Having confidence and making friends seem to be two of the most challenging things to do. On St. Denis Medical Season 1, Episode 16, “Anything To Push Zaluva,” these were the things Matt and Joyce had to deal with. Both Bruce and Ron had two very different ways of approaching these situations. Meanwhile, Alex and Serena were at odds while organizing a coworker’s baby shower.
Megan The Pharma
Joyce doesn’t get out much, and she doesn’t have a lot of friends, so she was thrilled about her lunch date with her bestie, Megan. That was until Ron informed her that the woman she thought was a friend wasn’t even a friend at all. You see, Megan is a pharmaceutical rep, and according to Ron, “Pharma reps are not our friends.” He thinks they are parasites. He tries to convince Joyce that Megan is only meeting with her to push the medication Zaluva and to get her to do the same. Joyce, of course, was in denial and refused to let Ron ruin her lunch date. Unfortunately, there were just far too many signs, including a Zaluva umbrella.
Because Joyce often gets caught up in her thoughts, she tends to overanalyze everything, and sometimes, this approach hurts her more than it helps. When Megan invited her to Miami, at first, she thought it was for a regular girls’ trip until it was mentioned that she could speak on a panel for 30 minutes. It’s then that Joyce realized Ron may have been right, and she turned the trip down. Surprisingly, Ron accepted Megan’s invitation, which, in a way, made him a hypocrite. However, according to him, he was fully aware that he was being manipulated and was, therefore, immune to it (whatever helps you sleep at night, Ron).
You Stole My Girls Trip
Although Ron informed Joyce how quickly Megan had given away the Miami trip, she was still having a hard time believing that they were not friends. It was hard watching her call Megan up to tell her she was good to go on the trip in place of Ron. The entire phone conversation was so awkward, and we felt how sad Joyce was once she was done. It was a wake-up call for her. But one that she needed. It also led her to take a step back and think about the other female friendships she had. As it turned out, those were also related to the job. Ron’s stepping up to be the friend she needed in the end was really sweet, and he made her feel better.
Look In The Mirror And Love What You See
Since Matt began working at St. Denis, he’s struggled. A lot. It’s now to the point where he can tell he’s the bad nurse. I wouldn’t say that Matt is a bad nurse. He cares for his patients and takes his job seriously. He still has a lot to learn, and that’s obvious by some of the mistakes he makes. And the fact that he still panics a lot. That doesn’t serve him well working the ER, which is not the calmest place one could be in a hospital. Bruce has become frustrated with Matt, so he decides to help him gain some confidence.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Bruce, but him teaching Matt about confidence is a little laughable. Considering that we’ve learned over multiple episodes of St. Denis Medical that he is not as confident as he often pretends to be. I think that’s why his “training” of Matt went so poorly. As I have said before, Bruce takes things too far. While he has good intentions at times, his approach is less than stellar.
MORE: Missed that confrontation between Alex and Bruce? Check out our review of St. Denis Medical, Season 1, Episode 15: ‘Sometimes It’s Good To Be Cautious’
Matt Is Fed Up
When Matt agreed to receive advice and help from Bruce, he didn’t expect to be taken through the ringer. Bruce set up what he believed to be helpful training exercises, which included suturing an orange while lights flickered and trash was thrown at him. Matt took it all in stride until the last exercise of the day, which was a fake trauma involving a woman with an arrow through the chest. After Matt learned none of this was a real patient emergency, he was more than over Bruce.
Matt is a very patient and friendly guy, so if he gets mad, in our opinion, it must mean you’ve done something terrible. Everyone has their breaking point, and Matt reached his. I wasn’t surprised at all when he blew up on Bruce for what he had done. Was it right for him to do it in front of everyone in the break room? No. However, we believe Bruce received the message.
Tiny Tweeks
Last week, on St. Denis Medical, Season 1, Episode 15, ‘Sometimes It’s Good to Be Cautious,’ we were team Alex as she clashed with Bruce. This week, on “Anything To Push Zaluva” we were on Serena’s side, and it had nothing to do with a patient. We’ve mentioned several times that Alex is a bit of a control freak. She loves to have everything organized the way she wants. This kind of mindset is suitable for a Charge Nurse to have not so much when it comes to decorating for a baby shower.
Alex often takes on a lot of responsibilities even when people haven’t asked her to. She seems to think that because she is the Charge Nurse, she has to do everything and plan everything as well. When she was swamped with work, it became clear that she would not have time to organize a baby shower for one of her nurses, April. Serena saw this and volunteered to take care of everything.
Alex and Bruce May Not Be So Different
As always, Alex started to find fault and critique everything Serena was doing, from the types of balloons she purchased to the donuts instead of a cake. What was great about Serena was that she recognized the signs, but it didn’t stop her. And she even asked Alex several times if she wanted to take over. Each time, Alex told her no. Even though she later assigned some patient work to her that would consume part of her decorating time. And that was honestly really messed up of Alex to do.
Serena was right to call her on it all. She knew that Alex organizing the baby shower was more about her ego (sound familiar?) than it was about April, the mom-to-be. Serena clocked that Alex was looking for her hero moment so that everyone would pat her on the back and tell her what a good job she had done. Bruce is the same, and it was what Alex called him out about in Episode 15. Once Alex realized and acknowledged that Serena was onto something, the two of them were then able to work it out and deliver the best baby shower they could come up with.
St. Denis Medical airs Tuesday Nights at 8/7c on NBC.
