The Knick

chaos_sl said:

I don't get the deal with the c-sections. Why is this defeating them so hard? Wasn't this pretty much a solved problem by 1906 or whenever the fuck this is?

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I think it was still being "perfected"Caesarean section - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also... unless I missed it, there is no such thing as blood transfusion, making it remarkably easier for patients to just bleed to death!

EDIT: Probably spoilerish as it may end up in the narrative, but it's medical history. Blood transfusions existed from the early XIXth century, but it basically killed half of the patients, so by 1900 - when the show takes place - it's no longer used. But in 1901 an Austrian discovers blood groups and suddenly blood transfusion is a russian roulette game no more.

In case you were wondering, this is still all kinds of great.

I think it's the mix of opposites that works so well in this show. It's a period drama, yet it's filmed with raw energy and with an electronic music score. Most characters are part of the elite, yet it is filled with blood and guts and drugs. It's about the forefront of modernity in medical science, but, firstly, seeing what that forefront is just underlines how much things evolved in a bit more than a century and, secondly, this big scientific push forward is in contrast how little things are changing on the social front (even if two of the main characters are the representatives of social evolution).

I always do, sack up bro.

This most recent episode was the best one yet. Thack's conversion from "not interested in an integrated hospital" to Florence Nightingale in the ghetto seems kind of abrupt. But I really like this show.

It is hard to understand the procedures when all I have to go on is wikipedia entries, not being a master of medical history. Some of these things it seems from wikipedia anyway should have been solved at this point, like the c-section, still present problems. But I think they are more trying to get across the arbitrary nature of surgery in this time. Where as now we have highly controlled (i hope) environments with procedures that are highly structured, at this point the environments were more chaotic and these guys may have been doing established procedures but it isn't as if there were hours of video footage for them to go over in preparation.

Yeah they get pretty up close and personal with the surgery. If she likes that, and can stand seeing someone shoot coke into his dick, then it is the show for her.

I'm watching Houdini, it is another period show and is horrible. The actors are all great, but the writing and the way it is shot is just terrible. Next to The Knick it suffers that much more.

chaos_sl said:

Some of these things it seems from wikipedia anyway should have been solved at this point, like the c-section, still present problems.

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My understanding is that the problem is not the C-section in itself, but the fact the placenta is wrongly placed and hemorrhaging so you have to deal with that and the C-section at the same time before the patient bleeds out. But... problem solved!

I found this last episode slightly shark-jumpy with Thackery managing to botch a coagulation test and the head of the opium den going The Raid on the mobsters, but all in all it was a great season in just about every department. Looking forward to the 2nd.

This show was really awesome, I fucking loved Wu going ham and saying this my book now.

and Herion, totally safe from the people who make aspirin =p

This show was remarkably good. I'm biased, because I'm a sucker for any kind of period piece (Deadwood, Boardwalk, Peaky Blinders, etc.), but I really loved The Knick.

Clive Owen holds the show, I mean the other characters are good, but he's just doing his hist on another level. Brilliant. Also dat ninja Wu.

Yeah I find when Clive Owen isn't on the screen, I am wishing he was. Him and the black doctor. The other characters are kind of meh, but a lot of that is intentional I think.

I imagine season 2 will be an entirely different kind of show. With him being an exposed junkie, there can be no more pretense of him being this celebrated doctor. I missed the bit at the end, did they confirm that Bertie quit the Knick? I know they mentioned there was only one surgeon left.

If he's anything like the doctor he's modeled after, he'll trade one addiction for another without sacrificing achievements and prestige. And it's not clear if Chickering and Gallinger quit for good. They're both surgical residents and aren't equipped to head the surgical department. That's probably what that guy meant when he said Edwards was the only one left with a scalpel.