Doogie Kamealoha, MD returns to Disney+ for its second season, with ten more episodes of Peyton Elizabeth Lee as an area child prodigy and 16-year-old doctor at a Hawaii medical center, who her colleagues have affectionately nicknamed “Doogie” after Neil Patrick Harris’s character on the Steven Bochco/David E. Kelley medical sitcom of yore. Doogie Kamealoha, developed by Kourtney Kang, also features Kathleen Rose Perkins, who co-starred in Netflix’s lamentably canceled I Am Not Okay with This.
Opening Shot: It’s another beautiful day on Oahu, and Lahela Kamealoha (Lee), standing on the beach with her surfboard, is soon joined by her boyfriend Walter (Alex Aiono). Much surfing and frolicking ensues.
The Gist: “Lahela! Lahela! Let me guess, daydreaming about Walter?” And her best pal Steph (Emma Meisel) is right, she was. Walter, of course, has been away from the island, competing in the World Surf Tour 5,000 miles away in Australia, and they’ve been maintaining a long distance relationship via frequent FaceTimes. Lahela assures her fellow doctors and friends at Oahu Health Medical Center that an LDR is not an issue, but Charles (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) and Noelani (Mapuana Makia) offer their teenaged colleague a more jaundiced view. Distance and time apart can damage relationships. And why did she only learn about Walter’s elaborate thigh tattoo after he posted it to Instagram?
Clara (Kathleen Rose Perkins), Lahela’s mom and the newly-minted chief of staff at OHMC, is stressing over budget issues and downward pressure from the hospital’s board. She tells her daughter that they don’t have the resources to treat every unhoused, uninsured person, but Dr. Kamealoha can’t say no to a penniless little boy and his dog Pickles, and she ropes Charles and Noelani into helping her treat the poodle’s leg. Keep in mind they aren’t veterinarians.
At home, Lahela’s friendly food truck owner dad Benny (Jason Scott Lee) is trying to keep his beloved rust bucket surf wagon running, since it reminds him of hiUncle John. (Al Harrington, who played John, passed away in 2021.) He receives support in this endeavor from Kai (Matt Sato) and Brian (Wes Tian), Lahela’s brothers, who encourage their dad to celebrate Uncle John’s life with an oceanside tribute.
When the unsmiling hospital board finds out about Dr. Kamealoha’s stunt with the poodle patient, she’s suddenly facing a suspension. But she’s also facing some confusion in her personal life. Being a genius, graduating from high school in nine weeks, and becoming a 16-year-old MD is great. But being a teenager in love is a timeless conundrum. Since Walter seems preoccupied with his new adventures on the surf tour, will their relationship really be the same once he returns to Oahu?
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Peyton Elizabeth Lee is no stranger to the Disney universe – she graduated to Doogie Kamealoha, MD after three seasons as the star of Andi Mack. And this Doogie does its due diligence in paying tribute to the previous Doogie with segments that feature Lahela offering her perspective on life to a journal, updated from a blue-screened PC to an online vlog.
Our Take: Led by the terrific Peyton Elizabeth Lee, the cast of Doogie Kamealoha, MD is quite comfortable within the relative confines of your typical Disney format. There are broad jokes here, like goofy passersby on the beach, or David S. Jung as a calamitous roving TV reporter named Rip Tide. But the family dynamic established between Lee, Matt Sato and Wes Tian as her brothers, and Jason Scott Lee and Kathleen Rose Perkins as her parents offers plenty of opportunity to bounce contemporary bits of youth culture off each other, as well as beats of sentiment. But what’s even more impressive is how Doogie Kamealoha integrates the professional side of its main character into her life. Even when she’s facing suspension from an uptight hospital board, her capabilities as a teenage physician are never in question, and Lahela herself is a confident and even forceful presence on the hospital floor. Couple this with the evolving dynamic between daughter and mom as they navigate working together, and the medical side of Doogie offers some its strongest scenes.
As season two unfolds, Lahela will also have to deal with some youthful drama, as her relationship with Walter is tested. Will there be a new romance with Milo Manheim’s dirt bike bad boy? Whatever the prognosis on that front, Doogie Kamealoha, MD will hopefully continue to feature Ronny Chieng of The Daily Show and the recent History of the World Part II as an eccentric heart surgeon at Lahela’s hospital. His line deliveries are complete gold.
Sex and Skin: No way.
Parting Shot: Hey, Walter’s back! He surprised Lahela with an early return from the surf tour. All’s right in her world, except for Blake (Lexie Duncan), Walter’s new buddy from Australia in the pink bikini…
Sleeper Star: Matt Sato lends a quiet kind of charm to Kai in Doogie Kamealoha – he’s handy with the older brother jokes, occasionally drops in Hawaiian words and slang, and generally suggests a younger version of Alden Ehrenreich.
Most Pilot-y Line: Without breaking a sweat, Lahela rescues a little girl from the ocean and improvises a sharkbite treatment with little more than a beach towel and a Padillac. “Who is this kid?” A beachgoer wonders, and Steph has answers. “We’ve been over this. She’s Doogie Kamealoha MD, and I’m her best friend. Someone get me a harpoon. I’ve got a shark to hunt.”
Our Call: Stream It. Doogie Kamealoha, MD features a charming cast with an easy chemistry, lots of sun and surfing visuals, and a contemporary take on teen life – even while its main character strives to balance that with her burgeoning career as Oahu’s youngest physician.
Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges