itself perfectly to the limited series format that has become so prevalent today. Based on the hit Wondery podcast of the same name, Dr. Death is the kind of stomach-churning show that I found fabulously addictive once it got its hooks in me.
I may not have watched Fringe, but as a longtime fan of Jackson's work on both Dawson's Creek and The Affair, I've always thought him to be an underrated actor. Projecting the intelligence and hubris required of the role, the Canadian actor is terrific as the dashing Duntsch, a brilliant, charming con man whose smile and many medical degrees mask a twisted dark side, one that simmers beneath his white lab coat along with his barely-repressed rage. The idea of him butchering patient after patient as helpless colleagues looked on in horror is truly nauseating. I was sick to my stomach while watching this show. Because as someone who deals with doctors a lot, the idea of one of them maiming me on purpose literally made me queasy. Jackson's vacant-eyed stare will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, as it reveals the hollowness within Duntsch's core. The man may have been an excellent medical researcher, but he never should've been allowed to step foot inside an operating room.
Of course, no one knows this better than Robert Henderson (Alec Baldwin) and Randall Kirby (Christian Slater), two doctors who witness the damage Duntsch has done first-hand and set out to stop him at all costs. Like Jackson, both are also extremely well cast, with Baldwin as the calm, measured voice of reason, and Slater a bit more mouthy and aggressive. Baldwin actually deserves a little Emmy love for his compassionate and rather restrained performance here as a principled man sickened by what he sees as an attack on the profession he loves.
Annasophia Robb represents the third leg of their tripod of justice, playing an assistant District Attorney who fights to be put on the case when it begins to languish. The trick for her is to prove Duntsch's criminal intent, which means she'll need to be able to effectively communicate the basic idea of neurosurgery to the jury. The show does a good job of this itself, and as weird as it is to think about, I could actually see Dr. Death inspiring a new generation of neurosurgeons. Hopefully, they'll have learned the right lessons here.
The main cast also includes the increasingly impressive Grace Gummer, who plays Kim, Duntsch's physician's assistant-turned-girlfriend who stumbles upon his drug use but does nothing about it, not until she discovers just how easy it is for Duntsch to betray those he professes to love. That includes his best friend, Jerry Summers (Dominic Burgess), a sweet-hearted simpleton who is blinded by his loyalty to Duntsch and doesn't think twice about putting his life in his friend's shaky hands. Sadly, his trust turns out to be misplaced. Burgess, in particular, does an excellent job here, and our hearts break along with his. The rest of the ensemble is rock solid as well, including Carrie Preston as Duntsch's determined defense attorney and a moving Fredric Lehne as his disappointed father.
Adding to the overall discomfort here is the score by Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, and Nick Chuba, who also scored the Netflix documentary Operation Varsity Blues earlier this year. I had no idea these guys were involved in this — Film Music Reporter just wrote about it on Tuesday — but I recognized their unique sound early on, and their work here really reminds you of the horrific nature of what you're watching. The atmospheric score also lends Dr. Death a sense of prestige, but even without it, the eight-episode limited series seems poised to become Peacock's first hit drama, arriving one year to the day after Brave New World, which the streamer quickly canceled after a single season. Sure, Peacock has found success with Girls5eva and, to a lesser extent, Ed Helms' comedy Rutherford Falls, but Dr. Death is the kind of compelling television that could attract new subscribers and give the streamer a major boost.
Dr. Death hails from creator Patrick Macmanus (Marco Polo), and I can offer high praise to both him and the show's directors Maggie Kiley, Jennifer Morrison, and especially So Yong Kim, all of whom milk the suspense here for all it's worth. Of course, there are one or two stylistic flights of fancy here that either don't really work or don't really add anything to the show — an homage to the original Dallas credits comes out of nowhere — but I didn't necessarily mind them, they just kind of stood out in a distracting way that called attention to itself. Almost like something out of Amazon's Hunters. When the story takes a backseat to style, it's never great, but that's a very minor nitpick about this show. Let's stay focused on the bigger picture, much like Robb's ADA Michelle Shughart must.
The series eventually puts the entire system on trial, sort of. Though Baylor, the University of Tennessee, Dallas Medical Center, and all of the hospitals that hired Duntsch never really have to answer for the part they played, either in allowing him to slip through the cracks or not flagging his many errors, Dr. Death clearly points a finger at those institutions, as Duntsch's rise was a systemic failure. It was about people putting profits over patients. If we can't trust our doctors to fix us, who can we trust?
Dr. Death somehow becomes even more frightening when the show acknowledges the jaw-dropping number of medical malpractice cases in the United States — the details of which, in most cases, will never be made available to the millions of patients who rely on those doctors for care. As a result, the show offers a stark warning that viewers will surely keep in mind the next time they require surgery, no matter how routine. For while Dr. Christopher Duntsch may be unique in the annals of American crime, he is surely not unique as far as narcissistic psychopaths are concerned. There are many more out there — the only question is how many of them made it through med school?
Grade: A-
All eight episodes of Dr. Death will be available to stream on Peacock on Thursday, July 15.