Transplant 2×10 “Shadows” forces the doctors to navigate the hospital’s unknown— literally. I mean, c’mon, there’s a blackout. As the doctors work through a heatwave-induced blackout in the hospital, tensions run high, limits are reached, and change sweeps through the York Memorial team.
NOSTALGIA
Magalie Leblanc needs a break. Her shadows are the nightmares of her past that have snuck up on her as her recent infant cardiology case still lingers on her mind. This leads her to see her childhood doctor, who saved her life when she had a rare heart block.
Unfortunately, her hero turns out to be more like the morally grey character than the saviour. His health is degrading from lung cancer, and he doesn’t give a damn, considering he is seen smoking.
While Mags tries to get through to him and process the lawsuit which she was dropped from, Ollie’s death, a slight breakup, and a horrible boss pre-Bishop’s return, she realizes he can’t fix her.
While he tries to play it off and pretend he doesn’t know her, in the end, he confesses to knowing her and caring about her. She appreciates his words and his blunt truth that while he tried to save her, he didn’t, but that doesn’t mean he should’ve quit.
Mags chooses to take this information, learn from her mistakes, and move on from situations that weren’t hers. But, even if she failed the baby, she worked her ass off. She did everything she could, and nobody could have done anything else.
While the nostalgia of seeing her hero brought more ghosts into the light from the shadows, she gains some clarity.
AFRAID OF THE FALL
Bash is afraid of heights, yet he still manages to save a patient and challenge himself.
It’s clear Bash has been struggling with everything, and I mean everything. In Transplant 2×10, we see Bash dealing with a patient that can’t seem to shake his risky lifestyle but ultimately focuses on survival when he chooses to amputate his leg. While the amputation will put a damper on his free-climbing lifestyle, it does save him.
It also challenges Bash because he does the procedure in the dark, with minimal blood and machinery, but still manages to save Sully’s life. However, it also pushes Bash to the edge of a cliff, one where he realizes that sometimes fear isn’t so obvious. After all, he’s not afraid of fear but of the fall.
Bash works to push himself through challenge after challenge and to be there for the ones around him. He chooses to fight for his patients, his future, and himself as he chooses not to take the lawsuit’s settlement.
“Shadows” also brings us deeper into the flashbacks from Bash’s past, as we see him trying to save his friend in confinement.
It proves that fear isn’t always apparent. While Bash’s flashbacks are extremely triggering and showcase his trauma and tormented past, they may not be as apparent as just what he went through. He may be afraid of anything new, anything good, and he may be afraid of recovery.
We see Bash fighting a lot in Transplant 2×10, and we see him telling his friend to fight in the flashback. But that’s all this is. Bash has fought for his future through his fears, and he always encourages others to fight, especially when they don’t deserve to be subject to pain.
Fighting is the only way we get ourselves out of the shadows and into the light.
BODY LANGUAGE
Theo has finally reached the point that he has been trying to avoid. In “Shadows,” we see him snapping at nurses because they are dealing with the chaos of the blackout, and we see him get called out for his attitude by Dr. Bishop.
Theo brings in a child with his babysitter after the child exhibits symptoms of heat stroke. Theo tries to understand what is causing the child pain and has to enlist the help of an ASL interpreter for the process.
While Theo was able to get his body temp down, he didn’t get the kid to open up, mainly because the kid felt stressed looking at Theo’s face. This teaches Theo an essential lesson in body language. Nevertheless, Theo manages to lighten up and help the child, learning that no matter how well he tries to hide his pain, sometimes it’s still evident.
Unfortunately, Theo’s light-hearted attitude doesn’t last very long as he goes to see the construction crew that has been postponing their job on his house and punches the guy.
Theo can’t keep helping patients as a way to help himself. He needs to help himself first to help his patients, and hopefully, after the limits he reached in Transplant 2×10, he will finally focus on himself.
No matter how much Theo tries to shadow his pain, eventually, everything will come to the surface, and it’s time that he dealt with the buried past.
AUDIENCE
In Transplant 2×10, June struggles to define that line she has worked so hard to draw with her family. As the blackout causes her brother to be stuck at the airport, June is forced to pause mid-surgery and check on her father as he is taken off the ventilator. He holds, but without DNI measures, it isn’t long.
June took the opportunity to leave the dark-room surgery and see her father. She manages to say a few words to him before he calls for her and ultimately passes. Despite her feelings toward her father, June felt the sting of his death and believed in the fate that he only passed after he saw her.
We see June affected and phased as the power returns and she returns to the halted surgery. She also tears up around Mags when Mags comforts her after she informs her.
She even said her dad “won” because his illness finally got her to see him. So, despite how much she fought to keep her past in the shadows, it seems like it ultimately comes to light.
DOCTOR’S PERSONAL ANECDOTES
- Yikes! This lawsuit…
- Mags is… off today.
- Heat does strange things to people because clearly EVERYONE is having a bad day.
- NO ROPES?!?!?!?!
- Theo, always being concerned for everyone
- Aww, Mags, don’t you know the saying “nostalgia’s a b****”
- YAAY! Claire is officially a Nurse Practitioner; at least the scrubs are new
- lights out, York Memorial
- dude… an amputation in the dark… you sure?
- easy Theo, concern is one thing; projecting is another
- well, Mags, that’s one way of getting the meeting you want
- Bash is incredibly talented
- awww, Junie, that has to be tough
- this is your hero, Mags?
- Well, old school can always be new school
- damn, Sully, you want to go back?
- Maybe he is the hero; after all, it depends on your definition of a hero
- if a child can read the stress off of you, Theo? Then it’s time to take a beat
- this kid is hilarious
- oh, June
- call. him. out. Bishop.
- Bishop, she may be present with you, but is she really with you anymore?
- Bash is willing to sit on a ledge despite his fear of heights
- “dude did you just punch me… thanks.”
- punches someone and then proceeds to apologize… make it make sense
- wow, Claire has the best family
- June and Mags are the best duo
- and just like that, Bash and Theo are back
Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments below.
Transplant airs Saturday at 8/7c on NBC.
