Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Doctor Odyssey Episode 5.
With Halloween right around the corner, ABC has delivered exactly what the doctor ordered: a Halloween-themed episode ofDoctor Odyssey. Episode 5 arrives hot on the heels of9-1-1’s similarlyspooky episode, and sees the crew of theOdysseyfacing an unthinkable situation on the high seas. Asthe teaser for the episodepromised,Doctor Odyssey’s “Halloween Week”turns holiday shenanigans into a zombie virus.
Episode 5 opens on a dire situation on land, as Max (Joshua Jackson) and Avery (Phillipa Soo) rush to the aid of a passenger (Michelle Núñez) who has managed to wedge herself between a rock and a hard spot —literally. The cold open ends withMax’s rather ominous suggestionthat they will have to remove the woman’s arm in order to get her out before high tide comes in. But all of this took place forty-eight hours prior, meaning we have to wait to see what led to this scenario and how it is resolved.
After the reveal that Episode 5 is mixing things up with the order of events,Doctor Odysseykicks off “Halloween Week” with the aforementioned passenger, Julia, and her wife, Sarah (Marija Abney), excitedly discussing the events planned for the week, which includesa hunt for buried treasurein the haunted caves where a Spanish galleon sank 284 years ago. In addition to the doomed couple celebrating their anniversary, the cruise also plays host to a pair of couples who have a very drowsy week ahead of them.
Tristan and Max Are at Odds (Again) in ‘Doctor Odyssey’ Episode 5
With each new episode ofDoctor Odyssey, viewers can almost always count on two things: Avery’s narrative arc being wildly inconsistent and Tristan (Sean Teale) and Max being in a one-sided competition with each other. This week, rather than fighting over Avery,Tristan is at odds with Maxover the costume contest.
At the top of the episode, while Avery is discussing the costume contest with Captain Massey (Don Johnson), Max strolls into the office dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow. It’s an oddly outdated costume, but it screams brand synergy for ABC’s parent company, Disney, and gives Jackson an excuse to do his very best Jack Sparrow accent. Max isn’t the only one who’s been thinking about pirates, as Tristan bursts into the office rambling about his jar of dirt, only to discover that Max has outdone him. Andso begins the competitionthat only Tristan seems to be truly invested in.
As the festivities begin, Tristan later shows off his Neptune costume but then learns that Max has donned an impressive Poseidon costume that is leagues better than his own. In her limited screen time this week, Vivian (Laura Harrier) tries to mitigate Tristan’s jealousy, but the larger, overarching medical crisis aboard the ship keeps Tristan agitatedthe whole way through.
The Love Boat Turns Into a Zombie Boat on ‘Doctor Odyssey’ Episode 5
While Julia and Sarah’s plight on land gets plenty of focus in Episode 5, the apparent zombies are the central medical dilemma that the team has to solve. It starts with thetwo wives dealing with a pair of drowsy husbandswho are putting a serious damper on their party plans. Since their names are never mentioned in the episode, they shall be henceforth referred to as Morticia and Gomez and the Fox and the Hound.
Gomez is the first to start showing symptoms ofsomething. He’s falling asleep mid-sentence and nearly falling asleep on his feet. But, after his beautiful bride brings him to the infirmary to be checked out, his symptoms are deemed to be regular run-of-the-mill exhaustion. It isn’t until later, when Gomez and the Hound both abandon the dancing and merriment in favor of sleeping, thatthings start to go seriously awry.
When Gomez jolts “awake” and starts lurching through the corridors of the cruise, it looks like something straight out of a zombie apocalypse movie. Especially when the Hound’s unsuspecting wife returns to their quarters and her husband takes a bite out of her arm! At this point,Max and the team decide to place the couples under quarantinein the infirmary until they can figure out if they actually have a contagious disease on their hands. Tristan makes a glib comment about this being “just like COVID,” which Max reacts to, as one would expect from a man who nearly died during the pandemic.
