How much is too much for a medical drama? This is a genre that already allows a frankly obscene amount of information to fly at the viewer in a matter of minutes, and thanks to the hectic nature of the profession, we allow it. Now, medical jargon and witty banter aren’t enough. What if we add a natural disaster, a mysterious sexual harassment claim, and copious flashbacks to the equation? If you’re already feeling dizzy, you’re gonna want to sit down because that’s only a part of what Netflix’s Pulse offers.
The streamer’s first foray into English-language medical drama comes out of the gate full of ideas and does not stop until you’ve heard every single one of them. The series follows the lives of the doctors, surgeons, and other medical personnel at Maguire Hospital, a level-one trauma center in Miami. At the center of our story is Danielle “Danny” Simms (Willa Fitzgerald), a resident who is on track to make chief. She’s a Meredith Grey-type, headstrong and determined to be the best. She even has her own McDreamy in Xander Phillips (Colin Woodell), the current chief resident. There’s just one slight problem: she recently filed a sexual harassment claim against him.
Pulse hits us with this information immediately and lets it sit there for much of the first episode. The show’s first handful of episodes deal with a hurricane that has knocked out power all throughout the city. As a trauma center, the hospital commits to staying open during the storm. The goal is to up the stakes, but this just adds to the narrative chaos. There’s a reason most medical shows save a big event like this for the finale. It’s hard to establish your characters while also dealing with a natural disaster. Then, there’s the curious case of the show’s flashbacks.
Ideally, the flashbacks would serve to further develop our characters, showing us their dynamics before the harassment claim and contrasting it with the present. Instead, Pulse uses these moments to build up the mystery of what went on between Danny and Xander. It’s an odd choice for a season-long arc. The flashbacks also cut into the present day action, all but eliminating any tension from a scene.
Your enjoyment of this series is likely going to correlate with how much personal drama you can stand. In the overstuffed world of Pulse, a character’s private life always takes precedent over the patient. Better still for that patient to reflect the character’s problem back at them. It’s a model of medical drama that had its heyday in the mid-00s. Nearly 20 years on, it can’t help but feel a little stale. Pulse tries to have it both ways, offering new takes on old material but failing both versions. The results are a bad combo: overwhelming and unambitious in equal measure.
Pulse is currently streaming on Netflix.