The Resident Round Table: Do You Believe Cain Has A Heart?
Jasmine Blu
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A suberbug hit Chastain and Cain under Logan's demand did everything to keep it under wraps and contained on The Resident Season 3 Episode 19.
Now, someone dear to Kit may be the next person at risk due to an unsterilized ventilator.
Join TV Fanatics Carissa Pavlica, Rachel Foertsch, and Meaghan Frey as they discuss the hour.
What are your thoughts on the Cain background information we learned about?
Carissa: I don't believe it. He talked about it in much the same way he lied through his teeth pretending to care about patients during The Resident Season 3 Episode 18.
If it was true, it makes his error even more heinous. He knows his career was almost derailed thanks to that mistake, but he decides to lie and cover-up yet another issue, this time of his own making, and to lure Ezra into the situation? For shame.
Rachel: I think it was a load of BS. I was laughing when he told that story to Ezra because it sounded like such a guilt trip. I guess it's possible that it was true to some extent, but he was playing it up for sympathy.
Meaghan: I can believe that he made a HUGE error like the one he was telling Ezra about. However, what I can't believe is that he feels even an ounce of remorse over it.
Cain is a fantastic actor, and he is quick on his feet. He knew once he was found out that he needed to frame it in a way that paints him in a better light.
Cain considered doing the right thing, and he showed some concern. Did any of that make him more sympathetic? Do you think that was the intention, if so was it necessary?
Carissa: Oh, how about that crocodile tear! That was a real hoot. Just no, no, no. No sympathy on top of putting everyone and Ezra in danger. Not an ounce.
Rachel: I definitely wasn't sympathetic, but it did confirm my suspicions that the show has been very, VERY quietly alluding to him having a heart. It's just shriveled up and small.
But at the end of the day, he didn't do the right thing, and he was more concerned about the woman's death making him look suspicious than the possibility of it happening.
I do think that tear meant he might make some kind of morally correct decision in the future, but I'm too done with him to care.
Logan: As far as anyone is concerned, we're just installing A.I technology. No one knows we're eliminating a deadly fungus.
Cain: Candida Auris is highly dangerous in immune-compromised patients. Half the patients who get it die. We're lucky it's not airborne like the coronavirus. The staff is not at risk, but the patients could be. The protocol here is to notify state authorities. We need to follow protocol.
Meaghan: But did he really consider doing the right thing? The right thing would have been contacting the health department about the infection.
Instead, he called Logan and concocted a plan to cover the whole thing up. I feel like we have all been just waiting for the writers to attempt to make Cain sympathetic, but it is far too late to try going down that route.
Are you surprised Ezra covered for Cain as long as he did?
Carissa: Yes. But I assume it was to show how easily Cain might have done something similar when he was an intern. Except Ezra was following the instructions of his superior and not just blatantly not sharing what he knew of the contagion. I dislike the entire avenue of the story.
Rachel: No, because Ezra has always struck me as a character who will do what it takes to make it to the top. Cain put major pressure on him and even made some implications about his career, so I'm not surprised that he got roped into that situation.
Once you're in on something like that, you just get deeper and deeper. I was satisfied that Ezra ended up telling the truth, but it was a bit late at that point.
Meaghan: Yes, but mostly because I didn't think that Ezra would have the balls to do something like this. It reminds me of The Resident Season 1 Episode 1 when Bell convinced the whole surgical suite to lie for him.
It is crazy what someone who is in a position of power can do if they throw their weight around enough. Ezra should have come forward when things continued to go downhill despite him giving her the antifungal medication.
Derek eventually received the presumably unsterilized ventilator. React.
Carissa: I don't understand how ventilators go around uncleaned at ALL let alone during a discovered fungal situation. But I guess Conrad didn't connect the infection to the woman who died last week because he saw the ear infection.
All things considered, nobody seemed all that concerned about the fungus once it was discovered. Confusing.
Ezra: There's something I don't understand. Why cover this up? You're the most powerful doctor I know, you could have survived this if you had told the truth in the beginning. Why didn't you?
