‘The Resident’ Preview: A Tornado Rocks Chastain — and Sets up Emotional Stories (VIDEO)
Disaster episodes make good television, from the unforgettable Grey’s Anatomy plane crash in 2012 to last season’s staggering tsunami on 9-1-1. Tuesday on The Resident, a twister strikes Atlanta — and Chastain Park Memorial Hospital is in its deadly path.
“There’s a view of the tornado approaching through a window,” executive producer Peter Elkoff previews. “Then it comes in through the ambulance bay with exploding glass!”
The ceiling collapses, trapping Dr. Devon Pravesh (Manish Dayal) and new surgical intern Leela Devi (Anuja Joshi) with an impaled worker who needs immediate treatment. Obstacle No. 1: “Leela is not ready to perform surgeries on her own, and he’s an internist, a diagnostician,” says Elkoff.
Obstacle No. 2: no power…but at least the cordless drill is charged! “In a case that’s way outside her pay grade, Leela shows up and becomes a hero,” Elkoff adds. “And it really starts to deepen her relationship with Devon.”
Meanwhile, newlywed doctor Conrad Hawkins and very pregnant nurse practitioner Nic Nevin (Matt Czuchry and Emily VanCamp, above) work together to save the fractured leg of an EMT (Allison Gabriel) who was pinned under the cement rubble from the ceiling. They fear they may have to amputate.
Guy D’Alema/FOX
“It’s a really emotional story and good, bloody medicine,” says Elkoff. The couple also is torn on a more personal issue concerning Nic’s pregnancy, which they debate during the crisis. “The question is, when does Nic stop working, and when does Conrad?” (The baby will arrive by the end of the season, he also promises.)
Somehow amid this catastrophe, a jaw-dropping surgery called autotransplantation is performed by Drs. Randolph Bell (Bruce Greenwood), AJ Austin (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), and Jake Wong (Conrad Ricamora). Tumors have spread throughout a 6-year-old girl’s organs in her abdomen. “The only way to cure her is to actually remove the organs and take the tumors off outside the body,” Elkoff says.
With this episode, he adds, “we wanted a lot of energy and excitement and surgeries getting us to a nice story at the end.” All we can say is, phew!
The Resident, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox
