I remember sighing when I first learned about The Resident: "Argh, another medical show!". After watching season 1, I have to admit enjoying the show so far. The Resident is a medical drama that attempts to explore a darker side of medicine than we usually get to see on TV. Now there is a cliche boy wonder doctor, actually two of them, but this only felt annoying in the first and maybe second episodes. The credits of the last episode are rolling as I'm typing this comment yet I'm struggling to actually remember the medical cases in this season. That's because the show isn't about hospitals or medicine, it's the backdrop to tell a story about strong and stubborn characters, political struggles and the business of healthcare. And yet, it seems that they've put a lot of thoughts into making the show medically accurate. There are small changes they could have made to make the overarching story of season 1 feel more dramatic and flow better, but the fact that I find myself trying to find improvements for a medical drama tells me all I need to know. I'll be watching season 2 right away!

So after the pilot I hated pretty much every single character on the show. While I'm always game for a good medical drama, there was just something about the characterization that felt like it was trying too hard to be edgy. Now that I've seen the whole season, I can say that while it is still kind of trying way too hard, it's managed to work itself into a pretty good story. I've come around on pretty much all the characters to a point and am glad it was picked up for another season.

I loved this show. Casting was perfection. Writing was great. It was a similar storyline to New Amsterdam whereas they are pushing the boundaries of medical shows. And instead of glorifying hospitals and pharmaceutical companies they point out the very real problems that affect us all. Wish they could have given it a few more episodes to wrap up the finale better, but I think covid may have forced the series off the air. Still an awesome show.

-2 points for being on FOX. Maybe it's my provider, more likely it's FOX, but this was the only FOX show I've tried to follow in the past few years that I could actually DVR (all others were On Demand only). Well now, so is this one. It's too bad when decent shows suffer because of network stupidity. Mooooving on.

Of the two medical dramas that have aired this season, The Resident is perhaps the one that's kind of shocked me the most. Going in, I would have thought that The Good Doctor would be more my speed with the same creators as House and the whole aspect of medical mysteries. However, The Resident tells a much more compelling story of the very serious problems that can occur in hospitals due to running healthcare like businesses. Each of the characters became more interesting as time went on and has become easily one of my favourite new shows from this cycle. I look forward to the next season.