Doctor Odyssey Revives TVLine’s Fever Dream Theory With Fresh Clues in Episode 12

Just when we thought it might be dead, TVLine’s Doctor Odyssey Fever Dream Theory has never felt more alive and well.

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In Thursday’s episode, which saw Shania Twain return for Cougar Week, Dr. Max made a deadpan delivery of a repeated truth: “This is heaven.” Just when we think they’ll zig after that 9-1-1 crossover, they go back to their origins and zag. It’s like the show is teasing us! And just like that, our theory — which argues the entire ship is purgatory and Dr. Max is trapped in a COVID-induced hallucination — has been resuscitated.

And there’s additional evidence: Ever since Avery’s pregnancy reveal in Episode 8, that storyline has seemingly remained stagnant. Is she keeping it? Who’s the father? Will she raise her baby on The Odyssey? Will she still go to medical school? All of these questions remain unanswered, but perhaps this lack of plot progression is the point.

If this all is Dr. Max’s fever dream, the appeal might just be impregnating a coworker, not the actual responsibility of raising a child. Perhaps this man has long-held fantasies about sowing his seed, or has sought the kind of storybook love that magically produces a child because it’s just that strong.

Plus, the pregnancy presents Max with plenty of his own major questions: Is he ready to be a father? Does he want to be a father? Does he want to enter into a committed relationship? And that’s what dreams often do — they offer a space to mull the existential questions our conscious minds prefer to avoid.

Back in May, Jackson even joked himself that when 9-1-1′s Athena Grant first boarded the ship, her character “just fell madly, head-over-heels in love with me the second she saw me.” Yes, he was kidding, but that idea is always in the air on Doctor Odyssey; Dr. Max wants, needs and demands love! He so badly wants to be the kind of man who can turn heads, bat eyes and seduce Angela Bassett with one fleeting glance. So it’s possible his fantasy stems from the desire to fully occupy a woman’s mind — and Avery’s occupied uterus is just a metaphor for that.

Plus, in Episode 12, Twain’s Heather delivered her own shocking revelation: She, too, is pregnant. It’s nearly miraculous — or fantastical, one might say — considering she’s in the middle of menopause. How exactly does that fit into our theory, you ask? Well, maybe Max has a mother or a sister whose own biological clock ran out before they were able to conceive a child. Perhaps for Max, the Heather storyline isn’t his own fantasy, but rather his subconscious searching for the preferred outcome for someone he loves. Haven’t you ever had a dream about attending a friend’s wedding, or your cooking-averse brother preparing a delectable, 10-course meal when you know he only possesses the capacity to heat up an expired Lean Cuisine?

And if you’re not sold on that, haven’t you at least had dreams that make no sense at all? Like a zebra eating a quesadilla, or the planets collapsing into Texas? It’s unbelievable that a woman approaching 60 might get pregnant, but not if that woman only exists in your imagination.

So let the record show that we’re not giving up yet. We will go down with this conspiratorial ship. What’s your take: Does TVLine’s Doctor Odyssey Fever Dream Theory still hold water? Hit the comments with your thoughts!