Transplant Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Scars

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Bash is not the hero of Transplant Season 2 Episode 8, which irks him. It isn’t because he needs to be a hero, so much as he needs to help, and his hands are now tied.

Dr. Grisholm from Transplant Season 2 Episode 7 is suing the hospital, particularly Bash, Mags, and Bishop. None of them can afford it, given the state of their careers, though Mags is probably in the best position of the three.

She wasn’t in the room when everything went wrong, and her position at the hospital is no more precarious than it’s ever been. She was able to focus on her patient, which was a doozy. 

Theo, Mags, and Jake treat Oliver - Transplant Season 2 Episode 8

Mags: They’re going to ask me what to do?
Dr. Fisher: And you should answer them Mags, you lived their reality.
Mags: Tricuspid Atresia wasn’t my issue.
Dr. Fisher: But you know what that little boy is going through. What all of them are.

Doctors care about all patients, but babies that aren’t even a year old will tug on the heartstrings of even the most hardened healthcare professional.

Mags felt a kinship with baby Oliver, who had so many heart problems at only 3-months-old.

Mags herself has a heart condition going back to childhood. Her history puts her in a unique position to understand where patients are coming from, as Dr. Fisher rightly pointed out on Transplant Season 2 Episode 5

With Bishop being pushed out, Mags makes sense as his successor, but she might find a home in cardio. Meanwhile, in her personal life, people are taking note of her relationship with puppy-like Jake Cooper.

Mags Feels Pressure To Advise Patients - Transplant Season 2 Episode 8

Theo: Action plan Jake?
Jake: Nebulize with albuterol?
Shelly: He just gets to guess?
Theo: Well, this is a teaching hospital and he is a student. But how is she with the nebulizer, Mom?
Shelly: Unless you popped out of my uterus seven years ago, maybe call me Shelly.

Jake meets her sister, who calls Mags out on using Jake’s adoration to feel better about herself. Mags helps Jake score points with Theo while getting to the bottom of a child’s illness. It was a group effort, but Jake needed the win.

Theo got a bit of a win when the willful single mom of one of his patients propositions him. It appeared he was going to follow up. The chemistry was there, and Shelley was a fun, formidable, funny character I wouldn’t mind seeing again. 

Will it be rebound sex or the beginning of something more? Either way, it’s what Theo needs. Life hasn’t been kind to him lately. This episode was positive for Theo, Jake, and Mags.

June was also expertly utilized in this episode. We saw more of her personal life with her brother and how that related to her professional life when she asked De Luca about bedsores.

June and Singh Face Off - Transplant Season 2 Episode 8

Singh: You have to be smart.
June: I know I do; that’s why I’m here.
Singh: Except this is becoming a bad habit. You come to me before you walk into something, I flag the risks, and you do it anyway. If you don’t trust my advice, don’t waste my time.

We also saw her interacting with our central staff, everyone from Bash to Bishop.

Her frenemy relationship with Singh gets more complicated by the minute. Most of the time, he treats her terribly. Then he gives her a nudge implying that she might be able to trust him. When she starts to, he flips it on her. 

Now she’s caught between Bishop and Singh, deciding where her loyalties should lie. Bishop would treat her better and encourage her to do the sorts of things she wanted to.

Meanwhile, Singh will encourage her to toe the line and play politics.

Bishops Tells About The Lawsuit - Transplant Season 2 Episode 8

Bash: Tell me what I can do to manage this?
Bishop: You can play it safe. Toe the line. Toe the line. Everything you do is going to be scrutinized. I know it’s unfair but, you already have to be better than everyone else. Starting now, you need toge out of your way o follow protocols. No more pushing the boundaries, no unnecessary risks. Don’t give them any ammunition.

Usually, it would be Bishop all steam ahead, except his position is precarious. He can’t protect himself right now, so he can’t protect June either. 

He isn’t toeing it remotely for all he told Bash to toe the line because of the lawsuit. He wants chances taken. Does he figure if he’s on his way out, he may as well go out however he wants, with his finger up at the board?

Or is it possible he is playing a longer political game? Bishop suggested creating a task force that would perform surgeries in trauma for patients who couldn’t wait for an OR to open up.

It’s ballsy. It’s innovative. It might get pushback, but it also might make the board stand up and take notice. 

Bruce and Gary Worry About Baby Oliver - Transplant Season 2 Episode 8

June wants to jump on board, but Singh cautions her that the board may be less than impressed with something that will take funding away from surgery.

So who should June trust? Right now, I’m not sure she should trust either. They both have their own agendas. That being said, I prefer Bishop to Singh by a considerable margin. 

The patients were compelling, from baby Oli to two teens trying to make it independently. I got where Ruby’s mother was coming from, but I also got where Ruby was coming from.

They were both trying to do what was best for someone they loved.

Ruby Watches Doctors Treat Malik - Transplant Season 2 Episode 8

Bash: We’ll do some blood tests, take a urine sample to check his kidneys, then assess and make a plan.
Ruby: We already have one. I’m giving him one of my kidneys.
Wendy: That’s very generous of you but there are multiple complex tests you’d have to do to confirm-
Ruby: We did them already. As soon as we learned he had CKD.
Claire: Have we seen you here before Ruby?
Ruby: Not here. We did blood and tissue typing, and serum too. The doctors said there’s no way I’d be a match but they were wrong! Mal and I are meant to be. We won’t let anything come between us.

While she may not be happy about it, I think Ruby’s mom came up with the best solution. The three of them under one roof will be interesting, for lack of a better word. I’d watch that show.

Bash so badly wanted to help someone. He’s facing a lawsuit, his career is on the line, and his friend is still in lockup with no way out.

His world could be falling apart, and he needs to fix something. He doesn’t know how. He doesn’t have the resources. 

It was good to see Theo and Bash have a bonding moment about being sued. Things have been tense between them for a little bit.

Bash Learns About The Lawsuit - Transplant Season 2 Episode 8

Bishop: How are you doing, June? Being Chief Resident, caught between the egos and the politics?
June: It’s just hard to know whose interests you’re serving, you know, who you can trust.
Bishop: All I know is that patient first is our true north.

Meanwhile, Mags and Bash are super awkward with each other after agreeing to be friends after their intense moment, followed by them disagreeing on a case, which has now led to a lawsuit.

Waiting for that bomb to go off should be fun to watch.

They balanced the storylines well, highlighting each of the characters and their relationships. Neither too much nor too little time was spent on each patient or case.

The personal and professional were evenly distributed. Every character had their day.

My only sticking point is the bird. I’m not quite sure what it was doing there. It was a funny bit, but there wasn’t any real pay-off. Maybe the show was trying to say that Bash feels like a bird in a cage or that he was once? 

Mags Worries About Baby Oliver - Transplant Season 2 Episode 8

If so, the metaphor wasn’t made evident. 

Over to you, TV Fanatics!

Did you think the episode was more balanced? What do you think will happen with the lawsuit? And what was the deal with that bird?

Let us know in the comments, and remember, you can watch Transplant online via TV Fanatic.

Claire Outs Ruby As a Runaway - Transplant Season 2 Episode 8

Transplant airs Sundays 10/9c on NBC.

Leora W is a staff writer for TV Fanatic..

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