The Resident Round Table: Saying Farewell to Mina Okafor

Mina Okafor has left Chastain.

While many things happened on The Resident Season 4 Episode 10, it served as a swan song for one of the series’ most beloved characters. It marks the closing of a chapter.

Join TV Fanatics Carissa Pavlica, Meaghan Frey, and Jasmine Blu as they discuss the hour.

Did you expect Mina to leave, or were you still holding out hope? How would you grade Shaunette/Mina’s send-off?

Carissa: How in the world could we not hold out hope? I was still holding it until I learned that Shaunette Renée Wilson wanted to leave. I have a bone to pick with her!

We were not finished. Not by a long shot. But, I guess we are now. Still, her goodbye episode was epic.

Everything about her departure was gut-wrenching, both happy and sad, and I’m going to miss her like crazy.

Meaghan: I’m DEVASTATED! I really thought that this was going to be tied up in a neat little bow. Even after the episode, I held out hope that maybe she would pop back up a little further down the line.

When I found out about Shaunette choosing to leave the show, my heart broke. Mina is one of a kind and irreplaceable. I will give it to the writers that they managed to pull off the perfect goodbye for her. I was definitely shedding tears by the end.

Jasmine: Yeah, I was still hoping that maybe the car would stop, and they’d pull off some last-minute thing. I refused to believe that was it until I saw the postings.

Part of me feels that it was underwhelming in some ways. Since they knew she would be exiting the series, I felt like she should’ve had a much stronger presence and more time with her core relationships throughout the season.

But it was emotional when she was in surgery for the last time, and I thought her speech suited her at the end. Shaunette slew me with that scene of her trying to catch her breath and push back her emotions but failing. I’m going to miss the hell out of her.

How do you feel about the end of Mina and AJ’s love story onscreen?

Carissa: Gutted. But oh my gosh, was that scene of them standing together by the cab not beautiful?

Nothing about that location should have been as perfect as it was, but the lighting and the shots of them in each other’s arms were perfect.

They still have the hope I was clinging to, but I don’t want AJ to be without a person if Shaunette isn’t coming back. They need to let each other go for the good of my entertainment.

Meaghan: How dare they finally give us their love story just to rip it away from us so quickly!

If I knew Mina was going to be leaving, I would have preferred they not even go there. It will be so hard seeing AJ with someone else, but without any hope of Mina’s return, I’ll have to push myself to get over it.

Jasmine: I am totally gutted by it as well. I agree Carissa, the final scene of them was beautiful.

Wilson and Warner are gorgeous, and they have such a commanding, electric presence when they’re onscreen together. It feels as if we, the viewers, are eavesdropping on something sacred. I’m going to miss that.

It’s better to have loved and lost and all that good stuff. It’s such a bittersweet ending for Minator. They were my favorite couple on the series, so I’m going to sulk for a while.

Did AJ make the right decision to stay in the States to spend time with his mother after her diagnosis?

Carissa: Of course. You cannot get family back, and even though he effectively has two families now, everything he is came from being raised by his parents.

If you’ve lost a parent, you know the decisions you make around that time can never be replaced. There are no do-overs, and he believes there is a future with Mina once he gets past this trauma.

Meaghan: Absolutely! I would have been disappointed in him if he had left his mother to go with Mina.

Yes, of course, his mom wants him to be happy, but would he ever really forgive himself if something happened while he was gone?

The mental aspect of the illness is half the battle with an awful disease like cancer. His mom is going to need all the support she can get. Plus, it definitely doesn’t hurt to have a son who is a brilliant surgeon advocating for you to get the best care.

Jasmine: Without a shadow of a doubt, of course. There wasn’t a choice to make. He can’t get those moments back with his mother, and she’s going to need him through every part of this. My heart ached for AJ and his mom.

Do you trust BioSouth and their Sickle Cell trial? Do you think Rose will be the new The Resident Season 1‘s Lily?

Carissa: I do not think Rose will be a Lily. They need redemption and hope for big pharma, especially in light of this year and vaccine madness. Now is NOT the time to paint them negatively.

You cannot push a vaccine without accepting that big pharma might have some goodness buried deep within. It’s as simple as that.

Timing says this is pharma’s redemption arc, even if not big pharma. Just pharma. Who’s with me??

Meaghan: My mind immediately went to Lily when they introduced the storyline, but I absolutely agree with Carissa. The show has a responsibility in what it portrays to its viewers.

This is not the time to perpetuate the “evil” big pharma message. People are heavily influenced by all media, including fictional shows. If people are shown that big pharma, while far from perfect, does have patients’ best interests at heart, that can go a long way; especially in today’s world where there is such a distrust.

Jasmine: You both bring up a great point that I didn’t even think about in relation to where we are right now.

My first thought was how I didn’t want Rose to be another Lily. I also thought of the ramifications of it going awry when it’s a disease that afflicts a disenfranchised and reluctant demographic.

