S06.E09: No Pressure No Diamonds

[jewel21]

Quote

Devon is approached by a documentary producer as he prepares to perform the first titanium rib cage implant surgery in the country with Raptor, who must scramble to find a babysitter before the procedure. Meanwhile, Conrad tends to an unhelpful patient who claims to have been mauled by a large cat, and Dr. Bell faces negative press.

Airdate: 11/29/2022

[izabella]

This was a really good episode.  Those titanium ribs, wow!  That was amazing. 

I really liked that Devon threw the documentary crew out to protect his patient's privacy.  And bravo to that daughter for going to Kit to ask for another doctor.  Good on her for calling Kit out...you're married to him.  She was a great advocate for her mother.  Bell should have removed himself.  That's a long, complicated, and difficult surgery.  Since he'd been experiencing MS symptoms, he shouldn't have been the one who was supposed to do it in the first place. 

Conrad's patient and his friend were hilarious. You didn't think to mention snakes and scorpions?!  I'm glad Conrad reported their "zoo," and I'm glad the guy will recover from the scorpion venom. 

The crew being there to film Bell's impromptu surgery in the hallway was perfect. 

Padma...I'm sure we all saw something like that coming. 

Edited November 30, 2022 by izabella

[Driad]

Some parents of twins use different color nail polish on the babies' big toes.  Harder for the babies to remove than bracelets.

If Padma doesn't come back ... "Hi, Mina, remember me?  Guess what?"

What will Bell do now?  A vacation might be a good start.

[NeenerNeener]

The references to HODAD reminded me of how good the first few seasons were and how much I miss Mina.

I hope Padma just dumped the kids on AJ and took off, and that nothing bad actually happened to her. I'm not sure I'm up for this becoming a murder mystery.

[Sweet-n-Snarky]

I really struggled with this one because I was bored to tears. I hated the TigerKing storyline and couldn't find it amusing. It was a waste of Conrad. It wasn't interesting either. 

I'm tired of the attack against Bell. It also feels too late in the game to rehash HODAD. And the MS storyline is bumming me out. 

Never liked the Padma storyline but its predictable where it's headed. I feel like they don't know what to do with Devon anymore and he's just there. 

[circumvent]

1 hour ago, Sweet-n-Snarky said:

It was a waste of Conrad.

I haven't watched it yet but to be fair to the writers, the character of Conrad is a waste of my time and patience, so it feels a little like validation for a bad actor playing a terrible character.

1 hour ago, Sweet-n-Snarky said:

And the MS storyline is bumming me out. 

The MS storyline is straight from the minds of people who have no more interesting ideas for a show, or no ideas at all because this show lacks on everything and I don't really know why it still exists - I do know, it is about the money it makes but is adds nothing to the collective artistic growth or even to good entertainment. I watch to redirect my hate. Hate watch is like therapy.

[Madding crowd]

I have been saying that since last season; they don’t know what to do with Conrad or Devon since they are no longer residents. They both need to be regular ER docs or something or the show won’t work. AJ is too much of a specialist for him to be involved in every case and I sure don’t want more of wooden Cade. 

[statsgirl]

I suspect Padma will be back. It's just too messy to leave AJ the sole parent of the twins, no matter how good they are (and wow, were they well behaved this episode). If she doesn't, I hope that Billie doesn't step in here too. First with Gigi, now with AJ's twins, doesn't the poor girl ever get to have her own relationship and children?

Bell is doing a procedure in the hallway?  At least pull the patient into a room off to the side for privacy.

No Cade or her father!  Works for me.

Since the mother who was getting the titanium ribs was still conscious, her daughter should not have been able to say "either another doctor or we're leaving". PoA only kicks in when the patient is unable to make decisions.

The guy who built the titanium ribs was also unrealistic to freak out over one tabloid article. Presumably he had done his research on Devon and Chastain before partnering with them.

3 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I have been saying that since last season; they don’t know what to do with Conrad or Devon since they are no longer residents. They both need to be regular ER docs or something or the show won’t work.

