St. Denis Medical, the outstanding mockumentary set in a struggling Oregon hospital, returns for its second season. And things are just as messy for the good folks of TV’s anti-The Pitt as they were last time around. That includes staff shortages, personal problems and, of course, office politics of hilarious proportions. Especially now that often flaky administrator Joyce (Wendi McLendon-Covey) has procured a big investment from hospital backers.
“Those donations and sometimes the relationships with donors can cause complications,” showrunner Eric Ledgin told us last May of Joyce’s long-running effort to raise funds. And having finally locked in that bundle of green, she is now about to deliver on her first-season plan to develop a birthing center. “It seems to me to be a sound enough plan that I’m rooting for her,” Ledgin laughed. “I would like to see her succeed despite whatever barriers and frustrations she might have along the way.” Oh, baby, us, too.
It’s also back-to-work time for perpetually beleaguered charge nurse Alex (Allison Tolman), who begins the season surprisingly refreshed from her much-needed Hawaiian vacation. “I was calm, I was relaxed…I wasn’t getting sucked into other people’s problems,” she tells the unseen camera crew filming at the hospital upon her return. “So, I have decided to bring ‘Chill Alex’ home with me.”
Justin Lubin/NBC
That island vibe lasts about as long as this sentence because, well, this is the emergency room we’re talking about. There’s also the aforementioned staff shortage, an interpersonal problem between flirty nurses Serena and Matt (Kayhun Kim and Mekki Leeper) straight out of human resources hell, a poorly housebroken therapy pony, and a patient suffering the colorful side effects of a gender-reveal party gone awry. “All of this for a baby?” marvels a disapproving Dr. Ron (David Alan Grier). “Even for the Pope, all they do is puff out a little white smoke.”
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After all of that, things get a touch more serious in the second episode when egotistical trauma surgeon Bruce (Josh Lawson) suffers his own trauma: He’s attacked in the parking lot on his way into work. This leads Joyce to run a seminar in how to handle violently unhappy patients, while Alex opts to alert the local media about the rising threats to health-care workers. Of course, neither route proves helpful, but they definitely provide two great best reasons to check back in to this gem of a comedy.
St. Denis Medical, Season 2 Premiere, Monday, November 3, 8/7c, NBC
