The Resident Season One Review | Entertainment

Flipping the medical genre on its head, The Resident is a dark and gripping show that I binged in one weekend. RIP my social life.

The series revolves around the lives and actions of staff members at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital located in Atlanta, Georgia, primarily those of third-year resident internist, Conrad Hawkins; first-year medical intern, Devon Pravesh, who is assigned to Hawkins; as well as Nicolette “Nic” Nevin, a nurse practitioner and Hawkins’ love interest. Exploring the inner workings of the characters’ duties in emergency and hospital medicine, medical malpractice and deliberate violations of medical ethics are also examined, as well as the bureaucracy of the health care industry.

So, what’d we think?

Just when I thought I was done with medical dramas and diving deep into the personal lives of too-hot doctors,The Resident comes along, flips the genre on its head and I’m obsessed again.

The Resident is so gripping because it doesn’t steer away from the darker parts of being human while doing a deep-dive into the ethics of practicing medicine and making a choice between what is right and what is wrong.

The show posits something other medical shows don’t often do and makes you think about doctors in a new light.

Not all doctors are good.

Not all doctors make the right choices.

Not all doctors are superheroes.

Early on there is a scene where an intern, Devon, performs chest compressions on a dying drug addict to help get her heart beating again. His persistence pays off but instead of ending the scene there and playing an acoustic ballad that gives you all the feels, we witness his senior adviser pull him aside and tell him that because she’s been without oxygen for an extended period of time, she is clinically brain dead – all the while her family is rejoicing that she is still ‘alive’.

This is the show we’re watching.

It’s a brutally raw moment that kicked away whatever clichés I thought I was getting when I started watching the first episode.

The show quickly kicks into establishing its villains as well. We meet Dr. Bell, the Chief of Surgery who clearly values status, money and publicity over anything else. He bullies his nurses, doctors and interns into keeping their mouths shut about his inadequacies when performing surgery (queue a very intense opening scene that had me shook) and values his relationships with more senior members of staff than anything else.

While we get the standard formula of a new quirky patient each episode, the real weight of the show lies with a mystery uncovered by Nic, one of the nurses. When Nic discovers that there are anomalies with the care of certain cancer patients, she quickly teams up with the sexy Conrad and Devon to help uncover the truth. It’s a gritty storyline that is fleshed out well throughout the season and concludes with a bittersweet ending for our band of dysfunctional doctors.

If you love a medical drama but you’re tired of watching episode-after-episode of changing personal drama, The Resident is well worth adding to your collection.

Check out a few episode snippets below and let us know what you think of the show in the comments.

Note: May contain spoilers

Episode one:

On his first day as an intern, Dr. Devon Pravesh faces the harsh realities of medical care as third-year resident Dr. Conrad Hawkins takes him under his wing and teaches his unconventional ways for treating patients.

Episode two:

Conrad’s plans for a heart transplant patient are derailed; Conrad risks his job to rectify the situation; after a file goes missing, Nic grows suspicious of one of the doctors; Devon must make a split-second decision on a patient.

Episode three:

An old army buddy and fellow surgeon visits Conrad at the hospital. Meanwhile, the team is put to the test when they have to save the life of an uninsured and undocumented patient, while simultaneously battling the hospital’s administrators, who fear the patient will cost millions. Also, Dr. Bell experiments with a new medication for his tremor and Nic swears to investigate the mystery surrounding missing medical records.

Episode four:

After a mix-up in the ER causes Conrad to deliver a death notification to the wrong family, he sets out to fix it. Meanwhile, Nic struggles to find a patient’s records who has been under Lane’s care, Devon forms a bond with an elderly patient and Mina is benched after overreaching in the surgical unit.

Episode five:

Three concurrent surgeries at the hospital push its staff to the limits. Determined to ease the pressure, Nic requests Jude for one of the operations, making Conrad jealous. Meanwhile, Dr. Lane Hunter sets out to discredit Nic’s claims, Devon struggles with a patient who has an embarrassing problem and a charitable contributor comes to the hospital wanting to donate a lot of money to Dr. Lane’s oncology program.