Conrad was written as a brilliant diagnostician when the show started but after 6 seasons, that's worn out. They're reaching more and more to try to find what brilliant diagnosis he can come up with.  I think it's time to back up and just use his internist credentials.

Devon is even worse since they made his a researcher of everything. That's not how research works.

[KaveDweller]

11 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

I hope Padma just dumped the kids on AJ and took off, and that nothing bad actually happened to her. I'm not sure I'm up for this becoming a murder mystery.

I just assumed she took off. It didn't even occur to me that something happened to her.  They set it up with her post partum depression and being overwhelmed, and then not answering the phone earlier in the day.

But damn, what would she have done if she'd used an anonymous sperm donor? That's why you don't have babies on a whim.

[amarante]

1 hour ago, KaveDweller said:

I just assumed she took off. It didn't even occur to me that something happened to her.  They set it up with her post partum depression and being overwhelmed, and then not answering the phone earlier in the day.

But damn, what would she have done if she'd used an anonymous sperm donor? That's why you don't have babies on a whim.

I vote for her having bolted - seems like that is what was being set up as the storyline. It will provide some storylines where Raptor attempts to make it work. As I recall - although they jumped several years - the plot was that Conrad left the hospital and took on an easy gig as a private doctor to rich people so that he could parent Gigi. 

Of course Raptor is rich enough to hire multiple excellent nannies.

The only suspense is whether she will return.

[Frisky Wig]

I’m curious as to how to the two guys had an illegal zoo, with a website, that, from what the guys said, seemed to be popular with the public, hadn’t been reported and shut down yet. 

[bros402]

This episode was middling. Metal ribs plot was cool, Conrad plot was meh

You think Metal Rib Company would've done their research and signed a contract on how long a deal would be with the hospital? Unless, of course, the contract was contingent on the rib surgery going well - which I am guessing it wasn't.

[CarpeFelis]

I figured as soon as Padma was out the door that she’d flake and take off. There’ll probably be a frantic search for her and they’ll eventually find her on a psych hold at some other hospital because she had some huge meltdown. She may have PPD or may just be overwhelmed, but either way her flakiness is coming out again. Although I dislike her so much I really wouldn’t care if something had happened to her and AJ had to take over raising the twins.

[LavenderSunset]

I can't get past the ridiculousness of the childcare sitution.  AJ just takes the twins to the hospital daycare without enrolling them first or filling out any paperwork?  He doesn't even know that they are too young?  Then his solution is to have his coworkers watch the babies all day at work, while they are ALSO doing their jobs as doctors and nurses?  Have the writers ever taken care of a baby before?  

[circumvent]

On 11/30/2022 at 5:00 PM, statsgirl said:

Devon is even worse since they made his a researcher of everything. That's not how research works.

Yeah, I am at a loss of what Devon really does because at one moment he is this brilliant researcher who will cure everything, then he is cutting deals with a tech company that seems to be interested only in the profits and recognition. 

On 11/30/2022 at 11:50 PM, Frisky Wig said:

I’m curious as to how to the two guys had an illegal zoo, with a website, that, from what the guys said, seemed to be popular with the public, hadn’t been reported and shut down yet. 

My thoughts, exactly. The first animal on the list is the Bengal Tiger, one of the most elusive of the big cats in the world. One would think that someone would have reported that , or that those two pathetic guys were so rich, they could buy authorities to keep running the show. The writers are in need of ideas, or a kick in the ass.

4 hours ago, LavenderSunset said:

I can't get past the ridiculousness of the childcare sitution.  AJ just takes the twins to the hospital daycare without enrolling them first or filling out any paperwork?  He doesn't even know that they are too young?  Then his solution is to have his coworkers watch the babies all day at work, while they are ALSO doing their jobs as doctors and nurses?  Have the writers ever taken care of a baby before?  

