Traumatic arts
BY CATHERINE WOULFE
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PRIME time is looking a lot healthier this week as two anything-but-sterile medical dramas breeze in for the new season.
First up is TV3’s spanking new show Trauma, in which New Zealander Cliff Curtis plays swashbuckling San Francisco paramedic Reuben “Rabbit” Palchuk. He leads a team of “first responder paramedics” who think nothing of dangling from helicopters or dodging exploding petrol tankers if that’s what it takes to save lives.
Trauma is shot entirely on location in San Francisco and Aimee Garcia, who plays tough-cookie helicopter pilot Marisa Benez, told Sunday News worried passers-by often step in to help “patients”, not realising the injuries are fake.
She says shooting in the city – rather than in a studio, like other medical shows – gives Trauma the feel of a film.
The first episode certainly starts with a bang and its fiery stuntwork reminded us of early Die Hard movies. It’s a refreshing change and will no doubt pull in a wider audience than typical medical dramas, where the closest viewers get to the action is the ambulance bay.
It’s not all stunts and explosions, though. These paramedics are just as traumatised as the patients they’re saving, and they’re all dealing with it in different ways.
In the first episode Garcia gets to punch Curtis after he takes her on a crazy joyride through the city. She had a lot of fun with that scene, and won’t rule out the possibility of a romance between the show’s stroppiest stars.
“Marisa and Rabbit definitely go toe-to-toe and I think like anything, if someone really challenges you and makes you think and calls you on your BS, you can’t help but find that somewhat attractive. I don’t want to give away too much but there’s definitely, I think, some tension going on. And when you have two fiery people confined in a small helicopter something’s bound to happen.’’
Garcia is relishing playing Marisa, an Iraq war veteran who is “very comfortable in the boys’ club”.
The role – and scenes where she’s in a helicopter hanging from a crane, four storeys above the street – are a bit of a turnaround for the Latina actress, who started out as a ballet dancer.
But she says dancing made her comfortable in her body. “I never thought I’d be wearing a flight suit, but here I am ... It’s a really physical show. I have bruises all over my body. It’s not the sexiest thing.”
One of our favourite medical shows, House, is also taking its viewers out of their comfort zone this week, with a two-hour special on Tuesday to kick off the new season.
It’s all very One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Greg is in a mental hospital, where he finds plenty of people to mess with – and finally realises what a mess he’s in himself.
Finally, take heart McDreamy fans, you’re now approaching the final countdown to the new season of Grey’s Anatomy. Without revealing when exactly it starts, we can inform you that after last season’s last-minute wedding, the Meredith/Derek madness seems to have run its course.
Now it’s Alex and Izzy, and Christina and Owen (who I secretly think is the dreamiest bloke of the bunch), ratcheting up the angst.
And then there’s George, everyone’s favourite softhearted intern, who was hit by a bus as the last season bowed out. We prescribe plenty of tissues and icecream.
Trauma: Sunday 9.30pm, TV3. House: Tuesday 8.30pm, TV3. Grey’s Anatomy coming soon on TV2.
- © Fairfax NZ News
