Conrad Just Made a Dangerous Red Rock Enemy on ‘The Resident’ (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 3, Episode 7 of The Resident, “Woman Down.”]
Conrad (Matt Czuchry) better step lightly moving forward because he’s found himself at odds with Cain (Morris Chestnut), Red Rock’s “cash register.”
Following the ending of “Nurses’ Day,” Jessica is brought into the hospital in critical condition, and while everyone wants to help. the doctors find themselves at odds over her care. Cain, as always, chooses the surgical option, again and again, while Conrad takes the more cautious approach — especially when she’s recovering from already being opened up once.
Once her intracranial pressure increases and they see signs of swelling, Cain wants to bring her back into the OR for a decompressive craniectomy (temporarily pop off a piece of her skull to allow her brain room to expand). The others are concerned about her dropping platelet count, but with her ICP going up, they have no choice but to let Cain operate. While he does, Conrad figures out it’s TTP (thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura), treatable with plasmapheresis (by Mina).
Meanwhile, Nic (Emily VanCamp) confronts Bell (Bruce Greenwood) about the role Red Rock played in what happened to Jessica; she was overworked due to Red Rock cutting the staff and over-scheduling the OR. He promises to see what he can do about getting her more nurses, and he’s able to come through, thanks to the deal he makes with DiaCure to get Conrad the data he needs on Hemopleatin. As part of it, the hospital also gets the funding to fill out the nursing staff — even though Red Rock would much rather spend that money elsewhere (neuro, for Cain).
But Red Rock’s exec VP Logan Kim warns Bell that he’ll be the one to decide the terms of deals moving forward, and it’s during this conversation that Bell learns Cain got Logan his job. He lured him away from a hedge fund, meaning Logan doesn’t even have a background in health care. “I have a background,” Logan protests. “In profits.” In other words, he fits right in at Red Rock, but that’s certainly disconcerting for Chastain.
(Guy D’Alema/FOX)
But Bell appeals to that side of Logan when he and Conrad present Conrad’s findings about Hemopleatin: there’s a 20% higher complication rate with it, which is the proof they need that it was responsible for Jessie’s PE and killed her. It’s the perfect way to make a PR splash, Logan says, and Bell tells him that the older drug they can safely use is cheaper. It’s a win-win.
While Conrad may have done some good for the hospital (and for Red Rock), his disagreements with Cain over Jessica’s health care make him “a dangerous enemy” (in AJ’s words). And Cain appears to have a fixer of sorts on his side. As the doctors breathe sighs of relief once Jessica wakes up, Cain warns Conrad against questioning him again.
“You’re not a colleague. You’re a subordinate,” Cain tells him. Furthermore, while Conrad isn’t invincible, Cain doesn’t consider the same true for himself. After, he joins Logan and warns him that Conrad is a threat to the hospital. Logan says he’ll handle it.
Considering it seems like Logan owes Cain for getting him his job, Conrad should probably be very worried. Bell may be in a precarious position as well; Logan didn’t seem to appreciate the fact that he helped Conrad get the data he needed about Hemopleatin or the terms he set for his deal with DiaCure.
(Guy D’Alema/FOX)
The Resident, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox
