THE SECOND BEST HOSPITAL IN THE GALAXY
Season One Greys’ Anatomy
UK/US Prime Video, streaming now
Showrunner Cirocco Dunlap
Cast Stephanie Hsu, Keke Palmer,
Natasha Lyonne, Kieran Culkin
If this is the second best hospital in the galaxy then pray you never get admitted to the third. If you manage to make it out alive, you’ll still likely be missing a limb, stuck in a time loop or impregnated with an alien egg.
Clearly there are good doctors operating here, but in Russian Doll writer Cirocco Dunlap’s new animated comedy set in an alien hospital, the action spotlights Dr Sleech and Dr Klaw, two ambitious surgeons who seem to be at the centre of a maelstrom of medical disasters. As if the cases-of-theweek weren’t bad enough – STDS that leave you looking like the last person you slept with, a skinshedding alien that’s actually a sex bomb – Klaw and Sleech are also involved in an unethical arc plot, researching a deadly anxietyeating brain parasite.
There’s lots of icky alien sex. Lots of bodily fluids. And lots of sci-fi medical dilemmas that make Star Trek’s sickbay-focused episodes look about as complex as a game of Operation. Amid the weirdness there’s also a more serious attempt to explore mental health issues.
But while there’s a lot to admire and enjoy here, something’s not quite clicking. The characters are quirky but not especially endearing, and the show is hampered by a surfeit of everyone talking very fast– something that plagues a lot of adult animated series (though Natasha Lyonne’s role as a snarky nurse helps to slow things down). And while there are some great bizarre gags and (ahem) sick jokes, too often an elongated build-up climaxes in a damp squib punchline. Dave Golder
Kieran Culkin’s character Dr Plowp has four brothers, who are voiced by Christian, Macaulay, Shane and Rory Culkin.