Or do they live in the world where hospitals are struggling to deal with the normal flux of patients (not even counting Covid patients) because of the shortage of doctors and nurses, any medical professional, really? And the "top neurosurgeon" would have just taken the kids because apparently being on the top must be so much on the top that nobody can see her, or even know she is there. 

[Quiet1]

The Governor might be the real hero here, Shutting down a hospital with so many unethical medical personnel.  Nurses and Doctors taking care of co-workers babies while on the clock.. Sorry patients, the babies need us. No telling what diseases the young babies might be exposed to as well. I do hope that Padma just left, and doesn't come back. I don't want her to have been injured or killed off. 

[KaveDweller]

19 hours ago, LavenderSunset said:

I can't get past the ridiculousness of the childcare sitution.  AJ just takes the twins to the hospital daycare without enrolling them first or filling out any paperwork?  He doesn't even know that they are too young?  Then his solution is to have his coworkers watch the babies all day at work, while they are ALSO doing their jobs as doctors and nurses?  Have the writers ever taken care of a baby before?  

I can buy AJ being clueless enough to not realize there was an age limit. He wouldn't have needed to use the daycare before so he wouldn't have bothered to check. Especially if the day care used to take younger kids. I can also buy him being arrogant enough to think they would make an exception for him and take the babies even though he hadn't pre-enrolled them.

What I don't get is, why did AJ agree to watch the kids that day when he knew he was doing this big surgery?

[statsgirl]

1 hour ago, KaveDweller said:

What I don't get is, why did AJ agree to watch the kids that day when he knew he was doing this big surgery?

Padma had booked a babysitter for her mental health day but the sitter bailed. AJ offered to pitch in because he had a couple of hours before his surgery and he thought that the hospital daycare would take the twins during the surgery. (Now that was really naive; usually there is a ton of paperwork involved.)

The twins looked to be about four (?) months old so if Padma has been looking after them all that time, I can understand why she would want a day off.

[Driad]

AJ has probably watched TV dramas in which surgeons can do everything.  You know the type.

[izabella]

I expect AJ formed his magical hospital daycare expectations from watching Grey's Anatomy.  You can leave your kids in their cheerful care for days and weeks at a time.

[bros402]

20 hours ago, circumvent said:

Yeah, I am at a loss of what Devon really does because at one moment he is this brilliant researcher who will cure everything, then he is cutting deals with a tech company that seems to be interested only in the profits and recognition. 

My thoughts, exactly. The first animal on the list is the Bengal Tiger, one of the most elusive of the big cats in the world. One would think that someone would have reported that , or that those two pathetic guys were so rich, they could buy authorities to keep running the show. The writers are in need of ideas, or a kick in the ass.

Or do they live in the world where hospitals are struggling to deal with the normal flux of patients (not even counting Covid patients) because of the shortage of doctors and nurses, any medical professional, really? And the "top neurosurgeon" would have just taken the kids because apparently being on the top must be so much on the top that nobody can see her, or even know she is there. 

I mean it sort of seems like Devon might be the head of their clinical trial department (Is that a title that exists???) and he sees certain patients on an as needed basis? Maybe he is the PI on a lot of trials at Chastain due to their... lack of resources?

[statsgirl]

The patient was in Devon's trial and it didn't work for her so presumably he felt responsible and that is how he got involved in the titanium ribs project.

The problem is that research is slow, very slow, and even more boring on TV than therapy is, Meredith Grey's miracles notwithstanding. Moving Devon into the research role is going to make it very hard to involve him naturally in the medical stories.

[bros402]

11 hours ago, statsgirl said:

The patient was in Devon's trial and it didn't work for her so presumably he felt responsible and that is how he got involved in the titanium ribs project.

The problem is that research is slow, very slow, and even more boring on TV than therapy is, Meredith Grey's miracles notwithstanding. Moving Devon into the research role is going to make it very hard to involve him naturally in the medical stories.

Yeah, research is slow for a reason. I'm in a clinical trial that started in November 2016 (I joined August 2021) - the drug was approved for people to take in 2011. The Phase II trial I am in is expected to end in 2024, then it will go to Phase III. Stuff lasts a while.

