The Engagement Party
Episode 5 of This is Going To Hurt begins with Adam sorting out his guest-list for his engagement party. While he rings around, Adam continues to work at the hospital. Shruti is still there too, growing ever-more frustrated with her studying and long-hours on the labour ward. Her exam is on the horizon and she’s clearly stressed, especially when she lashes out at Tracy. She’s not the only one stressed; Adam continues to worry about the impending complaint. Despite Erika claiming she withdrew it, this one is anonymous and it seems the situation is not over just yet. When Adam receives a call from Nina at the Medical Protection Union, it seems like the complaint was actually lodged from a colleague rather than a patient. But who? Adam continues to try and work between these phone calls, desperate to bring up the numbers for his party, but mostly falling on a rabble of “no thank you”s. Although, ironically, Julian of all people agrees to show up that night. Well that was unexpected! Elsewhere, Adam ends up with a particularly vulnerable patient, a 19 year old that’s tried to perform cosmetic surgery on her vulva. And predictably, it’s gone horribly wrong. The psych evaluator on call is completely overwhelmed too, with numerous cases to work through. She agrees to see her for a minute but when is still unknown. And that when turns into “never”, when the patient discharges herself. Elsewhere, Shruti teams up with Vicky to try and work through the overwhelming number of patients. Shruti unfortunately mishandles a case involving a couple who have lost their baby, speaking nonchalantly and robotically about their situation. In fact, she tells the couple that their baby is “just a bunch of cells”. Vicky thankfully covers for her but it’s clear Shruti is going through just as much. Adam eventually shows up at his engagement party, still spinning out from the stresses of work. Adam’s parents are there too, along with the two Tracys… and also Shruti and Ben too. Not only that, Julian also shows up too and he meets Harry, immediately taken aback when he realizes Adam is gay. Everything kicks off in the middle of the engagement party. Shruti mentions the GMC complaint, which Adam deduces she’s called in. As he calls her out for being a terrible doctor, Tracy suddenly speaks up and admits she’s the one who actually called in the complaint. When Adam rushes out, a bewildered Harry is taken aback when a drunk Shruti reveals everything about the complaint and how he’s likely going to get struck off. Outside, Tracy confronts Adam and calls him out for the tattoo, disconnecting the alarm and bullying Erika into dropping her complaint. It’s a valid criticism and something that he finally realizes. With everything falling apart, Harry and Adam’s relationship hangs in the balance.
The Episode Review
There’s a really nice moment here where Adam is standing in the middle of a corridor. On one side is the engagement party, the other happens to be the corridors at work. It’s such a powerful visual metaphor for what Adam is going through and his conflicted feelings regarding his work/life balance. The reveal that Tracy was the one who put the complaint in, complete with a big wake-up call for Adam’s attitude, is a pretty telling moment and it’s something that puts a lot of his actions into perspective. This episode also shifts the focus across to Shruti too, with her one slip-up causing a complaint that could have caused massive ramifications if someone had escalated it. For now though, it’s still unknown whether she’s going to press ahead with being a doctor or not. However, this was a really good episode and it leaves the door wide open for the remaining 2 chapters.
