Transplant Season 2 Episode 4 Review: Contact
Leora W at .Dr. Bishop returns to work on Transplant Season 2 Episode 4, and Dr. Novak is unhappy.
He's pretty much the only one. Everybody loved and missed Dr. Bishop, and pretty much nobody liked Novak. His vendetta against Bishop made him public enemy number one.
In fairness to Dr. Novak, he is a good doctor. He's not all that different from Bash. He pushes boundaries when taking a risk means saving a patient.
Dr. Novak: Now, if I had made this call when I was a resident, I would have been called dangerous.
Bash: And if you had made the other call? Waiting and risking her life?
Dr. Novak: Shortsighted and irresponsible.
Dr. Bishop acknowledged that Dr. Novak was an excellent doctor. His doctoring skills were not the issue; the issue was his people skills.
We didn't know Dr. Bishop back when Novak was a resident. He would have been younger and maybe not as kind.
Plus, the Bishop we've come to know hasn't exactly been perfect. Remember, he only hired Bash after Bash saved his life.
Before that, he turned him away. We also know he has issues with his son and that his relationship with Claire wasn't smooth sailing.
Like Novak, Bishop is a good doctor who isn't always great with people. He's been learning since we've known him, but we can only imagine what he was like way back when.
Guys like us, we may not fit in a place like this, but don't let them turn you into something that you're not.
Dr. Novak
If I had to guess, I'd say that Bishop probably treated Novak similarly to how Novak has been treating Mags.
On Transplant Season 2 Episode 3, Mags talked about how Novak acted like everything that made her who she is as a person offends him. It broke my heart and still does.
If that's how Bishop made Novak feel, I get why he hates him. After all, isn't that part of why we hated Bishop?
When Novak made the right call on how to treat Olivia, he was determined that Bishop acknowledged it. He was more concerned with Bishop's admitting his superiority than treating the patient.
That could be a sign of ego, but it is more likely a sign of Bishop always making him feel like he was wrong back when he was a Resident.
Dr. Novak: What's the call here Dr. Hamed?
Bash: Protocol would be transfusions to stabilize her blood pressure.
Dr. Novak: That's not our best shot. Since when do you let protocol stand in your way?
So yes, we do get where Novak is coming from with Bishop. Even Bishop seems to get where Novak is coming from. He tried to extend an olive branch of sorts when all was said and done, but Novak wasn't hearing it.
Whatever happened in the past, Bishop burned that bridge, the damage was done, and Novak has a lot of healing to do.
I'm glad he won't be causing problems for Mags, Bishop, and Bash anymore (probably), but I will miss him.
He was an interesting character, and while his treatment of Mags was grating, his dynamic with Bash was intriguing. In another life, they could have been friends.
As it was, they did a great job saving Olivia while Theo and Mags worked on saving her son Owen who suffered from SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder).
We moved to Wards Island for him. It's so quiet there. Eli quit his job just to homeschool. I wasn't patient enough with him.
Olivia
His case was interesting because to help him, they had to hurt him, and he didn't understand why. He was just a kid, which made it worse.
I'm assuming here, but it probably would have been easier to explain to an adult with spd why they had to do these triggering things. He would have hated it in the moment, but he would have understood after the fact.
Owen just seemed to grasp that his mom let the doctors hurt him, and then she was going to let the doctors let his father die.
While I'm in favor of them putting the spotlight on SPD, the show could have handled it better. Of course, we sympathize with a kid, but the episode highlighted the struggles of the doctor and the mother more than the child.
His issues had to be ignored in favor of treatment, and when he didn't understand and lashed out, he came off as more unreasonable than sympathetic.
Theo: You've been pretty brave today pal. I know we didn't get off to a great start. I'm sorry about the needle. I also know you don't like the way the blankets feel. Your body isn't warming up on its own so I need you to speak up if there's anything we're doing that makes you feel bad or anything we can do to make things easier. The good news is you get to see your mom soon.
Owen: I wanna see my dad.
I'm not saying it was a bad storyline, and other than aging up the child, I'm not sure how they could have handled it better, but I feel like they could have portrayed the storyline from a less ableist lens.
