S05.E08: Old Dogs, New Tricks

[jewel21]

Kit hires a surgical coach to watch over Bell and Raptor and help them brush up on their skills. Upon receiving attention from multiple women at the hospital, Conrad contemplates jumping back into the dating scene. Devon works with an elderly couple.

Airdate: 11/23/2021

[Trillian]

I cannot - I mean, seriously cannot - cope with saccharine sweet Gigi kid. Can’t they send her off to Swiss boarding school or something?

[Crashcourse]

And I cannot stand that nurse that kept fawning over her and Conrad.   Plus, the kid shouldn't be around the patients.

[preeya]

From that last scene, it looks as if Billie wants to get into the Conrad dating scene.

I hope Gigi doesn't become a regular addition to the show. In fact the next time we see her she should be a teenager. 

[AdorkableWitch]

I really want to give casting some credit for actually casting a low vision actor to play someone who is blind/low vision. Stephen Wallem lost his vision in one eye and partially in the other to type 1 diabetes.

 

As someone with low vision I could tell from his cane use he was either actually B/LV or had a real trainer.

 

[EllaWycliffe]

Is it wrong that I have a problem with Gigi wanting to be a nurse when the only parent she has is a doctor? I get the cute factor but find it hard to believe she wouldn't want to be a doctor like super awesome daddy. 

[preeya]

57 minutes ago, AdorkableWitch said:

I really want to give casting some credit for actually casting a low vision actor to play someone who is blind/low vision. Stephen Wallem lost his vision in one eye and partially in the other to type 1 diabetes.

 

As someone with low vision I could tell from his cane use he was either actually B/LV or had a real trainer.

 

I remember him from Nurse Jackie. He's a good actor.

[KaveDweller]

54 minutes ago, EllaWycliffe said:

Is it wrong that I have a problem with Gigi wanting to be a nurse when the only parent she has is a doctor? I get the cute factor but find it hard to believe she wouldn't want to be a doctor like super awesome daddy. 

I think it is believable that she'd want to be like her dead mommy that she probably worships.

[Frisky Wig]

Really happy to see this show addressing how difficult and burdensome being a caregiver for a needy person can be. People like Celeste exist all over the world and they need help and resources before their mental and physical health suffers like we saw tonight. 

[statsgirl]

It's good to know that the patient who was overcome by fumes in casting not only survived but was hired by the hospital. 

Nice to see Veronica Cartwright and Richard Kline (Three's Company) again as the old ACLU lawyers. Good resolution to a difficult and realistic situation .

I didn't find the "all the nurses love Conrad" story at all enjoyable. It felt like it was stolen from a bad Harlequin book. For this we had to have the time jump?

Arrogance and narcissism is a particular trigger for me so Bell and AJ were working my last nerve. Give me a surgeon who says "I don't cut unless I absolutely have to" like Billie said.

How can Devon just switch like that to research? Doesn't he have to find funding first?

[Snazzy Daisy]

Yesss, NO Trevor and NO Leela, love it‼️

I like the broken heart syndrome storyline because caretaker burnout is real and we get to see Winston again, as a social worker.

I don’t get it why the nurses were going gaga over Conrad. He isn’t the hottest man in Chastain…🙄

As much as I like Gigi and her cuteness, I wish we won’t be seeing her much especially in the ER.

Devon’s intention to devote himself in research and clinical trials is expected as it will pave a way for TPTB to introduce the new ER doctor. I have mixed feelings about this because I will miss his actions and bedside manner in the ER, engaging with various patients.

BellRaptor’s bromance is adorable! Am glad that Sofia Desoto’s intervention wasn’t condescending. There’s a spark between AJ and Sofia, new romance maybe?

Kit to Sofia: “Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you were also board certified in Psychology.” 😂

[MsTree]

3 hours ago, statsgirl said:

I didn't find the "all the nurses love Conrad" story at all enjoyable. It felt like it was stolen from a bad Harlequin book. For this we had to have the time jump?

