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St. Denis Medical gets sharper—and funnier—in season 2

NBC's throwback mockumentary returns with confidence.

By Brian Tallerico | October 29, 2025 | 1:00pm

Photo: Justin Lubin/NBC

TV Reviews St. Denis Medical

St. Denis Medical gets sharper—and funnier—in season 2

The truth is that a lot of people don’t watch network television these days, which means a show like St. Denis Medical could, sadly, easily get buried. This is a strong throwback to when sitcoms on NBC made cultural waves, a program that makes clear how talented co-creator Justin Spitzer is when it comes to art of the workplace comedy. And in its second season, the series returns as tighter and more confident.

The mind behind the great Superstore and the underrated American Auto came back in late 2024 with another mockumentary sitcom, this one set in an Oregon hospital with dwindling resources and overworked employees. Not quite as socially conscious as Superstore was at its best (at least not yet), there’s nonetheless an undercurrent of commentary in St. Denis Medical about the broken health-care system. While the current state of things could have allowed the writers of SDM to lean into social statements a bit more than they do in the eight episodes sent to critics for review, they’re still full of increasingly sharp writing and effectively funny performances. St. Denis Medical doesn’t break the mold of the network workplace sitcom as much as remind you why it was a TV staple.

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Of course, casting is half the battle when it comes to network comedies, and the producers of St. Denis Medical attracted a strong blend of veterans and new faces during that phase of production. For the former, Emmy nominee Wendi McLendon-Covey (The Goldbergs) brings her neurotic energy to Joyce, the executive director of St. Denis. At the start of the second season, Joyce is obsessed with the construction of birthing suites for expecting mothers instead of what her staff really needs on a day-to-day basis. She’s a relatable embodiment of of bosses who talk big about what could happen tomorrow instead of focusing on the needs of their employees today, and McLendon-Covey threads a needle in which she somehow keeps the character relatable and likable instead of just turning her into a villain. Joyce, in other words, is trying to do her best. She’s just not very good at it.

Allison Tolman’s Alex, the supervising nurse who starts this season learning that the relaxation that comes with a vacation can be destroyed quickly when one returns to work, is always doing her best. She gets the “Jim on The Office” part, the protagonist with whom we’re supposed to identify as she looks witheringly at the camera crew capturing the chaos that she’s barely keeping under control. But Spitzer and his team are smart to not turn Alex into too much of a saint. Especially in the second season, she seems to be learning to speak up for herself and her needs as much as she considers those of others.

While St. Denis Medical wisely doesn’t heavily stress a romantic subplot, there’s a growing one between Matt (Mekki Leeper) and Serena (Kahyun Kim) that progresses at the right pace over these new episodes. At the end of last season, Matt professed his interest in Serena, which makes things awkward to start this one But, again, the writers don’t foreground this like a Jim-and-Pam situation. It’s just flavoring for a scene here and there and something that humanizes Matt beyond his goofy demeanor. At the same time, Kim really grows as a performer here, finding a few more comedic registers than the disdain with which she greeted almost everything last season. She’s becoming one of the most likable characters on the show.

The scene stealer is still Bruce (Josh Lawson), the trauma surgeon who got a tattoo between seasons just so people will ask him about it. Drawing another parallel to The Office, Bruce is the Dwight of St. Denis. And Lawson understands the kind of guy for whom ego is a defense mechanism against any potential failure, someone whose lack of social grace consistently punctures what might be likable about his personality. He gets the broadest, goofiest comedic beats in the first half of season two, and the actor’s comic timing seems to only be improving.

Balancing Lawson and Leeper’s very different takes on male idiocy is the excellent David Alan Grier as Ron, who considers himself above the lives of his co-workers but still wants to play in their reindeer games. Grier is a grounding force in St. Denis Medical, a veteran comedian with ace timing whose character can bring the show’s writing back to something relatable with a knowing sigh. Finally, Dave Theune and Superstore‘s Kaliko Kauahi may only have a couple of lines each episode but feel somehow essential to the rhythm of the show regardless.

Of course, like any good workplace comedy, it’s all about balance. Viewers don’t want too much of Bruce’s idiocy or Alex’s warmth; and Serena’s cynicism needs to be tempered by Matt’s wide-eyed optimism. And it’s in that formula that St. Denis finds some consistently funny beats. Again, would it be nice to see the show tackle real-world issues more head-on? Sure. But the hope is that this is only a small stretch of a series that will be on for years. With any luck, there will be plenty of time for that.

St. Denis Medical season two premieres November 3 on NBC