True crime dramas can be just as eerie and terrifying as they are mysterious, but Dr. Death takes things a step further by examining the horror within the medical industry, to grim and chilling effects. An anthology series that rattles us to our core, season 2 makes for a compelling, intense watch that questions not only doctors and the medical system, but our faith in the latter, especially considering the lies and inaction amidst death and negligence.
Dr. Death season 2 is based on the podcast Dr. Death: Miracle Man by Wondery, and follows Dr. Paolo Macchiarini (Édgar Ramirez), an Italian surgeon working in Sweden who has allegedly revolutionized tracheal regeneration and has vowed to help patients. That is, until a few colleagues begin to realize there’s something much more sinister going on. Macchiarini is portrayed as a charismatic yet mysterious doctor who means well. At least, that’s what he’s convinced people, including investigative journalist Benita Alexander (Mandy Moore), who has not only fallen for Macchiarini’s compassion for his patients, but for the man himself.
Dr. Death
Dr. Death is an anthology true crime drama series created for Peacock based on a podcast that covers true stories of murderous doctors. Each season covers and dramatizes the terrifying stories surrounding different doctors and surgeons who committed atrocities worldwide, with the first season focusing on an American neurosurgeon named Christopher Duntsch.
- Release Date
- July 15, 2021
- Cast
- Joshua Jackson , Grace Gummer , Alec Baldwin , Christian Slater , AnnaSophia Robb , Edgar Ramirez , Mandy Moore , Rita Volk , Judy Reyes , Jack Davenport
- Genres
- Anthology , Crime , Drama
- Rating
- TV-MA
- Seasons
- 2
- Writers
- Ashley Michel Hoban , Patrick Macmanus
- Streaming Service(s)
- Peacock
- Showrunner
- Ashley Michel Hoban , Patrick Macmanus
Dr. Death Season 2 Contrasts Macchiarini’s Romance With His Medical Horrors
It’s easy to see why Benita falls hard for Macchiarini, who offers her love and the world after the death of her ex-husband. We’re just as enamored by their whirlwind romance, which is the primary focus of the season’s first few episodes. The choice to center their relationship provides the season with the sheen of illusory hope and romance that is juxtaposed with the horror of Macchiarini’s medical experiments and detachment. There’s this idea that Benita can indeed have it all without consequences, but the growing tension between them as she begins to uncover the truth pulls Macchiarini’s mask right off.
Dr. Death will have you rooting for their relationship to succeed, though, even when you know it won’t. That’s to the strength of Moore and Ramirez’s chemistry together, as well as season 2’s writing, which balances Macchiarini’s double life and highlights the fact that his lies don’t begin and end with medicine. Ramirez is particularly great, bringing a sense of kindness and charm with a sprinkling of restrained anger that only pops up on occasion at first. There are instances where I felt the romance was taking too much attention away from the medical side of things, but the season smartly brings its focus back to the harm done to Macchiarini’s patients by episode 5, which raises the stakes and the excitement.
Dr. Death Season 2 Interview: Luke Kirby & Gustaf Hammarsten On Whistleblower Story & Developing Dynamic
Dr. Death season 2 stars Luke Kirby and Gustaf Hammarsten discuss their characters, whistleblower story, and developing a friendship dynamic.
Dr. Death Season 2 Underscores An Unwavering Faith In Miracles
Dr. Death underscores the responsibility doctors have to their patients, and the ways in which they — and the medical system at large — squander it. Everything Macchiarini does is ultimately a lie to progress his own ambitions, and it’s a web we’re thoroughly trapped in, even as we witness its unraveling. What Dr. Death season 2 so cleverly gets at is the innate sense of hope and trust everyone feels in the presence of Macchiarini, as well as what happens when that trust is broken.
No one — not even the patients who are risking their lives — question him; those who do face obstacles at every turn. The series, with its twists and turns, just goes to show what someone can get away with when the longing for a positive outcome is greater than the need for truth. In a truly gutting scene, a patient of Macchiarini’s, Yesim Cetir (Alisha Erozer), verbally lashes out at Dr. Nathan Gamelli (Luke Kirby) despite him being there for her throughout her care. Yesim was hoping to see Macchiarini, and the fact that he could not be bothered to see her before she was transferred to another hospital was devastating. But it highlights her unshakable belief in what Macchiarini said he’d do for her, even if the result isn’t at all what she’d imagined.
This goes for every patient, the doctors — save for Gamelli and Dr. Svensson (Gustaf Hammarsten) — and even Benita. When they’re faced with the miracle cures Macchiarini touts, it feels inevitable they would buy into them. I certainly did, if only for a moment, despite knowing where the story was going. Dr. Death ultimately displays the faith we have in the medical system, regardless of the critiques and atrocities that have emerged over the years, because we want so badly to believe in doctors’ abilities to save those who are inches away from certain death. To that end, season 2 expertly and compellingly weaves together a story that unites compassion and the fight for truth in the face of irresponsibility and ego.
