The Night Shift Season 3: The Full Collection

THE NIGHT SHIFT SEASON 3: THE FULL COLLECTION, EPISODES 1-13 (7.1 AVERAGE)

(NOTE: All of the episode descriptions preceded by a * are sourced from Wikipedia.)

THE NIGHT SHIFT - Episodes 3x01 & 3x02

3x01 "The Times They Are A-Changing"

* "Following Jordan's accident, she and TC have broken up but are still working together. Jordan recruits one of her colleagues, Shannon Rivera, to join the Night Shift, and Shannon makes an unusual first impression with the staff. Meanwhile, Drew is sent overseas to Afghanistan along with colleague Syd Jennings, where they are forced to tend to a 15-year old patient who is pregnant and whose husband is a high-ranking member of the Afghani army. Elsewhere, TC, Topher and Scott tend to a female car accident victim, only to realize when the woman comes-to that they left her toddler son behind at the scene. Also, Gwen updates Kenny on her law school applications, and later learns the closest she got to acceptance was being put on a wait list at Georgetown."

I can quickly comment on the cuteness of Kenny's support for Gwen's law ambitions and say that I love them both individually and as a couple, and it's nice that they're so happy since it offsets the terrible outcome that is Jordan and TC. After they lost a baby in s2's finale, TC knew he had to do something to prove he would support Jordan, and popped the question. In s3's premiere, Jordan has apparently rejected TC's marriage proposal and they're working on opposite shifts (mostly). I'm not happy with this at all: this seems like an unnecessary step back in their relationship after 2 seasons of well-worked growth. It would have made for more watchable TV to see them try and work through their grief together, although I can't argue TC's rather selfish reaction (blaming Jordan for their break-up while ignoring the root cause) is so characteristic of him.

   Elsewhere, new recruit Shannon shakes things up: she's technically proficient, she's smart as hell, she doesn't mind appearing like a bitch and she won't take crap from anyone - that last trait depicted in a redo of the prank played on Paul Cummings in the s1 premiere, where instead of taking the joke she reacts by punching Paul in the face. He's understandably displeased, but there's definitely something between those two: they'll get together later on in s3. You watch. I'm not sure I like Shannon's character yet: she's like the young, female TC in her "I know everything and I'll fight everyone here" demeanour, but I'm sure she'll soften up as the series goes on and I'll warm to her.

   And finally, Drew has been enlisted by the Army to spend a tour in Afghanistan. This episode ended with an Afghani national holding a gun to his head in the ER, a boring cliffhanger in what has transpired to be the first of a two-parter. I already don't like this arc and I hope Drew returns to San Antonio very soon.

   4.81m viewers.

VERDICT: Decent enough medical storylines, but s3 seems to have hit the reset button on some relationships and the character arcs are starting in poor positions. 5.5/10

3x02 "The Thing With Feathers"

* "Following a fight between Drew and the Afghani leader, the leader is shot by Drew putting him in a tough spot. Though Drew and Syd are able to help the young mom, her baby, and her brother get away from the leader, the end result is Drew is sent home while Syd, who was looking forward to her daughter's 13th birthday in two weeks, has to stay on tour an additional three months. TC and Scott deal with the car accident victim from the previous episode while simultaneously trying to save her son. They later determine the boy needs a bone marrow transfusion, but he is adopted and the parents claim they don't know the birth mother, which sounds fishy to TC. Elsewhere, Shannon helps Jordan move on from TC, Topher tries to renew his commitment to get fit again, and Gwen learns she moved off the wait list at Georgetown when another candidate drops out. To Kenny's dismay, she has to leave the next morning."

In "The Thing With Feathers", the conclusion of its two-part premiere, The Night Shift continues to hit the reset button on its characters: TC and Jordan, who has found a new potential love interest in fireman Sam, drift further apart (and are horribly reminded of the child they lost after concluding the night by saving a kidnapped child and reuniting him with his parents); and Gwen and Kenny break-up when Gwen achieves her ambition to go to law school in Maryland. That's two relationships broken, neither of which I'm pleased about. All four of those characters are top draw and their relationships were great to watch unfold before now. Sort it. Quickly.

