It’s a time of change at York Memorial Hospital, and that’s not working out for much of the staff.
Most doctors labored to find their footing on Transplant Season 3 Episode 4, whether at work or in their private lives.
Not even Dr. Neeta Devi, the new Emerg director who replaced the beloved Dr. Jed Bishop, has been spared from this soul searching.
Neeta was hired to implement a patient-centric philosophy in the department to make the process more tolerable.
However, she’s quickly learning what sounds good in an academic paper can be challenging to sell in a real hospital.
Even Dr. Neil Olsen, the arrogant medical director (is that phrase redundant?) who hired Neeta, backs her policy only as long as it doesn’t inconvenience him.
Neeta is having to go along to get along. An example of this was, at the insistence of Dr. Novak and Dr. Singh, allowing Bash to be a part-time surgeon in Trauma OR on Transplant Season 3 Episode 3 when her preference was for him to polish his people skills under her tutelage.
After all, with Novak still away on his Doctors Without Borders stint, June needs all the skilled help she can get without having to rely on slumming covering surgeons.
Poor Bash should have been careful about what he wished for, as his dual residency in Emerg and Trauma OR wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
He’s expected to be June’s subservient resident while being his usual confident, competent self in surgery or Emerg. He couldn’t please Olsen, first by showing initiative, then by withholding his diagnosis at June’s instruction.
Making Bash more tense was having his Canadian citizenship test on the same day he began his double residency. The intensively private Bash told none of his coworkers, not even Mags, robbing himself of the emotional support they could have provided.
He even snapped at Amira after she gave him the Canadian uniform of a red checked flannel shirt, denigrating her desire to attend a public performing arts school.
Bash’s frustration again boiled over during his brief talk with Mags on the way to the test. Seeing how tense the usually amiable Bash was, she wisely played the supportive girlfriend, holding her plentiful opinions to herself.
After passing the exam, Bash was back to his friendly self. He ended up spending the evening with Mags, but not in the way he would have preferred.
Mags was dealing with her work-related problems. She changed her residency to Cardiology because she wanted to aid others, as she had been helped as a cardiac patient during her childhood.
But that’s not how it’s been working under Dr. Fisher. Mags spent too much time working on Fisher’s ICD study and not enough time treating patients, which frustrated her.
She also was offended that Fisher invested in the company that markets the ICDs, which Mags felt was wrong, regardless of what the Ethics Board had decided.
Tension has been building between them throughout the season and finally came to a head before they were preparing to make a presentation on the study. Fisher said Mags had to decide if she trusted Fisher, which Mags took as a threat to her residency.
That wasn’t much of a threat as Neeta would take her back in Emerg in a heartbeat. Their philosophy of patient care is sympatico.
Mags did whatever she could to avoid Fisher’s presentation — treating the food-delivery guy with the ear cockroach, covering for Bash while he snuck off for his test.
Then, when Fisher finally returned, Mags started hyperventilating and collapsed in her office, suffering a massive arrhythmia. Hopefully, that’s just a momentary setback for the most intriguing character in the series.
June proved to be in over her head both at work and at home.
She told Bash to be careful not to offend the more experienced doctors, especially Dr. Olsen. She was playing politics without any particular affinity for it.
Then she blasted Bash for being timid and ignoring his instincts in surgery. Is it any wonder he didn’t mention his citizenship test to her?
June rushed home to meet the plumber and was shocked to find Shay there.
It was a legitimate question to ask why she wasn’t in school. But Shay’s asking June why she ever took her in was equally reasonable since June treats her as a bother any time they’re together. This arrangement isn’t likely to last.
Will June learn from this? That isn’t easy to say. She’s very confident in herself.
Then there’s Theo, proving repeatedly that he’s not all the way back.
His older daughter asked for a visit with Theo to be cut short, likely because she sensed something was off about him.
He was sympathetic toward the patient who attempted to remove a swastika tattoo. But Theo still snapped at him in the end.
Roberta, the patient who rejected Theo’s treatment as too rough on Transplant Season 3 Episode 2, came back to haunt him, tweeting about him.
Neeta told him to ignore it. He did the opposite, texting her asking to meet, which she promptly posted on her Twitter page.
Neeta was right to require Theo to run his plans by her. Now, will he listen?
How long before Bash gets a handle on things?
Will Mags end up with deficits?
Did June or Theo learn anything from their experiences?
Comment below.
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Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.
