The installment's title played with the age-old adage of "Denial being a river in Egypt," and it couldn't be more fitting for the characters.

The medical cases had all the doctors reevaluating aspects of their personal lives on The Resident Season 6 Episode 5, while any concern or speculation about Padma proved correct.

But let's not act like the highlight of the hour wasn't Bell's return and domestic Kitbell setting us up for the wedding of the television season.

The blend of medicine with the personal inferences derived from practicing it is when medical dramas are strongest.

What better way to get insight into healthcare workers and their own lives if not through how cases affect them? We got that many times throughout the hour.

And while the medical cases themselves weren't flashy or particularly exciting, the impact on the characters was intriguing enough.

For example, we were just lamenting that Irving doesn't get much screen time or was in dire need of an individual storyline. And they served this up on a platter.

While it still doesn't give us specific information about his weird personality shifts or his behavior with patients, it was refreshing to see Irving have so much time, have a steady role in the case, and see the adorable cuteness of him and Jessica together.

Maybe, if there's a desire to make some sense of Irving with the little details we have, this could be a way to chalk up some of his behavior as disillusionment with his field.

He's been running the E.R. the entire time, and after a while, maybe he got sensitized to it. Also, the influx of people in and out of the E.R. reminds you that he doesn't get to spend significant time with patients.

Irving doesn't get to form meaningful bonds with any of these people since the E.R. is a revolving door of individuals who need quick band-aids to their issues or to be redirected to a specialist.

It's the first time Irving openly expressed what amounts to the feeling he's in a thankless part of practicing medicine. He doesn't like the idea of specializing in something else because of the work or screwing with his workload, hours, and work/life balance.

But by the end of the hour, after getting invested in a medical mystery case with the anti-aging millionaire, you could believe that Irving would consider becoming an internist. He'd be good at it too.

Irving's best and most illuminating moment was discussing death with Devon. It was a great way of circling back to when he almost lost Jessica and how that has irrevocably changed his outlook on life and his behavior at work, too.

It's such an unexpectedly raw revelation for a doctor to share. He gets how irrational it is and that death is inevitable, but the constant reminder of the fragility of life takes its toll.

Devon: Why did you stick around?
Irving: I'm afraid of death.
Devon: You? Seriously? you see it all the time. Everyday somebody dies in our ER.
Irving: And when it happens I walk away. Another team comes in, cleans the body, zips up the bag. One moment a person is there and the next it's just dead flesh. Empty eyes, heavy limbs, absence. When I almost lost Jessica it got personal, I realized it could happen to us at anytime.

• Permalink: And when it happens I walk away. Another team comes in, cleans the body, zips up the bag. One...

Once he experienced that for himself and what's it like to nearly lose someone, knowing that you will eventually lose people you care about, it takes hold of you.

And he's right about the measures that keep him from dealing with all aspects of death with a patient. Although, it doesn't spare him those moments of seeing the light leave a person's eyes.

The appeal of Marco fighting aging and prolonging life would resonate with a person's most basic survival instincts and the desire not to lose loved ones anytime soon.

It's that angle of the case that actually made it enjoyable. Otherwise, Marco, on his own, was a total cad and snooze. How he approached Devon would make one wary of having any part in his mission.

His anti-aging ramblings and regimen were bizarre, and his desire to have a doctor cosign him was irritating. And worse yet, after learning that the chemo meds he was administering himself were at the root cause of actually, and ironically, killing him, he was right back on his bullcrap.

But if Mr. Moneybags could be the reason Devon, Kit, and Chastain can achieve greatness via clinical trials because he's more than willing to fund things, then we'll consider it a win.

Kit perked up the second she realized that it could mean they'd have an M.S. clinical trial. With Kit, everything goes back to Bell, and you have to love her love for him and devotion.

Effortlessly the best moment of the hour was when Kit returned to their incredibly nice condo, and Bell was cooking her dinner. Domestic Kitbell moments are like hot cocoa with marshmallows on a crisp autumn day.

Kit: You do look healthy. You'd tell me if you weren't right? If there's something I should ask?
Bell: Not at all, I'm good. I really am. Where is this coming from?
Kit: Rough case.

• Permalink: Rough case.

Bell looks and sounds great. The treatment must've been a success, and that's promising for him. Let's hope that Kit making sure he was honest with her and not in denial was just to reference the case and not some foreshadowing.

Conrad's case with Raja had everyone in a tailspin, wanting to know every detail about their loved ones. How can you not get like that after such a tragedy?

He walked around with a metal rod sticking out of his neck for two years because he was too afraid to find out bad news about his cancer or whatever else.

Denial is as human as it gets, but the way that denial can affect other people is where it gets the most heartbreaking. His poor fiancee had no idea what was happening and found out all this information and lost him on the same day.

Billie: It seems crazy, but we all cover up things we don't want to see. The longer we look away, the harder it is to see what's in front of our eyes.
Conrad: What is on your mind?
Billie: I can't say I'm unfamiliar with denial. None of us are.
Conrad: What have you denied?
Billie: Fair amount.

