Spoilers ahead for Episode 8 of The Resident Season 5, called “Old Dogs, New Tricks.”
After The Resident’s time jump of several years and a couple episodes of internal debate, Conrad was officially back in his role as diagnostician at Chastain, but it wasn’t back to business as usual. While his focus was on the adorable GiGi as she settled into daycare at the hospital, some of the nurses were more than a little interested in her single dad. To his surprise, he had become Chastain’s most eligible bachelor after his return, but he wasn’t so sure that he was ready to be eligible. By the end of the hour, however, he decided to take a step forward with Marion. Still, I got the impression that the show is setting up a different potential romance that was pretty unexpected: with Billie.
For the most part, Billie has been supportive of Conrad and helpful with GiGi in the unconditional, unrehearsed way that he needed, unlike the nurses who were trying to cozy up to him via GiGi. And a match between Conrad and Marion actually makes sense, since their connection was set up before the time jump. It certainly wasn’t romantic at the time, but there was a bond there over GiGi that wasn’t there with the other women. Plus, Marion wasn’t blatantly flirting with him, and Billie encouraged him.
All things considered, if not for the wistful expression on Billie’s face as she watched the Hawkins duo walk off for ice cream with Marion, I wouldn’t have thought that there was anything other than friendship and a bond of grief between her and Conrad. Instead, it's looking to me like Billie caught feelings for her dearly departed best friend’s husband! She didn't have the expression of somebody who is nothing but happy to see their friend moving forward:
And as weird as that might sound, I’m here for it. As Billie herself said, years have gone by since Nic’s death, and Nic wouldn’t want him to be alone forever… or for GiGi to not have somebody in her life in that role. There’s no indication that Billie was harboring feelings for him while Nic was still alive. In fact, it seems like her feelings – if she does indeed have feelings and I’m not just reading too much into Jessica Lucas’ performances in this episode – stem from the fact that she and Conrad both lost the person they cared about most in the world, and there’s a bond from their loss of Nic.
Plus, Billie has clearly been there for the Hawkins family, and she’s not trying to make any moves. She’s going the extra mile to support Conrad in moving on, without pitching herself as a candidate. She’s being a very good friend to him, and if there’s more to what she feels for him, then I’m not against it. The time jump is very handy here, because it would be hard to think much of Billie if she was lusting after him shortly after Nic died, or much of Conrad if he was eyeing any woman soon after losing his life. But there’s an easy chemistry between them, a shared history, and the potential for a good old-fashioned will they/won’t they dynamic. Who doesn’t love some will they/won’t they action on TV?
Now, even if I’m right about Billie having feelings for Conrad, there’s no sign that such a thing has even occurred to him. He was mostly trying to avoid the advances of the nurses, and clearly only had Marion in mind when he finally started entertaining the possibility of moving on. And as much as I’m on board with The Resident potentially exploring a new layer to Billie and Conrad, I’m interested to see how his first post-Nic relationship goes. His attraction to Marion seems to have more to do with GiGi than anything else; will they have much in common as people rather than caregivers?
Find out with new episodes of The Resident on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Only a couple are left before the show heads into its winter hiatus, with the fall finale coming up in December. There is plenty going on thanks to the time jump, so keep on tuning in!