   Elsewhere, after a stumbling start Topher commits to improving his health and fitness (and I hope we see him achieve this in the future); Paul, amid another clash with Shannon set to drive the sexual tension up another notch, tries to be taken more seriously as a surgeon; and his mentor, surgeon Dr Scott Clemens, runs into TC's ticking time bomb of a reformed-drug-addict sister at an AA meeting (that's not going to go well).

   And finally, Drew's Afghanistan arc draws to a close in a most enjoyably heart-breaking conclusion. After Drew helps the Afghani leader's wife and new baby escape his clutches, Major Syd Jennings, just 9 days from completing her tour, is forced to stay in Afghanistan to make up the numbers in the medical ranks (meaning she will miss her daughter's birthday) while Drew, taking the heat, is, I presume, dishonourably discharged. A boring cliffhanger was wrapped up in a brilliant but tear-inducing way. Great TV.

   Viewers, 4.18m

VERDICT: Much better than the first part. Everyone's storylines are moving along even though I don't prefer the direction of most. Again I haven't been able to mention the patients, but their plots all assisted the characters and were independently captivating. Great humour throughout. 7.5/10

THE NIGHT SHIFT 3x03 "The Way Back"

"Drew struggles to adjust after returning from Afghanistan, but a patient's father issues make him realise his real problem. Topher takes his mum to a casino with TC, but when TC has to take a patient back to the hospital, Topher and his mother work through some of their own issues. Kenny agrees to stop pranking Paul, Jordan continues her relationship with Fireman Sam and Shannon deals with some showboating wedding guests."

Lindsey Morgan (The 100) was touted to appear in one episode and this was it, as a bride whose wedding day goes wrong when an unknown condition lands her in the hospital along with her alcoholic father. Family issues were the overlying theme of this episode, what with Drew's insistence on fixing the bride's family stemming from an unresolved issue with his own father's non-acceptance of Drew's sexuality; and Topher and his mum get to the gritty stuff in a casino café. It all came round to the fact that the night shift staff were a family, which closed an excellent hour of TV.

   Drew is a great character and to see him hurt was painful to watch, but it made for a great if not heartbreaking ending when his father again rebuked him. Kenny's airtime was lessened without Gwen, but his character didn't suffer for it and he was cheerful as ever. Paul continued his mission to be taken more seriously (even standing up to his Attending, Dr Clemens, and Kenny) which I was glad to see, and I warmed to Shannon quite quickly after she embarrassed a showboating wedding guest in front of his friends by suggesting he was an "inchworm".

   Finally, Jordan and TC's relationship didn't play a factor tonight for very long, but everything seems cordial between them. TC's happy for now to let her go and Jordan's clearly happy with Fireman Sam. I hope it doesn't last, but it's still nice to see her smile after losing her baby.

VERDICT: The easiest hour of Night Shift TV so far. Well-balanced writing, everyone got the airtime their plots required and funny to boot. 8/10

THE NIGHT SHIFT - 3x04 "Three-Two-One"

"Race riots are fuelled by the nearing conclusion of a race murder case, and exacerbated when the defendant collapses in court and has to go to hospital. Opinions over guilt or innocence split the staff, but out in the field things go from bad to worse when a decision has to be made over which riot shooting victim goes to the hospital first: the white cop or the black suspect."

The Night Shift's exploration of its main characters in season 3 has been a bit dull, but its forays into plot in the last two episodes have seen it improve drastically in watchability and indeed memorability. In "Three-Two-One", the details of the murder of a black man by a white man unfold to a shocking conclusion: we'll never know if he's guilty or not, because he is murdered leaving the hospital. This deliberate ambiguity is great: we know all the details of the murder, so it's left up to us and our biases to decide if he was guilty or innocent.

