[The Non-Euclidean Blog] Review: Hawthorne
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NEB
Jun 19, 2009, 3:27:34 PM6/19/09
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Hawthorne on TNT
Tuesdays at 9/8c
Premiered Tuesday, June 16th
Christina Hawthorne (Jada Pinkett Smith) is chief nursing officer at Richmond Trinity Hospital, and boy howdy you'd better not forget it. If you're under her care, you can sleep peacefully knowing Christina will rip your nurse a new one if your interests don't come first. And when she's finished guaranteeing your full and speedy recovery, she'll smack down that prancing diva doctor who isn't giving you or your nurse the respect you both deserve. And she'll do it all with one hand on her hip, sassin' everyone who needs sassin', while juggling fresh widowhood and a sweet-but-bitter teenage daughter (Hannah Hodson) in the other.
Hawthorne is first and foremost a standing ovation to nurses. Forget those nurses who gave you less than stellar care because they were tired, or cranky, or under-brained, or just rotten human beings (yes, they exist). Christina's nurses are hard-working, dedicated, caring, and intelligent people who somehow keep smiling despite long hours, irritating patients, and doctors who rise from their coffins at midnight. And to those nurses who are actually like this, you have my admiration. I've met some of you, and you deserve every pat this show lands on your backs.
Regrettably, all this earnest back-patting drags Hawthorne down into mediocrity. Where ER perfected the portrayal of a fast-moving hospital environment filled with real people and real problems, Hawthorne tries to do the same thing with stock characters. There's the Handsome Doctor (Michael Vartan), the Evil Doctor (Anne Ramsay), the Hot Nurse (Christina Moore), the Male Nurse (David Julian Hirsh), the Timid Nurse (Vanessa Lengies), the Crazy Bum (Aisha Hinds), the Overbearing Mother-in-Law (Joanna Cassidy), and more.
The biggest problem character, though, is Christina Hawthorne herself. She's too perfect. She's too ready with the perfect response, the perfect solution, no matter what. Nothing ever fazes her, from budget cuts to demoralized nurses to nasty doctors to irate patients. She never misses a credit card payment, her cheese never molds, and wherever she walks the daisies bloom and sing in perfect unison.
Step aside, Obama. Christina Hawthorne is here to fix the deficit.
And that's too bad, because real nurses are imperfect people trying to do a tough job without going postal with syringes and bedpans. I'd love to see a show about nurses struggling through the genuine triumphs and tragedies of their thankless profession. Hawthorne is a show about cardboard cutouts under the leadership of the Nursing Messiah. Fantasy candy for nurses, yes. Compelling drama, no.
3 stars out of 5
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Posted By NEB to The Non-Euclidean Blog at 6/19/2009 12:27:00 PM
Tuesdays at 9/8c
Premiered Tuesday, June 16th
Christina Hawthorne (Jada Pinkett Smith) is chief nursing officer at Richmond Trinity Hospital, and boy howdy you'd better not forget it. If you're under her care, you can sleep peacefully knowing Christina will rip your nurse a new one if your interests don't come first. And when she's finished guaranteeing your full and speedy recovery, she'll smack down that prancing diva doctor who isn't giving you or your nurse the respect you both deserve. And she'll do it all with one hand on her hip, sassin' everyone who needs sassin', while juggling fresh widowhood and a sweet-but-bitter teenage daughter (Hannah Hodson) in the other.
Hawthorne is first and foremost a standing ovation to nurses. Forget those nurses who gave you less than stellar care because they were tired, or cranky, or under-brained, or just rotten human beings (yes, they exist). Christina's nurses are hard-working, dedicated, caring, and intelligent people who somehow keep smiling despite long hours, irritating patients, and doctors who rise from their coffins at midnight. And to those nurses who are actually like this, you have my admiration. I've met some of you, and you deserve every pat this show lands on your backs.
Regrettably, all this earnest back-patting drags Hawthorne down into mediocrity. Where ER perfected the portrayal of a fast-moving hospital environment filled with real people and real problems, Hawthorne tries to do the same thing with stock characters. There's the Handsome Doctor (Michael Vartan), the Evil Doctor (Anne Ramsay), the Hot Nurse (Christina Moore), the Male Nurse (David Julian Hirsh), the Timid Nurse (Vanessa Lengies), the Crazy Bum (Aisha Hinds), the Overbearing Mother-in-Law (Joanna Cassidy), and more.
The biggest problem character, though, is Christina Hawthorne herself. She's too perfect. She's too ready with the perfect response, the perfect solution, no matter what. Nothing ever fazes her, from budget cuts to demoralized nurses to nasty doctors to irate patients. She never misses a credit card payment, her cheese never molds, and wherever she walks the daisies bloom and sing in perfect unison.
Step aside, Obama. Christina Hawthorne is here to fix the deficit.
And that's too bad, because real nurses are imperfect people trying to do a tough job without going postal with syringes and bedpans. I'd love to see a show about nurses struggling through the genuine triumphs and tragedies of their thankless profession. Hawthorne is a show about cardboard cutouts under the leadership of the Nursing Messiah. Fantasy candy for nurses, yes. Compelling drama, no.
3 stars out of 5
--
Posted By NEB to The Non-Euclidean Blog at 6/19/2009 12:27:00 PM
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