The Resident Review: Lost Love (Season 1 Episode 9)
The Resident Season 1 Episode 9, “Lost Love” is practically cutting onions under our noses, trying to evoke our emotions. The episode’s final moment does it– pass the tissues, this reviewer is shedding some tears.
“Lost Love” resonates emotionally via Lily’s story line. Violett Beane’s Lily Kendall has become a fixture on The Resident as the Chastain Team’s favorite patient.
We are privy to Lily’s fears. We see her banter and flirt with Dr. Pravesh. We see Nic help Lily find her voice on “Lost Love.”
Because Lily is a developed, integrated character, her death is devastating.
The Resident, smartly, uses Lily’s death to reveal the depth of Dr. Hunter’s depravity.
Grief gives way to rage as it becomes clear Dr. Hunter kills Lily as a way of punishing and silencing Nicolette Nevin. It also becomes clear that Dr. Hunter is a cunning liar, playing Conrad with her fake tears and concern for her patients.
My blood is boiling!
The show frequently struggles to evoke real emotion due to its fast pace and focus on ethics issues, rather than life-or-death drama.
“Lost Love” avoids gratuitous grief or over-dramatization of Lily’s death. In fact, of the lead characters, only Conrad is present.
Conrad’s failure to save Lily is foreshadowed early on the episode when Conrad’s “first, do not harm,” forearm tattoo lingers and partially blocks Lily’s face, in a shot of the two in Lily’s hospital room.
The visual tie-in to the core conflict on The Resident–what does it mean to “first, do no harm?”– is a thoughtful inclusion and marks a turn towards more subtly on the show.
Conrad continuing to give CPR to Lily, well past when she is “save-able” destroys the ideas that Conrad can save everyone and that he is always right. Now he knows, he is not God.
These ideas are core to Conrad’s identity and as they crumble, the emotional guards he has up crumble too.
What is unknown is how that will impact Conrad’s ability to be an excellent doctor.
The loss characterizes Dr. Hunter, pushes Nic’s story line forward, and pushes Conrad to break from his protected emotional stance.
The death of one guest character that does so much work is good storytelling.
The other attempts to pull heartstrings on “Lost Love” are less successful.
Puppies are always welcome on my screen. Always.
But, the use of puppies on “Lost Love” is extra.
It’s like The Resident is shouting to Fox, “Look, puppies! A box full of puppies! Renew me, renew me! Don’t forget, puppies!”
Whatever works!
Really though, therapeutic animals are powerful healers. I wish The Resident had embraced dogs’ potential roles in patient-care with a bit more seriousness.
The puppy-based story lines on “Lost Love” fail to evoke emotion, in part, because of the scenes’ direction.
The tone of the direction on “Lost Love,” especially the puppy sequences, is too playful and quirky.
For example, during the emotional apex of the episode, Conrad slips to the ground, overcome by grief and loss. Then the camera takes on a dog’s eye view, and we trot with Cookie over to Conrad’s lap.
The intensity of Conrad’s sorrow and identity crisis don’t match the silly tone of the puppy’s eye view.
David Rodriguez’s direction on The Resident Season 1 Episode 6, “No Matter the Cost,” hits the right tone. It also utilizes the show’s greatest asset– the cast’s incredible facial control.
The Resident cast gives good face!
Rodriguez utilizes the actors strengths to craft compelling visuals– he’s not afraid to keep it serious. Rodriguez also avoids visual gimmicks and lets the subtext percolate.
I look forward to more episodes directed by Rodriguez, or in a similar style.
The CoNic, Conrad and Nic’s ship name, development is darn good on “Love Lost”.
I’m not quite flushed and flooded with the feels. Not yet, anyway.
But the acting is stellar, as always. I could watch Matt Czuchry on mute and get a compete story of his pain.
ConNic is a slow-burn though, so it is expected that the feels build, rather than burst, in the first season.
“Lost Love” drops significant hints to unlock the mystery of Conrad’s inability to be vulnerable, his relationship with his father, and how he came to love Nic.
I really like that there is no mystery about how Nic and Conrad feel; It is evident that they love each other.
That’s not the issue.
The issue is trust. For some reason, Conrad doesn’t feel safe enough to trust in his love relationships.
His fear is blocking his trust and I am so glad we are taking the time to explore the issue, rather than having Conrad just get over it in one episode.
It’s also a quietly beautiful thing that Conrad loves Nic so much that he is willing to let her go, while never letting that impact his ability to team-up with her to save patients.
