‘The Resident’: Governor’s Latest Move Has Bell Questioning Himself (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Resident Season 6 Episode 9, “No Pressure No Diamonds.”]
Unfortunately, Dr. Kit Voss (Jane Leeves) didn’t scare off Governor Betz (Steven Culp), and he’s just making things worse for Dr. Randolph Bell (Bruce Greenwood) on The Resident. His latest move, following that lawsuit, was an article with the headline “Dangerous Doctor at Chastain.”
That comes just as Bell is set to perform a risky surgery on one of Dr. Devon Pravesh’s (Manish Dayal) patients: the implantation of a titanium rib cage. What’s more: a documentary crew is going to film it. It’s not only good for the partnership Devon, through his clinical trials, is getting going with a robotics company (that made the ribs), but it would be good publicity for Chastain as well — at a time that it could use it with Betz slashing its budget. Kit only agrees to it being filmed if they have complete creative control.
Kit immediately comes to Bell’s defense once she’s alerted to the article; he’s an entirely different man and doctor than he was when he was nicknamed HODAD (Hands of Death and Destruction), she insists, and this risky surgery could be good for his image when he’s successful. However, after the patient’s daughter sees the article, she demands that Bell be taken off her mother’s case, even after Kit tells her she’d trust him with her life.
Bell understands when Kit informs him, but she insists they will keep fighting Betz. But should they? The stress isn’t good for Bell’s MS, as we see when his head starts hurting and the room begins spinning while he reads the article. He’s visibly upset after.
Meanwhile, Kit steps in for the risky surgery, and while she, Dr. AJ Austin (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), and Dr. Billie Sutton (Jessica Lucas) run into complications, they are ultimately successful. And as a result, Devon’s partnership with the robotics company — which was on shaky ground as things took a turn — is still in place.
But even though Bell doesn’t do that surgery, he still gets an unexpected chance to shine, with some encouragement from Dr. Conrad Hawkins (Matt Czuchry). He brings in Bell and Dr. Leela Devi (Anuja Joshi) to treat his patient, who was attacked by animals in his illegal zoo. Bell once again runs into an issue — this time, double vision — and has Leela handle the non-surgical procedure he suggests. (He’s not letting outside influences dictate how he does his job, he insists when Conrad points out the treatment.)
When things go south for this patient, Conrad knows he won’t make it to the OR and insists Bell needs to cut him open (a decompressive laparotomy) right there in the hallway while waiting for the elevator. “I knew that man they wrote about in that article, and that’s not you, not now,” Conrad tells him. And while Bell’s not so sure anymore, “I’d trust you with my life. After everything we’ve been through, that has to mean something to you because it means something to me,” the internist continues. “I know you can save this man’s life right now.” After a moment, Bell does just that … and it’s caught on camera by the documentary crew.
At the end of the day, however, Bell waits in Kit’s office for her and tells her about what happened when he read part of the article. She attributes his reaction to an anxiety attack, but he says it’s his MS, made worse by the stress or a side effect of his new meds. His MS could be progressing. Kit says they’ll find another treatment or clinical trial, and Bell thinks he needs to return to Minnesota. Whatever it takes, she tells him. She just wants him by her side.
Elsewhere in this episode, AJ turns to Nurse Hundley (Denitra Isler) and Dr. Feldman (Tasso Feldman) for childcare after he can’t find a replacement sitter to watch the twins while he’s working, and Padma’s (Aneesha Joshi) taking a much-needed self-care day and not answering her phone. He finds the twins with Billie at the end of the day — she couldn’t hug Trevor when he was that young because of where he came from — at which point we get an update on her son: He’s developing new drugs in Baltimore, and they’re still in touch.
Then, when AJ arrives home, he’s surprised to find Padma’s not there … and her phone’s going straight to voicemail. Uh-oh.
The Resident, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox
