Black Lives Matter

Because in their prime they were one of the best, healthiest relationships I’ve ever seen on TV. They had realistic struggles, they dealt with them like adults, no one cheated and no one was petty or over dramatic. I liked the pining and angst earlier on and then I liked how they actually worked on their issues and flourished as a team.

I also liked how physical they were, all their little touches and moments that weren’t scripted but added so many layers to their relationship. They were the masters of “show, don’t tell” on a show that’s become increasingly guilty of spoon-feeding their audience with clunky, expositional dialogue. They had a great deal of casual intimacy, the kind I don’t think I’ve seen on TV (google this term if you aren’t familiar. It’s my favorite thing).

I liked how they leaned on each other and supported each other. They had similar values and goals, and were compatible outside of attraction. I like how intelligent and kind they both were, but they were still distinct characters. They made sense, it was believable that they were together beyond the fact that they were the two leads. They made each other better people and you knew that they truly loved each other, even if it was a soft, quiet, normal kind of love and not a boisterous, dramatic, soap opera love affair. They were soulmates because they chose to be, not become of cosmic intervention.

No other couple on this show is going to get the same treatment. No other couple will be so in synch, have so much history, or have so much of the people they’ve become be inextricably tied to the other. Mina and AJ had that potential, so did Kit and Bell, but not anymore. Not after a years-long time jump robbing them of that development. I honestly believe the writers just aren’t up to the challenge.

No one asked, but here’s 10 random thoughts I had binging the first season:

Lol true, but the show never framed that as a good thing. Tbh I’ve never been all that attached to Bell as a character and I don’t care so much about his redemption arc as much as other fans love it. Bc you’re right, he literally killed bc of his ego and incompetence. I love Kit thought (kinda think she deserves better lol)

But yeah, the moral compass is shoddy at best. It used to be somewhat intriguing; characters doing questionable things because the system is messed up and they have to work around it. Sure it wasn’t realistic but its a TV show and it was entertaining. Now its just lame drama and contrived storylines with lazy pay off. There’s not even a villain around to justify our hero’s morally gray actions so they come off as the ones in the wrong (to me at least). Even the dialogue is awkward and clunky. I also noticed the lighting sucked? Like turn on a lightbulb I cant see.

No, you can’t just tell the family of a donor that the recipient of an organ is in the hospital. Don’t care if the donors family is God’s gift to medicine. And he CERTAINLY can’t be her doctor. Conflict of interest, anyone? Or do we just not care about ethics at all? HIPAA? Basic respect for a human being’s privacy? AJ should be fired for that shit and no I’m not exaggerating doctors have been fired for less. I caught the episode because some classmates of mine were watching it in the library (ya know, “studying” for our clinical medicine exam next week lol) and we spent the whole episode making fun of all the times we would be expelled, or at least be in very very serious trouble, if we did any of the things the characters do like it’s no big deal.

This episode is not moving, it’s not heartwarming, it’s appalling. When a recipient meets a donor’s family, there must ALWAYS be consent between both parties. This might not seem like a big deal but it is. STOP normalizing lack of consent! To corner a recipient like Conrad did in the last scene is emotional manipulation and it’s wrong. Consent is a huge, complicated, multifaceted area of medicine that constantly gets ignored by television shows claiming to be “accurate” and it pisses me off.

What makes me most angry is that they COULD have done it properly, and it could have been beautiful. Donor’s families meet recipients all the time and it can be a lovely moment of lives intertwined. This was just gross. A shameless ploy by the writers to milk this tired dead wife/mom storyline for all it’s worth.

Why would you want to enter a relationship knowing that he would give it up to have her back in a heartbeat?? Like you will always be second choice and I feel like if I was in this position (which I never would be bc I’m not a fucking weirdo) that would constantly be on my mind.

(Before I even begin I s2g if one person is in my replies telling me how Emily chose to leave I’m going to break your kneecaps I KNOW and this has nothing to do with the personal lives of the actors I wish her all the best with her sweet baby)

Full disclosure: I haven’t been watching this season, only catching snippets here and there online, and I don’t plan to start now. Conrad/Nic were not the entire reason I watched this show, but they were obviously a big part of it. However, this is a deal breaker for me. Nic was my favorite character and with both her and Mina gone, it really doesn’t feel like The Resident anymore. I haven’t been able to connect with either of the new female leads, I thought the writing in season 4 was well below standard. So much clunky dialogue and missed opportunities for emotional follow-through that they just... missed. Even though it all seemed so obvious. I was more than prepared to give them a Covid pass but now that Nic is gone I just don’t see myself enjoying this show.

I’m sure the episode was great, I’m sure Matt acted his face off and probably deserves an Emmy. I’m sure the whole cast delivered and it was emotional and impactful. There’s also nothing I would rather watch less. They went too far with Nic, her whole life is one tragedy after another. And when she FINALLY gets her happy ending, with her soulmate and her baby, she dies. That’s it, no catharsis, no closure. What the hell was the point? She died alone, not with her family, probably terrified of leaving her daughter like her mother left her. What a brutal, tragic cycle - Gigi won’t even remember Nic. That’s not a story I think needs to be told nor one I’m interested in watching. If 2020 taught me anything it’s that I no longer wish to consume media that breaks my heart, that piles on the trauma for tragedy or shock value, rather than narrative storytelling (looking at you handmaids tale)

I do not want to watch endless trauma unfold for characters that have become very important to me. I wish circumstances were different, that Emily didn’t have to leave, or perhaps she could have scaled back and had a more organic exit that didn’t require death, that the show was just cancelled after season 4 and they could be fucking happy. But the point of this post isn’t to criticize the creators and say such-and-such should have happened instead, I understand they were put in a tough place, but rather an explanation as to why I will not be watching any more.

(Could have done without all the stupid build up and shady interviews for ratings just to have a traumatic, predictable exit though, that’s kind of cruel to your fans)

The Resident got me through the most difficult year of my life, as 2020 was for many. I will always love seasons 1-3 (and 4 I guess). I never would have imagined my time with this show ending like this, but the beauty of it all is that I can always return to where, in my mind, the show ended, and these characters will still be waiting for me.