Episode six:

As Conrad battles a group of overly aggressive attending physicians on behalf of a patient with a mysterious chronic ailment, he also must face off against his father who has shown up at the hospital unannounced. When Mina goes out of her way to help a young man from her neighborhood who almost mugged her, Nic offers her assistance and discovers a secret that Mina has been keeping behind closed doors. While away from the hospital, Nic enlists the help of Devon to keep an eye on Lily, which leads him to an incredible find that has him questioning Dr. Lane’s motives. …

Episode seven:

Conrad goes head-to-head with Lane when he disagrees with her over a treatment plan for a terminal cancer patient. Tensions rise when Jude inserts himself in the middle by offering to perform the invasive procedure Conrad is fighting against. When a VIP patient crosses the line with Nic, she must devise a strategy on how to stand her ground and combat the situation. Meanwhile, Bell realizes he’ll need Mina’s hands more than ever.

Episode eight:

Much to Bell’s dismay, Nic and Conrad admit a homeless Jane Doe, whom they suspect was dumped off by another hospital during Chastain’s big Charity Ball. Elsewhere in the hospital, Devon and Irving care for a male escort who offers surprisingly good advice, Micah returns for a checkup and falls even harder for Mina, and Devon’s parents are in town.

Episode nine:

Conrad’s ex-fiancé, Catherine, is admitted to the hospital with abdominal pain that proves to be quite the medical mystery. As Conrad doggedly tries to figure out her diagnosis and fights the idea of Bell performing her operation, Nic gets some insight into Conrad’s past. Meanwhile, Bell panics when Claire announces that she will be installing cameras in all operating rooms, Devon wracks his brain for the perfect birthday present for Priya and Lane realizes that Nic is suspicious about her clinic.

Episode ten:

Conrad is hit by a bike and badly sprains his ankle, but works through it when he takes the case of his old medical professor, who is hallucinating visions of her old patients. Devon is tasked with admitting Conrad, who refuses any sort of treatment. Nic tries to navigate her emotions while mourning the loss of a patient and Bell operates on a foreign dignitary with unforeseen complications. Meanwhile, Lane and Bell’s relationship grows closer.

Episode eleven:

When Nic finds herself under investigation in Lily’s death, Conrad comes to her defense, but ends up making the situation worse. During a routine surgery, Bell’s patient accidentally catches fire, leaving the hospital to start an immediate investigation into his medical records. However, hospital CEO Claire Thorpe doesn’t realize what she’s up against when Bell plans a counter attack. Meanwhile, Devon deals with a series of ER patients, including a hypochondriac whom he fears could end up under Lane’s care.

Episode twelve:

Conrad and Devon work tirelessly to save the life of Bradley, a fellow doctor who has fallen through the hospital skylight. As the team contemplates how and why he fell through in the first place, Dr. Bell looks back to when he benched Bradley for falling asleep during surgery. Amidst the madness, Mina is tasked with showing Chastain’s new star cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. AJ Austin (guest star Malcolm-Jamal Warner), around the hospital, but is caught off-guard by his volatile personality. Meanwhile, Nic finds renewed enthusiasm when she uncovers an oncologist who used…

Episode thirteen:

Conrad and Devon fight against time to save the life of a patient who is deteriorating fast from undetermined symptoms.

Episode fourteen:

Conrad turns to someone he thought he would never have to confront again to save Nic from being taking down by Lane.

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Written by Monique Renee

Usually barefoot and deep in wanderlust mode, Mon loves binging Netflix, cuddling babies and stalking through Instagram looking for boho decor inspo and hotties with man buns. You’ll usually find her on holiday, planning a holiday or thinking about holidays.

Favourite Instagram to follow: @hotdudesreading