   And biases are the overall theme of this episode. No matter what, as Nurse Kenny says (and Kenny is the character most affected by the murder case due to suffering racial stereotyping for his skin colour), we all have our own unintended biases. We view each individual person we see through how we have been affected by things in our lives, through our perceived privileges or lack thereof, and through our environments. They can be right, they can be wrong, but the message here, I think, is that whatever the bias is, bias is wrong.

   This episode was intense, some of the scenes were fantastic (look at Kenny explaining to Dr Alexander how he has suffered for his skin colour as the best of the bunch) and the plots were just nailbiting.

   A great standalone episode and for its message it's a must-see for everyone. It really, really is.

   Viewers: 4.30m

VERDICT: A hot topic in modern America gets explored across multiple relevant avenues. Intense, deep and insightful from the start. The best Night Shift episode yet. 9.5/10

THE NIGHT SHIFT

3x05 "Get Busy Livin'"

"In the first instalment of The Night Shift's self-styled two-part event, a pharmaceutical rep comes to San Antonio Memorial Hospital to try and clinch a deal for exclusivity in medical distribution and divides feeling. Jordan fights for a patient with cancer who teaches her life lessons in return, while TC tries to save the life of a girl who attempted suicide and Shannon's past drug abuse haunts her."

As The Night Shift enters its early middle phase, its episodes are starting to improve. The race riots episode previously was going to be hard to match, but they didn't try and that was a wise choice. Instead, the show returned to its main characters and in some way they were all affected today, be it big or small.

   Jordan's cancer patient taught her to be a bigger go-getter with personal relationships, which was a nice sentiment and heartbreaking when the patient died. Shannon made her distrust of TC's reformed drug addict sister quite plain in relation to her own addiction with prescription drugs, which is fair since even I'm just waiting for the inevitable relapse to occur. Only this time it's probably gonna take Scott down too. Drew continues to make amends for Syd having to remain in Afghanistan by videoing her daughter's first martial arts fight, but then accidentally injures her himself. Oh dear, Drew. He just can't get a break.

   The pharmaceutical rep, Jessica, split opinions (TC shouted at her for pushing dangerous drugs, Topher wanted the deal just to get conference trips to Hawaii, Jordan enjoyed the administrative side), but ended up with the deal likely and a potential relationship with TC in the works. While Jordan sits in the corner with Fireman Sam I'm OK with this, but we need TC and Jordan back together by the end.

VERDICT: As The Night Shift advances it becomes better and more watchable. The storylines resonated across the board here, but some serve to foreshadow the probable conflicts later on in the season. 8/10

3x06 "Hot in the City"

"In the second of The Night Shift's two-parter, Drew is forced to perform risky spinal surgery on a patient, Jordan and TC's new relationships head in different directions and Shannon reverts back to her ceaseless teasing of Paul. Scott reveals to TC about his relationship with TC's sister Annie, and Jordan treats a wrestling fan who stopped her from being injured in a ringside brawl."

Although a "two-episode event" was drastically misrepresented (these were just two episodes aired back-to-back rather than a two-parter), the one thing producers are following up with is their promise to show more of our characters outside the hospital setting in season 3, and they're delivering. We've seen cafés and casinos, and now we see a wrestling match. The cousin of one of the wrestlers hits on Jordan but ends up in her care after pushing her out of the way of a jumping kick, and his playful interest continues throughout, eventually helping Jordan to make the decision she's not ready for a full-time relationship with anyone - even Fireman Sam. Meanwhile, TC begins a (rather risqué for network TV) sexual relationship with the pharmaceutical rep, Jessica. I think we're going to see them both bumble along now, Jordan on random dates - maybe something will go wrong and they'll do a dangers-of-internet-dating episode - until the end where hopefully they reunite and we can all be happy.

   I continue to love Drew, who is just amazing whether he's being a great doctor or caring for Syd's daughter. Annie and Scott reveal to TC about their dating, and he understandably holds some reservations. As I keep saying, this is bound to blow up when Annie reverts back to drug use. I can't wait for these sparks to fly. Elsewhere, Kenny has been sidelined a little with almost no plot of his own in these two episodes, but at least Paul and Shannon's cute teasing banter returned again today. Those two need to do it already.

