The Resident Review: Flesh of My Flesh (Season 3 Episode 2)

Could Season 3 of The Resident continue to deliver flawless episodes and achieve the impossible, a perfect season?! 

It is certainly off to a good start. The Resident Season 3 Episode 2, “Flesh of My Flesh,” is another five-star masterpiece!

I’m gobsmacked by how it moves me in ways I have never been moved before, even though I’ve been at this life-living, TV-watching game for over thirty years.

“Flesh of My Flesh,” touches on gambling themes a few times, so let’s take a peek at the perfect hand it deals us. 

I want to start with the characters who make me feel things I’ve never felt before, CoNic (Conrad and Nic) and Dr. Kitt Voss. 

I have never felt the unadulterated romanticism and sweet affection for a couple that I feel watching Nic take off Conrad’s blindfold and reveal their new home. 

It is bliss. 

I have visions of their wedding day, of their children, of them growing od together. 

And I can NOT believe it, because this is not me. I’m on team Bad Boy! I even admit to loving a good cheating storyline, yikes. 

But, the way Matt Czuchry and Emily VanCamp play the characters makes them simultaneously adorable and smolder. That is rare!

The actors’ chemistry is the biggest part of what makes me comfortable with the mushy love story.

But, it is also the characters’ history. Nic and Conrad have had a great deal of conflict. All of the conflicts stemmed from the fact that they weren’t sure about themselves.

They were always sure about each other. Nic has never doubted Conrad or that she loves him. Conrad has never doubted Nic or that he loves her.

I think that purity in their conflict makes their happiness feel earned and genuine. It’s the real deal.

I am not kidding, this show is making me believe in true love and I just have to say, thanks.

And yes, heavens yes, the chickens are the icing on the cake. The chickens are bound to draw a lot of attention for their symbolic sweetness.

But, it is soft face caresses in the morning and the steady patience from both that make this couple cringe-less. 

It is a vast understatement to say, I ship it. 

As I watch Dr. Kitt Voss school Conrad about his leg and his need to listen to his body, I find myself thinking, “This is amazing, I would love to be a doctor. Should I go to medical school?”

Again, this is astounding. No other doctor on a medical show, including all the seasons of E.R. and House, has ever elicited such inspiration and connection to medical practice.

Jane Leeves plays Kitt with such power and confidence, matched with deep humility. When she brings the practice spine to Cain and confronts him, it is not about her own ego. 

She isn’t frustrated that they are not treating her with respect (even though they aren’t). She is frustrated that the patient will not survive because the team hasn’t practiced.  

She doesn’t revel is the glory and she doesn’t revel in the gory. She revels in the healing that medicine provides. 

Dr. Bell has never in his life been as turned as when Dr. Voss exclaims that she will settle at nothing less than saving the patient’s life. He looks like he’s about to pounce on her right in the middle of Chastain’s hallways!

We get it. Her raw goodness and “does all the right things for the right reasons”-ness is invigorating. 

Kitt is also a genius who can do the impossible. She focuses her breath, thinks of the seven children who need their mom, and manages an incision that she failed to get time after time when she practiced. 

Dr. Kitt Voss is the most inspirational doctor on television. You can quote me on that. 

Mina and AJ’s storylines work to develop their individual characters while bringing them closer together and helping us see how they are a match. 

The look they share in the surgery bay is so steamy, it is shocking the windows didn’t fog.

The anticipation is mounting at the perfect speed and intensity. We can’t wait to see them get together, but we will because the waiting feels darn good!

Mina’s vulnerability with her best friend adds complexity to her character in a really honest way. The conversation they have where they argue about God and doctors rings true. 

Doctors “playing God” is such a fine line. Adaku could not have gotten pregnant without doctors, but perhaps that intervention was divine. Where should faith step in?

The answer that The Resident provides is exactly right: it is up to the patient. Mina believes something different that Adaku, but it is not her choice to make. Respecting Adaku and their friendship means trusting her to make the right decision for her. 

The chemistry between the friends makes you believe that they have known each other forever. The fluidity of anger and forgiveness is also very natural. 

Adaku and Mina’s story is a big hug for the audience. And I must admit, I’ve been wanting a hug from Mina the whole time. 

AJ’s B plot with his biological father is also flawless. 

It turns out that “grown-ass men” topics include an adult man’s lifelong search for validation from the family that deemed him unworthy. 

Yep, they went there. 

Lamar’s simple, assertive, and honest response to AJ’s long explanation of his struggle to know if he is good enough, is, “You most certainly are.”

Such a small little statement to make such a tidal wave of emotion flow. We can feel AJ’s healing and heartache right through the screen.

Its an incredible and important joy to be able to watch a big, gruff black man put his heart out there and show his pain to another human being and to have another big, gruff black man speak in the language of vulnerability and give that shared pain the respect it deserves. 

Very well done, The Resident. 

The Montel talk show storyline effortlessly continues the ethical dilemma presented on The Resident Season 3 Episode 1, “From the Ashes.”

Dr. Bell wants to do cutting edge surgeries to bring eyes and funds to the hospital. But, as the very strange conjoined twins’ case shows, that doesn’t always work out.

Again, Bell is drawn away from legitimacy by Cain. But, he also gets a boost from hearing someone articulate what he sometimes thinks himself. Cain allows Bell to justify his greed. 

That is why Cain is such a deeply frightening character. 

The Montel story illuminates that Dr. Cain is all about optics. Even his flirting and his physique, all relate back to how he looks. Who Dr. Cain really is remains a complete mystery, and that adds to the foreboding nature of his presence. 

Everything about the episode works. We are ready for The Resident to deal us another perfect hand next week. 

Doctors Notes

• Yes, I too cry at the chickens moment. Still, Conrad’s apartment is my DREAM place. I would never, ever give it up. 
• I said it back in Season 1, Nic would make an excellent hospital executive. Her very smart move with Montel shows she is a leader!
• Montel as Montel kills it! He has real acting chops. 
• Devon as a listening ear is a great place for him to be. I am falling for him as a character. 
• Mina’s fashion is unstoppable. I want to see what she made for that baby!
• I think I’ve experienced the “breaking and entering stage of grief.” It’s not pretty. 

What did you think of this episode of The Resident? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Resident airs Tuesdays at 8/7 on Fox.

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