Speaking of Tristan, in the midst of the apparent zombie outbreak, something is clearly going on with him too. He’s disoriented, his vision is blurred, and he’s acting super paranoid about Max. He goes to the Captain with his complaints that Max is pulling pranks on him, but when the Captain tells Max to lay off them, Max reveals that he’s been in the infirmary all night—not tormenting Tristan. Coupled with a knock-off Wolverine sweating blood, all of these symptoms seem to be designed to make the audience think that the zombie situation might be spreading. But there is no zombie outbreak aboard theOdyssey. As the episode draws to a close, Max and Avery have an epiphany over Sarah and Julia’s plight, which leads them to discover that Gomez and the Hound were bitten by tsetse flies while on vacation in Africa,leading to them contracting the African Sleeping Sickness. Once they’re treated for this, their symptoms clear up and the couples are able to salvage what’s left of their cruise.
‘Doctor Odyssey’s Plastic Surgery Episode Adds More Fuel to THAT Theory
Life of luxury or life in Purgatory?
All You Have to Do Is Unclench in ‘Doctor Odyssey’ Episode 5
Picking up where the cold open left off,Avery volunteers to go into the cavesystem to treat Julia. During the cruise’s treasuring hunting excursion, Julia and Sarah went into the caves in search of the gold, and they found it! The only problem is, when Julia reached into a crevice to snatch up a piece of gold, which caused a rock to shift and crush her arm.
Max presses Sarah to decide if they should cut off her wife’s arm in order to save her, and she makes the unthinkable decision. Thankfully, right as Avery is about to make the first incision, she notices the tension in Julia’s arm which indicates that she is clenching something in her fist.Avery coaches her through releasing her grip on the gold, which allows her to free her arm from beneath the rock, saving her life. While Julia walked away with her life, she also walked away with a dislocated shoulder and broken arm. It seems the theme for ABC’s Halloween episodes tonight were curses and dislocated shoulders!
Unclenching certainly seems to be an unexpected theme forDoctor Odyssey, becauseTristan finally lets go of his grudge towards Maxat the end of the episode. At least for this week. Vivan seeks out Avery and Max to help her figure out what’s wrong with Tristan after she discovers him rambling madly in his quarters, glue gun in hand. When the trio arrives, Tristan accuses Avery and Max of being demons, but Max is able to quickly figure out that Tristan accidentally gave himself carbon monoxide poisoning by burning lanterns in his quarters for spooky aesthetics. It was another close call for a member of the medical team, but it provided new fuel for fans ofDoctor Odysseywho hope that the love triangle might be resolved by becoming a throuple. As Tristan receives life-saving oxygen,he takes hold of both Max’s and Avery’s hands, which makes for a lovely moment.
‘Doctor Odyssey’ Gives Tristan His ‘Love Boat’ Moment
After nearly dying, the Halloween-hating Captain Massey decides to loan his uniform to Tristan so he can charm passengers into voting for his Captain Stubbing (from theLove Boat) costume—and he wins. Captain Massey reveals that he hates Halloween because he missed all of them while his children were growing up. He gives Tristan a little sage advice, should he ever become a father someday, and Tristan ruins the moment by asking if he can call the Captain his “Ship Dad.” While Captain Massey is a hard no onthat, it seems as thoughhis feelings about the holiday have changed(at least to some degree) by the end of the episode as he watches his crew celebrate together.
As all the couples treated throughout the week enjoy the last vestiges of Halloween Week, Tristan and Vivian pair off together to dance, as do Max and Avery, who have been outfitted in an adorable pair of not-quite couples’ costumes: Nurseferatu and Doc Dracula. Given last week’s episode, which seemed to suggest that Max and Avery weren’t going to pursue a romantic relationship,the ending of Episode 5 feels like mixed messaging, because the pair aredefinitelysharing flirty looks and crazy chemistry. One has to wonder if matrimonial bliss might be on the horizon for members of the crew asDoctor Odysseysets sail for “Wedding Week” in two weeks.
Doctor Odysseywill return in two weeks. New episodes air on ABC on Thursdays at 9 PM ET and next-day on Hulu.
Doctor Odyssey
The Love Boat becomes the Zombie Boat in Doctor Odyssey’s Halloween Week episode.
