Written by Ben Murchison
The latest offering from Netflix, Medical Police, is absurd, in the very best way. The spin-off from the creators of the adult swim short form comedy series Childrens Hospital, which ran for 8 seasons, brings back the majority of the original cast and gives them double the runtime. In their first 10-episode season they tell the story of two American physicians in Brazil who must travel the globe to thwart a plot to release a deadly virus upon the world.
The show can best be described as a dumb comedy for smart people much in the vain of a Mel Brooks or Jim Abrahams film, and it’s rare to find that same level of quality in a streaming series. Within a few minutes, the type of show you are watching becomes abundantly apparent. If that show is something you may enjoy, it will continue to get better and better as more characters are introduced and the ridiculous story progresses. So many throwaway jokes are mixed in with the more obvious ones, making it a show perfect for repeat viewings. The way that exposition is matter-of-factly delivered by the characters and then further stated is just one example of a continuous gag that doesn’t age.
Erin Hayes and Rob Huebel carry the majority of the show as Dr. Lola Spratt and Dr. Owen Maestro, accounting for most of each episode’s runtime as they uncover clues that get them closer to discovering the terror plot. While their boss, Sy Mittleman (Henry Winkler), forbids them from going, they might be the only hope the world has. Along the way, many characters that fans of Childrens Hospital are familiar with pop up played by talent like Rob Corddry, Ken Marino, Jon Hamm, Michael Cera, Malin Akerman, Lake Bell and others, but easily the best cameo comes from Jason Schwartzman as a self-employed tech wizard with a really cool van known as, The Goldfinch. Schwartzman is phenomenal in this. With only a few appearances throughout the season, he flawlessly pulls off what could be difficult jokes and sequences with an understated brilliance.
While the show is absolutely an over the top spoof comedy, it also pushes the limits with some of its gratuitous violence, always played for laughs, and some action sequences that seem dramatic before being interrupted by something humorous. You have to admire the writing first, and the actor’s abilities to say and do the most ridiculous stuff with a completely straight face, but everything has to be perfect for something like this to work. Even elements that lesser projects might ignore or neglect like the score, the editing and, the lightening of different shots, all are meticulously tended to in Medical Police.
You know quickly whether this is a brand of humor that you enjoy, but if you are on the fence give it three short episodes (that seem to continuously top themselves) to win you over with their absurd, brilliant premise and cast.
