History Characters / DrDeath

* AgeLift: In real life, Shughart was young, but not as youthful as she's portrayed here.

** Part of his reluctance to prosecute Duntsch comes from the fact that he cares about Shughart, as he warns her that if the case goes poorly, she'll be in danger of ruining her own career.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Kirby lives by this. SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome though, as his disdain for rules sometimes alienates his allies and makes it hard for him to work with the medical bureaucracy.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He comes across as a cynical and self-interested grouch who's focused mostly on getting reelected, but he does care about Michelle, and respects and values her as a colleague. His reluctance to let her prosecute Duntsch is partly because he doesn't want her career to suffer if the case goes badly, as he believes it probably will.

* HiddenDepths: He's a pretty stereotypical Texan who also loves fancy cocktails, classical music, and is an avid outdoorsman who is planning to climb Mount Everest and is coming back from a hike when he gets word of Duntsch's arrest.

* PscyhopathicManchild: He demonstrates extreme arrogance and is unwilling to admit when he's wrong, shows a very juvenile sense of entitlement in his career and his relationships, and reacts to setbacks by whining and sulking like a child.

* BadassBaritone: He has Alec Baldwin's commanding voice.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: The real Duntsch wasn't quite as handsome as Joshua Jackson, and started getting fat ''before'' his career came unstuck.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Minor, but the show gives him the small redeeming trait of being truly passionate about biological research. The real-life Randall Kirby, however, has said that when he reviewed Duntsch's research, he found that it was mostly either plagiarized or outright falsified, and his old colleagues in that field have called Duntsch lazy and barely functional due to his drinking, stating his only value was winning over investors.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: The real Henderson wasn't as good-looking as Alec Baldwin. He's short and bald, while Baldwin is tall and has a full head of hair.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Kirby in real life isn't bad looking, but he isn't as handsome as Christian Slater.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: The real Michelle Shughart isn't an unattractive woman by any means, but she bears very little resemblance to Creator/AnnaSophiaRobb, and was about a decade older in real life than she's portrayed here.
* AdaptationalDyeJob: The real Shughart has jet-black hair, but Creator/AnnaSophiaRobb keeps her own natural blonde color.

* AdaptationalHeroism: The show heavily downplays the anger issues that Jerry develops as a result of being [[spoiler:made quadriplegic]], with the original podcast detailing an account that he would even [[spoiler: use his wheelchair as a battering ram to break furniture and assault his girlfriend]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: ''Something'' is very wrong in Duntsch's psyche, be it malignant narcissism, psychopathy, substance abuse, psychosis, delusional disorder, mania, vascular dementia from his rampant cocaine use, or some combination of these. The writers don't choose one answer, instead letting the viewers judge Duntsch's pathology for themselves.
** He also seems to have poor spatial reasoning. On the football field and a couple of times in the OR, he confuses left and right.
** After he's arrested, he expresses irritation at the constant noise in the prison, hinting at some sort of sensory overload.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's aggressive, blustery, cocky and insulting, even to his allies, and he has a crude sense of humor, even cracking jokes in the OR. But he deeply cares about his patients' wellbeing, is devastated when he sees the damage Duntsch has done, has a warm and gentle bedside manner, and is determined to stop Duntsch from hurting more people. He also does his best to be respectful towards Dr. Henderson, despite their major personal differences. And even though his first meeting with Michelle goes poorly--he's disappointed that a rookie prosecutor got assigned to the case, and doesn't hide it--he warms up, and likes and respects her by the end.

* PetTheDog: He gets a number of these moments to show his softer side, most notably when speaking with one of Duntsch's victims where he is noticeably far more soft spoken and genuinely devastated at not being able to do more to help her. He also warms up to Michelle after his initial hostility and shares a vulnerable moment with her in the same episode. He also makes it clear that, despite their differing personalities, he does respect Henderson as a coleleague and sees him as a friend.

* BrutalHonesty: Kirby is never afraid to tell anyone exactly what he really thinks about them.

* CoolOldGuy: He's in his later years with grandchildren, and is a compassionate, pleasant, and caring man who is highly respected in his field, and is determined to stop Duntsch from hurting anyone else. He's also played by Alec Baldwin, making him cool by default.

