WHY 'DR DEATH' SHOWRUNNER USED DUAL TIMELINES TO UNRAVEL DUNTSCH'S 'OCCAM'S RAZOR' EMAIL
First Published on TheWrap.com
PATRICK MACMANUS TELLS THEWRAP HOW HE CONSTRUCTED THE COURTROOM SCENE "SO THAT WE COULD HEAR THE WORDS COMING OUT OF JOSH'S MOUTH"
In Peacock's limited series "Dr. Death," the existence and significance of the email Dr. Christopher Duntsch (portrayed by Joshua Jackson) sends to his nurse and lover Kim Morgan (Grace Gummer) the night before he performs an ill-fated spinal surgery on his friend Jerry Summers (Dominic Burgess) is revealed much earlier than the letter's actual contents.
Due to the twisty nature of the based-on-true-events show's dual timelines detailing Duntsch's horrifying missteps as a neurosurgeon and his subsequent trial for the crimes against his patients, viewers get even more teases about how vital the email, which has the subject line "Occam's Razor," is going to be for putting Duntsch behind bars before we have enough evidence to understand why.
The reason for all of this build-up to the email's delusions of grandeur is because "Dr. Death" showrunner Patrick Macmanus wanted you to be worrying about exactly what it said until Jackson reads it himself while Duntsch is in the courtroom.
"I love dropping something and having audiences be like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? Wait, come again? Why don't I know this?' So that -- in my opinion, and it's subjective -- it becomes that much more impactful when you actually get to it, because the audience has been waiting for it and waiting for it," Macmanus told TheWrap of the "Occam's Razor" email, which the real-life Duntsch sent to the real-life Morgan. "And when you finally drop it, hopefully it's a moment of revelation and relief that the audience feels for finally having it."
Macmanus said he didn't want the email to just be words on a screen or something read out by Morgan or prosecutor Michelle Shughart (AnnaSophia Robb) -- it had to be recited by Duntsch himself. Of course, that required adding the element of a narrating Duntsch into a scene where the neurosurgeon was dead silent as his former employee and lover testified against him and detailed his disturbing medical behavior in court.
"So that moment where he comes in like a specter over Grace [Gummer's, who portrays Kim Morgan] shoulder was very purposeful so that we could hear the words coming out of Josh's mouth as opposed to Grace reading it or AnnaSophia reading it. I wanted him to say it."