Married to Medicine Houston

Married to Medicine Houston reality stars are revealed in dramatic way

Married to Medicine Houston cast, from left, Rachel Suliburk, Ashandra "Shan" Batiste, Elly Pourasef, Erika Sato, and Monica Patel.

Photo courtesy of Bravo

For months, rumors have swirled about just who exactly are the women who will star in Married to Medicine Houston. Now, Bravo has revealed them, along with a dramatic video touting the reality series that premieres on November 11 in back-to-back episodes, before settling into its regular slot at 8 pm Fridays (see the video below).

While there are five stars, Cindi Harwood Rose, the mother of The Bachelor Season 9 villainess Erica Rose and the wife of famed plastic surgeon Franklin Rose, is a featured player, and from the sneak peek, seems to know how to keep the action going. "I am part African-American," Rose tells a surprised Ashandra Batiste in the video.

Rose's dubious boast notwithstanding, the cast is diverse — one of the most diverse casts Bravo has ever had — and the stars seem accomplished, so we're kind of wondering why they would agree to do this (must be the chance at TV reality fame). As in most reality shows, each star is pegged to provide a certain role (the fun one, the serious one, the bitch, the saint, etc.). Here's what we can ascertain in revealing the cast:

Monica Patel: The Ready-To-Get-Married One

Occupation: Quadruple board certified cardiologist.

Training: After receiving her bachelor of science degree in biology and chemistry at Houston Baptist University, Patel attended the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. She completed an internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship at the UTHealth McGovern Medical School in Houston.

Drama: As a first-generation Indian American raised in Houston, Patel comes from a very tight-knit and traditional family. But in the series, the glamorous cardiologist seems more concerned about getting her hunky boyfriend to propose.

Quote: "Say you're going to marry me right now," she shouts at him while she madly drives a golf cart and he holds on for dear life. "Say it! Say it! Say it!"

Erika Sato: The Conflicted One

Occupation: Cosmetic surgeon.

Training: With a doctorate of medicine from the University of Missouri – Columbia, Sato completed her general surgery residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, where she also completed her plastic surgery residency. She now practices at the Houston Plastic Craniofacial & Sinus Surgery where she specializes in cosmetic surgery and breast reconstruction. Her husband is completing his general surgery residency.

Drama: Sato seems conflicted over whether to start a family.

Quote: "We're going to freeze the baby for one year, " she announces at a dinner party. She is also featured in another scene where she says, "I never wanted to be the trophy wife."

Ashandra "Shan" Batiste: The Happily Married One

Occupation: "Batiste is a feisty dental surgeon who will drill your teeth in six-inch heels," according to the Bravo website.

Training: Batiste graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and Howard University College of Dentistry. She her own dental practice, Elite Dental Wellness. She is married to a medical device sales representative. They are parents of a 3-year-old and Batiste's daughter, 10, from her previous marriage.

Drama: All seems happy with Batiste and her too-perfect-to-be-true husband, although she's not always so nice around her other reality colleagues, at one point threatening to take off her stilettos and "whip your ass."

Quote: When Batiste's husband is asking for something from her (sex, we think) four times a week, she responds, "What you're asking for I'm willing to give."

Elly Pourasef: The Google-able One

Occupation: Audiologist.

Training: Pourasef received her bachelor degree and doctorate in audiology at the University of Texas at Austin. She owns Memorial Hearing, a private practice in Houston. Her husband works in the automotive industry.

Drama: A first generation American, Pourasef moved to Houston from Iran at age 5 with her parents and younger sister. She also has an event-planning side business that caters to the Persian community in Houston. But the video preview shows her more concerned about gaining the respect of the other doctors.

Quote: "There is a hierarchy. I'm not as high up as some of the other doctors," she admits. At another point, she shouts, "Did I ever say I was a medical doctor?" And, to confirm her credentials, she says,"You can Google me."

Rachel Suliburk: The Social Climbing One

Occupation: Suliburk is a nursing student at Chamberlain College of Nursing. She is married to Dr. James Suliburk, a surgeon who works in Trauma and Acute Care Surgery at Ben Taub Hospital.

Drama: Bravo describes her as a "sassy Southern Belle" and as an "aspiring socialite." In the first episode, Rose enlists Suliburk to co-chair a charity gala but later offends her, causing a rift with Sato, who originally brought them together.

Quote: "Do not turn the situation on me."

See the Married to Medicine Houston video here:

Movie Review

Avatar: Fire and Ash returns to Pandora with big action and bold visuals

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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