‘The Resident’ chooses reality, then escapism
LONDON — The coronavirus pandemic has forced television hospital shows to confront a key question — could the biggest medical crisis in recent decades be ignored in favor of escapism for viewers?
Medical shows have reached different conclusions, but
Fox’s “The Resident” opted to address the pandemic right away in its fourth season, which recently premiered.
Dr. Daniela Lamas, who works in critical care at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, also writes for “The Resident.” She said pretending the pandemic never happened was discussed in the summer, but ultimately dismissed.
“Whether they do or they don’t, we can’t in good faith, as a medical show that claims to have some degree of medical veracity, we can’t ignore the greatest public health crisis of our time. And we can’t expect people to see our characters and believe in them if these fictional health care providers have not experienced what real health care providers have in this fictional world,” Lamas said
The show — which stars
Matt Czuchry, Emily VanCamp and Manish Dayal — takes a thriller perspective on diagnosing medical mysteries and health care corruption at Chastain Memorial, a fictional hospital in Atlanta.
Other medical dramas airing in the United States, such as “The Good Doctor,” “Chicago Med” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” have focused on the pandemic’s impact on health care workers this season. On “Grey’s,” main character Dr. Meredith Grey is in critical care fighting the virus.
“The goal — and presumably it’s one shared by a lot of television shows — which is, what can we show people that they might not know otherwise?” said Lamas.
“The Resident,” like its contemporaries, includes storylines that highlight the virus’ disproportionate impact on communities of color, people who can’t afford to isolate and the importance of masks.
“The Resident” was among the productions that donated to real health care workers the masks that would have been used as props and continues to use lower grade masks on the program to avoid using up supplies.”
Unlike “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Resident” won’t keep the coronavirus front and center after the opening episode, to provide some relief from the present.
“The Resident” season opener flashes back to the personal and political impact of the coronavirus on Chastain Memorial — before placing Hawkins, nurse practitioner Nic Nevins and Dr. Devon Pravesh into a safer future.
The pandemic’s fallout will still affect the characters, but the crisis is over.
It could give real medical staff a glimpse of what their future holds if, like Lamas, they avidly follow hospital shows.
“I’m probably the minority in that I do not miss an episode of medical dramas,” she said.
“A lot of the nurses in the medical ICU watch ‘The Resident.’ We chat about ‘Grey’s.’ ”
“For many people, it is the way they see hospitals, people who have the good fortune not to see hospitals through themselves or their family. And for those of us who work in the hospital, there is something powerful about seeing this sort of escapism type of version of our reality on television.”