Previewing Wakefield

 

  

One quote about television that really stuck from me came from the creators of Homeland who early in their run on the show (and I am probably poorly paraphrasing here), you can no longer shock audiences with a twist anymore; they can only be shocked at when you do it.  Yet there I was at the end of the first episode of the Australian show Wakefield, completely shocked with what just happened.

 

The titular Wakefield refers to a psych ward in New South Wales where the show follows the patients and staff there.  It is similar storytelling of The Affair where each episode is segmented with different POV’s, sometimes, three different characters, sometimes four, alternating between staff and patients, with one episode that breaks from the format.

 

While the narrative rotates around, we do get one segment following Nik every single episode in the season.  Nik is a nurse at the hospital who someone dubs “The sanest person in this place” who once dated one of the doctors there and is looking to advance in employment when a better position opens up.  There is also the stress of his sister’s wedding that complicates things throughout the season.  As the season progresses, it seems like Nik may need some help at Wakefield himself.  Especially after getting a certain Australian ditty stuck in his head.  Just your normal medical drama stuff… well up until the end of the first episode.

 

Except unlike your normal medical drama where most patients are one episode guest stars, some of the patients are on the show for just an episode or two before they check out, while some are there the whole season and also seem like they were admitted long before the show started.  The show does a good job injecting humor into the show through some of the patents but you never spend too much time laughing before realizing the seriousness of why they are there.  While American medical shows seem like process line pumping out the same things episode after episode, season after season, Wakefield is something a little different, and the show is better for it.

 

Wakefield airs Mondays at 9:00 on Showtime.