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Pulse shows that if there’s one thing I miss in medical drama, it’s the disappearance of E.R., even 16 years after it finished.
Given that it’s set in Miami, Florida, where the weather is 100% perfect all the time, and everyone drives to the conditions on the road, there are no accidents, and the student doctors and young residents, all sit around drinking tea for 10 episodes…
Nah, that wouldn’t work, would it? Thankfully for us, the sunny weather has given way to Hurricane Abby, more angry than your ex after you just glanced an eye at her sister during a family wedding. And since no-one knows how to drive properly, exhibit A leads to a school coach and his pupils needing urgent medical treatment, otherwise some, none or all of them might be heading for the pearly gates way too soon.
Early on, as we’re being introduced to the staff, Chief Resident Xander Phillips (Colin Woodell – The Continental: From The World Of John Wick ) got drunk the night before, and has been reported for sexual harrassment against Danielle ‘Danny’ Simms (Willa Fitzgerald – Strange Darling), and they need a replacement in the meantime, so who will it be?
Natalie Cruz (Justina Machado – The Horror of Delores Roach) is their boss, with other regulars including Sam Elijah (Jessie T Usher – Gen V), Harper Simms (Jessy Yates) – who’s also Danny’s sister and in a wheelchair, Sophie Chan (Chelsea Muirhead) and Camila Perez (Daniela Nieves), with some doctors moaning that the latter is too pretty, but when they’re always short-staffed, why are they worrying about nothing?
Yes, we have a number of cocky doctors – just like E.R., blood spurting when the docs might or might not have got things sorted out for a patient as junior doctors bite off more than they can chew – just like E.R., and the plotlines falling into the same situation of having dull, romantic situations – just like E.R., plus occasionally, some docs flipping back and forth into Spanish mid-sentence, which is annoying. It may happen in Miami, but when I’m watching TV, I feel like I’ve knocked the remote and it’s changed to a different show.
That said, as I mentioned, I loved E.R. so this is a positive.
There’s also certainly a few heart-in-mouth moments, particularly during surgery scenes, which I find far more engaging than doctors and nurses canoodling, or having occasional tiffs that sound like something from a Channel 5 TV Movie in the afternoon. The latter are generally accompanied by cliched dialogue, such as one doc talking about how “I always wanted to be in the eye of a hurricane, and do you know what happens on the other side? It reverses”… Enough, already!
There’s also a hilarious moment in the third episode, where the hurricane causes a telegraph pole to collapse, trapping someone in a car. The nearby Danny rushes over to try and lift it off the car, despite being 5’5″, weighing about 10kg and with arms as thin as a rake!
Tip for Season 2: Enough of the Mills & Boon nonsense, just have the surgery scenes where people get their heads cut off by Johnny from In A Violent Nature, and then have to be stitched on with needle and thread (okay, that doesn’t actually happen, but you get the idea).
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Pulse is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from today.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45-60 minutes per episode (10 episodes)
Release date: April 3rd 2025
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Sarah Boyd, Carlton Cuse, Kate Dennis, SJ Main Muñoz, Wendey Stanzler
Producers: Ra’uf Glasgow, Howard Griffith, Joel Jeffrey Nishimine
Creator: Zoe Robyn
Writer: Zoe Robyn, Carlton Cuse, Shepard Boucher, Ann Cherkis, Helen Childress, Johanna Lee, Joshua Troke
Music: Torin Borrowdale
Cast:
Danielle Simms: Willa Fitzgerald
Tom Cole: Jack Bannon
Sam Elijah: Jessie T Usher
Harper Simms: Jessy Yates
Sophie Chan: Chelsea Muirhead
Camila Perez: Daniela Nieves
Cass Himmelstein: Jessica Rothe
Xander Phillips: Colin Woodell
Natalie Cruz: Justina Machado
Gabriel Moreno: Santiago Segura
Vero Cruz: Sophia Torres
Luis Dominguez: Arturo Del Puerto
Dr. Ruben Soriano: Nestor Carbonell
Nia Washington: Ash Santos
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.