It's sad to see a talented actress like Caroline Dhavernas have the rug pulled out from under her again.
In 2004, the Montreal-born performer starred in the wonderful TV series Wonderfalls, as a Niagara Falls gift-shop employee who heard the voices of the animal figurines she sold. Her character was cut from the same smart-as-a-whip mould as the heroine of the later movie Juno. No matter; Fox cancelled the show after four episodes.
This year, she starred in the ensemble medical drama Off the Map, as a new recruit to a clinic in the jungle of an unnamed Spanish-speaking South American country (the series was shot in Hawaii). ABC cancelled it after 13 episodes. Hence the title of this week's DVD collection: Off the Map: The Complete Series.
Off the Map isn't as magical as Wonderfalls, but it sure is busy. On one level, great-looking doctors meet in a pressure-cooker atmosphere and jump into bed when not cutting open patients or yelling at each other for minor transgressions. As it happens, the show was created by Jenna Bans, a writer and supervising producer on Grey's Anatomy (hospital interns get it on in a pressure-cooker atmosphere).
On another level, the jungle is a main character. Not only does it provide exotic crises – come quick, a snake is squeezing a wildlife photographer – but the lack of medical supplies means doctors are constantly running outside for leaves and roots to keep their patients from dying. Forget House; this is greenHouse.
A type of tree sap can reattach toes. Insects stop gangrene. And the water from a green coconut has the same electrolyte balance as plasma, a substitution that reportedly came in handy during the Second World War. Still, best not to try it at home. Same goes for using the pincers of army ants as sutures.
Dhavernas plays Lily, fresh off the plane with fellow newbie doctors Mina (Mamie Gummer, Meryl Streep's daughter) and Tommy (Zach Gilford of Friday Night Lights), the designated jerk who might yet be redeemed by life in this unfamiliar country.
The clinic is run by Ben (Martin Henderson), who is not a million miles from Grey's Anatomy's McDreamy. He is helped by Otis (Jason George) and Zee (Valerie Cruz), both of whom complain about all the inexperienced Americano doctors the clinic is expected to wet-nurse.
Naturally, there are guest stars with high TV-Qs (hi, Cheech Marin; hi, Michael McKean). Naturally, the dramatic incidents are intense (Your lover has a cocaine plantation?) and improbable (You want the rescue plane to wait while you drop your wife's ashes into a distant lake?). And, because there are few organs available to transplant in the jungle, the doctors face temptation from Ben's old chum Jonah (Brett Tucker), who knows how to cut corners.
Alas, the series ends with that ethical cliffhanger, so we'll never know what Ben decided. On the bright side, we do learn that placing a raw strip of bacon on a wound attracts botfly larvae to the skin's surface. Grey's Anatomy, eat your heart out.