Spoiler alert! This story discusses Doctor Odyssey’s May 8 episode, “The Wave,” which can be streamed with a Hulu subscription if you need to catch up.
The season finale of Doctor Odyssey is less than a week away on the 2025 TV schedule, after a debut that has put the fictional cruise ship in the path of sharks, tsunamis and horny spring breakers. However, there’s been no official word from ABC on whether or not the Ryan Murphy series will sail again. After the season’s penultimate episode, I’m starting to wonder if we should be concerned about the fate of Dr. Max Bankman.
Why I’m Worried Doctor Odyssey Might Kill Off Max
Doctor Odyssey left Max (Joshua Jackson) in a pretty dire situation at the end of “The Wave” — stranded on shore helping others while The Odyssey sought deeper water to escape tsunami waves. Capt. Massey (Don Johnson) chose to break protocol to go back for the ship’s doctor, even as aftershocks continued to pose a threat, and the rescue will continue in the second half of the two-part finale. The trailer gives us a taste of what’s to come:
Despite Avery (Phillipa Soo) insisting she’s not in love with Max, she seems to be leading the efforts to find him, and the end of the preview shows her searching the church where we last saw him before yelling, “Max?”
My first thought upon seeing this was, “Do they really expect us to believe they’d kill Max?” But then almost just as quickly I wondered if that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Think about it: Ryan Murphy just proved to us he’s not afraid to unalive his main characters, with that shocking 9-1-1 death. Then there’s the matter of Doctor Odyssey not being renewed or canceled by ABC yet.
What if this is all part of a bigger plan?
What’s Been Said About Doctor Odyssey Season 2?
Doctor Odyssey remains one of ABC’s only shows in purgatory, as even more renewals came down the pipe on Friday. Network exec Craig Erwich previously said they were taking their lead from Ryan Murphy and continuing creative conversations.
However, what if the decision has already been made? What if the plan is to kill Joshua Jackson’s character and end the show, but they’re not telling us that yet because they don’t want to spoil the finale?
I understand that I’m spiraling a bit, but this theory isn’t more far-fetched than the whole fever dream theory that suggests none of this is real and that Max — aka COVID’s Patient 0 — never recovered from coronavirus and is stuck in a coma.
That would be pretty exciting as well, but I feel like we’re living in a TV age where nobody’s safe, and that seems especially true for a series whose fate hasn’t yet been announced.
Will Max and the rest survive “The Wave, Part 2”? Is ABC waiting for the season finale to let us know their decision on Season 2? Will we ever get that musical episode? Luckily, we have less than a week before we find out. Doctor Odyssey’s season finale (series finale??) will air at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, May 15, on ABC and can be streamed the next day on Hulu.