I think the time jump was to age Gigi so Conrad could go back to work full-time+. But as someone else mentioned, they really should have done the rapid age thing like all the soaps...and never mention it (LOL). They might even have that in mind for upcoming seasons, so maybe that's why they're touting Conrad's popularity. This way it doesn't look like he went without for the last xx years 😉

[EllaWycliffe]

7 hours ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

I don’t get it why the nurses were going gaga over Conrad. He isn’t the hottest man in Chastain…🙄

I'd be chasing Devon.

[Snazzy Daisy]

26 minutes ago, EllaWycliffe said:

I'd be chasing Devon.

Yupp, me too. Devon without the beard! Bring out that baby face…🥰

[snarkysnarkerson]

19 hours ago, preeya said:

From that last scene, it looks as if Billie wants to get into the Conrad dating scene.

I hope Gigi doesn't become a regular addition to the show. In fact the next time we see her she should be a teenager. 

I think she’s just sad that Conrad is moving on in general because of her ties to Nic. She may have encouraged it, but to see it in action is something different.

[Crashcourse]

Speaking of relationships, I'm confused about AJ.   We saw him in bed with Neela's sister, now he's flirting with the surgical coach?  He's looking like a horndog now. 

[izabella]

20 hours ago, preeya said:

From that last scene, it looks as if Billie wants to get into the Conrad dating scene.

Yes, yes she does.  I've been expecting this ever since Billie came back.

18 hours ago, Frisky Wig said:

Really happy to see this show addressing how difficult and burdensome being a caregiver for a needy person can be. People like Celeste exist all over the world and they need help and resources before their mental and physical health suffers like we saw tonight. 

I agree.  It's a huge problem that people cannot get at-home help, and even if they can afford it, finding reliable home care aides that have actual experience, and are in some way vetted by their agency so they aren't secretly abusive, or shitty at their job, or willing to steal from seniors is very difficult.   It's even worse that Medicaid wants you to be totally broke before they pay for nursing homes, leaving the able spouse destitute even though they are in good health with many years of life ahead of them - that has led to seniors getting divorced after a lifetime of marriage so the healthy spouse still has some money to live on.

[Madding crowd]

I don’t believe the hospital would insist their top surgeons be evaluated by a efficiency expert or that they would agree with it. She didn’t have any more expertise or experience than Bell and Austin. Ongoing training in new procedures yes, nitpicking how they pick up instruments no. All surgeons develop their own ways of doing things like wearing certain scrub caps, working with certain nurses etc. Forcing them to change the way they do things to save a few seconds of time would likely cause them to take their talents elsewhere.

I did like the caregiver story-this show does a good job of showing current and important issues. I’m in the camp that thinks Billie is interested in Conrad.

[Artsda]

I think Billie is interested in Conrad, they an interesting battle relationship when she first appeared I wondered if they had something before.

[marionette]

I really dislike where this show is going.  As my daughter says, it looks like they hired the writers from Chicago Med and Fire.  The stories are getting so juvenile, although I did like them addressing caregiver burnout.  Everyone going all gaga over Conrad was silly.  What are these, love-starved teenagers?  I think the jump ahead was crazy.  They addressed Covid when they began filming again and that was fine and then it was forgotten.  Now they are what five years later and here we are left behind in pandemic mode still.  It makes no sense.  We all used to really like The Resident because of the characters and the acting, but they are losing us.  Conrad's slitty eyes and smarmy smile are not attractive.  I guess they will lose Devon next.  I would have loved to see Nina back, but that doesn't seem in the works.  I'll give it a couple more shows, but I am about done.

[Crashcourse]

I don't mind the time jump but what annoys me now is all the sex and PDA.  Kit and Bell, Devon and Leela, AJ and Leela's sister and now he's horndogging after that surgical coach.  I think Conrad is nice-looking but those nurses, the childcare woman and maybe Bille acting all googly eyed over him is just annoying.   I wish they'd just concentrate on them, you know, working.

[statsgirl]

On 11/24/2021 at 3:28 AM, MsTree said:

I think the time jump was to age Gigi so Conrad could go back to work full-time+. But as someone else mentioned, they really should have done the rapid age thing like all the soaps...and never mention it (LOL). They might even have that in mind for upcoming seasons, so maybe that's why they're touting Conrad's popularity. This way it doesn't look like he went without for the last xx years 😉

If Gigi had a fulltime nanny, she could still have remained a toddler. An ER doctor is perfect for that sort of thing because there are specific shifts which he could take as much of as he wished, and in the real world, he could go home when his time ended. It doesn't make sense making Conrad a concierge doctor because that's someone who would have to be on call for emergencies, unlike an ER doc.

