With the final moments of The Resident Season 5 Episode 5, the series changed the game!
The Halloween-themed hour offered so much to viewers, but the time jump is all that’s on our minds.
Join Carissa Pavlica, Lauren Nowak, Meaghan Frey, and Leora W. as they discuss the hour.
Which storyline did you enjoy most from the hour, notwithstanding those final moments?
Carissa: The silent dinner was unlike anything we’ve seen on TV. It was so perfectly Conrad to want to honor Nic that way with the people who loved her the most. That was very classy.
Laura: I also enjoyed the silent dinner. I was so glad to see Conrad with his friends and colleagues again. It was a fantastic way to honor Nic.
Meaghan: I’m with Carissa and Laura. The silent dinner was incredible, and I was feeling emotional by the end.
I also loved watching AJ lean into a different side of himself than we are accustomed to seeing. Listening to him ask a patient if a rival coven might have poisoned her is not something I had on my Resident bingo card this year.
Leora W: I liked the Wiccan coven. It’s nice to see that kind of thing portrayed as something other than a joke. You don’t see that very often.
On a scale of 1-10, how shocked were you by the time jump at the end?
Carissa: I was very shocked. I’m refraining from saying more until the next question!
Laura: I was also very shocked, a definite 10.
Meaghan: 10! I would never have seen it coming, and I loved the execution of it.
Leora W: I didn’t understand it. I wasn’t sure if they were doing a flash-forward or what, and I didn’t know why they would be doing a flash-forward. Even watching next week’s trailer, it wasn’t clear that we were jumping ahead permanently until I read what you wrote about it on the site.
Do you think jumping ahead was a smart move or disappointing?
Carissa: Yes, yes, YES!! It’s a very smart move. They had to circle the wagons so that the show didn’t become all about Nic’s loss, and doing it on Halloween night with GiGi in costume was perfect. Life goes on.
Laura: It’s probably a smart move in most ways. New-Gigi is adorable.
Meaghan: It was such a smart move on their part. I don’t think there’s a single person who wanted to watch an entire season of Conrad drowning in his grief over Nic, but it would have felt inauthentic to his character for him not to be feeling it to his core. It was the perfect solution.
Leora W: Smart? Maybe? I don’t know. But I don’t like it.
They said it was about showing Conrad ready to move on, which means they need a reasonable amount of time to pass for him to start dating because people care about ships.
I care about ships too, a lot actually, but something I’ve read that pissed people off about How I Met Your Mother was how, even if the mother had been dead for six years, to us, it just happened, and we didn’t have proper time to grieve. I feel like this is like that.
To us, Nic just died, and to see Conrad going on with his life three years later is going to be super weird.
As for the rest, we already missed the first nine months of Leela and Devon’s relationship, and now we’re going to miss three years of them living together, plus the beginning of Kit and Bell.
The trailer made it look like none of those couples are together anymore, so I was relieved that your article put that to rest, but overall, I’m just … between Mina and Nic both leaving the show and now the time jump, it’s going to be very hard for me to stick around.
What are you most looking forward to now that we’ve skipped ahead?
Carissa: I read the spoilers for what’s ahead, and it opens so many different avenues of storytelling. Everyone will get a chance to rise to the challenge, and character growth can pivot or further demonstrate what we’ve already seen.
I wasn’t looking forward to a season of Conrad’s sadness, and now we don’t have to. That’s the best part. The second best is that he’s a father whose motivations have changed. He’s got a daughter who isn’t a baby but an actual small human. I can’t wait to see it.
Laura: I’m most excited to see Conrad interact with a preschool-aged Gigi who has a personality. To me, that’s the best part of this time jump.
Meaghan: I’m most looking forward to seeing just how much the characters have grown and changed in those three years. I mean, Devon is going to be an Attending at this point. That’s such a massive shift in dynamics for his character, and I can’t wait to see him rise to the challenge.
Leora: I’m looking forward to most of the same things that I was looking forward to before, seeing Billie and Trevor navigate their complicated relationship, seeing Trevor and AJ navigate their relationship, KitBell, Deela/Levon(?)
I guess it’ll be cool to see Conrad in this new role. I look forward to seeing Devon as Conrad 2.0. I don’t know how I feel about Conrad regressing to renegade status.
I’m not looking forward to feeling like Nic isn’t a thought anymore. I am intrigued by the new cast member, though. She does sound very Conrad-Esque herself, so maybe she’s his new love interest?
Is there anything about this time jump that worries or concerns you?
Carissa: Not a single thing. I’ve always had faith in this writing team, and that hasn’t changed. I’m very excited.
Laura: I know it’s probably for the best, but I’m super bummed we’re missing the fun parts of Bell and Kit’s courtship. And I’ll ask again, where are Jake and Sammie, an essential part of Bell’s life?
I’m also disappointed that we’re missing so much of Devon and Leela, which we already missed with the first jump.
Meaghan: I do agree with Laura about Devon and Leela. Yes, they have incredible chemistry, but we’ve never actually gotten to see their relationship develop, and that’s a big part of getting viewers invested in a couple.
Also, I get that it will have been three years since Nic’s death but can we please at least get through this season without Conrad jumping into a committed relationship? Dating is OK, but it will feel too weird if he is immediately serious about someone else while viewers are still grieving him and Nic.
What was your favorite moment from the hour?
Carissa: Gigi dressed as a chicken. Of course, she dressed as a chicken! What a great nod to her parents’ love for her and each other.
Laura: Gigi wearing her chicken costume, and when Conseeseing Nic in bed.
Meaghan: Gigi, hands down. I teared up when I saw it was a chicken costume. There could not have been a more perfect thing for Conrad and Nic’s child to dress up as.
Leora W: The moment around the table. It was touching. I got teary-eyed.
Over to you, Resident Fanatics.
Our round table gave their opinions about the game-changing episode. Now it’s your time to share your thoughts below.
The Resident returns with all-new episodes after the World Series.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
