Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
This is a Canadian medical drama originally made for CTV, which NBC picked up for its fall schedule when COVID-19 meant that it wouldn't have enough of its own programs to air.
The story centers around Bashir Hamed, who proved his mettle as a wartime doctor back home in Syria, before he and his young sister moved to Canada and settled in Toronto as refugees. Unable to get work in the medical profession, presumably due to credentialing issues, he is working as a line cook at a Middle Eastern restaurant when a catastrophic accident occurs. He ends up saving the life everybody who was in the restaurant at the time.
The premise is interesting, sort of like a "Northern Exposure" in reverse, and the cast seems solid. I had one major issue with the pilot: most of the drama would have been eliminated if Hamed had just explained to the doctors and police that he was his sister's guardian and he needed to locate her. Hopefully future episodes will avoid such artificial stakes building.
The story centers around Bashir Hamed, who proved his mettle as a wartime doctor back home in Syria, before he and his young sister moved to Canada and settled in Toronto as refugees. Unable to get work in the medical profession, presumably due to credentialing issues, he is working as a line cook at a Middle Eastern restaurant when a catastrophic accident occurs. He ends up saving the life everybody who was in the restaurant at the time.
The premise is interesting, sort of like a "Northern Exposure" in reverse, and the cast seems solid. I had one major issue with the pilot: most of the drama would have been eliminated if Hamed had just explained to the doctors and police that he was his sister's guardian and he needed to locate her. Hopefully future episodes will avoid such artificial stakes building.