Doctors Notes
- Mina may not be a dog-person, a cat-person, or a people-person, but she sure is a patient-person!
- Shaunette Renee Wilson continues to shine as Mina Okafor. If Fox is not ready to renew The Resident for a second season, they should definitely order a Dr. Okafor spin-off.
- I can’t even with Dr. Pravesh. Is The Resident trying to make me hate him? He forgets his fiance’s birthday because he’s an oh-so-important and busy intern. He actually thinks a good fix for his emotional absence is to adopt a puppy for his hard-working journalist fiance to train and care-for? All the eye-rolls.
- I am so glad Conrad was not jealous or weird about his ex. It was refreshing to see someone actually move on from a past love.
- I may be extra petty, but I would NOT hate if my current love was treating his ex and it all had to do with butt-blockage. Just saying, bowels are not sexy.
What did you think of this episode of The Resident? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Resident airs Mondays at 9/8c on Fox.
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Janelle Ureta
Janelle Ureta is equal parts Veronica Mars, Raven Reyes, and Rebecca Bunch, but she aspires to add some Tammy Taylor to the mix. An attorney turned teacher, Janelle believes in the power of a well-told story. She is currently exploring how to tell short stories, 140 characters or less, on twitter. She loves to talk about TV, and right now she can't shut up about Timeless, Dear White People, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The 100, or Younger.
11 comments
Please tell me the breed the therapy puppies!
Karen, did you find out yet what breed the puppies were? I loved them and want to look into them. Thank you
No one has replied as yet. I find it unbelievable that on every site I have looked, they talk about the puppies but do not mention the breed.
Hi Karen and Weezie– I don’t know the breed– I’m no dog expert and we’re not given any extra info about episodes. But, by sight, I would say there is some poodle in the puppies’ breeding. Maybe also some spaniel? What do you think? Both those breeds are on this list of best breed for fighting depression: https://www.bustle.com/articles/175299-the-7-best-dog-breeds-for-fighting-depression
Of course, I want ALL of them!! Cookie is so stinking cute.
Hi Janelle! Thanks so much for responding. I, too, thought the closest breed was poodle, but wanted to be sure. I appreciate your sending the link. I’ll be looking for a cutie like Cookie, that’s for sure! Thanks again!
They look like the breed called Maltipoo’s.
The puppies definitely have some toy poodle in them. I’m pretty sure they’re Maltipoo. (They look like my dog when he was a puppy!)
But they could be a Cavapoo or Cockapoo, since look rather similar, especially as puppies.
The puppies look just like our new puppy which is Havanese.
I just looked up Havanese and oh my gosh, BEST GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH EVER! So very adorable. Cookie definitely looks similar to the google images!
I think the puppies were more of a symbol than an emotional plot point. Sure, it’s super exciting to see all these homeless puppies find homes, and it’s hilarious to see older patients hiding them from the nurses, but I still think they were a symbol. Similar to how, in literature, a star represents one’s fate/destiny, I think (and I’m still pondering other ideas but) that the puppies were meant to symbolize hope, or something of the sort. They’re brought in for these kids to make them feel better, and throughout the episode we see the puppies gaining homes with people like Devon, Hank(?), and I think a few others but I can’t remember, and then Lily. By the time the episode gets to Lily, we’ve seen how these puppies are going to benefit the people who have adopted them. Priya and Lily, in this case, kind of mirror one another. Their excited about the puppies because they both believe that their lives will be more enjoyable with the puppies in them. Which is why I’m thinking ‘hope’ is the symbol, or ‘hope for the future’. To then see all of those people benefitting from the puppies, only to have one of our favorite characters suddenly die because of Dr. Hunter’s greed when we all know how hopeful Lily is for her future, is devastating. I believe the scene at the end, with Conard on the ground, where Cookie comes and sits down beside him, is supposed to symbolize that there is still hope for the future, and that this obstacle Conard is facing, he will one day be able to move on from despite how he may feel in that moment.
But those are just some thoughts of mine. I really don’t believe they brought puppies into the episode merely to convince FOX to renew them. And they have been renewed; April 16th, episode 10, “Haunted”, in case anyone hasn’t seem yet.
Oooh, I love this analysis! Dogs, especially puppies, bring such hope and healing. I could definitely see the motif/symbolism you’re talking about.
I’m excited to see how Conrad and the team is impacted and gets justice after Lily’s death. Everyone, even Mina, was connected to Lily. I read an article where the actress who plays Lily was saying that Conrad is kind of haunted by her. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of Lily as a ghost, vision or flashback in future episodes!
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