PULSE (2025): Episode 1.1: “Abby”

Name: PULSE (2025): Episode 1.1: “Abby”
Item: PULSE (2025): Episode 1.1: “Abby”
Author: Review

"“A Pulse of Mediocre Melodrama”"

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

PULSE is a 2025 medical drama series on Netflix. Danielle “Danny” Simms (Willa Fitzgerald) is a gifted yet anxious nurse at a Miami trauma center. In episode one, “Abby,” a raging hurricane sends a bus of injured high school athletes under her supervision. Danielle and her colleagues race to cure their blunt trauma. At the same time, she launches a serious complaint against the doctor she used to date. This allegation causes personal resentment amongst Danielle’s staff. Will she be able to confront her demons?

The first episode of PULSE displays healthy signs of a promising show. It has competent writing, decent direction, and excellent acting from the lead protagonist. Moreover, it features a strong moral worldview with doctors saving people’s lives, a man choosing surgery over a voluntary death, and a strong mother-daughter bond. Unfortunately, the episode has the immoral symptoms of moderate gore, gossip, and the heroine purposely lying to her friends. As such, MOVIEGUIDE® prescribes a “pill” of major caution for older teens and adults.

Content:

(C, BB, HH, L, VV, N, S, D, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

A strong moral worldview with “gossipy” elements, the heroine and her colleagues value the safety and health of their patients, the heroine saves the life of the hospital director’s daughter, the side characters are diligent workers who respect one another, the heroine convinces a dying man to overcome his guilt and take a lifesaving surgery, the lead character has a public falling out against the doctor she used to love, the heroine helps a mother deliver her baby in a flashback, the hospital director has a strong bond with her daughter, and some doctors discuss their jealousy against the heroine’s abrupt job promotion;

Foul Language:

The heroine says “sh-t” once;

Violence:

Moderate violence with semi-realistic hospital gore, a hurricane knocks a school bus into the ocean, a male athlete gets his left hand amputated off-screen, several high school athletes have bloody bruises on their torso and head, some patients get their cuts surgically stitched together, the hospital director performs heart surgery on a patient, the heroine performs a “blood drain” on a woman’s heart in dire circumstances, and the doctors stick IV needles into several patients;

Sex:

No onscreen sex, but the heroine launches an sexual harassment allegation against her ex-boyfriend, and the heroine kisses a naked man while he takes a shower;

Nudity:

The heroine strips down to her underwear at home, and a man’s rear-end is briefly flashed on-screen, but no genitalia or bare breasts are shown;

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol use;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or illicit drug use, but the doctors prescribe pain medication and sedatives to their patients; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

The ex-boyfriend accuses the heroine of lying about her childhood trauma, the side characters become envious of the heroine’s promotion to head doctor, the protagonist justifies her lies and omissions in order to “protect” her patients’ mental health, the heroine performs a risky heart procedure without permission, and the heroine’s complaint against her ex-boyfriend becomes public knowledge without her consent.

More Detail:

In episode one, “Abby,” Danielle and her colleagues treat an influx of injured students from Hurricane Abby. Danielle reluctantly accepts a temporary promotion to chief doctor, with the hospital short on staff. The crew rushes several victims to the operating table, including the bus driver, several high school football players, and the hospital director’s daughter. However, the storm escalates to flooding large swathes of Miami.

Meanwhile, Danielle files a sexual harassment complaint against her former boyfriend, Xander Phillips (Colin Woodell). Xander is a sarcastic yet skilled doctor whom Danielle and the hospital staff respect. However, Danielle’s private complaint is leaked to the workforce. Xander is suspended from work, while Danielle’s friends grow resentful of Danielle’s rash judgment. Moreover, her co-workers face their private feelings of jealousy and anger. Will the hospital be able to weather the storm?

From a production standpoint, PULSE gets the job done. The cinematography and directing are all competent. The hospital set feels “believable,” and the acting is okay at best. It is comparable to the higher tier acting of the CW network but will not win any awards. The weakest link is the visual effects department. The storm initially hits a Miami bridge and sinks a school bus. The CGI quality is rough at best, giving the series a “low budget” feeling. Thankfully, PULSE picks up in the ethics department.

When put through an ultrasound, PULSE has a beating moral heart. The doctors are diligent surgeons who care for the well-being of their patients. The characters save people’s lives with high-risk heart surgeries, stitching wounds together, and talking with suicidal patients. The hospital director and her daughter have a strong maternal bond. In a subplot, the bus driver contemplates ending his life by refusing a life-saving procedure. The heroine and her patients convince the driver to choose life, and he survives the procedure. The show is not explicitly Christian, but it has universal moral values. However, the series is infected with a bad case of “objectionable content-itis.”

PULSE contains the symptoms of semi-realistic violence, sexual promiscuity, and gossip. The heroine utters “sh-t” once. The patients are shown to have head bruises, bloody noses, and punctured skin. One football player has his left hand amputated off-screen. There are three sequences of the hospital staff performing surgery and stitches on the patients. In one scene, the heroine performs a risky heart procedure on a cheerleader.

The doctoral staff discuss their envy and resentment behind Danielle’s back. They claim she is not worthy of her promotion and believe she unfairly targeted Xander Phillips. Xander accuses Danielle of telling “fake sob stories” to her patients to save their lives. Later, Danielle admits to holding back critical information from her superiors, wanting to not stress them out while performing essential surgeries. In a flashback, Danielle comes to her house and strips down her underwear. She finds a naked Xander in the shower and proceeds to kiss him. It is implied that they are neither married nor engaged.

Lastly, PULSE promises to deliver a ten-episode rivalry between Danielle and Xanders. Their acting is decent, but their writing is as deep as an IKEA furniture handbook. The side characters show promise of character development. If viewers want a medical drama with decent writing, they should look elsewhere.

The first episode of PULSE displays healthy signs of a promising show. It has competent writing, decent direction, and excellent acting from the lead protagonist. Moreover, it features a strong moral worldview with doctors saving people’s lives, a man choosing surgery over a voluntary death, and a strong mother-daughter bond. Unfortunately, the episode has the immoral symptoms of moderate gore, gossip, and the heroine purposely lying to her friends. As such, MOVIEGUIDE® recommends a “pill” of major caution for older teens and adults.