I cannot think of a reason that Devon's patient would have metal ribs approved while she was doing perfectly fine with her regular protection doohickey for people without ribs on that side.

IMO they should have Devon's patients end up in the ER sometimes, or maybe people get referred to his trials and then the drugs magically work

Edited December 4, 2022 by bros402

[JKL845]

I'm surprised they didn't have Gigi taking care of the twins. She would have probably taught them how to talk by the time they went home.😄

[GiandujaPie]

I thought AJ had hired a nanny for Padma and the babies. I'm beyond tired of Padma. I hope she just ran off and not that something bad happened to her as I don't think I could handle watching everyone cry about her. Whatever happened to Billie and that new doctor? I thought they were supposed to be dating. I didn't realize until today that Cade was not in the episode and I didn't miss her at all. 

[KaveDweller]

On 12/2/2022 at 9:05 PM, statsgirl said:

The twins looked to be about four (?) months old so if Padma has been looking after them all that time, I can understand why she would want a day off.

Yes, absolutely! You'd think she'd have someone coming in regularly to help her. Living by yourself with newborn twins is a huge workload.

[Frisky Wig]

On 12/5/2022 at 6:32 PM, LtKelley said:

She's the idiot who wanted a baby despite not being married or having a job ….

While living in a van! 

Edited December 7, 2022 by Frisky Wig

[SnarkySheep]

On 12/4/2022 at 3:47 AM, JKL845 said:

I'm surprised they didn't have Gigi taking care of the twins. She would have probably taught them how to talk by the time they went home.😄

Nah, that job would go to the other kid...Bell's grandddaughter? Totally forgot her name. Sammy?

 

On 11/30/2022 at 11:32 AM, circumvent said:

The MS storyline is straight from the minds of people who have no more interesting ideas for a show, or no ideas at all because this show lacks on everything and I don't really know why it still exists

Eh, I don't mind - as a person living with a serious chronic illness, I think we should have more stories about characters struggling to live and work with these kinds of diseases. One out of every five Americans identifies as being disabled, and yet it's rare to have TV characters with anything but tragic accidents/diseases (cancer, being in a car crash and in a wheelchair, etc.) which end up being magically cured within a couple of episodes. People keep talking about the importance of representation on TV/movies, yet disability is rarely considered part of that. 

 

On 11/30/2022 at 5:00 PM, statsgirl said:

The guy who built the titanium ribs was also unrealistic to freak out over one tabloid article. Presumably he had done his research on Devon and Chastain before partnering with them.

As a former newspaper reporter, I found it ridiculous that a mainstream daily publication in a major city would have simply published an article like that without at least contacting Bell and asking for his comments/POV. (Considering that he was stunned to see it, apparently this did not happen.) He might have merely said no comment or something along those lines - or allowed the Chastain media people to handle it - but this kind of article is literally a lawsuit waiting to happen. Especially considering that a hospital tends to have deeper pockets and an already established legal team versus, say, a private person on their own, you would REALLY think twice about making accusations that tarnish your local hospital without making sure that everything was checked and triple checked prior to publication.

[circumvent]

4 hours ago, SnarkySheep said:

People keep talking about the importance of representation on TV/movies, yet disability is rarely considered part of that. 

Oh, I know about lack of representation, especially disability (lack of) representation. The MS story, though, is not about representation, It is a filler because they have to recycle ideas. It is not real representation unless they invest on the story, unless they at least hire a consultant. Just throwing the disability or disease in the mix does nothing for inclusion. It becomes either a sob story or inspiration porn. Representation only represents if it comes with a degree of education

[bros402]

19 hours ago, circumvent said:

Oh, I know about lack of representation, especially disability (lack of) representation. The MS story, though, is not about representation, It is a filler because they have to recycle ideas. It is not real representation unless they invest on the story, unless they at least hire a consultant. Just throwing the disability or disease in the mix does nothing for inclusion. It becomes either a sob story or inspiration porn. Representation only represents if it comes with a degree of education

Yeah - the Bell stuff is mostly just tossing it in there as a roadblock to him working with no education about it, just magic medicine to try to fix it.