Conrad’s warning felt as if it was foreshadowing, but now, more than ever, there does need to be some confidence instilled in Pharma.

Will Devon show romantic interest in Leela now that he knows they’ve been matched?

Carissa: Didn’t he already do that? Just the very slightest raise of his eyebrow and the look in his eyes said everything.

He never realized that someone on that site might be as close as the next exam room. It seems they both have preconceived notions of what kind of losers might be on that site, but Devon, at least, realized that he was wrong because there was Leela, just one foot away. And he likes her!

Oh, this will be fun—unexpected and fun.

Meaghan: Yes, and I am totally on board! In the preview for next week, it seems like they’ll force the two into a situation that pushes them together even more, and I may or may not have shrieked.

I felt so bad for Devon when Leela completely shot down the idea. Poor guy was just trying to shoot his shot.

Jasmine: LOL! Yeah, he’s already a goner.

It was like when the nerdy character in the movie takes off their glasses and puts on different clothes, and suddenly the person who never looked at them twice has an awakening.

He’s into her now, and I don’t hate it. I like the idea of Devon showing more interest and Leela not giving him the time of day or charmed by him.

I mean, fine; if Minator is gone, then I’ll need some other relationship to entertain me aside from Kit and Bell.

Do you think Cain will continue to perform surgeries despite his hand weakness?

Carissa: Jasmine, I told you after I watched that I had my eyes closed and was plugging my ears and humming during a particular scene, and that was it!

I didn’t have faith that he’d be the bigger man. I could only imagine myself in that poor girl’s place, putting all of her hope into a surgeon’s hands who was too egotistical to do the right thing.

Thank GOD he did the right thing, at least once in his life. For Kit, too.

That scene had my adrenaline pumping. I think he will continue just like Bell did with Mina at his side.

I hope that he realizes he’s also a patient, and if someone had the same affliction and held his future in their hands, he’d want them to do the right thing, and that will push him to do it, as well.

Meaghan: Lord help me! We already went down this road with Bell, and I’m going to need them to put a stop to this real quick before someone gets hurt.

Cain is like a spoiled brat who thinks he is entitled to get his way, but when your way could potentially harm others, that’s when the line needs to be drawn.

I swear, anytime that man takes one step forward in my book, he immediately takes 20 steps back.

Jasmine: Ha, Carissa! Yeah, I would’ve needed to get up and walk away for a moment if that girl didn’t make it off the table intact; it was stressful!

It is like Bell relying on Mina, all over again, or as I mentioned in the review, Cristina when she covered for Burke. The Cain/Billie dynamic is a go.

He’s going to keep doing his thing with Billie by his side.

Do you have any other thoughts about the hour you’d love to share? Or maybe your fondest Mina memories or why you’ll miss her?

Carissa: My very favorite episode was The Resident Season 3 Episode 4 when they went out of town to find a cure for something or other, and she and AJ wound up getting closer during what felt like a macabre cult flick.

It was the episode that tipped the scales to flat out adoration of them as a couple. Please don’t make me think of these things since we can’t have them anymore!

Meaghan: Oh my God! I had completely forgotten about that episode, Carissa, and now I’m heartbroken all over again. Mina and AJ were endgame. Where does all that potential go?!

Jasmine: Oh, that was such a great episode. It went all horror thriller on us, and if they didn’t sell you on the two of them before, it clinched it. Although,I have a soft spot for when her referred to her as his better half that time.

Mina still had the greatest introduction of all time. I knew I loved her instantly when she was brutally honest when updating the patients’ families.

She had me in stitches with her puppy disdain, and of course, that time Mina was hungover after whatever shenanigans she got into with Irving or something.

What was your favorite moment of the hour?

Carissa: When Mina, against her better judgment, decided to go upstairs to see what Nic wanted rather than bolt to protect herself. When she realized that they had become her family, it broke my heart but made goodbye a little easier.

Meaghan: I second that. Mina’s going away party, and more specifically, her reaction to it was beautiful.

Mina doesn’t show her emotions often, so when she does, it is absolutely gutwrenching. I am probably going to miss her friendships with everyone else just as much as I’m going to miss her relationship with AJ.

God, this wound still feels so fresh. Are we sure Shaunette doesn’t want to change her mind?!

Jasmine: I’ll switch it up for variety. I loved her final scene with Nic. And her scenes with AJ when he told her that he couldn’t leave and their goodbye.

I agree, Meaghan. I’m obviously going to miss Mina and AJ a lot. However, I’m also going to miss her friendships. She and Nic did become sisters over the course of the series.

I always loved Devon and Mina’s sibling thing they had going on and the roomie situation. Mina and Conrad were my first favorite back in the day.

I don’t always say this. Actually, I never say this, but you are my family. And I love you, and I always will.

Mina

Over to you, Resident Fanatics! Are you guys going to miss Mina? Hit the comments below!

The Resident airs Tuesdays on FOX.

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Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.

You can view the original article HERE.