The Resident S05E05 review: A Halloween special that ends with a time leap

Story: From witches trying to contact departed souls, a man haunted by spirits and a serial killer on the prowl, the doctors at Chastain Park have a lot on their hands.

Review: It’s amazing how every show that’s telecast around Halloween has a mandatory spooky story line. They never skip it; neither does The Resident, even though the characters have been through personal losses in recent times. Chastain Memorial Park is suitably decked up for the spook fest and the patients rolled into the ER all seem to have some ‘spirit’ connect.

Conrad (Matt Czuchry) is still grieving his wife Nic Nevin’s (Emily VanCamp) passing, but figures that heading into the ER might just give him the break he needs, as will little GiGi at the daycare centre. And the first set of patients he encounters is a modern-day witch and two of her followers, who appear to be high and hallucinating, but have no drug or alcohol history. Turns out they were in the process of conducting an annual ritual that allows them to connect with departed souls – something that catches Conrad’s attention.

Devon (Manish Dayal) and Leela are still house hunting and he likes one that she finds creepy. It takes a patient who’s supposedly being tortured by spirits and a trip to Chastain’s own haunted room that no one sets foot in for Devon to fall in track and go with Leela’s choice.

The most ridiculous arc of the episode though involved Dr Randolph Bell (Bruce Greenwood), who on his return from a sailing trip with pals decides to give a hitchhiker a ride in the middle of nowhere, despite Kit’s (Jane Leeves) advice not to fall for such temptation. The friendly hitchhiker’s demeanor changes soon enough and just as Kit realizes that Randolph maybe in the company of a serial killer on the loose, she can’t get a hold of him. Turns out, all that you need to do to get a murderous maniac to spare you is own up to your own mistakes and say that it is easy to kill someone, but difficult to not. That was some of the poorest writing of this show.

Episode 5 ended with a time leap, with Conrad walking into 3-4 year-old GiGi’s room, as she’s dressed as an astronaut and ready to go trick or treating with him. The time leap comes after reports that Kaley Ronayne has been signed up for a recurring role as an ER doctor. A new romantic interest for Conrad, perhaps?

Verdict: There’s really nothing groundbreaking in this episode. You can skip it.