The Resident Review: Three Words (Season 2 Episode 3)
The Resident Season 2 Episode 3, “Three Words,” takes us to a place I’ve wanted to go since the pilot: Conrad and Nic’s past.
The first flashback feels a little bit clunky, as I suppose a lot of first meetings are. It would be smoother to start the episode with Nic looking at Feldman’s party invite and then flashing back to the night she and Conrad met.
Until the shot of Nic’s I.D badge, when Conrad says he’s starting at Chastain on Monday, I thought the scene was awkward role play. It’s a small detail, but the rest of the episode is structured so well (especially the flashbacks and the parallel patients’ storyline) that it’s a bit bothersome.
The newlyweds’ storyline is a brilliant way to set up the rest of the flashbacks. It’s the perfect example of how to get viewers to care about patients without creating a longer story arc for them. Clearly set up the main character journey against the patient’s, even slightly, and I’m all in as a viewer.
I even missed the beginning dialogue where John says he has a cough, so watching everything play out as it does is surprising. Surprise is key to maintaining a viewership.
Though the rest of the flashbacks are introduced well, a few more would be helpful. After the episode, new questions pop up in place of the old ones I was dying to know.
In the breakup scene flashback at the 404, Nic brings up some of Conrad’s issues: how he is responding to her miscarriage, his time in Afghanistan, his temper.
I don’t condone violence, but your boyfriend fighting a guy in a bar bathroom for coming on to you is not the one reason you break up with him. There’s more. Nic says so. I just wish it were present on screen in this episode.
We only really see one scene related to the miscarriage, and it’s so soon after it happens that Conrad is only trying to be strong for Nic.
I want more. I want The Resident to show me some of Conrad’s time in Afghanistan already, and I want to know about Nic’s past (especially related to her sister or why she became a nurse). I even want to know more about Feldman so I can stop thinking of him as just “that other white dude on the show.”
Making the viewer want more is not a bad thing at all. It’s the point of the entire TV industry. But I have a hard time trusting that any show will follow through and give me answers to any of my questions, whether I agree with the outcomes or not. I really hope The Resident comes through.
One of the ways they can do that is to absolutely not fire Dr. AJ Austin (Malcolm-Jamal Warner). I don’t think they will, but he’s still worth talking about.
First of all, Warner has one of the most beautiful, soothing voices I have ever heard. This fits the character in such a unique way. Austin’s ego is unlike any other I’ve seen on a medical drama, and quite frankly, it’s refreshing.
There’s a trope in medical dramas that almost every male doctor falls into. You know it. The guy with the big ego that makes him a little bit daring, but who just wants to take care of his patients and charm everyone along the way.
I love that Austin doesn’t have a drop of charm in him, and he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about that.
This is not to say that he’s unkind; he is kind when he wants to be. I’m sure he could even turn on the charm to get what he wants. But he accesses it less than any other male doctor I’ve seen on TV. I hope it stays that way.
I know his bags are always packed, but like Mina, I hope he stays at Chastain too.
Speaking of AJ and Mina…
I ship those two more than Mina and Micah, and something is obviously building there. I can no longer avoid saying that Mina and Micah remind me of Izzie and Denny, and Mina and AJ remind me of Cristina and Burke.
The stories aren’t exactly the same (and I hope the outcomes are different). But of the two, Mina is more believable as the student who falls for her teacher rather than the doctor who falls for her patient.
So, AJ Austin, you must stay at Chastain Park Memorial. I forbid you to leave. For the sake of Mina’s storyline if nothing else.
Doctor’s Notes:
- The saline crisis feels real, because it is. Kudos to The Resident team for bringing up Puerto Rico.
- In general, the business storylines interest me but are hard to write a lot about right now because it’s a slow build-up.
- Like a lot of people, there’s something about Marshall Winthrop I don’t trust. But another part of me thinks he might not be a bad guy, maybe.
- They found a really interesting way to get Julian into the hospital this week. I wonder how long they’ll keep that up.
- How about that list of things wrong with John and Brianna though? Don’t go to Hawaii on your honeymoon if you make pottery!
What did you think of this episode of The Resident? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Resident airs Monday at 8/7c on FOX.
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Esme Mazzeo
Esme Mazzeo is a lifestyle and entertainment journalist from Long Island. When she's not writing for work, she's writing for fun, or searching for something to satisfy her sweet tooth. She thinks rainy days are the best kind of days. Certified night owl.