Who knew that a Doctor Odyssey episode called “Hot Tub Week” could cause so many tears to fall?
In this week’s episode, while we may have been expecting an answer pertaining to the paternity of Avery’s (Phillipa Soo) baby, we ended with answers about the meaning of life, love, and forgiveness. And we just so happened to get a Dianna Agron and Ryan Murphy Glee reunion in the process.
**Spoiler alert for Doctor Odyssey Episode 14, “Hot Tub Week”**
After weeks of wondering whether Dr. Max (Joshua Jackson) or Tristan (Sean Teale) is responsible for knocking Avery up during their threesome, the storyline comes to an unexpectedly tragic conclusion. As Avery is running the DNA test to confirm the baby’s paternity, her own blood reveals an abnormality that leads her to perform an ultrasound and find no heartbeat. In truth, there never was a heartbeat, either, as a corpus luteum cyst — a cyst in her ovary — caused a false positive on her pregnancy test and the subsequent blood panels.
While Avery was far from over the moon about the pregnancy at first, the realization and the loss hits her like a ton of bricks and causes her to reconsider everything up until this point. It also takes a toll on Max and Tristan, who both share that they were hoping they would be the father and that it would allow them to start a family with Avery. There’s even a beautiful moment as the three unpack their grief where we see high school-aged versions of Avery, Max, and Tristan, discussing what they think their lives will look like.
This is all set against the stark contrast of “Hot Tub Week,” where cheer teams from around the country have flocked to The Odyssey to participate in conditioning and clinics. As a cheerleader is enjoying the hot tub with friends, her hair gets caught in the drain and a broken shard of the covering impales her neck.
Jumping into action and using a tube from the bar to give her oxygen, Tristan, Max, and Avery perform underwater surgery to dislodge the shard and cut the cheerleader free. Yet another example of the glorious television that Doctor Odyssey gives us week after week.
Elsewhere on The Odyssey, Captain Robert (Don Johnson) is dealing with an undiagnosed case of shingles, possibly activated by stress over the pregnancy with Heather (Shania Twain). While he is over the moon about welcoming a baby and the relationship with Heather, his late wife is heavy on his mind. This leads us to our second tearjerker hot tub scene of the episode. After telling Dr. Max that he met his wife in a hot tub, the audience watches a conversation with Katherine, played by a 70s-era looking Agron, and a younger version of Robert, played by Johnson’s real-life son, Jesse Johnson.
“I’m wondering why you’re thinking about our beginning when you’re right in the midst of a beginning with Heather and the baby?” she asks as the camera pans back to the elder Johnson. “Moving forward isn’t you letting go of the past… You can love two people at the same time, Bobby. A life with someone else isn’t a betrayal of ours.” The conversation ends with Captain Robert pulling up an audio message of his baby’s heartbeat and finally moving forward.
As Avery docks and heads to port to have her cyst removed, she asks the doctor at the hospital if Tristan and Max can be in the room as they put her to sleep. The shockingly touching episode ends with the trio holding hands as Avery nods off to sleep. Another episode that showcases the beauty and absurdity of the show that deserves 100 seasons of television.
The first 14 episodes of Doctor Odyssey Season 1 are currently streaming on Hulu.