While St. Denis Medical Season 2 Episode 3 “Get Me in the Pod Brother” gave us another look at Bruce and how he handles news that he doesn’t like, in some ways, it felt a bit like filler. Don’t get me wrong, I love this show because it provides us with some relatable stories, but some things that happened in the episode, specifically the Alex, Ron, and Serena stuff. It just didn’t land for me. And it felt out of place. But what the episode does well is highlight the pros and cons of early detection equipment.
When Joyce has a huge full-body scanner called a TOMO Pod brought in, Bruce is thrilled to see it. The reason is that it’s designed to scan your body at a cellular level. It essentially provides patients with a way to detect potential health problems. As we know, Bruce is all about wellness and being perfect. He’s concerned with his appearance. And everything affects him, which we learned in St. Denis Medical Season 1 Episode 10, ‘People Just Say Stuff Online.’ So it was not a surprise that he had a meltdown after receiving his own full-body scan.
For Bruce, if he has even the slightest imperfection, or rather what he perceives to be an imperfection, he can’t handle it. His scan revealed that he had a spinal deviation that was indicative of scoliosis. When he learned that Matt, who also took Joyce up on her offer of a complimentary scan, had better results, as is always the case, cocky Bruce was activated.
I will say this: depending on what we saw on a full-body scan, we might be the same way. Not the cocky part. Just more so the panicky part. Because let’s be real, Bruce’s reaction wasn’t born of cockiness; it was out of fear. He thought he was the perfect specimen, and the full-body scan showed otherwise. That’s the problem with early detection. It can be good and bad. The good is that it can provide the opportunity to treat something early. The bad is that it can lead you to spiral if it’s something you can’t change.
MORE: Read our exclusive interview with ‘St. Denis Medical’s Josh Lawson
I think in a lot of ways Bruce sees Matt as someone he competes with. He’s a lot younger than him. Even though Matt is a nurse, I do feel like when Bruce looks at Matt, he sees himself. Bruce is a cocky guy. As I mentioned, we have known since Season 1 of St Denis Medical that there is more to him than meets the eye. I think even though Bruce wouldn’t admit it, Matt makes him think of what he was like when he was young.
But, unlike Bruce, Matt takes pride in his imperfections. He sees scars as battle wounds because imperfections tell a story. It’s only when Matt points this out while taking care of a burn patient that Bruce gets this. I think this is one of the reasons I enjoy watching Matt work with Bruce.
Matt is one of the reasons we see more of who Bruce is as a person. And I think that Matt is also helping Bruce be more open with his emotions. I still feel that there is a lot more room for Bruce to grow as a person, and I’m hoping we see more of his human side this season.
Other Thoughts about St. Denis Medical Season 2 Episode 3 ‘Get Me in the Pod Brother”:
- Therapy ponies in a hospital is always a no. You will have many “code browns.” Dogs are safer.
- Matt having to be the one to do the mopping was so real because sometimes in healthcare, a nurse becomes the janitor too.
- “Take a black light to anything and you’re gonna find some stains.”
- The revelation that Alex’s husband Tim thinks Serena is cute was interesting, but it also felt misplaced.
- Yeah… again, the Alex, Ron, and Serena stuff felt very misplaced and just weird. I knew what they were trying to do with the message of being too open with communication, but it all just felt off.
- “Sounds like a vending machine having an orgasm.” Joyce was so dramatic about how loud the TOMO Pod was, but also not totally wrong.
- Bruce’s making the correlation that his spinal deviation was caused by twisting and contorting to perform surgeries was a stretch, but we also had to give him credit for that thought process.
St. Denis Medical airs Monday Nights at 8/7c on NBC.