[Paloma]

On 2/24/2023 at 12:51 AM, SnarkySheep said:

Eh, I don't mind - as a person living with a serious chronic illness, I think we should have more stories about characters struggling to live and work with these kinds of diseases. One out of every five Americans identifies as being disabled, and yet it's rare to have TV characters with anything but tragic accidents/diseases (cancer, being in a car crash and in a wheelchair, etc.) which end up being magically cured within a couple of episodes. People keep talking about the importance of representation on TV/movies, yet disability is rarely considered part of that. 

There was Dr. Kerry Weaver on ER in the 1990s and early 2000s, who had a limp due to an unnamed disability (though it was explained several years into the show as congenital hip dysplasia) and used a crutch or cane. And Walter White's son in Breaking Bad had cerebral palsy, which the actor also had. But those are the only examples of regular characters with disabilities that come to mind, which proves your point. 

[bros402]

17 hours ago, Paloma said:

There was Dr. Kerry Weaver on ER in the 1990s and early 2000s, who had a limp due to an unnamed disability (though it was explained several years into the show as congenital hip dysplasia) and used a crutch or cane. And Walter White's son in Breaking Bad had cerebral palsy, which the actor also had. But those are the only examples of regular characters with disabilities that come to mind, which proves your point. 

JJ on Speechless - Cerebral Palsy (Played by Micah Fowler, who has CP)

Matilda on Everything's Gonna Be Okay - Autism (Played by Kayla Cromer, who is autistic)
Drea on Everything's Gonna Be Okay - Autism (Played by Lillian Carrier, who is autistc)
Nicholas on Everything's Gonna Be Okay - Autism (Played by Josh Thomas, but this is a spoiler - he didn't get diagnosed until the second season, when Josh Thomas learned he was autistic.)

[Paloma]

5 hours ago, bros402 said:

JJ on Speechless - Cerebral Palsy (Played by Micah Fowler, who has CP)

Matilda on Everything's Gonna Be Okay - Autism (Played by Kayla Cromer, who is autistic)
Drea on Everything's Gonna Be Okay - Autism (Played by Lillian Carrier, who is autistc)
Nicholas on Everything's Gonna Be Okay - Autism (Played by Josh Thomas, but this is a spoiler - he didn't get diagnosed until the second season, when Josh Thomas learned he was autistic.)

I never watched those shows, but you just reminded me that there were characters with autism--or more specifically Asperger's, which is no longer a separate diagnosis in DSM--in the Parenthood series and Atypical. But aside from Dr. Weaver in ER and Walter White's son in Breaking Bad, I can't think of other TV characters with physical disabilities except for Artie in Glee. I'm sure there are more, but not in shows I've seen.

[bros402]

17 hours ago, Paloma said:

I never watched those shows, but you just reminded me that there were characters with autism--or more specifically Asperger's, which is no longer a separate diagnosis in DSM--in the Parenthood series and Atypical. But aside from Dr. Weaver in ER and Walter White's son in Breaking Bad, I can't think of other TV characters with physical disabilities except for Artie in Glee. I'm sure there are more, but not in shows I've seen.

You should check those shows out - both were great comedies! EGBO has one of the most realistic portrayals of sensory overload I have seen. And Lillian Carrier's an awesome person (so's her sister)

I've actually talked to one of the autistic actors who was in Parenthood - cool person.

Timothy Omundson played a character on This Is Us for a few episodes after his stroke and he has some issues now.

Peter Dinklage is physically disabled and was on Game of Thrones for years

Sandra Mae Frank is deaf and was on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (one episode) and New Amsterdam (Seasons 4 and 5, I think?).

I forget the actor's name, but there was a deaf actor on The Walking Dead. There was a wheelchair user on Fear The Walking Dead, too.

 

Edited June 7 by bros402