* {{Foil}}: He's Duntsch's polar opposite. While Duntsch is fairly young, Henderson is old enough to have grandchildren. Dunstch can't go five minutes without bragging about his supposed brilliance that masks his real lack of skill while Henderson is quite humble despite being a genuinely very skilled and respected surgeon. Duntsch has bad relationships with women that are undermined by his abusive behavior while Henderson has been happily married for decades and his scenes with his wife show his sweet side. Duntsch is disliked by colleagues, even before his real ineptitude becomes apparent, due to his arrogance while Henderson is well-liked and respected by those he works with, being seen as a mentor by younger doctors. The biggest difference is that while Duntsch's ego massively outweighs his actual skill and he couldn't care less about his patients, Henderson is a truly skilled surgeon who sincerely cares about those under his care and takes their suffering very hard. Henderson is both a good doctor and a good person while Duntsch is neither.

* ArchEnemy: He arguably qualifies as one to Duntsch. Kirby was the first to notice how botched Duntsch's surgeries were and try to do something about it and is the most adamant and vocal in stopping him by any means necessary. He even goes out of his way to make sure Duntsch knows it was him who was behind ruining his career and he will make it his mission to ensure Dunstch never practices medicine again.

* PetTheDog: He gets a number of these moments to show his softer side, most notably when speaking with one of Duntsch's victims where he is noticeably far more soft spoken and genuinely devastated at not being able to do more to help her. He also warms up to Michelle after his initial hostility and shares a vulnerable moment with her in the same episode.

* AdaptationalDyeJob: The real Kirby has dark blonde hair and striking blue eyes while here he has Christian Slater's natural black/greying color and brown eyes.

* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: As nasty as his [[DomesticAbuse treatment of Wendy is]] in the show, it was even ''worse'' in real life. The show omits the worst of it, such as a time when he beat her so badly while she was pregnant that she needed to go to the emergency room, or an incident after they'd separated when he drunkenly broke into her apartment with a gun.

* RedOniBlueOni: Blue to Kirby's red. He is soft-spoken, straight-laced, and polite.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: And he'd be the first to admit it: he's blustering, foul-mouthed, hyperactive, and rarely bites his tongue. Luckily, Henderson is there to put the brakes on Kirby's wilder ideas. Much of his eccentricity is accepted both due to being fairly harmless and the fact that he is a legitimately very skilled surgeon.

* PetTheDog: He gets a number of these moments to show his softer side, most notably when speaking with one of Duntsch's victims where he is noticeably far more soft spoken and genuinely devastated at not being able to do more to help her.

* RedOniBlueOni: Red to Henderson's blue.

* TheCharmer: Chris can be very charismatic and good at gaining people's trust when he needs to be.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's aggressive, blustery, and insulting, even to his allies, and he has a crude sense of humor, even cracking jokes in the OR. But he deeply cares about his patients' wellbeing, is devastated when he sees the damage Duntsch has done, has a warm and gentle bedside manner, and is determined to stop Duntsch from hurting more people. He also does his best to be respectful towards Dr. Henderson, despite their major personal differences. And even though his first meeting with Michelle goes poorly--he's disappointed that a rookie prosecutor got assigned to the case, and doesn't hide it--he warms up, and likes and respects her by the end.

->'''Portrayed By:''' Hubert Point-du-Jour

->'''Portrayed By:''' Medina Singhore

->'''Portrayed By:''' Danny Burstein

->'''Portrayed By:''' Dominic Burgess

->'''Portrayed By:''' Molly Griggs

->'''Portrayed By:''' Laila Robins

->'''Portrayed By:''' Spencer House

* PetTheDog: The only time he is ever shown in a positive light is with his son, to whom he is friendly, playful, and kind, never lashing out or talking down to him. At one point he jokingly guesses wrong about the toy that his son got for him in a McDonald's happy meal, which his son teases him about--note that this is the ''only'' time he readily and easily admits to being wrong about something.

* RedemptionRejection: When his father learns of Chris's crimes and that he is jeopardizing his family, he tells his son to clean up his act before it's too late. Chris actually seems to consider it, but eventually goes back and and keeps spiraling until he is arrested. Finally, in prison, he starts suggesting that he might surrender his medical license in exchange for freedom and the ability to go back to research, but his father realizes it's too latet, and that jail is the only choice.

* AmbiguousDisorder: ''Something'' is very wrong in Duntsch's psyche, be it malignant narcissism, psychopathy, substance abuse, a delusional disorder, mania, or some combination of these. The writers don't choose one answer, instead letting the viewers judge Duntsch's pathology for themselves.