The Resident Season 3 Episode 19 Review: Support System
Jasmine Blu
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Did it hit too close to home for you, Resident Fanatics?
Quarantine life is an unforgettable experience, but when you have hours like The Resident Season 3 Episode 19 to keep you company, it's not so bad at all.
Of course, we're excluding how it took us on an emotional ride, pulling us into different directions only to leave us distraught by the end.
Derek cannot die. It'll be too much, please, don't kill off Kit's son-in-law! Sadly, after an hour that did have a death and many scares, it looks like he may be another victim of the superbug.
Superbugs have always posed threats before, and the globe has endured its fair share of pandemics, so no, the hour wasn't inspired by Covid-19.
It was in the works before this global pandemic hit us like a freight train. However, it had a brief mention in the hour, and the timeliness of the hour was beyond unsettling.
The hour was nerve-wracking from beginning to end as Logan led the charge in wanting to keep the Candida Auris under wraps. But it's difficult to do that, especially when you have patients who could be compromised and one exhibiting signs of infection.
The intensity was up to 1000 as that damn ventilator machine was everywhere but where it should have been. Cain not staying around long enough to ensure the staff decontaminated it was enough to have you shouting at the screen.
But then the staff went to lunch instead of following his orders, and the next thing you know, it was wheeled from room to room on the verge of being used.
Never in my life has a unicorn sticker caused this lover of both unicorns and stickers such genuine distress. Can a TV series give you an ulcer?
It's possible they decontaminated the machine offscreen, but if they did, would the sticker still be on it? The entire hour that damn machine was on a journey appearing in the room of patients we have grown to like and enjoy.
Logan: I've got your back as long as you've got mine. And not a moment longer.
Cain: You threatening me?
Logan: Get on board and help to fix this mess, or I'll tell the world what happened when you were an intern.
It was a relief when Derek didn't need it in his room, and they moved it away. But then we found out the "code blue" was Isaac, and we didn't want to see him using it either. Ideally, no one should have it, but it always feels a bit different when you've spent time with the patient, you know?
It's why the whole ordeal of it moving from one room to another was stressful beyond words, but every time we thought we were in the clear, we weren't.
The final shot of Derek using the ventilator was disturbing. Why is The Resident like this? Why must they cause us this much pain?
For a while, we were trying to determine the nature of Logan and Cain's relationship. It was also evident that something would drive them apart and have them handling matters differently.
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.
It had many of us wondering when, not if, they would turn on one another. It seemed likely that Logan would be the one to do so with Cain, and for some time, it seemed like a direction the series could go in.
But Candida Auris brought out the concerned doctor in Cain. Well, as much as he can be given how he approaches matters. And Logan insinuated that he's done with Cain the second they get the situation under control.
Cain was the one who wanted to notify the department of health and put measures in place to stop the spread of the fungal disease. He was taking the situation seriously, and he was responding as a doctor would.
Logan, of course, wanted to keep it as quiet as he could, and he challenged Cain when the doctor decided that this time he wanted to follow protocol.
Logan: I've got your back as long as you've got mine. And not a moment longer.
Cain: You threatening me?
Logan: Get on board and help to fix this mess, or I'll tell the world what happened when you were an intern.
He threatened Cain -- threatened to expose him, and you have to wonder if there was more to the scenario that supposedly had Cain indebted to Red Rock than what he shared.
It had to be more than that, right? To compromise yourself the way that Cain has, maybe his ego does get the better of him, and that's what drove him to fall in line rather than stand up to Logan, but good grief.
I wish we had known more about Ezra's mother, and the connection between Ezra and Cain. Did they mention anything alluding to them being connected before this?
Cain enlisted Ezra's help when he realized that Sophie was the EMT who transported Dawn Long and showed signs of having the bug.
Eli: You know someone in pharmacy.
Cain: No, I have someone in pharmacy. I have someone everywhere.
It was not only a result of their relationship, but it was a superior pulling rank on an intern. Ezra knows Cain, but he's also inclined to follow directions from an attending even though it went against his wishes.
It had him torn up the whole time, and it put too much pressure on him to keep Devon and Conrad out of the loop and stay on top of Sophia's case to make sure things didn't go awry.
It was a close call with the steroid thing, so can you imagine what would've happened if he wasn't there to catch it? Sophia would've been dead sooner.
It was eating away at Ezra, and that wasn't even factoring in his OCD or his knack for brutal honesty and blunt words. It took more out of him keeping the secret than it would've been coming out with it.
Conrad: Say something!
Cain: What do you want me to say?
All that time, Cain was sitting idle more stressed than you'd imagine from him about the situation, but not finding ways to get from underneath it either.
