Red Band Society Review

FOX

Christina Ross, Staff Writer

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you had to spend your teenage years locked up in a hospital waiting for a donor? The average answer is no. In this show, kids like you and me are in the Ocean Park Hospital waiting for that phone call to tell them that they are going to have the surgery that will make or break them. Some of the kids have had the chance for this phone call, others haven’t.

The Red Band Society, the group from which the title of this show takes its name, is a group of kids in the Ocean Park Hospital that have vowed to stick together through thick and thin. Leo, Emma, Jordi, Kara, Charlie and Dash are all members of this group. As the season grows, you will find out just how supportive and difficult these kids can be with each other.

Emma Chota is in the hospital for Anorexia Nervosa. She is a 16-year-old girl who is shy at first but, as you get to know her throughout the show, you will notice that she cares more about others in the society than herself. She goes to endless lengths to prove to Nurse Jackson that she has gained weight by putting weights in her pockets, despite the fact that everyone knows that she’s getting worse, not better. But with a little help, she might just be able to get out of the hospital– she just needs to come to terms with her illness.

Leo, one of the first people to be admitted into the hospital, has cancer in his leg and is now crippled because of it. In the beginning, he didn’t want to accept the fact that he couldn’t walk without his crutches or fake leg. The Red Band Society helped him realize that just because he can’t walk on his own doesn’t mean he can’t do everything else any other teenager can, and in one of the episodes he tests this theory out.

Jordi came into the hospital having no family and having just learned that he has the same type of cancer as Leo. When Doctor McAndrew attempts to amputate the leg, he finds something and cannot perform the surgery. When Jordi finds out what happened, he had the Society there to pick him right back up.

Kara is a rich popular cheerleader in the first episode, and in one of her practices she has an accident which then leads to finding out that she has a heart condition. At the same time, she also finds out that she was not going to get on the list for donors because of her history. As the show moves forward she grows worse and in the last episode does something no one in the hospital could believe.

Charlie is a kid who was brought into the ICU because he was in a car accident that his father caused. Charlie never actually wakes up, and all he has is his father and mother, who are always fighting. When the Society was formed, he became a part of it even though he wasn’t conscious. When the other members of the Society go into surgery or have a sudden problem, they go into this state where they are in a white room, and every time they see Charlie. Charlie is there so that he can calm the other members until they are ready to come out of surgery. In all reality he is there as a comfort for the other kids.

Dash, who is Leo’s best friend, has been in the hospital for lung disease. When Leo had his surgery, he was there for him, and now Dash needs him most and Leo isn’t there, which put a strain on their relationship. But I think that sooner or later Leo will notice how unsupportive he has been to Dash and help him out as a best friend once again. After all, the Red band Society is supposed to be there for one another.

Then there is Nurse Jackson, who keeps the hospital and the kids grounded. Although she is tough, as you get to know her– as Kara found out– she is very helpful. She even risks her job to help Charlie, but I won’t tell you what happened; you’d have to find out for yourself.

So as you can see this show can be very inspiring and emotional at times, but it teaches you how precious life is and how it can be taken away or knocked down at any point in time. So the next time you feel sorry for yourself, think about these kids and how it would be to have been in their shoes.

The show is on FOX, Wednesdays at 9:00 PM.