Entertainment
'A Young Doctor's Notebook' Season 2 Reunites Danielle Radcliffe & Jon Hamm for More Dark Comedy
December 6, 2012 was a fateful day. The stars must have aligned, Jupiter was probably in retrograde, maybe the Gods smiled upon us. How else can you explain the phenomenon that is Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe starring in A Young Doctor's Notebook, together? Well, if you missed that historically important date, fear not. Season 2, entitled A Young Doctor's Notebook & Other Stories , premieres on the Ovation network on Aug. 19 at 10 p.m. Oh, and all four episodes of Series 1 are currently streaming on Netflix, so get binging. Once you're all caught up, read on to see what you can expect to see in the new series.
Image: Sky Arts
Hamm & Radcliffe, Back Together and Better Than Ever
A Young Doctor’s Notebook is based on the autobiographical stories of the early 20th century Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov (he wrote The Master and Margarita). The show is set in 1917 Russia, during the Bolshevik revolution, a civil war that pitted the working class against the bourgeoisie. Are you laughing yet? If this sounds like the polar opposite of Radcliffe and Hamm’s famous projects, fear not. The two have great natural chemistry and immediately elevate every scene they’re in together. Look out for them arguing over Russian politics of the 1910s and discussing their latest girl drama. The real trick of A Young Doctor’s Notebook is that they manage to make these moments actually funny.
Image: Sky Arts
More Morphine, Duh
The Young Doctor’s real antagonist is not another character on the show, but rather his own addiction to morphine (the new Cinemax show, The Knick, another dark take on doctors of the past, features a similar storyline). At the end of last season, we saw our bumbling hero vowing to quit his bad habit. Buuuuut that didn’t last so long. In coming episodes, we’ll see the Older Doctor (Hamm) try to reason with his younger self. As could be predicted, that goes pretty badly. Like, the-Young-Doctor-won’t-give-any-of-his-surgical-patients-morphine-because-he-wants-it-all-for-himself badly.
Radcliffe has stated he’s had problems with alcohol in the past. It’s a testament to his acting abilities that he manages to use this personal experience to make his character’s dependency issues humorous and moving all at once.
Image: Sky Arts
A New Romance
Last year, the Young Doctor was in a tryst with the midwife Pelageya Ivanovna (Rosie Cavaliero). Imagine shouting that name in a moment of passion. At the beginning of the new series, which takes place one year after Series 1, the two are still together. But the Young Doctor soon falls for a new character, Natasha (Margaret Clooney), a lady above his own station. But even though Radcliffe is adorable, don’t think this new romance will be without its complications. For one, Natasha’s got a fiance; and even though Pelageya and the Young Doctor are over, they still have to work in the same hospital.
Image: Sky Arts
... Or Two
In Series 1 we met the Feldsher (Adam Godley, whom you might remember from Breaking Bad), a doctor’s assistant. While he never exactly says so, it’s implied pretty heavily that the Feldsher is gay. He tries to flirt with the Young Doctor, he watches him bathe, stuff like that. In Series 2, the Feldsher hits it off with a colonel of the White Guard who accompanies Natasha to the hospital. These two begin a secret love affair… but considering this show takes place in 1918 in rural Russia, don’t go in expecting them to end up happily ever after.
Image: Sky Arts
Russian Beards of Increasingly Epic Proportions
This is one look I never expected Harry Potter to pull off. Jon Hamm has been known to grow some pretty impressive facial hair in between seasons of Mad Men, though. Maybe Radcliffe is just taking fashion tips from his Older Self.
Image: Sky Arts
