A Wedding & A Funeral
Episode 3 of This is Going to Hurt begins with Adam showing up late to the theatre. The actual theatre though, not the operating one! Things are awkward, especially when he’s torn between his mum and Harry. She’s not exactly happy about his tardiness and Harry isn’t happy about Adam suddenly declaring they’re in a relationship, believing there should be a better time to break the news. So naturally, the whole evening is super awkward between them. Meanwhile, Shruti gets talking to Ben at work, who invites her out for a pizza. It’s a really cute moment, one that essentially serves as the calm before the storm. Why? Well, it turns out they’ve got a ministerial visit coming up and as such, Lockhart has organized the troops to make the place ship-shape and looking as best it can be. Between faulty alarms, broken computers and no end of issues, the ward are obviously in trouble. Adam heads off to visit Mrs Winnicka who ends up having a prolapse. He helps her out, but a bigger problem is afoot in the labour ward. It turns out the stickers on the front of a patient called Anna’s form are a warning of domestic abuse. When Anna is questioned in private, she shrugs it off and claims her son Ernie just loves stickers. Shruti isn’t sure though and eventually learns that her partner, Angus, has been abusive to her. Bruises up her elbow prove as much, but apparently it’s just been since she was pregnant. Meanwhile, there’s drama in one of the rooms as Tracy pulls the emergency cord… and ends up losing some of the roof along with it. Given the alarm issue, it turns out Adam asked one of the workmen to help out and he’s definitely done that… by breaking it completely. Woops! Tracy has enough and decides to use the water birth room, the one reserved for the minister visit. While this is going on, Adam heads out for dinner with his unbearable mother. She’s very uppity and Adam is quick to point out once more to her that he’s gay. Still, his mother continues on and even calls it an “outburst” and something that will pass. Eventually Adam blurts out that they’re engaged as a way to finally let his mum see sense. The next day, Adam’s mum rings and Harry who’s not exactly happy about this lie. When Adam hangs up on her, he reassures his partner this was the only way to make his mother take them seriously. Adam shows up at work wearing a suit for the Minister’s visit but immediately ends up with blood all over him while dealing with a patient. Not only that, he also has to call in a time of death for Mrs Winnicka straight after. It hits him pretty hard too and with several tears running down his face, he asks her not to haunt him. There’s a pretty nasty moment late on though when Angus returns to see Anna. He grabs Shruti and tells her to hurry up and do her tests. Leaving the spots on the front of the door, Shruti manages to save everything from escalating any further as Adam, and then security, arrive to calm the situation down. In the aftermath of this, Anna refuses to press charges and it all comes crashing down for Shruti, who decides to rain-check on going for her date with Ben. The stresses of the day have been too much. As the episode closes out, Adam takes Harry out to Winnicka’s funeral but this time, Harry changes his mind and decides they should get married after all.
The Episode Review
With a minister visit up and coming, the whole episode has a real circus-feel to it as everyone tries to spruce the place up and give the impression that it’s a much more functional and perfect labour ward than one would believe. Of course, it’s certainly not and the whole thing comes tumbling down at the end. There are definitely some tense moments here, especially with Shruti and the domestic violence, which takes a pretty unexpected turn right at the end. The drama is still with Adam for most of the show’s run-time though but there’s a really nice balance between the personal and professional expectations and seeing how this merges together is actually quite eye-opening. That is especially true with the end scenes, where Adam attends Winnicka’s funeral. With over half the show to go, there’s certainly a lot more to unpack here.
