Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Lucy Mangan

Doctor Odyssey review – Joshua Jackson’s bananas cruise-ship melodrama is so bad it’s genius

The greatest, longest magic trick ever … Joshua Jackson as Dr Max Bankman and Sean Teale as nurse Tristan Silva.
The greatest, longest magic trick ever … Joshua Jackson as Dr Max Bankman and Sean Teale as nurse Tristan Silva. Photograph: Tina Thorpe/Disney

It’s Rivals at sea! It’s House on a boat – it’s Houseboat! Which is to say it’s Doctor Odyssey, the latest truly bananas offering from Ryan Murphy. It’s so bad and so fun. I commend it to you utterly and must equally advise against squandering a minute of your precious time on earth watching it.

So! To floating, sun-drenched business! We are on a luxury cruise liner called The Odyssey. The captain, Robert Massey, is Don Johnson, playing avuncular, because apparently we have all lived that long. Nurses Avery Morgan and Tristan Silva (Phillipa Soo and Sean Teale) are resentfully awaiting the arrival of the new doctor, whom they are assuming from his CV – Yale, peace corps, UN humanitarian prize winner – will be an arrogant old man who will treat them like skivvies. Ladies and gentlemen, who walks in but Pacey from Dawson’s Creek (Joshua Jackson), all grown up and now going by the excellently absurd name of Dr Max Bankman.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.