The Resident Season 2 Episode 1 Review: 0:42:30
Jasmine Blu
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It's good to have The Resident back!
If The Resident Season 2 Episode 1 is a reflection of the rest of the season, then it's going to be an incredible season. The season premiere was exciting, intense, and emotional.
Let's talk about it!
You know what has been overdone? The hacker-induced power outage at a hospital storyline. Almost every medical drama within the past five years has dabbled with this storyline, and it has since lost its luster.
The last time a series did it, it was one of the most irritating hours of that season. To The Resident's credit, the storyline was headed in the hacker direction but managed to be exciting the entire time. Their take was refreshing, intense, and had me on the edge of my seat.
It may be the best take on that redundant storyline to date, so kudos to them. The intensity of the outage was palpable and, as per usual, there was a personal investment in every single case.
It's not the storm. Our problem has nothing to do with the electric grid. Chastain's under attack from cyber pirates.
Tech
On a technical front, the lighting set the mood. The storm had been building for a bit, and with each flicker, there was the promise of chaos. Oh, the anticipation.
It was just dark enough to heighten the panicked feeling and thrill, but they didn't opt for that notorious Teen Wolf "our entire town is illuminated with a singular light bulb, sorry if you have to squint through the episode to know what's going on" vibe.
Related: The Resident Season 1 Report Card: Favorite Badass, Best CoNic Scene, & More!
Also, and it's something I meant to say multiple times during The Resident Season 1, but whoever is in charge of the music for this series is a talent who deserves all the accolades. Offhand, the hip-hop playing while they set up a makeshift OR was perfect.
But back to everything else.
Every case was an exercise in feeling all the feelings. The freaking babies, though, The Resident had us effed up making the power go out when wee baby Mabel was on the table.
It was a heart-seizing, crushing game of "will they kill this sweet baby on the season-opener?" The series started off with the death of an appendectomy patient, so it was within the realm of possibility.
Fortunately, little Mabel had the best on her case. Mina and the Raptor are exceptional together. They operate like one unit; as if each of them is one hand on the same body. Wonder Twins power activated the second they're together.
Party people, it's time for you to get in touch with your not so secret love of the Sugar Hill Gang. Why? Because in less than 8 minutes we are not just going old school. We're going OG, baby.
AJ
For them to have only known each other for a short period, they are so in tune with each other. The OR scenes between the two of them were some of the best of the hour.
AJ is a gosh damn gift. Malcolm-Jamal Warner's promotion to series regular is a blessing to us all. There's no argument because that's just a fact, my friends.
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He may have come on strong when he first appeared, but he's since leveled out a bit while still maintaining that bravado and indescribable magnetism that makes him so HIM.
He made a Sugar Hill Gang reference, gave his colleagues dismissive nicknames without coming across disrespectful, read Mina like a graphic novel, and knew both of their capabilities and was able to predict how the outage would play out. How do you not love this guy?
It was risky as hell for AJ to set the time for 40 minutes anticipating that the generators would konk out and they would have to get biblical with their procedures. Only AJ could pull something like that off though.
He was not going to let that baby die on his watch, and it's good to see that he's improved his bedside manner too. Honestly, it never seemed to be as much of an issue as others made it out to be, but his genuine care for his patients was more overt this time.
His genuine care for Mina is more overt, as well. Soft Mina is just as lovable as any other form of Mina. However, her feelings for Micah and a more grounded humility led to Mina needing more reassurance and pep-talks than expected.
Your inability to quell your concern for teacher man may distract you enough to make the slightest of mistakes. Not on my watch, princess.
AJ
Mina was never the risk-taker that Conrad is. She has always been more practical in that regard, but she also was confident and bold. Mina rarely questioned her abilities or her ability to complete something under pressure. She didn't overthink things.
Didn't it seem as though she was doing both during that surgery? Stoic Mina has cracked open, and all the emotions and feelings she compartmentalizes are spilling out. Her newfound feelings for Micah have opened her up to so much.
She feels things differently, and she responds to her job differently too. She could barely concentrate for she was worried about Micah.
AJ sees it, too. In a way, he's responsible for this new side of Mina that we're seeing. Now, typically, this is a personal blindspot, but I'll go for it anyway. Is anyone else picking up on a vibe of the unrequited variety between AJ and Mina?
Mina and Micha are cuteness overload, and she's so obviously enamored with the man, but AJ's soft spot for Mina is showing big time. Did you guys catch some of the looks he has been giving her? Is it platonic fondness, pride, or is AJ catching feelings?
