The Book of Rannells: The Knick: Season 2, Episode 3 – “The Best with the Best to Get the Best” (2015)

This episode has a lot of the same assets as the season 2 premiere – interesting cultural angles, some strong characters – but it also has some of the same weaknesses – slow-moving story, underuse of Andrew Rannells.  Since this is my second watch of these episodes, I’m keeping track of the characters better, but I have to work at it, especially because a number of the women are styled pretty similarly.

Highlights of the various plots of this episode:  there’s a common thread of abortion, both with the incarcerated former nun (a practioner) and the woman just recently out of an asylum (a patient.)  Dr. Thackery is back in the lives of the other doctors, doing research with the help of Dr. Edwards.  A well-to-do young doctor, formerly of the Knick, has moved to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he’s one of the only (the only?) non-Jewish doctors there; while there, he meets a lovely young reporter with whom he makes a connection.

Once again, there are some good pieces here.  I enjoy everything with the characters at Mount Sinai, Thackery and Edwards’s research is interesting (I like historical stories about scientific discovery,) and there’s a chillingly-effective scene of a few characters blithely discussing eugenics at a party.  On the whole, though, the parts don’t quite add up for me, and I admittedly feel the missing bits of whatever happened in episode 2 that I didn’t see.  With them, the show would surely feel more cohesive, but I’m not sure if it would make it feel satisfying, or if I’d still feel like it’s mostly just a lot of parts threaded together.

A tiny bit more of Rannells’s character Wingo this time.  It’s still just the one scene, but it’s a longer one and he gets more focus in it.  It seems there’s something hinky going on with the plans for the new hospital, and he senses the problems.  We also see him interacting a little with his crew, where he shows himself to be a hardass, not simply for the sake of it, but because he demands the best for the project.  Rannells is doing a fine enough job with the role, but there’s not really anything of note in it.  This character seems to serve a function more than being an actual character in any right of his own.