The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy: Prime Video’s Intergalactic Adult Animation Champions Mental Health
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
In recent years, while audiences have been focused on major animated hits like Arcane, Castlevania, and BoJack Horseman on other platforms, Prime Video has quietly cultivated its own impressive animated slate, including successful titles like Invincible, Hazbin Hotel, and The Legend of Vox Machina. However, the streaming service's new release, The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy, has quickly positioned itself as a potential frontrunner, receiving a five out of five-star rating and being hailed as Prime Video's best animation yet. This intergalactic adult animation, created by Cirocco Dunlap, who previously worked on R-rated shows like Russian Doll and Big Mouth, offers a fresh take on the genre by completely removing human characters and centering its narrative around sophisticated psychological themes. It’s a series that perfectly blends psychedelic sci-fi visuals and a rapid-fire comedic pace with a deep, compassionate focus on mental wellness.
The New Era of Intergalactic Adult Animation
The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy (TSBHITG) immediately establishes itself within the lineage of great adult space comedies, drawing comparisons to classics like Rick and Morty and Futurama. However, the show distinguishes itself by focusing not on "two slacker boys," but on two highly ambitious doctors who are dedicated to finding novel treatments for their patients. Its structure involves a different medical case study in each episode, though the underlying constant is the friendship and internal struggles of the two protagonists, Dr. Sleech and Dr. Klak.
The series showcases a knack for high-concept absurdity that ranges from season-long narrative arcs to minuscule one-second gags, ensuring that very little screen time is wasted. For example, the hospital environment features intricate character details and jokes like the living food that Sleech and Klak casually snack on, seemingly oblivious to the food’s tiny screaming mouths. Critics have noted that while the show’s lofty ambitions sometimes cause the rapid, joke-after-joke rhythm to feel "clunky" and interfere with a good laugh, its overall fascinating world and thematic depth make it worth watching. The initial episodes succeed in creating an "organic" world-building experience, allowing viewers to immediately feel familiar with the setting without being overwhelmed by the typical exposition or information overload often seen in sci-fi pilots.
A Visually Stunning, Joke-Packed Galaxy
A major strength of the series is its stunning animation and unique visual aesthetic. The world-building is literally "out of this world," offering a galaxy unlike any seen on screen before. The visual style is characterized by a "Lisa Frank color palette," featuring vivid hues, heavy use of neon purples, lime greens, and fluorescent blues, which contribute to its signature look. The creative team, including co-producer and production designer Robin Eisenberg, is credited for producing animation that is both stimulating and gorgeous to look at, managing a rapid "30 Rock machine-gun joke rate" alongside intricate visuals.
The animated format further enhances the storytelling by externalizing the characters' internal struggles. For the highly anxious Dr. Klak, her to-do lists manifest as colorful blobs floating in front of her face when she thinks, and viewers can see the checklists she uses in real time as she attempts to engage in social situations. The alien designs themselves add playful variety, incorporating elements from humans, birds, deep-sea critters, and animals. The sonic landscape also contributes to the show's vibrancy, featuring punk, new wave, and techno-pop in its end-credits music.
Sleech and Klak: The Core of the Cosmos
The heart of The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy is the dynamic between the two titular surgeons, Dr. Sleech (voiced by Stephanie Hsu) and Dr. Klak (voiced by Keke Palmer). Their friendship acts as the emotional grounding rod for all the surrounding sci-fi absurdity. This central pairing is particularly lauded, drawing comparisons to the dynamic of Tuca and Bertie, featuring one anxious character balancing out an over-the-top best friend.
Dr. Klak embodies intense anxiety and intellectual insecurity, constantly overthinking situations and prone to "Klaktastrophizing"—a term coined by her mother, whose books and brain studies were inspired by Klak’s own neuroses. Conversely, Dr. Sleech is the manifestation of an avoidant attachment style, struggling with intimacy and refusing even to tell Klak the name of her home planet. Sleech, however, holds an undeniable, deep platonic love for Klak, frequently thinking of her best friend when struggling to relate to a patient’s feelings about "home". Their relationship serves as a "real celebration of deep, platonic relationships".
