Childrens Hospital: “27 Club”

Insanity might be Childrens Hospital’s biggest strength, since the show goes places that are sometimes weird even by Adult Swim standards. Yet the problem with being a show that is this crazy is that it’s hard to tie that insanity into an actual story, especially when a typical episode of Childrens Hospital follows at least three different plot lines. “27 Club” however is one of the best examples of how Childrens Hospital can combine these insane characters and their insane stories and have them all sync up in a brilliant way.

Sam Sklaver’s script for “27 Club” is so great in that it makes all three of the episode’s stories feel like the main plot, until it turns out they all sort of are. On the eve of Glenn’s 27th birthday, Chet lets Childrens Hospital’s rock star surgeon Glenn know that every great rock star dies when they hit 27, everyone from Jimi Hendrix to founding keyboardist of The Grateful Dead Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. Playing by typical Childrens Hospital rules, Chet points out that a new day won’t start until Glenn goes to sleep, so Chet hooks up the rock star with a bag of amphetamines. After hitting the drugs hard, he goes through a full night of surgeries so pumped, he doesn’t ever realize he cut off his own finger.

Meanwhile in an attempt to become friends with Owen, Blake takes Owen’s advice to “ditch the unicycle and get yourself a two-cycle. I’m talking about a fucking bike.” Blake immediately joins Owen’s apparent bike gang, that likes to constantly shoot themselves up with steroids right in the butt. In the hospital, Chief has decided to take a staycation/poor person’s vacation at the hospital, where she meets Rob Forster’s Don, a Vietnam vet and widower who teaches Chief the excitement of eating dark chocolate over 50% pure. Once she tries 72% pure dark chocolate, there’s no going back for Chief.