Red Band Society: Season 1/ Episode 8 – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Overview

As Charlie’s condition, and Dr. Naday, instill hope, not everyone is able to easily find happiness.

Review (with Spoilers)

While we get to the heart of Hunter’s issues, seemingly Emma’s still won’t be dived into. Something which is troubling since there is still no word if the show may get cancelled or not. For with Nurse Jackson’s past just being revealed, Kara evolving before our eyes, and now Charlie waking up, it makes the idea of Emma still being stuck a bit depressing. For more on “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car,” look below.

Topic 1: Hunter’s Options and Past – Hunter & Kara

In the episode, Hunter’s sister Ashley shows up and tries to have Kara help Hunter convince him to take a bit of her liver. Issue is, Hunter fears something happening to Ashley, due to the surgery, and doesn’t want that on his shoulders. Also, as Kara notes, while he surely appreciates her offer, he doesn’t want her sacrifice. He wants to have some control over his sickness and the decision of what to do about it. So, again, while he appreciates the offer, he doesn’t want her forcing his hand and trying to force him into the surgery with her giving up half of her liver [1].

Commentary

It seems Hunter truly is changing Kara for not only was she thinking about someone else, but she was speaking from a place of empathy when talking to Ashley. An evolution which Brittany perhaps saw, though she likely more so saw the part of Kara having a crush and her being jealous. Either way, while we don’t know if Brittany may give Kara credit for how much she has evolved, we do know Hunter does. For after him overhearing Kara’s speech to Ashley, later that night he kisses her and it seems something may end up happening between those two.

Topic 2: Hello Dr. Naday – Dr. Naday, Charlie, Nurse Jackson, and Dr. McAndrew

With Dr. Naday’s arrival comes hope for Charlie. For never mind her is awake, but now there is this big time neuro doctor who, unfortunately for the staff, doesn’t have methods which are easily understandable. In fact, though Dr. McAndrew is against him from the start, even Nurse Jackson begins losing faith. That is until we see that as much as Dr. Naday is about the science, he is also about the psychology. Meaning, while Charlie is in a healthy place, he needs a reason to fully come out of his coma. Said reason being his parents back together for then, and perhaps only then, he has a something to fight for.

Commentary

Quite honestly I don’t have much to say here. I’m happy for Charlie, and liked hearing The Pretenders cover, but not much is said or done of interest. I mean, seeing Brittany jealous of Dr. McAndrew and Dr. Grace was slightly intriguing, but that little bit of drama isn’t really worth going on and on about. Especially since Brittany’s dark side needs to be seen a bit more often. Especially with Emma.

Topic 3: The Red Band Society – Emma

As the guys look for stuff to perhaps help Charlie finish his journey back to consciousness, Emma is going through something. For while it seemed she is now able to eat little snack foods without issue, possibly due to Leo’s presence in her life, getting red dye on her fingers sets something off. Making you wonder when her father shows up, hopefully before the mid-season finale, perhaps Emma’s backstory will be revealed so we can understand better how she ended up at the hospital.

Commentary

As mentioned in the episode’s intro, pretty much the last piece of the puzzle is us seeing Emma’s past, or seeing her slowly get better. Something which seemed like it was going to happen in the last episode with her eating and talking about Leo meeting her dad; however it seems with her taking one step forward, now she is taking two steps back. Something worrisome not just because the show doesn’t have a confirmed second half, but also because Ciara Bravo, who plays Emma, arguably is one of the few of the teen actors who knows how to do as much with silence as she does with dialog, at least in my opinion, so I would like to see where this character goes with time.

Collected Quote(s)

“Real, and uncensored, aren’t exactly the same thing.”

—           Hunter – “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car.” Red Band Society

Things To Note

The reason Hunter needs a liver is because he had leukemia and while he beat the leukemia, it weakened his liver to the point of needing a new one.