Doogie is learning about high school relationships and how most of them don’t last into adulthood and that makes her question her relationship with Walter in the 8th episode of the Disney+ Original Series, “Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.” Meanwhile, her mother is still vying to be Chief of Staff at the hospital but is finding it hard to get a recommendation from a fellow employee and is finding she doesn’t really know her employees that well, because she’s been too focused on running the day to day operations of the hospital.

One week after my favorite episode of the series so far, it follows with one of my least favorite. I understand it’s a teenage dramedy, but I care very little about Doogie’s high school life. Walter is sweet but dumb. He likes Doogie for who she is. But, when she goes to meet his friends, she finds she has very little in common with them, even though they are the same age. That’s to be expected because her intelligence has led her to a more adult setting most of the time, while he’s still in high school and just wants to skate during his free time. That’s normal for a teenager. Her life is far from normal, even though that’s all she wants to be. These are good problems to tackle, I just think it’s tackling them in a somewhat juvenile way. Maybe that’s exactly what the target demographic needs though.

While I’ve enjoyed the overall storyline of Doogie’s mother trying to become Chief of Staff, I didn’t exactly love this part of it. Even if she’s busy focused on day-to-day operations, I have a hard time believing she wouldn’t know a nurse’s name that had been there for 12 years. I also find it hard to believe that nurse would consider Doogie’s father to be close enough to family to invite him to her baby shower, but not really know Doogie’s mother. I can believe she developed a friendship with him while buying shaved ice from him, but not to that extent.

I appreciate the effort the show has put in with the storylines, I just think this episode was a misstep. That being said, I have hope for this series that I didn’t have a few weeks ago. It’s going through some obvious first season growing pains, but I think there’s a clear path ahead that this show can improve and still be exactly what it’s been at its heart from the beginning. It’ll never be my favorite show on Disney+, but I like the direction it’s heading, even if I didn’t like this episode.

Ranking:

Season: 2 stars out of 5

Episode: 2 stars out of 5

Jeremy Brown

Jeremy has been a big Disney fan since he was a kid growing up during the Disney Renaissance. One day he hopes to go to every Disney Park in the world.

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