The Resident Season 6 Episode 8 Review: The Better Part Of Valor
Jasmine Blu
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We've only had him for two installments, and I already want Betz to go away.
The man is awful! It takes a petty, vengeful, vindictive person to have a man served with court papers in the middle of a ceremony honoring him, but that was The Resident Season 6 Episode 8's opener, thanks to Betz.
On the plus, we saw Conrad drop everything and make a beeline for that stage, ready to tackle the guy in case he meant to cause Bell harm, and we always win with heroic Conrad.
It's ridiculous that a man running for governor has all the time in the world to fixate on Bell and destroy him because Bell embarrassed him publicly.
If this is what Betz is doing now, can you imagine how terrible things will be when he's in office? And it's such a waste of resources and time to sicc his attack dog lawyer, guilty of the same arrogance, rudeness, and microaggressions (because that smarmy mispronunciation of Pravesh irked) after Bell in this senseless deposition.
The crazy thing about it is that if they had spent more time using the litany of private investigators and been more patient, they could've actually dug up a worthwhile case that could bury Bell better than one that was genuinely as by the book as it gets.
We've seen Dr. Death and similar things. Do you know how hard it is to hold actual monstrous doctors accountable for their actions? It's madness!
It's such a weak case, and worse yet, their angling to center Bell's MS in the narrative to imply that he's unfit for practicing and killing people because of it.
And that feels wildly discriminatory and most certainly dances on the line of violating his rights. Optics are a funny thing, it's a constant game of flipping things back on the other person, and this feels like a prime example of something that could only cause Betz more harm if he keeps letting this vendetta get the best of him.
They've already dug into Bell's reputation as HODAD and his connection to Quo Vadis. By now, it's clear the investigators are having a field day trying to get anything to bury Bell at Betz's request.
The deposition was merely used to needle away at Bell and was as transparent as ever.
It was nice to have Marshall back, but no amount of settling or anything else would help in this situation when everything lobbed against Bell right now is personal. The hospital could only become collateral damage in a war that Betz waged.
But Bell can't have better people in his corner if he is at war. Jessica coming to his aid to get him out of that deposition was a reminder of the unique, close relationship those two have.
And Kit is leading the charge in protecting her man by all means. She's a force to be reckoned with, and it's not lost on me that a sexist like Betz would instead go after Bell and dismiss Kit's power at every turn.
Their meeting was fascinating because Kit dressed Betz down, making him small and stealing the wind from beneath his sails, wiping that cocky grin off of his face with her cool demeanor and words.
Betz: The truth is your hubby picked a fight with the wrong man. He tried to embarrass me, and I'm afraid that can't stand. I gotta make an example of it. So what I want is for Dr. Randolph Bell to lose his job, possibly his medical licensee and whatever shred of a reputation he enjoys.
Kit: The truth is governor, you miscalculated, because you think Randolph Bell is like you, vain, self-important, small-minded, hungry for money and power. But the thing about men like that, men like you, is that more than anything, they're afraid. Sad, really. But Randolph Bell is not afraid. Because he's not fighting for himself, he's fighting for what's right. You think that by attacking his reputation and likelihood it's going to make him back down, scare him away.
We know that she only riled the man up as she left him there feeling like he didn't have the upper hand that he did and that he was still a tiny, petty man. Whatever boost he thought he'd get from this situation didn't work out for him when Kit verbally annihilated him like that.
Kit Voss is a Boss B*tch, and we love her. She's the best.
But there's now a fear of how Betz will respond to that. Every time Kit does something to rile him up and piss him off, Betz goes after Bell even harder.
As a result, it doesn't feel like there'll be an end in sight for this storyline anytime soon, and when it does conclude, it may not make us happy.
Maybe Donald is key to getting ahead on some things, as Bell figured out he was a plant, but who knows? This may be headed toward Bell stepping down and no longer performing surgery, but the outcome could be much worse.
Bell is a fighter, no doubt, and Kit was right about him, but he's also not someone who would want to continue playing into the governor's game either, so we'll have to see how this story unfolds.
It's more concerning that the stress of all of this is causing Bell to have MS flair-ups when he was doing so well. He had Conrad getting him prednisone off the record, something that I also feel may hunt him later, becoming another tool in Betz's arsenal, or it was a way of showing the slippery slope and unthinking ease of how drugs can be utilized in the field in line with an installment based on addiction.
I'm worried about Bell and disappointed that he and Kit couldn't be happy and drama-free for too long. At the very least, the obstacles and battles they face are outside forces, and they're fighting them together as the powerful, strong, healthy couple they are.
Kitbell Supremacy, always, yes?
The hour strongly covered addiction and drug use and how it's an epidemic in this country.
The fentanyl overdoses of all those teens were heartbreaking and obviously hit too close to home for dads like Conrad and AJ or even the daughter of an addict like Cade.
