The Chimera
Episode 7 of The Resident season 6 starts with AJ and Conrad heading to a correctional facility to treat an inmate. AJ smoothly asks Conrad how he feels about Billie after their dance at Kit and Randolph’s wedding. Conrad doesn’t exactly deny, clarify or answer the question directly. The patient AJ and Conrad are going to treat at the correctional facility is Janaya’s brother. You may remember her as the nurse who took care of AJ’s mom during her final days. Her brother, Bobby is incarcerated for murder but Janaya is positive he is innocent even with DNA evidence proving otherwise. Meanwhile, back at Chastain, Leela and Pravesh are heading to work and Padma is on the phone with her sister. Padma is nervous about letting the new nanny help her but Leela tries to convince her that the nanny is there to help her. At the hospital, Irving is showing Cade pictures of the wedding and giving her all the deets about how amazing it was. She soon comes across the picture of Billie and Conrad dancing and is taken aback by how Conrad was looking at Billie. Hmm! It is about time they address the elephant in the room! Back in jail, Bobby’s condition gets worse as Conrad and AJ examine him. They are forced to immediately transfer him to Chastain and assist him further. At the hospital, they perform numerous tests and discover Bobby has rare cancer and is unlikely to make it. They question if they should do surgery to give him more time even though he is on death parole and will be executed in a year. Initially, Bobby refuses the life-extending surgery as he feels he has nothing to live for. The lab technician makes a stunning discovery when doing a test on Bobby. They realize that Bobby is a chimera after he got a bone-marrow surgery as a child. It proves that his donor is likely to be the culprit and he has been in jail for more than a decade for a crime he didn’t commit. Armed with this new information and hope to prove his innocence, Bobby agrees to the surgery and it goes well. On the other hand, Kit and Randolph are getting ready to meet with the new Governor, Mr Betts. Kit was under the impression that their meeting would be private but the Governor had other malicious ideas. He invites the press to their meeting and tries to publicly shame Kit but Randolph steps in and discloses the Governor’s corrupt medical practices in the past. The media goes into a frenzy as the Governor is left speechless and unable to give a concise defence. Governor Betts is not one to take such a matter lightly and he immediately starts his plan to get his revenge on Randolph. He approaches a new surgery technician, Donald to spy on Randolph and try to collect dirt on him. Donald squirms his way into Randolph’s OR and he reports to the Governor. Cade confronts Conrad about Billie and he says that he has no romantic feelings for Billie. He tells her that they only feel close because they both feel the same sense of loss and pain. He tells her that losing Nic crushed him and he is just trying to figure out things as they go. Cade asks him to always be transparent with her and Conrad insists he has been. Later, Conrad and Billie talk about their relationship and they both acknowledge that they are confused. Billie asks him if he is happy with Cade to which Conrad replies he is. Billie says in that case she is no longer confused. Conrad tells her that he wants her to be happy as well and walks away. At the same time, a new doctor James (played by the ever-so-handsome Ian Anthony Dale) approaches Billie and asks her out on a date. Pravesh meets a new patient, Claire who is in great pain but hopes to avoid getting treated in America due to the high cost. Pravesh diagnoses Claire with kidney stones and they do a non-invasive surgery to break down the stones so they can pass. Sadly, Claire’s condition gets worse. The kidney stones masked a deeper problem and Pravesh calls Leela and Randolph to perform surgery and save her. Unfortunately, she dies on the surgery table and Donald takes this opportunity to tell the Governor that Randolph is responsible for Claire’s death.
The Episode Review
The Resident delivers an interesting hour with lots to unpack. The main takeaway from this episode is that Conrad is lying straight through his teeth when he says he doesn’t have feelings for Billie. Does he know he is lying to himself or does he really believe he is not feeling more for Billie than just friendship? It is so frustrating to watch them, especially because we all know Cade deserves better. Conrad is not a bad guy, as far as stand-up guys go, he is the best but he is letting us down. The writers should decide how long they want to drag this storyline or allow us to move on with James. I mean, there is only so much pinning over Conrad that Billie can do! What do you think about James? The episode also opened the discussion of the current issues in the American healthcare and justice system. The writers did a great job portraying the reality for so many Americans and other people across the world. Governor Bett is a prime example of bad leadership that ends up costing the people. Randolph should have known better than to air the Governor’s dirty laundry in front of the media but he had no choice. It will be intriguing to see how this fight will end, hopefully Randolph will come out in one piece.
