St. Denis Medical returns to the hospital’s birthing centre this week as the series nears its season end. “Experience With Human Babies” sees Alex (Allison Tolman) help Joyce (Wendi McLendon-Covey) hire a midwife. Elsewhere, Bruce (Josh Lawson) joins Matt (Mekki Leeper) for an ambulance ride-along, while Serena (Kahyun Kim) and Ron (David Alan Grier) butt heads over a pen.
The A-plot follows Joyce as she attempts to hire a head midwife for the birthing centre, with Alex serving as her right-hand man – or woman, as she corrects, handling the interviews alongside her. From the outset, the candidates prove disastrous. One delivers farm animals rather than babies. Another encourages mothers to eat placenta and umbilical cords, insisting you can eat anything that falls out, and then asks to smoke. A third arrives after a late career change, calling himself a “mid-husband”, prompting Alex to note that it sounds like most husbands.
Relief arrives in the form of Ashley Lawrence (Kristen Schaal), an impressive candidate with an advanced degree and experience with human babies. That is, until Joyce recognises her as Sanderson’s girlfriend, having met him right in front of her. Ashley trained in Michigan, one of the country’s top programs and only committed to midwifery after working with mothers. Joyce praises her intelligence and passion, though she cannot resist critiquing Sanderson’s habits and even comments on Ashley’s body.
When Joyce asks Ashley how she would rate her, Ashley suggests they would have a great professional relationship, earning Joyce’s approval, only for Joyce to call her weird once she leaves. Alex declares Ashley the clear winner, but Joyce insists Mel would be a better fit, despite his lack of experience.
Joyce’s personal feelings continually cloud her judgment. She questions Val (Kaliko Kauahi) on whether the idea of a male midwife seems strange, only for it to backfire when Val says yes. Joyce urges her to try again because the remark is sexist, but Val is okay with that. Kauahi earns an easy laugh, further emphasising how underused she is. Joyce also berates Alex for overstepping when she suggests that she is letting a personal issue affect the staff, particularly after Joyce proposes cutting corners in other departments to tighten budgets rather than hire Ashley.
Tensions come to a head when Alex organises a second interview with Mel and Ashley, where Joyce’s conflicted loyalties become impossible to ignore. Later, Joyce admits her separation from Sanderson still affects her and that she does not know if she can see Ashley every day. Alex reminds her that the birthing centre is her baby and that she must listen to her heart.
In the end, Joyce chooses Ashley. She believes it says a great deal about her that she asked her boyfriend’s ex-fiancée for a job; it says even more about Joyce that she has the confidence and maturity to hire her. The head midwife is always on call; it will be rough on a relationship. McLendon-Covey remains a delight.
St. Denis Medical has struck gold by pairing Bruce and Matt together in recent weeks, something that continues in “Experience With Human Babies”. This week’s B-plot follows Matt on his first EMT ride-along, a Joyce-mandated exercise designed to give nurses firsthand insight into the patient experience. Matt is visibly nervous, likening it to doing his normal job while running red lights. Bruce, naturally, insists on tagging along, decked out in sunglasses and declaring the ride-along the birthplace of heroes. As ever with Bruce, the episode relishes the chance to knock that ego down a peg or two.
Inside the ambulance, the reality proves far less glamorous. It smells of death thanks to an air freshener, and a paramedic insists they buckle up. Bruce refuses, claiming they must be ready to leap into action, though he eventually complies when it becomes clear they are going nowhere otherwise. Matt, more sensibly, “normal dogs it” and straps in. The calls themselves prove underwhelming. Bruce hurls himself over a wall to reach a patient, only to discover that a man with a bee sting has been waiting beside the ambulance. Unable to climb back over, he loses his shoe and shouts for Matt’s help.
While Matt believes they have been lucky, Bruce complains they have been saddled with duds. The plot escalates with a life alert call. Unable to access the property, Bruce attempts a dramatic rescue, edging along a ledge to reach a window. The paramedic suggests waiting for the fire department, but Bruce presses on, insisting that some people are heroes. Predictably, the plan fails spectacularly. The windows are locked, Bruce realises the height, and he promptly injures himself trying to retreat, leaving him clinging to the wall.
The comedy turns unexpectedly sweet when Matt joins him outside. Matt urges Bruce to take his hand, but Bruce warns that he will drag him down and kill them both. He laments that he was meant to be the hero today, only to find himself in need of rescue. He insists he is not scared, merely “jammed up”. Matt admits he gets scared sometimes, but Bruce corrects him, insisting it’s “jammed up”. Matt points out that people already see Bruce as a hero; he doesn’t have to pretend to be brave all the time.
Bruce then confronts Matt for being the real pretender, afraid of ambulances, life, and even pursuing Serena. Matt insists he doesn’t like Serena that way, but Bruce pushes further. He can lie to the world and to himself, but not to Bruce, especially before they both face death. Matt shrugs it off, claiming it doesn’t matter; they aren’t a match. With two episodes of Season 2 left, the decision to return to this conversation now feels pointed.
The rescue attempt reiterates the episode’s strength in physical comedy, culminating in Bruce perched on a firefighter’s shoulder while clinging to Matt. Bruce claims he has changed Matt’s life, yet in truth, they have all rescued one another. Lawson continues to prove why he is Season 2’s standout performer.
Meanwhile, the C-plot centres on a petty dispute between Ron and Serena over a pen. Ron insists the pen is his, praising its click and ink, while Serena identifies it as hers, noting the faded “B” on the side. Ron counters that the rest has smudged off, conveniently supporting his claim.
Ron’s attachment quickly becomes absurd, though Grier commits fully to the farce. In a hospital like St. Denis, with worn-out equipment and limited supplies, Ron argues that finding something that works feels like a ray of sunshine. When he uses the pen, he becomes his best self. He even performs ASMR into the documentary mic with the pen clicks, claiming it’s like butter. One could argue that his emphasis on finding something that works only highlights that the pen is Serena’s, though the episode pointedly refuses to confirm either way.
The conflict heightens when Ron hears Serena clicking the pen and confronts her. Their argument devolves into childish one-upmanship, each inventing increasingly flimsy stories about where the pen came from. The situation worsens during a supposed emergency, when Ron announces a blocked airway but insists he needs the pen to make an alternate airway. Serena offers a garish pink-and-purple alternative, which he rejects, leading to a brief physical standoff that ends with both screaming.
Grier and Kim ensure hilarity ensues when Ron finally drops his bravado and politely asks for the pen, admitting it helps him. Serena relents, eager to move past the awkwardness. However, by the time she returns it, the pen has run out of ink. The pair share a moment of silence for what they have lost. It’s a ridiculous storyline, but one perfectly suited to a sitcom.
St. Denis Medical plays into its strengths in “Experience With Human Babies”, providing viewers with yet another entertaining 25 minutes. While Wendi McLendon-Covey and Allison Tolman deliver excellent work in the A-plot, it’s Josh Lawson and Mekki Leeper who are the standouts. One thing is for sure: St. Denis Medical has an ensemble worth talking about.