• Permalink: It seems crazy, but we all cover up things we don't want to see. The longer we look away, the ha

But you could argue she was in denial too. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone two years with this man without peeling back that final layer, this time literally via a band-aid, to learn what he was hiding.

She was happy to stay in blissful ignorance until she couldn't anymore.

Maybe all would've been well with Raja if he had kept up with his appointments and gotten help the second things went awry. It would've been better than Conrad enlisting the Dream Team of surgeons to perform a Hail Mary that inevitably resulted in his death.

The entire situation had Conrad shaken up. Raja was his biggest save when he was an intern, which stuck with him. He had the attachment because of the memories with Nic, too.

And the idea that there are people he loves who could be keeping things from him bothered him at his core.

Cade was supportive the whole way through, and she could relate to Raja and explain things in a way that Conrad couldn't allow himself to process.

She knows what it's like to be in denial about something because it helps you function better if you can pretend it's not real or happening.

Cade's entire relationship with her father functions in the form of denial. She spent most of her life willfully staying in the dark and not wanting to see Ian's problems with addiction and its effects.

But then she spent the next part of her life looking for signs of his problem everywhere and in every move. And while Conrad is right about accountability and it being on Ian, and so is Al-Anon, Cade's right, too.

What person can just sit back and watch their loved one routinely do something that could kill them? She doesn't want her father to die from this, and if she can find a way to prevent that, she will.

The more time we spend with Cade, particularly related to this storyline, the more sympathetic she is. It has helped round her out better than the undercover mafia whistleblower arc. It's something relatable and real.

They're defining Cade's character much better than before. Her more vulnerable moments are the strongest for her and when she resonates most with viewers.

But Cade and Conrad do not have the type of romantic chemistry that sells this relationship, no matter how many "cutesy" moments, references to their time together in their off time, or confiding in one another.

I'm struggling to feel anything there at all. I tried to give it a fair shot, but it's actually getting harder to ignore or believe.

Of course, Conrad's scenes with Billie also related to the case. Things are still crackling with them even if they're dancing around each other in the slowest of slowest burns ever.

The obvious conclusion drawn is that Billie was in denial about her feelings for a while and didn't want to see them, but now she has.

Conrad: I'll never get used to this.
Cade: That's one of the many ways that you're special.

• Permalink: That's one of the many ways that you're special.

And upon hearing that there's something that Billie could be keeping from him, Conrad couldn't resist probing her about it in his way, twice.

Billie has denied herself the ability to admit her feelings about Conrad for a long time. Now, she's denying herself the right to tell him -- she's denying herself him.

Conrad's reaction is interesting because he mentions that he wants to ask everyone everything, even if he fears the answer.

For one, his being afraid of an answer is interesting in trying to determine what the fear is rooted in -- would it be fear of finding out the truth and knowing that he's with someone, which would be inappropriate?

Would he be afraid to know the truth and deal with what that means because of Billie's connection to Nic? Is his fear rooted in potentially losing Billie altogether?

We don't know. Part of the issue is that, even though they've gotten better at building up the Conrad and Billie angle of this love triangle, we don't know where Conrad's head is most of the time.

When he has these moments with Billie, it's so cryptic. It feels like Billie is the one who is always putting herself out there the most.

They're both playing chicken with who will address the elephant in the room that's increasingly harder to ignore, and no one is willing to have a blunt, honest conversation.

Billie: I can't imagine being in her position.
Conrad: It makes me want to ask everybody everything even if I'm afraid of the answer.
Billie: Me too.

• Permalink: It makes me want to ask everybody everything even if I'm afraid of the answer.

It should fall on Conrad, though. He has this way of putting feelers out like he suspects something but not knowing how he may feel on his end.

The most significant insight we got from Conrad's perspective was the potential double-meaning of their elevator conversation when he talked about Nic.

Conrad and Billie are long overdue for a sitdown and the chance to air things between them. Their conversations feel so incomplete, and it's enough to make a person antsy.

Padma's situation is both predictable and heartbreaking. She wasn't ready for motherhood, and getting thrown into the deep end with twins was too overwhelming for her.

Her phone conversation with the doctor was probably the most telling. She sounded like she wanted to bring them in, drop them off, and leave them there.

It's annoying that the others weren't seeing the signs or hearing the anguish in her voice.

A.J. was the first to have his suspicions and concerns, but even though Leela knows that her sister is struggling, she is deeply in denial, like the theme of the hour.

She wanted to trust that her sister made the right decision and could ride it out.

A.J. is such an adorable father. He beams from ear to ear, and while this wasn't my first choice for an A.J. arc, his happiness is endearing. I also have to commend Warner's commitment and talent because those fake doll babies are creepy. Goodness.

But the tenderness he showed Padma at the end of the hour after he found her on the bathroom floor sobbing made you feel for all involved.

On Leela and Devon's end, they both reconsidered their feelings about children. Leela now seems like she may have baby fever, and after spending time with them and seeing the work involved, Devon isn't as interested.

Let's hope this doesn't lead to another issue between the two.

Over to you, Resident Fanatics. How worried are you about Padma? Are you excited Bell is back? Hit the comments.

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.