“A Gifted Man” Pilot Episode – My Thoughts

The pilot episode of “A Gifted Man” aired Friday night, and I was watching. What? Did you expect me not to watch the first and—for all I know—the only new spiritual or supernatural-based series of 2011 Fall season?

“A Gifted Man” is about a top neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Holt, who discovers that he has another, rather disconcerting gift—that of seeing and communicating with his dead ex-wife.

Dr. Holt, played by Patrick Wilson, would be the last person you would expect to develop such a gift. The first few minutes of the show really highlights how arrogant, cold, and downright mean Dr. Holt really is. For instance, the first scene shows Dr. Holt coldly barking orders to a slow moving intern in the operating room. (Upon completion of the surgery, Dr. Holt orders the offending intern to be fired). The next couple of scenes show him failing to wish his secretary a Happy Birthday and being mean to his sister.

But then he has a chance encounter with his ex-wife, Anna, with whom he has been divorced for the past ten-years. He seems very happy to see her, they enjoy dinner together, and then she leaves. Shortly thereafter, he finds out that she was killed in a traffic accident two weeks previously.

Before Dr. Holt can fully process this, Anna (played by Jennifer Ehle) asks him to go to her free medical clinic, input her password, and unlock her computer files for her coworkers. It’s really quite humorous to see this staunch neurologist enter a room full of “lower class” people. Nevertheless, his trip to unlock her computer files leads him to also help an Haitian earthquake survivor, a child.

Friday night’s pilot episode of “A Gifted Man” briefly shows Dr. Holt wrestling with the unbelievable fact that he is speaking to his dead ex-wife (he even has an MRI taken of his own brain to see if he might have a brain tumor) but he soon realizes that he likes having her around. I think that giving himself an MRI was a brilliant move, because the only thing that bothered me about this pilot episode is that there is no clue as to why he suddenly starts seeing Anna. Perhaps they will work the explanation into some future episodes?

And, yes, I do look forward to seeing future episodes. Judging by next week’s preview, Anna will be doing a lot of interfering in Dr. Holt’s life. But I “sense” that her interference will make him a better man.  Did you watch “A Gifted Man” and what did you think of it?