Last night’s episode of The Night Shift, “Land Of The Free” was an entertaining hour of television with an unexpectedly poignant story. The prisoner who was lose in the hospital trying to kill people was from an immigration detainment center. TC was working with a SWAT team on the site and decided to bring all of the immigrants at the center in for treatment at SAM. From this, “Land Of The Free” delivered a critique of the treatment of immigrants by ICE, and how immigrants to America (especially those from countries like Mexico) are treated like prisoners. You can always count on The Night Shift to deliver a socially relevant story that discusses incredibly important topics and political issues with grace and eloquence.
Scott took the patients without question, saying that it was their duty as doctors to help them, no matter the logistical difficulties behind the decision. It was another great moment for Scott, showing that he is the perfect person to run the hospital, and he also got to prove TC wrong, who thought that Scott was going to argue with him to turn the patients away (really TC? You don’t know Scott well at all do you?).
Having these patients in the hospital also lead to a really powerful conversation in “Land Of The Free” between Paul and Drew about illegal versus legal immigration. Drew was arguing the viewpoint that the law is the law, and there should be no exceptions to it. Paul, who’s family immigrated from Nigeria, was able to offer Drew a different viewpoint. One that took into account the humanity of the immigrants, and the fact that anyone who comes to America should be able to find help, whether they were able to come legally or not. Paul told Drew that he lived every day knowing that he couldn’t mess up the opportunities he had been given, or he and his family could be sent back to Nigeria. I really appreciated that Paul also pointed out that Drew had lived in fear as a closeted gay man, but at least he had a closet that he was able to be in. These illegal immigrants had nowhere to hide or feel safe. Drew seemed to take these thoughts into consideration, and I think it was really important to show that someone like Drew who has dealt with diversity as a gay man, can have biases and viewpoints that need to be called out as well.
Now that TC is back at SAM for a while (after “Land Of The Free” it looks permanent) we were treated to another display of his incredibly seat of the pants, risky but brave behavior. He followed the armed and dangerous prisoner into the air ducts of the hospital and was eventually able to subdue the man, although he got extremely beat up and risked his life in the process. It lead to a great interaction between Amira (TC hadn’t told anyone she was coming back from Syria or to the hospital) Jordan, and TC. After they both scolded him for not telling anyone that Amira was coming, and risking his life, he had this hilarious line that I want to use as an excuse for everything now:
“I was in the vents.”
As if him following the dangerous prisoner into the air vents was supposed to explain away his inability to communicate.
The reason why Amira was at the hospital is that she is replacing Syd on the team that Jordan had previously suggested train doctors at SAM in battlefield medicine. Syd wasn’t able to join because of family problems, so TC thought that Amira would be a perfect replacement. With Scott on the team as the head person at the hospital, they are set to do great work, and hopefully it means that TC and Amira are at SAM to stay instead of going back to Syria together.
Also in “Land Of The Free” Cain was in trouble as the criminals from his past life in Mexico had found and captured him after seeing his face on the news when he saved the life of a person at a hotel. I have no idea what is going to happen to him, but I hope he is able to escape and make it back to SAM safely where he can find help and protection.
And one more thing, TC has a private investigator trying to find out what happened to Annie, so it looks like it’s almost time for Scott and TC to find out, and I will never be ready.
All of this will hopefully be revealed in the season finale next week. I can’t believe it’s here already! I’m not ready to say goodbye to the night shift staff for another long hiatus, but I’m sure the finale will offer a conclusion to the season that can’t be missed.
Check out the trailer for the season finale next week and I’ll see you all back here to discuss all of the crazy things that have happened in another stellar season of The Night Shift.
The Night Shift season 4 finale airs Thursday at 10/9c on NBC.