This country's climbing number of overdoses and dangerous encounters with fentanyl is terrifying. You hear something about it almost every day, and it's particularly concerning how often it falls into the hands of teens, kids, and young adults.
AJ: I've talked to countless parents but now, it hits different, you know? My twins aren't even crawling, and I am terrified for them already.
Conrad: Nothing really prepared me for how different being a doctor felt after I had Gigi. I truly realized how fragile we are when I held my own flesh and blood in my arms.
Surprisingly, the hour didn't delve into the prescription component of things more. When we learned that Amir was an injured athlete, it was easy to put the pieces together.
Sadly, it's very common for teens to get addicted to pain meds prescribed to them for injuries, and it's a whole other thing regarding how easily and quickly doctors prescribe addictive medications without following through or even considering the long-term ramifications of that.
Too often, that's what makes up much of the addiction problems the nation faces: people requiring medications, getting hooked on them, and slipping into more dangerous drugs to feed that addiction.
Poor Malik got ahold of some supposed Percocet that Amir scored online, and it was a mess from there, with one teen dropping dead and the others battling for their lives.
It was such a genuinely awful case all around. Conrad handled it well, and we even got him heading into the field after they used Malik's phone to track his brother.
Billie and AJ had to put their skills to the test trying to keep Amir alive, and he still may not survive. And all of it made Conrad and AJ reflect on how fragile life is and how terrified they regularly feel as parents and doctors.
It's always lovely to hear AJ and Conrad bonding on a good day, but it's been particularly special when they do it over parenthood. The scene of him, AJ, and Billie resting, kicking it, and reflecting was simple but one of the best of the hour.
It's such an easy dynamic among the three, which, again, prompts me to revisit the frustration with how out of the loop Cade has been this entire time.
Kids are supposed to learn from their mistakes, not die from them.
AJ
Billie is a character who has fostered all these relationships with other characters outside of Conrad, and it leads to great moments like that scene with her, him, and AJ.
Even if Cade says she feels more in the loop, she's always this outlier who spends most of her time with Conrad, Ian, or the patient of the week.
She started the hour actually getting to attend a Chastain event and looking absolutely gorgeous in her dress. And even then, she was only with Conrad before things got carried away.
And next thing you know, they were having a mini-coffee date and making plans for their first official one outside of the hospital and their homes (something that made me sad to hear).
Once again, Cade was excited about the prospect of something like that dinner date at a Thai restaurant sans Gigi, which would bring the romance and make them feel like a legitimate couple other than whatever this weird thing is that they are that isn't doing it.
But this time, Ian thwarted it with his addiction stuff, and Cade had to set aside her plans and a slice of happiness to tend to her father. Even though I'm not particularly invested in Cade and Conrad in the least, that sucked, and I felt terrible for her.
Before, Cade had this mafia storyline that kept her at a distance from everything and unable to plant roots or connect with anyone. Now, she has Ian, and he consumes so much of her focus that she can't connect much with other people or figure out a life of her own.
It genuinely sucks for Cade.
Ian: I'm scared Kindcaid.
Cade: I know. Me too.
Dr. Lee catching Ian at her drug drawer and casually calling him out on being an addict was great, and it was apparently the wake-up call that Ian needed.
Maybe the fact that he was ready to track down the drugs the kids overdosed on for his own use also pushed him to seek help for his addiction or at least admit it to Cade.
Of course, that didn't come without its caveats, as he intended for her to continue hiding his addiction for his sake and helping him wean off the drugs or control his intake of them.
Ian was asking way too much of his daughter, which was genuinely awful all around. I don't understand how he didn't get that Cade would suggest precisely what she did: rehab or exposure to Kit.
He's worried about losing his job and the ramifications on his reputation as a Pediatric surgeon, but his addiction persists, and something has to get done about it.
Rehab seems like his best bet, and there are ways of doing that and getting help with some discretion without it affecting the job.
Sadly, addiction is such a common battle in a high-stress job like that, and usually, there are resources when you seek help without it affecting your career.
Ian owning up to his addiction was actually surprising because he was deadset on trying to manage things on his own for so long. Is this what we were building to, or is it more to it?
He forces Cade to keep quiet about it, not confiding in Conrad or telling Kit, which further alienates her, and Conrad can see that something is wrong.
It's not fair to her at all. And he also jeopardized her job to cover his tracks, all the while claiming that he was not going to do anything to cause her harm or hurt her. It was too late for all that.
But Ian was resistant enough to the idea of rehab for me to buy that he went willingly and will succeed. Something has to come from this, right?
Maybe he leaves without telling her, or he doesn't go at all, or perhaps the truth about his addiction comes to light despite all the promises of discretion.
Ian: I'm scared Kindcaid.
Cade: I know. Me too.
Then again, he was trying to get stuff out of his drawer so maybe someone will find his fake pee, and it'll all fall apart after that. We shall see.
Over to you, Resident Fanatics. What did you think about this installment? Sound off 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.
