The Resident - Season 1-3

Everyone grew up with hospital series. The Resident is also a fun one! For me it all started with Medisch Centrum West from 1988. Then came classics like ER and years of Grey's Anatomy. In the beginning I watched everything on television, but now I have completely switched to streaming. Last year I watched the complete spin-off of Grey's Anatomy, Station 19. Every year I set myself a goal: to watch a series all the way through. This year the choice was easy. I had already seen a few episodes, and at the beginning of this year I decided that The Resident was next.

Season one introduces us to the main characters—a mix of familiar and less familiar faces. Dr. Conrad Hawkins (Matt Czuchry) is a third-year resident at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital. With a background in the military and experience in Afghanistan, he has some less conventional techniques at his disposal. He is assigned to the newly minted resident Devon Pravesh (Manish Dayal). In addition to medical knowledge about diseases and symptoms, Conrad also teaches him how the hospital as a bureaucratic system works—and more importantly, how to circumvent that bureaucracy when necessary.

Conrad has an on-again, off-again relationship with nurse practitioner Nic Nevin (Emily VanCamp). Together with the brilliant surgeon Mina Okafor (Shaunette Renée Wilson), they form the beating heart of the series. Towards the end of the first season, the confident and brilliant Dr. AJ Austin (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) makes his appearance. From that moment on I knew for sure: I'm going to watch this series to the end.





It is good to realize that the health insurance system in the Netherlands is different from that in America. And with this series you realize again how happy we should be about that.

The second season continues to expand on the events of the first season. One of the central storylines focuses on QuoVadis, a company that supplies defective medical devices and thus puts lives at risk. This leads to fierce confrontations between doctors and management. In addition, Conrad and Nic are confronted with personal challenges, including the health of Nic's sister and the impact of their relationship on their professional lives.

One of the central storylines focuses on QuoVadis, a company that supplies defective medical devices, putting lives at risk.

The third season of The Resident introduces a major turn of events for Chastain Memorial Hospital. After financial troubles, the hospital comes under the control of the powerful healthcare organization Red Rock Mountain Medical. This leads to a battle between the doctors and the new leadership, with the ethics of care at stake. In addition to the professional challenges, personal storylines are also further developed. Dr. Barrett Cain (Morris Chestnut), an ambitious and ruthless neurosurgeon, is appointed to improve the hospital's finances. His tough approach and focus on profit make him a threat to the doctors, who resist his methods. This conflict forms the core of the season.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production on the season was halted early, making the season three episodes shorter than originally planned. This resulted in a finale that was not the intended end to the season, which affected the storyline and buildup to the climax. However, this will be made up for in early season four.

The Resident feels like a successful mix of House and Grey’s Anatomy – medical drama with a sharp edge and enough personal storylines to get sucked in. What started as relaxation grew into something more for me. The series not only gives an insight into the daily ins and outs of doctors, nurses and patients, but also puts its finger on the sore spot when it comes to the tensions between care, profit and ethics. I have now watched 57 episodes this year, 41 more to go.