VERDICT: The patients themselves presented more interesting cases than usual (Kawasaki's disease and a parasitic cyst), and, alongside the good character development, the uncommon medical issues elevated this episode just beyond the level of the first. 8.5/10

THE NIGHT SHIFT - 3x07 "By Dawn's Early Light"

* "Syd returns stateside, and is attending an outdoor concert with Drew and her daughter Riley when banks of fireworks ignite early, causing chaos. A mother and her daughter Darika are badly burned. TC and Topher arrive on the scene, and Topher authorizes Syd to assist in treating the mother and daughter back at the hospital. Soon after, Topher approaches a burning truck that contains fireworks and it explodes. Topher is badly hurt, but he refuses tests and insists on continuing to treat the wounded, over TC's and Jordan's objections. It is later discovered that Topher suffered a concussion. At the hospital, Scott and Syd treat the mother's burns. Impressed with Syd's techniques, Scott offers her a job, and Syd says she'll think about it. Paul and Shannon treat a street artist with a mysterious ailment, and in doing so, the two doctors finally find some common ground. Scott explains his attraction to Annie in a conversation with Jordan, asking that Jordan stay out of it. Kenny and Nurse Jocelyn consider going on a real date instead of just sleeping together. Syd learns that her ex-husband is moving to Washington, D.C. with his new wife and, to avoid a custody battle and stay close to Riley, Syd decides she will also move to D.C."

The episode was largely Syd-focused - as it closes out her arc within the show (barring any surprises) - so there was little in the way of character development elsewhere. Shannon finally admitted to Paul she liked him (called it!) which was the most progressive part of the episode, since elsewhere TC and Jordan's attention was taken up by an injured Topher who kept refusing treatment, and Kenny (who has been vastly underutilised since Gwen's departure) had about three seconds of screen time to remind us he's dating that nurse ... what's her name? Oh, she's a nurse? Never knew that.

   But at least the patients were interesting, especially Shannon's street artist, although I'm starting to see a pattern in the show now. Anything set outside of the hospital is 95% likely to lead to some sort of mass casualty event and someone from the hospital being sent out on a field trip - Topher's mum in the casino, the race riots, now this concert - which is starting to get a bit tiring and dull. Overall, there wasn't anything wrong with this episode per se, it just didn't achieve much here other than to get rid of a side character no one truly cared about anyway.

   Viewers: 5.74m

VERDICT: Whether the show is running out of ideas already as to how to set scenes outside of the hospital I don't know, but they need to start being more creative. A lack of character development rescued only by good patient storylines and Paul's shock at learning Shannon likes him. 6.5/10

THE NIGHT SHIFT - 3x08 "All In"

"Topher's mum comes in with a mystery illness. Scott remains angry with Jordan for interfering with his love life, but while they work together to treat a man with a rare illness the machine to treat him breaks down. Shannon and Drew connect with a child in care whose foster mother winds up in surgery after a car crash, and Kenny is weirded out by the regular congratulations he receives because he doesn't know why."

Today's episode was rather excellent, but it did have a few failings I want to address first. Namely the predictability of some of the plots: that Scott would end up realising he was being a dick to Jordan and apologising after they connected over a (wonderful and funny) patient was just painfully obvious, as was the fact that the foster child's foster mum would die - naturally because she was a really great foster mum. Also, Topher's mum's illness was greatly over-dramatised in the promos, as she was never in any real danger.

   However, the humour that grew out of the revelation Topher's mum was having sex with the old guy from the casino episode was brilliant. Shannon showed some humanity with the foster kid and then, in true Shannon style, took it upon herself to make the first move with Paul, pushing him into his car in the hospital car park. Good for them both. And Kenny was nominated to be union rep as punishment for missing the election meeting - that's going to be quite interesting if he's forced into administrative meetings in the future.

