With great economy, the second episode of Critical sets about bringing the show’s wide cast of characters to life.
It’s not easy task in a programme set in ‘real time’ (or “The Golden Hour” as one of the characters labels it), but it’s an impressive demonstration of the old adage of ‘show not tell’.
The stern and humourless Mrs Hicklin of last week’s opener is not quite the jobsworth after all – in fact with her marshalling of the junior staff and prompting of the senior (“Cannot intubate, cannot ventilate”) she is effectively keeping the whole machine moving.
Newbie trauma nurse Harry fends off a colleague’s inept advances but also flirts to speed up a review of the patient by the Neurosurgical Registrar when it helps the patient and the team. Even the running gag of the Fruit Pastilles, liberated from the patient’s belongings, has something to tell us about Megan and Justin.
We’ve also got two new characters added to the mix this week. The first is young Dr Busby, a small part but given some depth by his awkward attempts to start a conversation with Harry. One can only hope that his medicine is better than his flirting – even for a doctor “I teach an intubation tutorial” is an awful chat-up line.
More important is the arrival of Glen Boyle (Lennie James) as the new Trauma Team Leader. It’s an impressive entrance, unexpected and unannounced, and once again we get to know him by his actions. He takes charge with firm confidence, feeling neither the need to ingratiate himself with his new colleagues or to crack the whip to establish his position.
As for the patient, so far at least the programme is sticking to its own rules, meaning that we see them only for the first hour of care when they are understandably less than chatty. (At one point Paul Bazely’s administrator pops up to advise that “She needs to complete a Major Trauma Patient Experience Survey” – “She’s unconscious,” points out Megan.)
We do however, thanks to some utterly realistic prosthetics, see the patient complete with a wooden stake right through her face, and later see her intestines in extraordinary detail.
Convincing as it is though, it’s not just about the gore. In a neat reversal of last week’s climax, this time it is Fiona who finds herself being asked to assist with an operation that ought to be somebody else’s responsibility. It’s not about the blood and the guts, it’s about whether she trusts Boyle… And professionally at least, it seems she does.
As yet nobody is aware that Fiona and Boyle already know each other, far less that she called him in at the end of Episode 1. Doubtless it will come out further down the line – and as the bigger story gradually emerges, alongside the more immediate ‘patient of the week’ stuff, Critical is already shaping up very nicely indeed.
Aired at 9pm on Tuesday 3 March 2015 on Sky1.
> Order Season 1 on DVD on Amazon.
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