‘Dr. Death’ Recap: ‘Like Magic’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

DR. DEATH -- “Like Magic” Episode 201 -- Pictured: (l-r) Mandy Moore as Benita Alexander, Edgar Ramírez as Dr. Paolo Macchiarini -- (Photo by: Scott McDermott/PEACOCK)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Two Premiere of ‘Dr. Death’.
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Hope is something that we both deeply embrace and deeply lament, and it makes sense as to why hope can be so incredibly polarizing. Because on the one hand, it really does accomplish wonders for us. After all, it is there when we need it the most and it can indeed fuel us and get us through the toughest of times. For hope really is powerful and can influence so much and that is also why we lament it so. Because in the wrong hands it can be used to manipulate us and drag us along to serve the needs of someone else and when that is made clear to us… we simply feel awful. Since we enabled something dark and were made a fool for holding to something that so many desire and make use of. 

If anything, the power of hope and how it can indeed serve us in the wrong manner is top of mind today, simply because it is featured in the season two premiere of Dr. Death on Peacock. A feat that ‘Like Magic’ accomplishes by introducing us to a pair of individuals at a unique moment in their respective lives. For instance, Benita Alexander, a television producer… is struggling with some tough news about her ex-husband’s declining health. Giving rise to dark times for her, to the point where a touch of hope would be welcome in her life, and she believes she may have found it through an incredible story that she is now eager to produce. Courtesy of a doctor who happens to be at the forefront of a life-changing therapy he’s developed.

For Dr. Paolo Macchiarini claims to have discovered how to bring peace to folks with tracheal issues. Courtesy of stem cell growth he’s carefully cultured, combined with a unique plastics therapy and well, he is days away from his most high-profile trial of this therapy when we meet him here. For he is about to embark upon a critical trachea surgery that will change a little girl’s life, and that has Benita filled with hope. Since this therapy can do so much and helps to remind her that medicine is wondrous and magical in nature and the humility that Paolo brings to his approach and the desire to help, only fills her with more emotional fulfillment. The kind that brings them closely together in ways Benita did not see coming.
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But… therein lie the problem. For behind the scenes, questions surround Paolo’s research. For there are doctors eager to know more about the science, such as how stem cells will merge with nonbiological matter and maintain the blood flow needed to keep tissue healthy around it, and others are eager for answers on how his other trials of this surgery have gone. An answer that we get in a harrowing manner at the end of this premiere, all of which informs us… that Paolo is a dangerous man. For he is indeed someone that manipulates hope for reasons we don’t understand just yet, but doing so here, through Benita, sets the stage for heartbreak and devastation. 

For the kind of hope he’s setting up is fleeting, and when it comes crashing down, it will be disastrous in nature and well… that’s an amazing way to set up a season of storytelling. One that will clearly feature sky high stakes and a fascinating examination of what made Paolo like this, and what will lead to him being held to account. For no doctor can hide behind hope and smoke and mirrors forever and that compels us to continue this journey. To see the chaos this real-life case brought about and to learn about the fallout of using hope in a negative light, and to see justice play out for a man that has made the horrifying decision to manipulate emotion and inject imagination into matters that are life and death. Until next time.

To learn more about the central themes of Season Two of ‘Dr. Death’. Check out our interviews with Series Showrunner Ashley Michel Hoban and Executive Producer Patrick Macmanus, and Cast Members, Luke Kirby, Ashley Madekwe, and Gustaf Hammarsten.  

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