After a month-long hiatus, “St. Denis” (2024) Season 2 is back. Episode 13 is even more obscure than usual – opening with a Russian man calmly explaining that he has a knife lodged in his back, “A New Best Friend” was full of twists and turns, making it worth the one-month wait. As always with an episode review, I will be delving into a spoiler-filled summary, so if you want to watch the episode, I highly recommend doing so before reading.
The most entertaining plotline in this episode is certainly Joyce’s accidental psychedelic journey. Yes, you read that correctly. Toward the beginning of the episode, Serena helps a patient who ate almost an entire chocolate bar infused with psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical compound found in magic mushrooms. As an occasional user herself, Serena picks up the chocolate to look at the ingredients to see how much her patient took, but she’s disrupted when Joyce announces a “Code Blue.” In a rush, she puts the chocolate down on the desk in the lobby before rushing off to see what the emergency is.
After the Code Blue, Joyce heads over to the desk, and – you guessed it – eats the shrooms chocolate. Personally, I’d be wary of a chocolate brand called “Mystic Journey,” but I don’t think she really cared about the name. Serena panics after realizing Joyce ate the psychedelic chocolate, especially because she’s her boss. Joyce insists that she’ll be fine because she ate a hash cookie in Amsterdam in the 1990s. Sorry, Joyce, but that’s just not the same. She’s certainly in for a wild ride.
At first, she just makes strange remarks, such as how vibrantly red fire extinguishers are and how she wants to comb Holly’s hair. Nothing too weird, right? Eventually, she begins voicing philosophical thoughts, including her announcement over the ER loudspeaker that “death is not real.” Through this insane journey, she befriends the patient who ate too much of the shrooms chocolate bar. Together, they watch the Seattle Aquarium Live Feed and have in-depth, personal conversations. They also talk about aliens coming to Earth, and Joyce still seems to believe this after the effects of the shrooms wear off, but that’s a separate discussion.
As mentioned in a previous episode review, I predicted that we’d see Joyce exploring more sides of herself and expanding her horizons. While I certainly didn’t expect this, I’d say she checked something new off of her bucket list, and I’m proud of her for doing so.
Meanwhile, there’s always something else going on with the other ER staff members. Alex’s husband, Tim, is treated by Bruce for a knee injury. To Alex’s disdain, Tim and Bruce become friends. I haven’t expressed my thoughts and opinions about Bruce yet, but frankly I find him annoying. He’s funny at times, but he’s so self-absorbed that I can’t help but not like him. I don’t hate him, but he’s certainly not one of my favorite characters, especially because of how he treats Matt, who’s an absolute sweetheart.
Once Bruce befriends Tim, he uninvites Matt from their trivia night. Matt, who has been studying trivia during his breaks, is rightfully saddened by this. Alex teams up with him, deciding to call Tim’s grass company and put in a fake order to prevent him from attending trivia night so that Matt can go. Not knowing much about acreage, Matt orders 500 acres of grass over the phone, which is sure to upend things with Tim’s career. Tim tells Alex he won’t be able to go to the trivia night, but he also mentions he’ll have to prioritize this order over other clients, which makes her realize just how much she and Matt interfered with Tim’s job.
They have a heart-to-heart conversation, and Alex apologizes for her behavior. She expresses she’s worried because of how off-putting and morally questionable Bruce can be. Tim confesses he just wants more guy friends, and that he sees Bruce as someone with whom he can occasionally have a beer. At the end of the day, there are no hard feelings between the two.
Bruce makes a surprisingly good choice to uninvite Chaplain Steve from trivia night, instead deciding to attend with both Matt and Tim. Chaplain Steve tells Bruce he’s been hooking up with Serena, who Matt crushed on for the entirety of Season 1, so he uninvited Steve to protect Matt’s feelings. Maybe Bruce secretly has a good side.
Now that Episode 13 has been released, only five more episodes will air, making Season 2 end in early April. I’m already excited for the finale, and I’m hoping we finally see a romantic moment between Matt and Serena. I hope Bruce continues to work on his friendship with Matt, too.
Charlotte Ruth is a third-year English major with minors in Creative Writing and Italian Studies.