Speaking of feelings, CoNic are back on and smoking hot with their steamy shower sex. The hour was starting and ending with a bang because of those two. I will never complain about a shirtless and wet Matt Czuchry on my screen.
So things are going well in CoNic land, at least physically. They still have that cute banter and flirting going on, too. This installment didn't give them the chance to have sweet heart-to-hearts or anything like that because there was too damn much going on, but 'shippers got more than a little something to appease them.
Individually, Conrad and Nic were on fire too.
Nic was sassy AF and a total shot-caller all throughout the hour. Didn't you love it?!
From the way she instantly went into a problem-solver mode when the power went out to busting open that case using a crutch (Nic stole cars or something as a teen, didn't she? Give us the backstory!), to setting her patient's sister straight on how skilled Nurse Practitioners are, Nic was killing it!
Go, Nic, go!
Patient's sister: I didn't know nurses do all that.
Nic: I'm a Nurse Practitioner. We do most things doctors do just with better bedside manner.
She also quickly figured out that Joplin was behind the hack. She even arranged for Bell to go easy on Joplin, but to be frank, that was bullcrap.
Joplin's heart was in the right place. I get wanting to wipe medical bills and give a middle-finger to the system and all of that good stuff, but that was reckless, thoughtless, and selfish.
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Somewhere Penelope Garcia, Alec Hardison, and Elliot Alderson are collectively groaning over her amateur skills.
If she wanted to take on a hospital, she should have planned a lot better because people could have died. At least start with something that didn't put people's lives at stake, like erasing student loans; just saying.
I was on Bell's side for this one, sorry. Bell wasn't that bad for most of the hour. It was quite surprising.
He was still in a funk about Lane and finding out that she could face the death penalty may have made his foul mood worse. In some ways, he seemed off of his game, and his ability to run the hospital was questionable.
He still has a habit of applying short-term fixes to fix long-term problems citing expenses but failing to look at the bigger picture. It may cost the hospital money if they shut down parts so they could upgrade their system, but it would still cost less than all the issues that come up in a crisis like this.
They lucked up with no deaths or anything, but no way in hell should it be that simple to hack into a hospital mainframe, nor should their generators be outdated like that.
In the end, the onus of that situation falls on him and the board. If Bell wants to be the big boss, and demand nurses and other doctors put some respect (read, add that title) to his name when referring to him, he has to do his part too.
Instead, he went on a firing rampage when it was all through. Bell firing his 12-year-old assistant was inevitable, and the IT tech should have seen it coming.
There was a brief moment I was afraid he would fire Nolan, too, but he's plotting to get rid of Conrad. Not much of a shocker there.
Who made the first cut, you or Conrad Hawkins?
Bell
Regardless of how Bell felt about it, Conrad made the right call accepting that 8-yr-old gunshot victim. The boy would have died before the ambulance made it out of the parking lot to go anywhere else.
Conrad's best most badass moment of the hour was building a damn OR himself. When will your fave ever? The little reminders that Conrad is a veteran are subtle but appreciated.
Doctors who have combat experience bring a whole new level of creativity and problem-solving. Combat doctors on medical dramas are the best.
Devon is the best too. He carried Jason, played by the fantastic Tate Ellington, up three flights of stairs. He caught everything that was wrong with the man before anyone else did.
He's not cocky anymore, but he's confident in his abilities. He has settled into his role at Chastain nicely, and it is freaking awesome. Ugh, he's all grown up. Look at him thriving and being amazing!
Additional Notes:
- I'm not saying it got dusty in the room when Mabel and Matt were reunited. I'm also not saying it didn't. Matt is such a protective brother already; he just wanted his sister.
- Whoever came up with the idea of having the two funniest characters get stuck in an elevator together deserves a raise. "Why me?" Irving asked. Because you had to suffer for our entertainment and pleasure, buddy.
- There were paramedics, other nurses, and attendings like Nolan. The world of Chastain is expanding as we see more than just our faves and their patients. It. Is. Awesome.
- AJ is the best and had some of the funniest lines of the night. If you weren't grinning from ear-to-ear during every scene (he stole) were you watching the same show? Doubtful.
Now it's time to play in the comment section. Over to you, Resident Fanatics. What would you rate the season premiere? What was your favorite moment?
Is AJ growing on you? Does he have feelings for Mina? Are you enjoying this softer side to Mina? How do you like the CoNic action?
Which case got to you the most? Hit the comments below!
If you missed it (you shouldn't have) or if you want to see it all over again (why not?), you can watch The Resident online here via TV Fanatic!
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