Logan went as far as to have the staff think they were implementing some new tech to manage patients better to cover up that they had to go through the room Dawn was in and keep it walled off.
Then he was skulking around barking at Cain to fix the situation, but not much was being down outside of deception on either of their parts.
Ezra challenged Cain and asked him about his actions, and Cain admitted that as an intern, it was Ezra's mom who looked out for him.
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.
A young Cain knew about contaminated medical equipment, but he never said anything about it, and multiple people died. Red Rock swooped in to handle the situation, and Cain has been in bed with them since.
It was some background on Cain's past and insight into some of what makes him tick and his relationship with Logan. But it also felt odd and inauthentic.
He said it was because of Ezra's mother and Red Rock that he was able to go on and be the best doctor that he is, but he's an arrogant, ego-centric asshole, who hasn't come across magnanimous at all.
Are we led to believe he was a decent person and doctor once upon a time or was he feeding Ezra some bull? He was feeding Ezra all of this to suggest he had a heart once, but he also was going to great lengths to cover his tracks.
It's one of those things where context that may "explain" why Cain is the way he is. However, sometimes, it's better when we don't have that at all. What if he's a jerkwad and that's it?
It came to a head again when Conrad confronted Cain in the OR and called him out on hiding away there to feel as if he were a god when he's responsible for what happened with Dawn and Sophia.
Conrad asked him what happened to him, and wondered why he couldn't take a stand against Logan, and Cain didn't have much of a response. He threw all there was to throw at him to get a response, including calling him a coward.
But Cain didn't have much to say. He does appear guilty about this situation, as much as he can be, but what makes this different than any of the other things he has done in the past?
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
We saw a shift in Cain this time around, but did you buy it? Do you prefer disliking him on his merit and leaving it at that?
Dawn andSophia's deaths are on Cain, but Derek's may be as well. With the animosity between Cain and Kit all season, it would be horrific if Cain's actions cause the death of her lovely son-in-law.
It would be the final straw.
Derek is dying, and Kit and her family have to stand by and watch. They're preparing for the worst, and his new line of treatment can cost him his life before cancer does.
Bell is, gosh, he's the best, and he put a girl in all of her KitBell/BellKit feelings when he gave her the legacy book.
Why aren't they a thing again? It was the perfect thing to give Derek, who has often felt helpless and only wants to take care of his family.
He's used to be a caretaker and provider, and the legacy book gave him some control that he's missing since his diagnosis. It also meant he could plan all the things to share and give his daughter if/when he passes on.
Everything about Derek's cancer and how it's affecting Kit and her family is overwhelming, and if Derek passes away, compromised immune system and all, it may be one of the most tragic deaths of the series in some time.
No, this superbug storyline is not even close to being finished. But as an aside, Conrad proved once again how kickass of a diagnostician he is.
AJ: Who has the capacity and the willingness to take care of a Twenty-something-year-old man?
Nic: Me.
In one day, a few hours, he successfully diagnosed what Ezra and Cain knew could be true without anyone tipping him off. It tore him up inside when he lost Sophia anyway.
It was almost a case of losing Isaac too.
The Resident gave us a Revenge reunion with Connor Paulo playing Isaac. Nic was so attached to Isaac, and you understood why when he opened his mouth.
The guy was a charmer. He also cared about the people around him, and he spent so much time looking after them, that he didn't take care of himself.
Nic: Conrad and I have agreed to be your support system.
Isaac: Wait are you serious?
Nic: And with that assurance, we got you on the transplant list.
Isaac: My entire life I never really had anybody stand by me. I don't really know how to thank you.
Isaac had pulmonary fibrosis, and he was thrilled to find out the diagnosis at first because of the hereditary connection. As someone who was abandoned as a baby, he craved that connection to his family in some way.
Family is what you make of it, and if the hour wasn't already wringing the emotions out dry, it did with Nic and Conrad agreeing to be his support system so he could go on the transplant list.
And if that wasn't already moving enough, the distant potential family members agreeing to be there and support him whether he was their relative or not was incredibly touching too.
AJ's case hit him hard. For one, Nic and AJ's pair-ups are adorable. They have fun energy, but it's no longer surprising when there is chemistry between various characters.
I am the support system for other people. I don't have one of my own.
Isaac
AJ knew that he could've been Isaac if he didn't go to a loving home. It made him think about how grateful he is to have his family.
The Raptor wouldn't be who he is today without his parents. He would've been in a similar position, especially since he shares a potential health issue that he got from his birth father.
The hour hit us in the feelings from every angle. Something tells me that we're only getting started.
Over to you, Resident Fanatics. Did you appreciate learning more about Cain? Will Derek survive the bug? Hit the comments below.
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.
