Network: FOX
Episodes: 13 (hour)
Seasons: One
TV show dates: September 17, 2012 — January 7, 2013
Series status: Cancelled
Performers include: Jordana Spiro, Floriana Lima, Zach Gilford, Željko Ivanek, Wendy Makkena, Jesse Lee Soffer, William Forsythe, James Carpinello, and Michael Rappaport.
TV show description:
This medical drama focuses on a young female surgeon who’s caught between two worlds. She must juggle her promising medical career with her family’s debt to Chicago’s Southside mob. The Hippocratic oath is sacred for most doctors but for Chicago physician Grace Devlin, saving lives isn’t the only concern.
Doctor Grace Devlin (Jordana Spiro) is a top resident at Chicago’s Roosevelt Medical Center. She’s smart and self-assured and heralded as one of the country’s most promising young surgeons. However, her family ties keep her glued to her Southside roots. To pay off her brother’s life-threatening gambling debt, she makes a deal with the “devil” and agrees to work “off book” for the mafia men she’s long despised.
At the hospital, Grace must regularly deal with emotionally compelling cases -– a young woman in need of a heart transplant, a family decimated by a hit-and-run driver, or the mass chaos in the wake of an commuter train collision. But in her other vastly different world, she must juggle an onslaught of mob-related demands, including operating in illegal backrooms, treating hit men hiding from the law, performing emergency surgery on a high-end call girl, and even saving a juiced-up race horse.
Adding to her stress is the fact that Grace must keep her dual life a secret from everyone. That includes her protective best friend, Nurse Rosa “Ro” Quintero (Floriana Lima); her handsome, blue-blooded boyfriend, Doctor Brett Robinson (Zach Gilford); her boss and Roosevelt Medical’s Chief of Surgery, Doctor Stafford White (Željko Ivanek); her rival, Doctor Olivia Wilcox (Jaime Lee Kirchner); her perpetually in-denial mother, Daniella (Wendy Makkena); and even her well-meaning screw-up brother, Nate (Jesse Lee Soffer).
The only ones who know the true scope of Grace’s activities are the men that Grace owes the debt to — including the brutal Southside mob boss Paul Moretti (Michae11 29 2012 09 29
l Rappaport) and charming Constantine Alexander (William Forsythe), an oddly compassionate killer whose relationship with Grace is more than it seems. Recently released from prison, Constantine is the former head of the Southside mob. He wants to reclaim his place in the organization, with the help of his right-hand associate, Grace’s ex-boyfriend named Franco (James Carpinello).
As Grace tries to juggle the demands of these two conflicting worlds –- not to mention the needs of her own slightly dysfunctional family –- her moral center comes into direct conflict with the very immoral things she’s asked to do. With nerves of steel and a tough-as-nails exterior, she somehow manages to make it all work -– at least for now.
Episode #13 — Life and Death
Gunshot victims Constantine and Grace’s mother, Daniella, are rushed to the hospital. After sending Grace – who grabs Constantine’s phone – away, Stafford tends to Constantine, and Brett takes Daniella.
When Nate calls Constantine’s phone and Grace learns four crew members were murdered, Grace tells him about Constantine and Daniella. Agent York asks Grace what she saw (nothing). But York knows she’s Constantine’s doctor and that Nate works for Constantine.
After surgery, Daniella’s condition remains critical. Nate tells Grace the Nogales cartel was behind the shootings. Grace warns Nate the FBI is watching him. Constantine also survives, and Stafford – who knows about Grace’s mob involvement – orders her to stay away from Constantine. York informs Grace that Nate will serve 20 years unless he turns state’s witness. And Al Trapani tells Grace that Constantine killed her father.
York pressures Ro into admitting that Grace used to date Franco. Grace asks Constantine if he killed her father. Constantine says he couldn’t have done that because he’s Grace’s true father, and he had come to her house to tell her this just before he got shot.
When Daniella regains consciousness, Grace asks if Constantine’s really her father. Daniella confirms this. She was afraid her husband would kill her, so she never told anyone. Grace – who always remembers finding her “father” dead when she was six – is shaken by what she’s just learned.
Grace tells Franco about Ro’s slip. Franco advises Grace to plead ignorance. Meanwhile, Daniella dies from an embolism.
Grace blames Constantine for Daniella’s death and threatens to tell the FBI everything she knows. Constantine plays Stavos’s message about Trapani’s lying to the cartel – which made Constantine a target – adding that Trapani told Grace that Constantine killed her “father” to drive a wedge between them. And if Grace wants to avenge Daniella’s death, she’ll help Constantine take down Trapani. OK.
Grace asks Luke to use his Miami contacts to tell the cartel about Trapani’s lie, and to set up a meeting with Tiago Enriquez, the cartel’s top man in Chicago. She also tells Luke that she’s Constantine’s daughter, and Luke agrees to help.
York confronts Franco about his involvement with Grace and her criminal activity. Franco denies everything, but York says Grace’s fingerprints were all over Franco’s safe house. He intends to press charges and takes Franco’s badge and gun.
Grace meets Enriquez – who’s angry that Trapani played him – and his thugs. Speaking for Constantine, Grace offers Enriquez free access to the Eisenhower Expressway, which Trapani controls, if Enriquez forgives Luke’s debt and kills Trapani. Once Enriquez agrees to the deal, Grace spits in the face of the thug who killed Daniella.
When Grace relays this to Constantine, he says it’ll lull the cartel into a false sense of security and give him time to strike back. The deal was illusion and only Grace could sell it. Grace is furious. She wants out. Constantine refuses, saying she has no choice. She’s his blood, his family. Then he falls asleep.
After muting Constantine’s alarm, Grace injects him with insulin, removes the memory chip from his phone, trashes the syringe, and walks out. Constantine flatlines.
Grace tells Nate that she’s out of the mob business. He’s staying in. They hug.
Grace walks out of the hospital, gets into Franco’s car, and they kiss. Franco says, “Mexico, here we come.”
First aired: January 7, 2013
What do you think? Do you like The Mob Doctor TV series? Are you sorry to hear that the show won’t be back for a second season?
I just discovered the mob doctor & absolutely love it. I wish they hadn’t cancelled it. They need to bring it back. I am sure the director & writers could come up with more episodes & story lines for it.