   Viewers: 6.32m - this is great! I was wondering if The Night Shift's mid-4m ratings in the first six episodes would be enough to get a season four at the end, but the last episode rose to 5.74m and now we're bouncing up to a figure that hasn't been reached since season 1! Brilliant!

VERDICT: An entertaining and heartbreaking episode overshadowed by some predictable resolutions. Still worth an 8/10

THE NIGHT SHIFT - 3x09 "Unexpected"

"Paul and Shannon struggle to find an equilibrium after their passionate encounter and the nurses go on strike over pay. Then a bomb goes off in the ER, and the team have to scramble to save everybody and figure out why they were targeted. But it becomes clear that the bomb was just the beginning."

The Night Shift writers are smart. Knowing they probably won't get the 15 seasons their source material show ER got, they've managed to steal from the final episodes of ER's season 8 and the early episodes of season 9 and cook up one big nurse's-strike-and-anthrax plot. They even threw in a bit of the patient-needs-a-transplant arc from ER's fifteenth season. At least they used anthrax rather than monkeypox, though.

   But that's not to say the episode felt like a rehashing, just that it's easy to find parallels in plot. It's the characters who made this episode stand out, especially since after the first twenty minutes had gone by it (and the nurses) petered out, ending with something close to eight minutes of emotive wrap-up scenes that felt about four minutes too long. Shannon and Paul's cute relationship has hit a stumble as they've both agreed to not date because of work (that won't last), which admittedly is an annoying obstacle, Jordan is reminded of the death of her baby when she recognises the bomber, whose motive (revenge for them not saving her husband and son - I think?) I felt was rather weak (this might have worked a little better if it was a character who had featured before that the show had actually made memorable), Kenny goes to bat for a young patient he's been training up (gotta love Kenny) and Topher can be the brilliant big boss and make as many magnificent motivational speeches all he wants, to me he's still always going to be the lovable idiot Leon Tao from Person of Interest. It was a nice moment when the nurses quit their strike in the explosion's aftermath to help, recognising this was more important, but they didn't appear at all afterwards so ... they may as well have carried on.

   And lastly, the cliffhanger of the hospital being bought by an insurance company wanting to sell off the ER ... setting up a series end in case it doesn't get renewed or actual plot they want to carry through in a similar manner to OITNB's prison privatisation arc? Either way, the last third of season 3 is going to be stunning.

VERDICT: Loads to talk about because it was filled with loads of good stuff and has set up a lot more. Seeing anthrax at work rather than as a spoken-about airborne virus gave it more of an urgency, but it did lose its momentum at the end. 8/10

THE NIGHT SHIFT

3x10 "Between a Rock and a Hard Place"

"TC cares for a child nearly swallowed by a sinkhole, while elsewhere in the field Paul tries to convince a grieving mother to donate her son's organs - with Brianna waiting in the wings. Scott is reminded of his past when the boy he paralysed ends up in his care - but stakes are heightened when his furious father needs life-saving surgery. Topher deals with the potential fallout of the hospital takeover and Kenny dithers over his love life."

I really liked this episode. TC and Jordan are still acting independently of each other, but it's not difficult to watch or unnatural anymore. TC's girlfriend, the pharm rep Jessica, was predictably soiled when it was revealed the company who intend to buy the hospital hired her to get the low-down, and Topher has unknowingly let her peruse the hospital's finances - and the company already won the bid anyway! Good thing TC dumped her: he's right, what she did has the potential to destroy this ER family. Scott's plotline was intense and raw, but it was a nice throwback to a haunting event for him and I really enjoyed his buttons being pushed again - although I do still pray his and Jordan's kiss was a mistake. Kenny is still being marginalised somewhat without Gwen by not having a proper arc, but, although Brianna didn't get her lungs, I think Drew adopting her would be the cutest thing ever.

   No Shannon today. Interesting.

