HOLLYWOOD—“The Resident” hands down was one of the best new shows that I can recall seeing in the past few years on TV. There was something about this show involving medicine, doctors and corruption that just struck me at the core. It was riveting, exciting and you have characters that you care about: specifically Nicolette and Conrad. Well, I can officially say I am happy to report the fourth season of “The Resident” kicked off this week and with some very happy news: Conrad and Nic have gotten married people!

I thought last season was a major improvement over the somewhat mediocre second season. We were introduced to some new characters, specifically Dr. Barrett Cain. This guy was an enigma, who was driven by money, but at the same time showed glimmers of vulnerability. It was fun to witness because it gave the series a villain after Dr. Death (coined by Conrad) himself, Randolph Bell, who turned a new leaf and focused on doing more good with his medical license.

It was such a treat to actual see a series tackle the Coronavirus pandemic and not shy away from it. We actually saw the doctors in PPE gear and tackle the crisis head on as it actually happened and not live in a bubble as if it never transpired people. The episode started with Conrad preparing for his big wedding day with a few nerves along the way, with help from Pravesh. Mina helped Nic prepare for the big day as they reminisced about things that transpired in the past. Hmm, something is telling me that something bad transpired, just as we flashed back to March 2020, as the first case of COVID-19 transpired at Chastain Park. One of their own was seriously ill as a result of contracting COVID-19 after treating a patient who had the virus. The hospital was facing financial woes and the top surgeons were being tasked to perform elective surgeries to raise revenue to keep the hospital afloat, with Barrett proving he is a schemer per usual.

Barrett is up to his old tricks yet again, trying to convince a patient to have a surgery that he really didn’t need to make a buck. I guess that is the thing that makes Barrett interesting; he is a fun villain people. Conrad was worried about his father who was placing his health at risks to get his hands on more PPE gear for the hospital.

We were watching the pandemic play out in the episode as if it was happening in real life or the closet to real life we could get without actually being the midst of the mayhem our front-line workers endured for the past year. Nearly two-thirds thru the episode, the title made perfect sense. Someone close to our core characters would be losing their life. Oh wow, the funeral that I thought was going to be that nurse with COVID, turned out to be a red herring. Why?

The person who died was Pravesh’s dad. That is definitely and turn of events that I never expected, which brings me back to the notion that the focus of the series was to be Pravesh, but he hasn’t really been as integral as Conrad since season one. It was heartbreaking, but the happy note was seeing Nic and Conrad’s love shine as they paid tribute to those they lost as a result of COVID-19 before tying the knot. Finally, we are getting some core TV back America. New episodes of “The Resident” air on Tuesday at 8 p.m. on FOX.