Is Nic's Exit the Real Reason Behind The Resident's Decline?
The last two seasons of The Residents were far less successful than the previous ones.
And since we probably won't get season 7, fans are disappointed with the way the series ended. So, what went wrong?
The Residents fallows the story of the employees of the fictional Chastain Park Memorial Hospital as they overcome daily obstacles in their personal and professional lives. But the beauty of the show was its critique of the U.S. medical system, as the entire drama took place against a backdrop of bureaucracy, corruption, and cynicism among medical workers.
However, in spite of such an intriguing plot, the series has never been able to raise the bar. Reddit users decided to take note of the issues they felt led to the show's downfall.
The departure of Emily VanCamp, who played a nurse practitioner Nic Nevin, was one of the main arguments. Nic was an overqualified nurse who truly cared about her patients. Fans also appreciated her romantic relationship with her boyfriend and then husband, Conrad Hawkins.
However, Emily VanCamp planned to leave the project after the fourth season due to pregnancy, and the creators had to struggle to bring her back as a recurring character for season 5. So, the screenwriters had to write Nic off by just killing her character off.
"The writers seemed to struggle to know what to do after and such we got the last two seasons where the show felt different and the writers just didn't seem to have a direction at all," Reddit user NoApollonia contemplates.
It looks like the writers were really confused, as Nic's death is followed by a 4-year time-skip where all the characters have already come to terms with the tragedy. Conrad moves on, finds new romantic interests. Of course, we can't blame him for that, but from a viewer's point of view, all the tension and drama between him and Nic that has been built up over several seasons has just been cheapened.
However, many have noted that the show began to decline even earlier with the departure of Shaunette Renée Wilson, who played Mina. Along with Nic and Conrad, she was the heart of the series.
Alas, the departure of two major actresses caught the writers off guard. In any case it is unknown whether the show would have remained popular if no one had left, though.