The Resident season 2 midseason report card: What’s working with medical series?
Related The Resident video – Be sure to also take a look below at some expectations for the upcoming season. If you like this, be sure to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for more.
The good news when it comes to The Resident is that few shows better capture the bureaucracy that exists within medicine, or some of the highs and lows that you have a tendency to see along the way. A great example of that came via the Quovadis storyline, as the medical-device company got a really strong foothold into what was going on with Dr. Bell at Chastain. Some corporations are like this, where they can get control of a hospital and line people’s pockets for the sake of helping to line their own. A good 95% of this was super-successful, especially when it comes to having Julian Lynn be the unwilling participant in all of it. She thought that the company’s ideals lined up with her own, but that was not actually the case.
Beyond just that, season 2 did offer up a good bit of insight into many of the characters, whether you are talking about Conrad, Nic, Conrad’s father Marshall, or even Dr. Bell himself — loathsome as he may be at times. There’s just enough comedy with this show to keep it from being dry, but also not so much that it feels cheesy. The balance here is good, and while some of the medical cases aren’t particularly memorable, some of the character interactions make up for it.
What still needs work?
We would like to see The Resident season 2 spend some more time moving forward fleshing out things when it comes to the supporting characters like Mina and AJ, who have a good rapport but there’s room still for vulnerability there. Beyond just that, we do think that the Quovadis story did get a little bit too cheesy and over-the-top at the very end when it really didn’t have to be. The producers didn’t have to make Julian’s car accident feel as much like a mob hit, but we do understand the point that they were trying to dive home.
Midseason Verdict
While we cannot say that The Resident delivered a first season with a ton of firecracker episodes that will be remembered until the end of time, a combination of great performances and also interesting story arcs make it one of TV’s better medical shows — and there is plenty of time and room for it to get so much better from here. Grade: B.
What did you think about The Resident season 2 to date? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments. (Photo: Fox.)