Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Bloods’ On Hulu, About Unlikely Paramedic Partners In A Quirky Squad

We’ve seen workplace comedies and dramas about just about every type of first responder we can think of… except for paramedics (or EMTs). Sure, Emergency! had a fair amount of humor, but that show was mainly serious and it was also almost 50 years ago. But since? Not much. Enter Bloods, a Britcom about an arrogant lone wolf of a paramedic, his naive new partner, and the quirky squad they’re in.

BLOODS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We hear a call for a paramedic unit to attend to a scene where a man was pulled out of the river. One of the paramedics gives him CPR while the other is at the ready with the defibrillator.

The Gist: Maleek (Samson Kayo) is on the ready when his partner Kevin (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) gives him the go ahead. He loves that he and Kevin are such an amazing team, bringing this drowned man back to life. But when Kevin’s CPR is enough to revive him, Maleek goes to hug Kevin while still holding the paddles, zapping his partner into unconsciousness.

Sometime later, Maleek goes into work and his boss Jo (Lucy Punch) tells him that Kevin is taking a sabbatical and he’s getting a new partner. He thinks he can do the job by himself, but Jo points out that he can’t carry a stretcher by himself or drive and attend to a patient at the same time. His new partner is Wendy (Jane Horrocks), a happy, chatty sort who has transferred to London from Nottingham.

She ingratiates herself to the rest of the squad immediately, especially the way-too-close partnership of Darrell (Sam Campbell) and Darryl (Kevin Garry). “They do get us mixed up, because we’re so similar,” says Darrell, when on first glance that’s not the case. They put her on the WhatsApp group for the squad, something the lone wolf Maleek has never heard of.

On their first call together, Wendy gives a crackhead ten pounds to buy a harmonica, and Maleek chides her for naivete. But at a scene where Maleek is made to climb 16 flights to what is ultimately a prank false alarm, Wendy sees the crackhead, who has indeed bought a harmonica. But just when Maleek maybe thinks Wendy knows something he doesn’t, the crackhead steals all their gear so he can, you know, buy some crack.

In the meantime, Jo tries hard to bond with Lawrence (Julian Barratt), a sensitive sort that she’s insanely attracted to. He’s too busy mourning the death of his last significant other, though, to even notice that Jo exists. She also has to deal with Kareshma (Aasiya Shah), who wants to do more than just drive pensioners to doctors’ appointments. She thinks she can take Jo’s job… in six months.

When all units are called to a major auto accident scene, Maleek finds out that Kevin didn’t go on sabbatical; he just asked for another partner, given that Maleek was “the worst partner I’ve ever had.” However, Wendy has Maleek’s back, especially when she finds replacements for the gear that was stolen.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Reno 911! but with British paramedics instead of Nevada cops. There’s even a somewhat mockumentary-style feel to the show, even if it’s not actually a mockumentary.

Our Take: Kayo created Bloods along with Nathan Bryon, and the idea of having a quirky group of paramedics that somehow are good at their jobs is a nice variation on other first-responder workplace comedies that we’ve seen. Much of the first episode strains to be funny, but we can see where Kayo and company are going with the show, and we like what we’re seeing.

Instead of just concentrating on Maleek (you have to say his name with some bass) dealing with the fact that people like the overly-sunny Wendy over him and the fact that these two mismatched partners start to complement each other well, Kayo, Bryon and Paul Doolan start to build out the world of the squad almost immediately. We’ve got Darrell and Darryl, who take interracial love to a whole new level, Jo’s unyielding crush on the sensitive Lawrence, and Kareshma’s overall crazy intensity. To establish all of this in roughly 22 minutes shows some deft writing and an effort to wring humor out of character.

We just wish it elicited more laughs. Perhaps as the characters gel together more, those laughs will come. There was nothing in particular about the first episode that we thought was off or made us cringe. Even the scene where the teens that pranked Maleek kept calling him fat was executed well. But for some reason or another, the funny stuff just didn’t land with us. Sometimes that happens. But at least there’s the foundation of a good workplace ensemble in place, and that by itself is all we need to keep watching.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: When Maleek sees that Wendy stole the gear out of Kevin’s rig, he says, “Nice one, Wendy!” and she comes back saying, “With some bass, please!”

Sleeper Star: Lucy Punch is consistently funny in every role we’ve seen her in, and she plays Jo’s inherent discomfort and difficulty exerting her authority well here.

Most Pilot-y Line: Again, nothing really stands out as an “oof” kind of line, but not much made us laugh, either.

Our Call: STREAM IT. While the lack of laughs in the first episode is a bit concerning, we think Bloods still has promise because of the ensemble that settles into a good rhythm almost immediately.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Bloods On Hulu