Treating Emotional Ailments in Deep Space
While the surgeons handle an array of bizarre physical health issues, such as illegal time loops and the most embarrassing deep-space STIs, the show truly shines by prioritizing mental health. The narrative weaves themes like anxiety, dependency, and even abuse throughout the episodes, handling these serious subjects with a "level of respect and maturity" reminiscent of BoJack Horseman, though the show never reaches that level of depression. This focus on mental health is considered a "fresh take" on intergalactic adult animation.
Anxiety Cures and Medical Ethics
A key plot point driving the action involves the doctors’ encounter with an extraordinary creature—a parasite discovered in a patient’s brain that was feasting on cortisol, the primary stress hormone. This small creature essentially eats, and thus cures, anxiety. Driven by their immense ambition—Sleech’s desire to be the best surgeon and Klak’s personal connection to anxiety—the two decide to study the parasite illegally. They hide the creature and care for it, risking their medical licenses and losing the opportunity for a grant if they were to report their discovery. Their pursuit aims to make their facility the first best hospital in the galaxy.
The show explores possible anxiety cures beyond the parasite, including achieving a symbiotic arrangement with the creature or even an app that can generate past versions of the user. Ethical dilemmas abound as they attempt to moderate the worm's taste for brain juices, constantly casting a critical eye toward topics like medical ethics and massive corporations. Even mortifying experiences are rendered in interesting ways, such as Sleech contracting an unusual STD that causes her to adopt a physical trait of the person who infected her, exposing her complicated dating life.
Star-Studded Cast and Critical Acclaim
The series boasts a cast "even starrier than any mere galaxy," featuring Stephanie Hsu and Keke Palmer, whose performances as Sleech and Klak are so strong that they cannot be overshadowed by the surrounding ensemble. The cast includes show-stealing turns from A-list guest stars such as Kieran Culkin, Maya Rudolph, Bowen Yang, Natasha Lyonne (who also serves as co-producer), Abbi Jacobson, Greta Lee, and Sam Smith. Kieran Culkin, specifically, is phenomenal in his role as the avian empath Dr. Plowp, demonstrating a character far removed from the "cruel snark" of Roman Roy in Succession. The show also features creative icons like John Waters, known as the "Pope of Trash," who voices a character and amps up the show's "iconoclastic bona fides".
Created by Cirocco Dunlap, this animated show is lauded for knowing "exactly what it’s supposed to be from the get-go". Despite minor criticisms that the complexity of themes sometimes interferes with the comedic flow, the excitement of the writers to explore woven themes is often "electrifying". The show's potential for future growth, much like the brain parasite with big potential, has already been recognized; Prime Video has commissioned a second season, signaling strong confidence in what critics consider to be potentially Prime Video’s best animated show.
🔖 Key Takeaways
🗝️ A Fresh Genre Blend: The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy is a critical hit intergalactic adult animation that blends psychedelic sci-fi comedy with serious, mature explorations of mental health issues like anxiety and dependency.
🗝️ Central Friendship: The series is grounded by the deep platonic relationship between the highly anxious Dr. Klak and the avoidant Dr. Sleech, serving as the constant emotional anchor amid the cosmic absurdity.
🗝️ Thematic Depth: Mental health often takes priority, with storylines tackling complex ethical dilemmas, such as illegally studying a cortisol-eating parasite to cure anxiety, reminiscent of the thematic respect shown in BoJack Horseman.
🗝️ Visual and Comedic Strength: The animation is visually stunning, utilizing a vivid "Lisa Frank color palette," and features rapid-fire jokes and intricate world-building that set it apart from comparisons like Rick and Morty and Futurama.
🗝️ Critical Success: The show has earned five-star reviews, strong critical acclaim, and an early renewal for a second season, solidifying its place as a significant addition to Prime Video's animated slate. The success demonstrates that visiting this eccentric, second-best hospital in the galaxy feels very good indeed.
🌐 External sources
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The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy
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