Cain: Because Logan Kim would've have destroyed me.
Ezra: Over one mistake?
Cain: This isn't the first, Ezra. When I was an intern, much like you, something really bad happened.
Ezra: Well we all make mistakes in the beginning.
Cain: Not like this one.
Rachel: I'm wondering the same thing as Carissa. Shouldn't that ventilator be clean by now? That seems like a serious problem.
If Derek dies, I riot. He may have only been around for two episodes, but I love him. He's everything a husband and father should be, and he deserves all good things in the world.
Let this be my plea to The Resident to keep him safe.
Meaghan: I was screaming as the pony express was being wheeled around the hospital. I knew he was going to get it the second they took it out.
However, I am completely on board with Rachel and Carissa. There is no way whatsoever that a ventilator would not have been cleaned after use. Even if the person taking it out of the room didn't know about the infection, you wouldn't just put it away.
I am definitely also as confused as Carissa is about why no one seemed to be sounding the alarm once they found out an extremely contagious infection was in the hospital. Conrad, Devon, and Ezra, on top of countless other staff, were in and out of that room a million times. Yes, they were wearing protective gear, but they weren't the entire time.
Do you have any additional things you'd like to mention?
Carissa: Major props to Andy Ridings who plays Derek. His performance is breaking my heart. Too often, men aren't allowed to show emotions, so to see a man as frightened as Derek and so willing to share with his family what he's enduring is appreciated.
I only ever saw Ridings when he was on All My Children, but he stood out enough that I remembered him. He's really making Derek's situation connect with a raw, emotional performance. The whole story is connecting with me.
Rachel: Again, where's Mina? Did we trade her in to get Kit back? These characters keep disappearing for episodes on end, and I want to know where they're going and why.
Meaghan: Conrad went way too easy on Cain. He has a good bullshit radar, so him not detecting that Cain is trying to play up the sympathy card to get off easy just seems unrealistic.
What was your favorite moment from the hour?
Carissa: When Bell offered the legacy book to Kit. He even apologized if she thought he might be stepping out of bounds. Can you imagine the Randolph Bell we first met apologizing for something like that?
It showed he was paying attention to patients first and understanding what the family was suffering, too. Still, I don't think the same can happen with Cain.
How can someone so brilliant and so gifted sell their soul and bow down to Red Rock? Is it just the money? The power? Your name on a building? What does any of that mean at the end of the day if you can't look at yourself in a mirror?
Conrad
Rachel: I agree with Carissa. Kit and Bell are a relationship on the series that I'm particularly invested in. It's been far too long since they've had a scene together, and the moments they shared during this episode were adorable.
And after she mentioned splitting up with her ex-husband...I can't be the only one still rooting for a romance between these two, can I?
Meaghan: Every single scene involving Kit and her family. This is such a strong storyline, and I really hope that it doesn't end with a quick resolution like Derek dying. I would love to watch his case play out long term.
Something The Resident Season 1 did so well was the Lily storyline. Letting us get to know a patient and watch their journey always delivers a much more powerful emotional impact.
What do you hope to see in the new finale?
Carissa: I can't even venture to guess. All I know for sure is that I won't be satisfied, and it's going to weigh on me wondering what I've missed.
I wish entertainment wasn't so important to me in light of recent events, but it is because not only is it my job, but it's my happy place. And The Resident is currently my happiest place, so I'm bummed.
Conrad: Say something!
Cain: What do you want me to say?
Rachel: I didn't even realize there was a new finale, but that makes sense given everything that's going on. It sucks that there won't be an official conclusion to the season, but I hope we get at least a few loose ends tied up. But all they really need to do is fire Cain, and I'll be completely satisfied.
Meaghan: I am sad that the season is going to be cut short, but this at least feels like it could be a good stopping point if the infection storyline is wrapped up. I just hope that we can see Cain be officially brought down.
Over to you, Resident Fanatics! Sound off below with your reactions and responses.
The Resident airs Tuesdays on FOX.
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.