Besides raising awareness and garnering sympathy from the audience, Owen and Olivia's storyline was relevant to Theo's new normal.
As a pediatric specialist, he's always treating kids, and now that he's cut off from his kids, each case seems to highlight his feelings of inadequacy because he can't be there for his daughters.
It wasn't a mirror image. Olivia lost her husband, and Owen lost his dad because he was braindead, not because of distance and divorce. Theo will be in his daughters' lives. Still, you could see the case resonated with him.
It makes sense that he'd still be mourning his relationship. It's still fresh, and he hadn't even told Bash yet.
Claire: His wife's arrived.
Mags: I knew he was a creep. I knew it. Just didn't follow my instincts, you know. Completely -
Claire: Mags. You didn't cause this. He did. He made a decision and put you in the situation.
Mags: And now I have to live with it.
However, hopefully, not every episode will be about him feeling like an absent parent. That storyline can only be told so many times before it gets tired, and Theo made his choice. He needs to live with it.
They'll be a mourning period. There has to be. Then, hopefully, Theo will start moving on.
In addition to helping Theo treat Owen, Mags treated a man who made a pass at her. Actually, that's putting it mildly. Mags was assaulted.
It was traumatizing for her. She blames herself and is still shaken when the episode closes. That doesn't stop her from diagnosing the man with a brain tumor.
Does the fact that his behavior was due to a medical issue make things easier on Mags? I'd wager they make it harder. Logically, she knows it isn't his fault, but he is still the one who made her fear for her safety.
Dr. Atwater: How's she doing?
Claire: Somewhere between didn't happen and can't stop thinking about it.
Hopefully, they follow up with this incident in upcoming episodes because it doesn't feel like it should just be over.
Mags isn't okay, but she is safe. Thank goodness Lou stepped in. Lou! Where has he been? We've missed him. He certainly hasn't been romancing June lately, or at least, not that we've seen.
Finally, we check in with June. Is it just me, or is June feeling more and more like an afterthought as Transplant Season 2 progresses?
Her storylines don't tie into the patients everyone else is treating. Her patient this time was a guy trying to guilt his sister into being in contact with him, much as June's dad did to her on Transplant Season 1.
It was a decent storyline for June, but it kept her separate yet again. She isn't working directly with Bash, Mags, or Theo. She isn't interacting with them much either.
I bet your boyfriend wouldn't get his ass handed to him like this. Unless you're single, uh, which I will be when my wife finds out how much money I lost.
Shane Neal
She had a nice scene with Mags, but that was about Mag's assault, Mag's storyline. June's storyline could have been dropped from the episode, and it wouldn't have felt any different.
Lou was in this episode, and he and June didn't even interact. What is that about?
Don't get me wrong, June has never been my favorite character, but she got a lot more storyline on Transplant Season 1. She is a decent character who deserves more storyline than she has.
Also, as one of you pointed out in the comments section of my last review, there seems to be a trend in medical shows of women of color doctors being cold, distant, and methodical.
We don't want to be in on the ground floor of a new stereotype, do we? Do better, Transplant.
Raniya: Living in sin with me and praying in the morning, Bashir.
Bash: We could fix that. Call your mom. Get married. You and Amira could do your dance at the party.
Raniya: That may be my least romantic proposal since, uh, your first one.
Bash: I got a yes then, didn't I?
Overall, it wasn't a bad episode, and it was certainly enjoyable and engaging in the moment, but many things could have been handled differently.
At least Dr. Bishop is back, even if he can't operate. We hope that's temporary, but he's a damn good teacher if it isn't.
So what do you think TV Fanatics?
Is flawed representation better than no representation at all? Will you miss Dr. Novak? Now that Dr. Novak is gone, will anyone miss him? How do you think Mag's assault will affect her for the rest of the season?
Let us know in the comments, and remember, you can watch Transplant online at TV Fanatic.
Transplant airs Sunday at 10/9c on NBC.
Leora W was a staff writer for TV Fanatic..
