Pulse

I wasn't expecting to like this show as much as I did. I'm lucky as I was able to binge watch it on Netflix so didn't have to wait on episodes airing over the course of 8 weeks. I grew to care able the Doctors and their patients. I just wish a second two had been made as I would love to watch more.

My favourite show of the week (it's a tie with Utopia). Alright, I'm a sucker for beautiful women, especially, beautiful women who can play character roles. There is a separate review that wants to critique the hospital procedures. Me, I'm just gobsmacked to see innards exposed and organs such as a beating heart exposed and held in a surgeon's hands. The storyline is emotionally draining, so my wife won't watch it. Me, I'm captivated by the emotional demands put on the viewer by both the life and death decisions being made daily in the hospital and the career-changing political undercurrents. It's an aptly named series. My pulse quickens in response to both the beauty and stresses laid bare.

I have become hooked on this medical drama. Unlike other reviewers, I only see the medical professional and public hospitals from the patient's point of view. I can understand why some in the medical profession would find this series confronting: the level of bullying of junior staff by their seniors, the level of male chauvinism among the surgeons, the arrogance, the "faces of Janus" when dealing with patients. Maybe some of the medical procedures are not quite correct but, Dr.Patel, perhaps hospitals in reality aren't quite correct either! The several sub-plots make this series a cut above the sentimental soap operas that usually frequent this genre: the health of the main characters, the professional pressure to "bury their mistakes", the elicit affairs between senior staff and those whom they supervise, the "glass ceiling" that seems to prevent women from becoming senior surgeons, the nepotism that ensures that the children of senior medical staff follow in their parents' footsteps. While many series have multi-cultural casts simply to be politically correct, "Pulse" reflects the true multi-ethnic make-up of Australian hospitals. Highly recommended.

I think its the 3rd time in a review that I'm mentioning that I am an actual MD and I'm always very critical about medical dramas. (You can read such a review in "Pure Genius", a ridiculous medical melodrama that I think I'm pretty much responsible for its unavoidable doom and cancellation).

Pulse is in its essence a more serious medical drama. I recognize many elements that are close to reality, despite the fact that some of them may appear exaggerated for dramatic purposes...

It is (very) realistic for young doctors to be and act more emotional than they should be. To feel empathy. To ...fall in love with their superiors. You have to learn to be more emotionally detached, so to be more efficient, more professional. It's also very realistic that young doctors have to stand-up for themselves if they want to learn. No one will take your hand and show things to you if you don't chase it, or even demand it.

On the opposite side of the ladder, the heads of medical departments have to fight with the healthcare system all the time. They have to take tough decisions and to deal with their consequences in order to be fair and ethically correct, as they possibly can be.

The cast is good enough, so is the acting with transparent performances which helps to learn the main characters quickly and follow them to their personal and professional journey.

The darker low-contrast photography adds to the realism and the music, mostly with a single guitar seems suitable.

Overall: Good medical drama. If it doesn't turn to a melodrama or jump the shark in the later episodes, it would be a nice show to watch.

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I really rate this series and hope they decide to continue. Having watched Grey's Anatomy from the beginning, Pulse reminds me of the very early episodes of that drama. Great writing and acting, very believable stories too. More please!