Courtesy of ABC
Kay
Ziegler
Staff Writer
There’s a new doctor in town. Her name? Catherine Black. Produced by Bryan Singerby (who notably produced House M.D.), Black Box is the newest program to hit the airways.
Noted as being one of the top neurologists, Dr. Black is highly respected. However, she’s got a secret – one that could jeopardize her whole life; one wrong move and she could lose her job, family, and her life.
Not only does Dr. Black study the mind, but she also has personal dealings with the brain.
She’s bipolar.
Only a select few people know this about her; she wants to keep it that way, too. Dr. Black is afraid of losing everything because of the disease, but she doesn’t always stay on her meds.
In the first episode, we see what happens when Dr. Black goes off her routine. She hallucinates, becomes hyper sexual, has insomnia, lies, and her mind races. Due to one of those manic times, she cheats on her fiancé and then calls her child to rant.
But her actions come with consequences. She loses visitation rights. Her fiancé also breaks up with Dr. Black because she hid the illness from him. Those two things lead to a mental crash, which takes her down the dark path of suicidal thoughts.
We also learn about her past. Her mother was also bipolar. Ultimately, Dr. Black’s mother commits suicide by drowning herself.
At 16, we discover, Catherine has her first breakdown after having a little girl – Esme. This child is now raised by Black’s older brother and his wife.
While she has a lot of issues, she is a brilliant doctor. Within the pilot, Dr. Black is faced with 2 different and complex cases. Much like House, she and her colleagues solve the cases.
Case 1 – a young man suffering headaches, hallucinations, mental breakdowns, aggression, and obsessive drawing. It turns out he has a brain tumor. It’s removed and he goes on his way into studying neurology.
Case 2 – An old woman with a Santa-inspired elfin friend. Turns out, there is no elf. It’s a hallucination caused by Louis Body Dementia. They give her medicines to control the images. They work, but the woman is left completely alone, thus causing depression. Dr. Black takes her off the medicine and the elf is back. Why medicate when she only has a year or 2 left with any mental clarity?
That wraps up episode 1. While the pilot was more hypersexual, the 2nd episode was geared towards theme and doctoring (much like House). Doing the right thing was the message.
Dr. Black needed to do better so she could have a healthy relationship with her ex-fiancé/boyfriend as well as have her visitation rights reinstated – Esme is her world. To get better mentally and physically, Black needed to make better decisions about her body. Her patients were also faced with having to do the right thing.
Case 1A – a renowned neurosurgeon has a seizure during an operation. The patient dies. The surgeon has a brain tumor, which he knew about. Dr. Black convinces him to have the surgery, as well as to reconnect with his son. But, it takes the neurosurgeon’s attempted suicide and a call from Black to get the son to visit.
Case 2A – She’s 21 and a nanny, as well as a college student. This girl imagines her head blowing up. At first, doctors think her symptoms are caused by cocaine use. Turns out she has narcolepsy and exploding head syndrome.
What will happen next week? What cases will we explore? What will Dr. Black do next? Stay tuned.
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