The Resident Review: Hero Moments (Season 4 Episode 7)
A perfect episode of a medical drama shows us engaging medical cases, compelling personal conflicts, and sprinkles good chemistry on top if we’re lucky.
The Resident Season 4 Episode 7, “Hero Moments,” does all of those things. It only falls short where Mina’s storyline is concerned.
Everything we watch her do is entertaining. The reason A.J. has to leave her to lead the surgery is convenient but believable enough. The problem is Mina deserves more. She shouldn’t have to share the spotlight of leading a surgery with the first time we see Conrad as a medic in the Marines.
The final scene of Mina’s plot is also weakened by A.J.’s words. The couple has brilliant chemistry but he says: “I don’t think you need to fear being deported before becoming a world-class surgeon because today you have proven that you already are one.”
It’s a minor detail, but first of all, Mina’s a fellow. She’s amazing at what she does but she has a long way to go on her journey to “world-class.” I want to watch her climb the mountains in her way for many more years. Let’s not put her at the top prematurely.
Secondly, Mina getting deported is not an option, okay? She has the right to fear whatever she wants, Raptor!
The Raptor announcing that Mina is no longer his mentee in the same scene is jarring.
I want them together romantically for a very long time, so I accept this. But their professional relationship is so rare that we deserve a Mina and A.J.-focused episode if we are really going to have to say goodbye to it.
I’m picking at these details because “Hero Moments” is mostly triumphant.
It’s about time the series shows us Conrad’s past as a medic in the Marines. Even though every storyline is entertaining, this one also could stand on its own in a bottle episode.
The Resident doesn’t go that route, but how Conrad tells us about his history with his CO Nate Hill works just fine.
We get to see Nate take bullets while saving Conrad’s life as Conrad tells Nic about it. It’s one scene, but that’s all we really need to sense the complicated bond and tension between Conrad and Nate.
Nate asking A.J. to save the bullet he retrieves and then giving it to Conrad so that Conrad can literally throw it away with all of the guilt and shame he’s been feeling for his part in ending Nate’s career is so effective.
Sometimes, all we need in life is a physical metaphor to help us let go of some of the troubles in our past.
It’s very strange that Conrad hasn’t told Nic about Hill if he has been carrying this guilt for ten years. Nic is very kind, patient, and understanding about the fact that her husband has kept this from her.
But since Hill has been avoiding Conrad until recently, his explanation of shame is acceptable here. Plus, baby girl Hawkins-Nevin does not need the stress of her parents not speaking to each other.
We have to pick our battles in every aspect of life whether in marriage or at work. The battle Dr. Pravesh fights for Rose is quite impressive. He definitely feels guilty because he is the one who convinces her to ultimately trade hip pain for other complications — but I cannot deny the sparks between them.
The “doctor and patient falling in love” trope is totally cliché. But fans of medical dramas have to suspend disbelief when the chemistry works because it happens so often.
This chemistry works, unlike anything Devon has had with the princess, the horrible device rep Julian Booth, or even his badass journalist ex-fiancée Priya.
I have no idea if we’ll see Rose again, but I hope so. Convincing a dance teacher’s students to come and do a recital for her in the middle of the hospital is a pretty amazing first date. There is no denying that.
Despite all of their heroic moments on the episode, I can’t shake the feeling that one or two of our favorite doctors have major obstacles ahead.
Until we’re forced to worry about those, let’s just bask in the joy that always lingers after a nearly perfect episode of television.
Doctor’s Notes:
- Will Voss and Bell just get married already, or at least live in domestic bliss?
- Dr. Voss telling Cain he’s just spoken to the CEO of Chastain is a priceless moment.
- Cain’s presence on this episode is totally inconsequential, no matter what he’s planning.
- The way Nic is used on the episode is brilliant, she practices medicine while still technically off from work and it makes enough sense why.
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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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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.