Page 64 - Metro

There is a consistent use of shallow focus throughout t SXOO )UDQNLH RYHU LQ D FRUULGRU VKHpV LQ D UXVK EXW WKH\
/TKRD, with each scene’s central character highlighted against are scared, confused and alone, told to make an immedi
D EOXUUHG EDFNJURXQG WKLV RIWHQ RFFXUV ZKHQ WKH FKDUDFWHU ate decision about their son’s wish to donate his organs.
is worried, anxious or making a key decision. While watching Frankie stops, drops her anxious shoulders and listens
WKH ĺUVW KDOI RI WKH VHULHV WKLV DQQR\HG PH LPPHQVHO\ $UH WR WKHLU FRQFHUQV o7KH WKRXJKW RI KLV ERG\ EHLQJ FXW XS
the showrunners trying to be clever? Why is this effect nec DQG SDUWV RI KLP JRLQJ LQWR VWUDQJHUV fp /XFLD UHPDUNV WR
essary? But, as /TKRD continued into its second half, it all which Frankie replies, ‘The strangers would be people like
FOLFNHG WRJHWKHU 7KH VKDOORZ GHSWK RI ĺHOG LV QRW WKHUH RXW you and me. Or your son.’ Frankie recognises she is speak
of mislaid trickery, but rather to represent everything that ing beyond her purview, but is also aware of the need to
goes unsaid between doctors and patients, husbands and offer guidance during such an emotionally fraught time.
ZLYHV EHWZHHQ IULHQGV EHWZHHQ ORYHUV 7KLV YLVXDO HIIHFW o:KHQ \RXpUH UHDOO\ VLFN SHRSOH VKXQ \RX DQG >f@ WKH\
hints at the severe symptoms, or the smoking in hospital stop seeing you as one of the living,’ Frankie tells Berger,
gowns, that patients hide from loved ones to stop their after she questions his need to keep his illness a secret
ZRUU\LQJ LW DOVR DOOXGHV WR WKH ZRUVW FDVH VFHQDULRV NHSW from his staff. But she has her own health problems that
shielded by doctors until worthy of concern, or the likely she is trying to conceal, as revealed to viewers when
easily treatable causes not revealed until proven beyond KHU EHVW IULHQG DQG IHOORZ UHVLGHQW /RX 7DQQLV $QGUHD
doubt. In a hospital, as /TKRD demonstrates, what doctors, 'HPHWULDGHV SURGV KHU DERXW WKHP 1HYHUWKHOHVV )UDQNLHpV
patients and loved ones are not told can be more impor primary motivation is always patient care – and, if she is
WDQW WKDQ ZKDW WKH\ DUH known to be unwell, it’s likely she won’t be promoted to
/TKRD is also a show about all the moments that we, as positions that will enable her to make a difference to those
patients and visitors, don’t see. The series shows us that, ZKR DUH QRZ ZDONLQJ LQ KHU IRUPHU VKRHV )RU DOO WKH IRU
often, the greatest acts of empathy by mulaic lines that doctors resort to –
our doctors and nurses – like the chair ‘That must be really hard’, ‘You must
and fresh blanket I returned to that day Pulse is also a be tired’, ‘I know it’s not fair’ – she
in hospital – are all the things they shield show about all the knows that nothing can compete with
us from. The dodgy equipment that needs moments that we, as the words of someone who has been
to be replaced. The names below ours there themselves.
patients and visitors,
on the waiting list they’ve disregarded :KHQ VXSHUYLVLQJ GRFWRU (OL 1DGHU
IRU RXU EHQHĺW 7KH FDOOV WR WKHLU FKLOG don’t see.The series /LDP 0F,QW\UH WHOOV )UDQNLH VKH FDQpW
care centres, so they can stay an extra shows us that, often, afford to get too attached to her pa
hour at work for us. tients, she replies: ‘If you can’t relate to
the greatest acts
The good doctors say things like, ‘I’m them on their level, how can you begin
sorry you’re going through all this,’ or, ‘It’s of empathy by our to know how to help them? We may as
RND\ WR EH HPRWLRQDO p RU o'RQpW ZRUU\ t ZHOO EH URERWV p %XW (OL VWUHVVHV WKH SLW
doctors and nurses
we’re going to work this out.’ The good IDOOV RI RYHU HPSDWKLVLQJ ZLWK SDWLHQWV
are all the things
ones know to say and do the right things, ‘One day, you’re going to have to tell
and when, but even then they may not they shield us from. someone that there’s nothing more you
understand how exhausting being sick can do for them. If you’re too emotion
can be. They may not know what it’s ally attached, you will not be able to.’
