Long waits at the doctor’s clinic or hospital ER are enough to enrage even the most patient of, er, patients but while someone sitting in a waiting room IRL might be wondering “do these doctors care at all?” the fictional Transplant (Wednesdays at 9/10 MT on CTV) docs might care a little too much. Someone just needs to tell their patients that.We pick up at York Memorial with a particularly gruff patient socking Theo (Jim Watson) in the nose the moment he finds out he’s a doctor. Oh, okay.  Bash (Hamza Haq) immediately jumps into action, threatening to pummel the assailant into the ground. We’ve seen this before—Bash cares deeply for pretty much everyone he knows including colleagues, his family and every patient that comes into the ER (assuming they’re not actively trying to hurt his friends). Doctors Leblanc (Laurence Leboeuf) and Curtis (Ayisha Issa) are guilty of the same, whether they like to admit it or not. Sometimes it’s to their benefit, but other times, to their detriment.

Did not see that coming! Here's an exclusive sneak peek at an all new #Transplant. Get into it Wednesday at 9/10mt on @CTV. pic.twitter.com/fgyGMyqnhd

— Transplant (@TransplantCTV) April 14, 2020

To Balance or not to balance

“This job is a balance,” Dr. Bishop (Jon Hannah) scolds Dr. Leblanc as he reviews her performance. Apparently, Mags is spending too much time with each of her patients (she should be seeing 20 a day, and is only managing 15, while even cutting out lunch breaks in favour of work), and orders her to—how do we put this delicately?—care less.“Find a way to be the doctor I need you to be,” Bishop instructs, reiterating that their job in the ER is to address what the patient came for, nothing more—all the other stuff is what GPs are for. That’s all well and good, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Mags Leblanc, it’s that she can’t change her nature. It’s her instincts that make her a good doc, so obviously they’re going to be put to the test that very day.When one patient comes in with a leg wound, Mags chooses to ignore his coughing to focus on the injury at hand. When he starts coughing up blood, it turns out—you guessed it—her instincts were right: the leg wound caused an embolism that travelled to his lungs, causing them to take in water. Bishop congratulates her for catching it, but still seems to hold her to his original orders. Raise your hand if you’re seeing similarities between Dr. Leblanc and Dr. Carter from the first season of ER (played by the amazing Noah Wyle). In the first season, he cared too much, but by season three, he didn’t care enough. It’ll be interesting to see if Mags has the same arc.

Lady problems

Dr. June Curtis also wonders if she should care a little less when it comes to her continuing problems with her supervisor, Dr. Singh (Sugith Varughese). We previously saw him gaslight her and do the cool one-two punch of 1) dismissing a female patient’s pain and 2) dismissing a female doctor’s diagnosis.  He once again shows his true colours this week by taking credit for Dr. Curtis’ work. When June laments about this to attending doctor Wendy Atwater (Linda E. Smith), she gets some pretty common “woman-to-woman” advice: suck it up to save your sanity and your career. Curtis contemplates this magic trick but in the end, she says she’d rather burn it all down. Yaaas, girl![video_embed id='1914821']RELATED: ‘Transplant’ star Ayisha Issa has superhero ambitions and the moves to back it up[/video_embed]

Impossible choices

Bash is also dealing with emotions running high—for him it’s the plight of a woman who tugs at his heartstrings and resurfaces some trauma. Javier and Maria—a young couple who had a hard time conceiving but are now 31 weeks pregnant—come into the ER because Maria has a slight fever and nausea. Bash, with his eagle eyes (and trauma surgeon-trained instincts), notices she has an odd rash on her arm and upon inspection, realizes it’s a flesh-eating bacteria like he remembers seeing in Syria. He then has to present the impossible choice to the couple: cut out the rotten flesh and risk not spreading infection or amputate the entire arm.“I want to hold my baby!” Maria cries, opting for the former, but when the team discovers the bacteria has already spread to her shoulder, they have a second and definitely worse choice to put to the couple: save Maria or save the baby. Bash struggles to keep it together when Maria bellows, “Save the baby!” That woman is pure bravery and we salute her.

Everything is at stake for Bash and his patient. Get into an all new #Transplant tonight at 9/10mt on @CTV. pic.twitter.com/KGtnXY55hB

— Transplant (@TransplantCTV) April 15, 2020

Bash comforts Javier during the emergency C-section the surgeons perform on Maria and—graphic alert!—viewers aren’t spared a close-up of the very bloody incisions. We know Transplant loves to show medical procedures in all their unglamorous and shudder-inducing glory, but when the surgeons slice into Maria’s skin to pull the premature baby from her stomach, it’s just… a lot. It’s good TV though—we’re hooked and *shook.* In the end, both the baby and Maria somehow survive all this. Phew!This rollercoaster of unimaginable emotions understandably takes a toll on Bash, who is once again is haunted by images of Syrian children in gas masks following him on the streets of Toronto. Clearly he’s got more inner trauma to deal with, and we hope he takes the steps to address it soon.Watch Transplant Wednesdays at 9/10 MT on CTV.[video_embed id='1909547']BEFORE YOU GO: ‘Transplant’ star Hamza Haq on how he traded his day job to become a leading man[/video_embed]