The Resident Review: Best Laid Plans (Season 3 Episode 12)
Minator saves The Resident Season 3 Episode 12, “Best Laid Plans,” from its overwrought and melodramatic core.
CoNic deserves all the love and adoration it gets from viewers, but Minator is the best ship on the show right now.
From a cinematic perspective, the compelling visual story these two best friends tell is rich and electric. Their costuming is colorful, layered, and exciting.
This contributes not only to Mina and AJ’s characters as individuals but also to how they relate to each other.
On “Best Laid Plans,” both doctors are shown in their white coats or scrubs. But even with this limited canvas, the personalized stylings we do see serve to highlight the conflict in this romance.
Mina is so wildly independent and guarded that she needs to keep the one man who can get past her control and perfectionism to reach her vulnerability at a bit of a distance.
Vulnerability takes practice. Just like surgery, being vulnerable is a risky thing to do.
Mina let her guard down and now AJ is in. She loves him.
But, that doesn’t mean she has had enough practice to be romantically vulnerable too!
To bring this back to costume, both AJ and Mina make their uniforms stand out and break from the homogeneity that a uniform brings.
This visually tells us that they are connected, they are of the same fabric so to speak.
The blocking also enhances Minator’s powerful story.
They are often shown side by side, not looking at each other, with looking forward together.
“Best Laid Plans,” includes blocking as Mina and The Raptor debrief their success in the operating room.
Then, when AJ is finally ready to put out there what he’s feeling, he turns toward Mina and fully faces her. She isn’t quite ready to reciprocate. She makes eye contact but stays tilted to the side as if shielding herself.
She is doing just that. She is protecting her heart because it is now open to AJ.
What a fabulous place for a romance to be! Their friendship and bond is unbreakable and teeming with sexual chemistry. But, it’s just not time yet. And now we have a new love interest for AJ who may serve to clarify for Mina how much risk she is willing to take to protect her heart.
The blocking and costuming on The Resident help to support and tell this passionate and unique romantic story.
AJ is absolutely right, the heart can evolve. Mina can evolve and become stronger.
But, evolution takes time. It took their patient’s heart five years.
Hopefully, we’re looking at something closer to five episodes.
The rest of the character development on the episode is just fine. It is repetitive and very on the nose.
The story of the sisters and the peaceful death doesn’t land. We don’t know the characters well enough to take their relationship to heart.
Plus, the whole thing is just kind of weird. The confessional conversation in the van has a cheery tone. It doesn’t connect emotionally and then it also doesn’t seem to serve the show’s overall point of highlighting medical ethics.
It seems in place to elucidate Nic’s commitment to Conrad, which we already know, and to bring up Mina’s consideration of who she wants to be with if she were in her las five minutes.
Again, this isn’t new information. The Resident has already made this case on The Resident Season 3 Episode 6, “Nurses’ Day,” and The Resident Season 3 Episode 4, “Belief System.”
On both of those episodes, subtle or creative actions propelled us viewers to the knowledge that Mina and AJ are each other’s person.
“Best Laid Plans,” in contrast, is so much more explicit and melodramatic. The main strength of Season 3 is that The Resident is embracing its unique tone.
Like last week’s The Resident Season 3 Episode 11, “Free Fall,” this episode steps away from the show’s core identity and it suffers from the distance.
Let’s hope The Resident recognizes its missteps soon and gets back in line with the five-star programming we know it is capable of.
Doctors Notes
- The princess character is interesting, but it is really shady and gross for Dev to kiss his patient while he is on the clock as her doctor. Why does Dev need a love interest right now?
- None of the OTPs on the show are interracial or intercultural. What is up with that? Relatedly, we are three seasons in and I have yet to see an LGBTQIA character. This show has ships, they should be inclusive.
- Mina sharing pictures of the baby with Adaku is so very precious.
- Conrad interviewed at one place and he is now volunteering? There are all sorts of opportunities for doctors, including moonlighting. Conrad’s post-firing arc isn’t believable so far.
- CoNic’s bedspread is as awesome as their kitchen tile. They have TASTE.
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 8/7c 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.