Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Medical Police’ On Netflix, Where Two ‘Childrens Hospital’ Docs Become Accidental Medical Investigators

Childrens Hospital was on for so many years that it started as a true web series, i.e. a series you could only watch on your computer or phone. When it moved to linear TV, its title lost an apostrophe (because it became a hospital named for some guy with the last name of Childrens) but continued its fast-paced parody of self-serious medical shows. Now, Erinn Hayes and Rob Huebel get “promoted” to the rank of “doctor-cops” in the spin-off, Medical Police. Read on for more…

MEDICAL POLICE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Two people in flight suits and helmets struggling to open up someone else’s parachute as they plummet to the ground.

The Gist: Eighteen hours earlier, we’re in Childrens Hospital in São Paulo (you read that correctly). A case comes in that involves a student who is having a seizure and has a mysterious rash on his neck. Dr. Lola Spratt (Erinn Hayes), always up for a trauma, takes a look, and has no idea what that rash is all about. Other university students have come in with that rash, and Lola wants to go to the university to see what might be going on, over the objections of her boss, Sy Mittleman (Henry Winkler). She tries to get a ride from everyone in the hospital, and has to settle for one from hotshot immature surgeon Dr. Owen Maestro (Rob Huebel).

Wen they get there, they’re confronted with a quarantined building; the CDC received her report and sent top agent Sloane McIntyre (Sarayu Blue) to investigate. She says the rash is a “unicorn,” one that hasn’t been seen before (also a mythical horse with a horn). When evidence of the virus is reported in Berlin, McIntyre says “wheels up” and “roll out” as she and Lola get on a transport plane. Sy finds Lola and plays “You’re fired/I quit” chicken with her until Lola texts “I QUITE!”. Once they’re in the air, Owen pops out from the lavatory with an elaborate story involving making sure people didn’t think he peed his pants.

Right before they’re about to land in Berlin, two members of McIntyre’s team turn on the agent and the doctors and a fight ensues. After they prevail, McIntyre deputizes the doctors and tells them to jump into Berlin and try to find the source of the virus, which could be a deadly form of bioterrorism. The agent tries to crash-land the plane while Lola and Owen try to open the parachute of one of the dead agents as they all plummet to the earth.

Our Take: What caught me a little by surprise when I watched the first episode of Medical Police when I saw most of the cast of Childrens Hospital. As much as I liked the hijinks from that show, I wasn’t sure how things were going to be different from the original show. The creators are all the same people, including Rob Corddry (bloody clown doctor Blake Downs) and David Wain, who directed the first episode of Medical Police. Sy came in and talked about standing desks with Downs and Dr. Valerie Flame (Malin Akerman).

But then Lola and Owen started on their mission and then I got it. The setup at Childrens was a fake-out, making us believe that everyone there was going to be a medical investigator. But the ten-episode series will follow Lola and Owen around the world as they try to track down the source of this virus. And, since they’re barely competent enough to be doctors, they’ll likely make for pretty inept law enforcement officers, too.

In a way, this format might work better for the kind of parody that Wain, Corddry, Krister Johnson and Jonathan Stern perfected for Childrens. Why do I say that? Because, as funny as Childrens was, its case-of-the-week format wore me down after awhile, to the point where I didn’t watch much of the show once it went from the web to linear TV. But because this is a season-long story, Wain, Corddry and company can mine jokes from different locales and new characters, as well as continuing to squeeze character-based jokes from the super-confident Lola an the completely immature Owen.

Sex and Skin: Nothing.

Parting Shot: Lola, Owen and the dead agent land in a public square in Berlin. Somehow, they both know what the Berlin police are saying when they order them to put their hands in the air.

Sleeper Star: Despite the fact that it seems that McIntyre will crash land the plane, it’s not the last we’re going to see of Blue in the role. We know she’s all over the dial since her sitcom I Feel Bad flamed out last season, but any place where she has the opportunity to show her stuff is welcome.

Most Pilot-y Line: “As we both know, the hospital we both work at is in Brazil,” Owen overexplains to Lola (and the audience, just in case they’re not familiar with Childrens). “That’s right, we both live and work in a hospital that serves the American expatriate community in São Paulo, Brazil, as we know.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Medical Police continues the twisted take on TV medical tropes that Childrens Hospital started, while somehow expanding its world and raising the comedic stakes.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream Medical Police On Netflix