This interview doesn't mention Gigi, it's all Conrad and when they can move on with personal stories about him.

Quote

TVLINE | When we spoke after Episode 3, you alluded to the challenges of deciding when to move past Nic’s death. Walk me through how you settled on this time jump.
The character of Conrad — any man who loses the love of his life and the mother of his nine-month-old baby — that’s a long recovery. That kind of grief is not an instantaneous recovery. You don’t put that past you. We felt like having to do that, in real emotional time, would be dark. We didn’t want to have Conrad grief-stricken for an entire season of television, you know? We did two episodes of how Conrad has dealt with those early stages of grief, and we decided, let’s put him past it. Let’s put him in a place where she’s still in everybody’s hearts and minds, but that he’s able to be a whole, happy person in pursuit of his life and the raising of his daughter and figuring out what matters.

To me that really sounds like they wanted to move Conrad on from mourning Nic and open to dating again, and every other character just got dragged along with it.

I liked Kit's idea of hiring a surgical coach.. Even the best person gets sloppy after a while (e.g. Bell reaching for his own instruments which slowed down his surgeries) and it doesn't hurt to have fresh eyes on it. And as she told Bell, if he and AJ are willing to follow her advice, the other surgeons in the hospital will follow.

Edited November 26, 2021 by statsgirl

[cameron]

veronica cartwright looks really old.

[mythoughtis]

This episode was hard for my spouse to watch.  We are in our sixties and I have been taking care of my elderly parents for several years. Even with them in assisted living, there’s a lot for me to do.  I saw myself.  My spouse saw his own future  in the husband -not the Parkinson’s, but the reliance on his wife due to his ailments. He saw what my future as a full time caregiver would be.  He didn’t like it. 

[Paloma]

On 11/24/2021 at 6:08 PM, izabella said:

On 11/23/2021 at 9:29 PM, preeya said:

From that last scene, it looks as if Billie wants to get into the Conrad dating scene.

Yes, yes she does.  I've been expecting this ever since Billie came back.

And I've been dreading it ever since Nic died, if not sooner. When they started talking about him dating again in this episode, I said to my husband "Oh no, they are definitely going to make them a couple soon." I'm sure there will be a couple of episodes of Conrad dating Marion and other random women before he "realizes" that Billie is the one because they both loved Nic. I'm not sure why I dislike her so much. 

On 11/24/2021 at 12:03 AM, statsgirl said:

Nice to see Veronica Cartwright and Richard Kline (Three's Company) again as the old ACLU lawyers.

Thank you! It was driving me and my husband crazy trying to figure out why she was so familiar. She's been in so many things and has a distinctive face and voice.

On 11/24/2021 at 12:47 AM, Snazzy Daisy said:

I don’t get it why the nurses were going gaga over Conrad. He isn’t the hottest man in Chastain…🙄

Same here. He's not my type, but what bothered me more is the way it made the nurses look like unprofessional ditzes who would use a child to try to get a man.

On 4/5/2024 at 9:50 PM, mythoughtis said:

This episode was hard for my spouse to watch.  We are in our sixties and I have been taking care of my elderly parents for several years. Even with them in assisted living, there’s a lot for me to do.  I saw myself.  My spouse saw his own future  in the husband -not the Parkinson’s, but the reliance on his wife due to his ailments. He saw what my future as a full time caregiver would be.  He didn’t like it. 

I'm glad they addressed this issue, but it was also hard for my husband and I to watch, because we are in our 70s. We did not have to take care of our parents, and so far we are both healthy enough that we don't need any caregiving. But we know that we are approaching the age when things are likely to happen that will require one of us to take care of the other at least temporarily, and that at some point one of us might need to go into a nursing facility (both of his parents did, his father because of Parkinson's and his mother because of stroke). It's a scary prospect, and honestly I would rather die than go into a nursing facility.