The fall 2024 TV season has been exciting, but a fan theory about one of the buzziest new shows is taking things to a whole new level thanks to a Ryan Murphy-sized twist. Since the premiere of Murphy’s new show Doctor Odyssey, fans have been busy speculating that there’s more than meets the eye with this generation’s version of The Love Boat, something that Murphy’s other show ,Grotesquerie, could either help or hinder their theory.
Doctor Odyssey is escapism TV at its finest, with high drama, low stakes and lots of eye candy. The series follows Dr. Max Bankman (Joshua Jackson) as he navigates his new job as ship’s doctor on the Odyssey, a luxury cruise ship that puts Below Deck yachts to shame. Odyssey’s helmer, Captain Massey (Don Johnson), refers to the ship as “heaven,” laying the groundwork for a fan theory that suggests that this whole thing is a COVID coma dream.
Max decided to pack up his life and seek new horizons after spending time in a COVID coma; he was Patient Zero at his hospital and he came very close to losing his life before his recovery. Now fans believe the whole thing, from the new dream job to the flashy ship full of beautiful people, are actually a look inside Max’s head while he dreams; in reality he’s not actually awake at all because he’s still in the coma.
There are lots of theories, most of which are summed up handily in a TV Line article that has been tracking them. Some of the noteworthy theories include the Odyssey ferrying people to the afterlife, all of the guests also being in COVID comas and even Captain Massey himself being a ghost. Even the cast is weighing in on some of these theories, delighting in the speculation; Joshua Jackson discussed how one theory was common on set, while Sean Teale discussed the show’s reality.
Twists are par for the course for Murphy, whose American Horror Story became known for jaw-dropping moments that turn the tide of the entire series. That’s why we think Murphy’s other series this season, Grotesquerie, might offer some clues about what’s happening in Doctor Odyssey.
Grotesquerie is Murphy’s newest horror entry this season, taking the place of AHS. It’s the story of a police detective, Lois Tryon (Niecey Nash-Betts) who encounters chilling murders in her small desert town. Her brilliant daughter is wasting her life trying to get on a reality show while her husband lies in a coma. The murderer, Mr. Grotesquerie, is toying with her as she investigates these cases with her newfound confidant, Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond), a nun writing for the church’s true crime paper.
In episode 7, though, a massive plot twist was revealed: Lois is the one who was in a COVID-induced coma and everything we’ve been seeing has been her coma dreams. Her husband, played by Courtney B. Vance, is about to pull the plug on her when she miraculously wakes up from the coma, shocking everyone. Real-life Lois made a lot of mistakes in her life and now she has to make amends. Just as she’s about to move away she is called back to her former role as a detective after a murder is committed that bears an uncanny resemblance to one from her coma dream.
So that means we have one Murphy series where fans think the whole thing could be a COVID dream airing at the same time as a second Murphy series where the whole thing actually is a COVID dream that seems to be coming to life.
On one hand, Grotesquerie’s shocking twist could spell doom for the Doctor Odyssey theories because the odds of Murphy pulling the same stunt twice in the same TV season are relatively low. He’s known for massive twists that change the course of shows, notably in the first season of AHS, known as Murder House, where it was revealed that all of the house’s inhabitants were ghosts, and in season 6’s Roanoke, when the first half of the season was presented as a documentary and the second half was the production’s cast and crew trying to survive. Surely he wouldn’t attempt the same trick twice at the same time… right?
As a longtime Ryan Murphy fan, I’m inclined to think that Grotesquerie might be a setup for what could be happening in Doctor Odyssey. In fact, it’s entirely possible that they’re meant to be paired up, despite being on different networks under the Disney umbrella. The shows feature lead characters who have experienced COVID comas and end up coming out of them to rediscover themselves; for Max, it’s a dream job, and for Lois it’s being thrust into a nightmare. Grotesquerie is unmistakably horror — think hell — and Doctor Odyssey is fluff-filled fantasy — think heaven. Are these shows both about the afterlife?
In a world where Ryan Murphy releases six new shows in the same season, we have to think that there are no coincidences. Only time will tell in the quest for answers.
Doctor Odyssey airs Thursdays on ABC while Grotesquerie airs Wednesdays on FX; both shows are available to stream the following day on Hulu.
