Tonight’s episode “Keep The Faith” was a touching tribute to all those who have served in the military. Because the episode was written and directed by veterans, the tribute was completely authentic. Some shows have tried to do tributes to certain groups, but it often falls flat because members of that group are not always included in the creative process. In “Keep The Faith” the lines that the veterans delivered carried so much emotion because the audience knows that they have experienced what their characters are going through.
In “Keep The Faith,” a number of veterans were treated at the hospital after a fight broke out with a Westboro Baptist Church type hate group outside Mac’s memorial service. Drew threw the first punch as he couldn’t take the anti-gay hate speech that they were spewing, and I don’t blame him in the slightest. He has served and lost so much during his time in the military, and this hate group is standing in front of him saying that soldiers die because of gay people. No one could stand that type of hate if it was standing in front of them, not even the strongest of people.
One politician who got caught in the fight named Xavier Arnold gave the doctors a lot of trouble at the hospital. He didn’t respect the work they did and wanted them to fix his injury immediately without anything going wrong. Every time he opened his mouth I wanted to punch him, and other than just being a slime ball politician he gave everyone a reason to hate him later. As TC was talking to him, he discovered that Arnold was lying about his title as a Ranger.
He had never been to Ranger school, but was using the title for his own political gain. Arnold’s presence also dug up some painful memories for Drew as he remembered that Arnold had been in battle with him, and that he had helped to cause the death of one his friends. The only thing that stopped TC and Drew from exposing him for the fraud he was, is that in his position as a politician he had done a lot of work for veterans and San Antonio Memorial. Drew and TC promised not to expose him under the condition that he hire a photographer who was a veteran and a patient at the hospital who was starting to go blind and needed a job.
After all this, Jordan and Drew had a touching moment. Drew was in the break room watching “Groundhog Day” because that was the movie he never got to finish with his buddy who had died during the war. He had never been able to bring himself to finish the movie since, but Jordan offered to watch it with him so he could move on and start to heal from the memory of that loss.
TC is still debating whether or not to stay home or go back to the war, and I swear I’m going to lose it if he doesn’t stay home. The hospital just doesn’t feel the same without him, and he needs to stay and work things out with Jordan and everyone else who he has unresolved issues with. Towards the end of his conversation with Jordan, he mentioned that Annie hasn’t been returning any of his calls, and my heart just dropped in my chest. No one at the hospital knows that Annie is dead.
The last they knew, she was going for a hike and they wouldn’t hear from her for a while. In a Facebook live chat today, Brendan Fehr said that Annie’s death would be addressed this season, and I am dreading the moment when TC and Scott find out what happened. TC has lost so much in a short amount of time and I’m terrified that losing his sister-in-law is going to be the last straw. I don’t even want to think about Scott’s reaction because he is still in love with her, and he has had such a difficult time opening up to people. She is the only one who really understood him, and now she’s gone too.
Tragically it was also confirmed at the very beginning of “Keep The Faith” that Mac had indeed died from his stab wounds. So Mac is the latest victim in the The Night Shift season 4 character purge.
Next week’s episode looks to be an exciting hour as the hospital deals with hackers demanding ransom money and keeping the hospital from treating their patients.
Check out the trailer for yourselves below, and I’ll see you all next week!
The Night Shift airs Thursdays at 10/9c on NBC.