OLNH WR KDYH WR DVN IRU KHOS 7KH\ PD\ QRW NQRZ WKH ĺQDQFLDO (OLpV ZDUQLQJ LV UHDOLVHG GXULQJ D ODWHU FDVH WKDW WKH\ ZRUN
VWUHVV WKH HPRWLRQDO VWUHVV WKH SUHVVXUH RQ \RXU UHODWLRQ RQ WRJHWKHU LQYROYLQJ D .XUGLVK UHIXJHH ZLWKRXW DFFHVV WR
ships, on your job, on your family. What they see is the strain Medicare. The patient, admitted for kidney problems, re
RQ \RXU RUJDQV DQG \RXU PXVFOHV WKH\ VHH SDLQ LQ QXPEHUV quests a termination of a pregnancy caused by rape – but,
IURP WR WKH\ VHH WHVW UHVXOWV DQG SK\VLFDO H[DPV %XW as she is seven months pregnant, there is nothing Frankie
they may not understand what it’s really like to be sick. is legally able to do for her. ‘Is there any other way that
/TKRD bridges this disjuncture through Frankie. In the , FDQ KHOS \RX"p )UDQNLH DVNV 1D]D $DQLVD 9\OHW YLVLEO\
ĺUVW HSLVRGH ZH VHH KHU WUHDWLQJ 6KDZQ 'DQLHO $PDOP frustrated by her ethical limitations.
D UHQDO SDWLHQW ZKR UHFRJQLVHV KHU IURP KHU RZQ WLPH LQ This is just one example of how /TKRD paces out the
hospital. The two would sit side by side through the long dramas surrounding Frankie’s profession by incorporat
hours of dialysis, rarely speaking but playing cards or hang LQJ EURDGHU LVVXHV UHODWLQJ WR HWKLFV DQG HPSDWK\ 1RWKLQJ
PDQ $VNLQJ ZK\ 6KDZQ KDV PLVVHG VR PDQ\ VHVVLRQV LQ D KRVSLWDO LV EODFN DQG ZKLWH ZKLOH GRFWRUV PXVW ZRUN
thereby putting his health in danger, Frankie is reminded to moral and legal standards, their responsibilities to their
of the exhaustion of treatment: ‘You know what it’s like,’ patients often remain blurred.
KH VD\V o'D\ LQ GD\ RXW $OO WKH UHVWULFWLRQV QR IUHHGRP
><RX@ MXVW JHW WR D SRLQW ZKHUH \RX ZRQGHUup WR ZKLFK VKH An established practice
chimes in, ‘if it’s still worth it’.
There is a level of understanding that only comes from 7KH PHGLFDO GUDPD LV D ZHOO ZRUQ WHOHYLVLRQ JHQUH /LNH
lived experience, and we see this radiate from Frankie many of my peers, I grew up watching the big American
as she talks to patients – the extra time spent explain hospital shows of the 1990s and 2000s. ER and, to a lesser
ing a treatment, the additional care given to make sure extent, "GHB@FN 'NOD set the precedent that has led to
patients understand what’s ahead, the touch of the arm, 'NTRD and &QDX R M@SNLX, among an exhaustive list of
WKH FRPIRUWLQJ JULS RI WKH KDQG ,Q (SLVRGH WZR JULHYLQJ others. In each of these series, the drama is drawn almost
SDUHQWV t /XFLD =RH &DULGHV DQG 3HGUR )UDQNR 0LORVWQLN entirely from within the hospital walls: the tensions between

62 • Metro Magazine 195 | © ATOM