VERDICT: Finally an episode I really felt everyone's storylines went nearly perfectly. Entertaining, full and more character-focused than patient, which hasn't been a staple of this season. 8/10

FOR THE SECOND PART: I reckon we'll see more of Jessica trying to make amends with Topher and TC, Kenny's date with Brianna's social worker Nina, Scott and Jordan being awkward and Shannon will definitely be back. Plus Drew's Major Syd Jennings visits, having left for D.C. earlier in the season. So let's go!

3x11 "Trust Issues"

OK, so I only managed to guess a little bit of what happened. The writers decided to throw a spanner in the works of Drew's mission to adopt Brianna, and used TC's self-destruction as the tool, for when Drew was verbally abused in a bar, TC began a brawl that landed them both in jail and caused Drew to miss Brianna's lung transplant. It's a very typical trope for an adoption storyline, but it didn't feel out of place here as it was natural that TC's emotional spiral should cause significant collateral damage to his friends. Perhaps that's why - as he states - he is best going off to Turkey/Syria with Syd for a month, something Topher recommends. TC's short-term departure should last a couple of episodes tops, and will provide an interesting depiction of a serious real-world issue.

   Jessica returned as I predicted and TC ignored her, even after she bailed him out. I don't think her arc is complete quite yet, though, and I want to see her in the future. As for Drew, Rick and Brianna, they had a cute ending when they all met up in the hospital after her transplant with things looking up for Brianna's health and their adoption chances, as Nina (the social worker whose date with Kenny we did not see) agreed to do what she could to lessen Drew's incarceration's impact.

   Elsewhere, Jordan's kiss with Scott seems like it won't grow into anything, as she heads on a double date with Paul, Shannon and a guy she met in a store. Unfortunately, the date took the usual spin of him ending up in hospital (because no scene outside of the hospital can just be a scene outside of the hospital), but led to a polyamory subplot that provided humour and some learning points about love and relationships for Jordan and TC's characters - and I loved it.

   And Scott's relationship with Annie hit trouble when he admitted he and Jordan kissed - I wonder if that's for the best, although I doubt it's over yet.

Unfortunately I can't provide any episode viewer ratings yet as it's a little early for NBC to have released them, but The Night Shift's second half has been jumping back up to the mid-5m mark and I'm hoping it stays that way to give it its best shot at a season 4.

VERDICT: The Night Shift is 1 for 2 in terms of actual two-parters (this was more of a double header than anything else), but it was another strong episode that focused on our characters and propelled everyone into the final stretch of the season. 8/10

THE NIGHT SHIFT - 3x12 "Emergent" (penultimate episode)

"Drugs go missing from the hospital just before news arrives as to whether the hospital's potential buyer will save the ER, and it leads to a number of revelations about some key characters. TC's recklessness puts the Syrian refugee camp at risk, Drew's adoption of Brianna takes another turn and Paul and Shannon break up."

Shows like to take the scenic route before they happily conclude any storylines, and it's often folly to judge a show harshly on its overuse of established genre tropes, but sometimes they just feel forced, especially when there is more that could be done in the future by concluding a storyline surprisingly early. Such is the case with Drew's adoption of Brianna: after taking a detour by chucking him in prison because of TC, they've now had Brianna's biological father show up out of nowhere and demand to be a father to her, where Drew actually succeeding with the adoption could lead to a much more fulfilling arc in season 4 (I'm refraining from using past tenses until after the finale). But on top of that, Shannon, lost in her (forgotten) relationship with Paul, the hospital's potential closure and her own drive to succeed, breaks up with Paul and leaves all the viewers upset. At least Paul (because for all his cuteness, his monetary privilege does show in the way he speaks to others occasionally) made up for it by trying to use his father's wealth to save the hospital.
   But of course, the hospital is going into turmoil itself as missing drugs threaten to potentially ruin its chances of saviour by Dr Cummings Senior. The list of suspects isn't large - TC's ex-drug addict sister Annie (vehemently defended by Scott), Kenny (who suddenly seems to have $5k of debts, money he's swindled out of Paul to pay for an unseen figure), and a few nurses no one believes will be the culprit because plotwise they're ever-unimportant. Somehow, they end up in TC's jacket pocket, in Jordan's clutches, as she, Scott and an ex-war vet and Topher's buddy Mac dive into a forest fire to rescue another firefighter.
   And on the Syria/Turkey border, TC lets refugees into the camp only for a typhus outbreak to run rampant and the meds they have been waiting for land outside of the Syrian border, with the border guards refusing to let TC out to collect them. At least this is an interesting war-based plotline, even if Syd's non-utilitarian sacrifice to give her own typhus meds to an elderly lady instead held no emotional weight at all.
   Viewers 5.52m

