Do No Harm: Pilot

I have been waiting for the pilot of Do No Harm since they started shooting in my neighborhood late last summer.  From the opening scenes of Philadelphia to the city references, I am really hoping this goes for a long haul.  Even if that means consistent parking inconveniences, production has been considerate; and I want to support the tv and film industry in the city.



Do No Harm is a retelling the story of  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  Dr. Jason Cole (Dr. Jekyll) to keep Ian (Mr. Hyde) at bay.  Jason is an intelligent neurosurgeon with diabetes and dissociative disorder a modern day diagnosis for his split personality.

Jason has feelings for Dr. Salis, and Ian quickly preys upon these feelings.  He ruins any chances Jason has with her, and he hastily tries to take over his duties as a surgeon. Jason mitigates this risk with the glucose test before surgery.  Thus, Ian cannot operate and is given a dose of insulin to knock him out.

On top of Jason trying to protect his patients from Ian and his nefarious ways, he is trying to protect a former lover, Olivia.  He decides to make a truce with Ian in order to kill him.  But Ian goes to the one place Jason wants him nowhere near.  That is Olivia's house with presumably Jason's son.  The episode ends leaving us with a good amount of intrigue and slight attachment to a character trying to do the right thing.

There is wealth of storytelling in dual personalities and leading secret lives.  We've seen it in Mad Men and Breaking Bad, we tune in every week for it on cable tv to see if they get caught. But network tv hasn't seemed to figure out longevity to this concept e.g. Lone Star (which I liked) and Awake.  I hope NBC can re-energize the Thursday night 10 PM spot for drama tv like ER dominated the ratings in the 90s.  I also love seeing the sites I run by on regular basis on tv, i.e. Broad Street and City Hall.  Philadelphia has been known to have the highest ratings per capita for great tv shows like Lost.  Hopefully, the city can get behind this show if the storytelling is up to par.