VERDICT: A busy episode where everything was cleverly interconnected, but overall it was far too frustratingly generic. After a decent middle of the season, the first episode of The Night Shift's season-ending two-parter is failing to heat up anything but the forest. 6/10

THE NIGHT SHIFT - 3x13 "" (season finale)

* "Scott and Jordan get trapped in a rapidly intensifying wildfire. TC goes to great lengths to get medicine for Syd, who has contracted Typhus. Drew and Rick fight to keep Brianna after her father attempts to take her. Topher finds an unlikely buyer in Paul's father."

A lovely short and sweet Wikipedia description today, but it doesn't do justice how big this finale was. And when I say finale I'm not even sure what I mean. Was it a season finale or a series finale? Of course, that's dependent on whether NBC sees fit to renew the show (and based on its performance that I will discuss later it would be mad not to), but if it doesn't renew The Night Shift then we can say that what we have here nearly works as a satisfying series finale instead.
   The mystery of the missing Narco is solved: it was Annie after all, and she had been hiding the drugs in TC's jacket, which Jordan grabbed when she left to help with the forest fire. The discovery led to a heated argument between Scott and Annie, which culminated in Scott demanding that Annie go back to rehab - but softening and offering to go with her. If there's a season 4, I do wonder if Annie's recovery will be a part of it or if this is her way of being written out.
   And speaking of written out, the one part of the finale which really sucked was the airstrike in the Syrian refugee camp that knocked TC and Syd unconscious, right after they had convinced the Turkish border officials to give them the med kits and contained the typhus outbreak. My first thought was they were going to blow up Syd, but when TC tried to rescue her they both got KO'd. In the potential season 4, I would expect Syd to die but I would be sad if TC died too (although I do agree with a couple of reviews I've seen that suggest TC has been slowly written out this season; his influence at the hospital has waned significantly since his break-up with Jordan). I hope he comes back, though, and he and Jordan reconcile.
   Elsewhere, nearly everyone else was written out too, although in a decidedly less deadly fashion. Paul's wealthy father, Julian, buys the hospital instead of the evil Hobart company that were lurking, leading to TC's pharmaceutical rep ex-girlfriend Jessica losing her job instead of the ER staff. To which Topher emotionlessly tells her "Karma's a bitch". Uuuuuunfortunately for Topher, he's right, because Julian decides that he won't fit in with his company's new bottom line management style - and immediately fires him. I didn't like that move and wondered if it was because Ken Leung (Topher) was leaving, but then, in one of the best moments of the episode, after Paul finally got his chance to prove to his father he could be a great surgeon and stand on his own two feet, Paul resigned in protest - and was followed by basically everyone else. The scene was raw and emotional and one of the best The Night Shift has written yet.
   Paul's resignation then served as a catalyst for two things: one, for Shannon to realise she loves him and for them to reconcile; and two, for Paul, now cut off from his family wealth, to be unable to loan Kenny the $5000 he needed, which left Kenny in an unresolved situation with some veeeeeery evil-looking people who wanted their cash.
   So in all, an astonishing finale. Parts were predictable, but there was a nice balance of happy endings (Paul and Shannon) or near-happy endings (the ER walkout) amid the potentially tragic (TC and Syd) or just unfavourable (Kenny and Topher) cliffhangers.

VERDICT: A twist at every turn made the final fifteen minutes of this episode an emotional rollercoaster. Superbly written, although if The Night Shift returns it needs to do less of the war storylines. It's not called "The Night Shift" for nothing. 9/10