Every time we drop in on Dr. Bashir Hamed (Hamza Haq) at York Memorial Hospital, he’s trying to navigate his way out of a high-stakes scenario that seems to have no good solution. As the curtain rises on this latest episode, we find Bash, Dr. Curtis (Ayisha Issa) and Dr. Leblanc (Laurence Leboeuf) trapped in the hospital as an active shooter goes on a shooting rampage. Yup, they just can’t catch a break.As the battered team tries to move the wounded to safety and save their lives, time seems to slow down for Bash and there’s a sharp ringing in his ears. Suddenly the shooting and the bloodshed stops—it was just an active shooter drill put on by the hospital. Whoa. “You can’t save lives if you’ve sacrificed your own,” Dr. Bishop (John Hannah) advises Bash, but when you put a man who escaped a war into a high-stakes shooting drill, there are going to be consequences.

Bash needs a break. And therapy.

We’re really seeing the major mental toll the Syrian war has had on Bash as his mind starts playing tricks on him—like mean, scary, dangerous tricks. As he attempts to treat patients, he begins to have visions and suffer memory loss. Entire hours vanish from his short term memory.Bash has been so wrapped up in immediate concerns (like paying rent on time, securing his job at the hospital and becoming a guardian to his sister in a new country after his parents’ violent deaths), that he hasn’t had time to focus on his mental health and how the traumas of his past are impacting his present. He takes the positive step to chat with the staff therapist at the hospital, but plays the old “I have this friend…” (or rather, “I have this patient”) game rather than take ownership of his mental state.[video_embed id='1909547']RELATED: ‘Transplant’ star Hamza Haq on how he traded his day job to become a leading man[/video_embed]Nevertheless, the staff therapist determines that Detachment and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are at play here, and recommends therapy immediately. Bash isn’t ready for that, and doesn’t want to involve his sister in his troubles. So he seeks solace in the arms of child welfare officer Vivian Barnes (Grace Lynn Kung).

We ship these two!

Now, we’ve watched Bash and Vivian shoot looks at each other across the ER all season, and she has been a rock for him in some pretty tough patient cases, so we’re probably not alone in being pumped when these two kids blow off the other doctors to hang out one-on-one. While the whole York Memorial crew heads out after work to celebrate Dr. Hunter’s (Jim Watson) birthday, inhibitions are washed away with the libations and Bash and Vivian skip out on the bar for a clandestine night together. It was about time Bash cleared out the cobwebs!Speaking of workplace romance, when we last checked in on Dr. Bishop and head ER nurse Claire (Torri Higginson), she had relented to his offer of dinner, perhaps rekindling the fling they ended five years ago. As Bash and Vivian are getting it on, Bishop and Claire are… also doing that. Dang! Things move fast in this crew! But it becomes painfully obvious Bishop’s a little more invested in this thing than Claire when he asks her to stay the night and she responds, “We don’t do that.” She smiles as she leaves, but the look on Bishop’s face could break your heart. Claire! We’re pretty sure he’s smitten with you!

A Trans Story That Won’t Break Your Heart

Back at the hospital, the newly-32-year-old Dr. Hunter is consumed by the case of a 13-year-old boy who came in with a sprained ankle, but has a much more serious problem—he’s transgender and desperately wants top surgery. While his mother is somewhat supportive, she struggles with signing off on this kind of change. It’s a stark look at body autonomy—this is a child not old enough to make decisions for himself, but at the same time knows his body and wants to take charge of it. It’s a struggle face by many teens today as we now understand how sex and gender can exist on a spectrum, and the differences between body dysmorphia and transgenderism. The fact this episode lands just one day after the International Transgender Day of Visibility, on March 31, can’t be a coincidence.

 

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Feeling alone and abandoned, the kid ends up taking some backstreet testosterone that makes him collapse and lose consciousness. After consultation with Dr. Hunter, his mother finally agrees that he can begin hormone therapy and, if all goes well, they can begin the process of surgery in a few years. Not all kids struggling with gender identity are lucky enough to have a parent who supports them in their journey, and we are left with a heartswell at seeing a happy ending for these two.Unfortunately, the ending of this episode isn’t so happy for Bash. He’s had some solace and relief lately, but more grief just landed on his doorstep—literally. He and his sister Amira (Sirena Gulamgaus) come home to find all their belongings out on the curb. Has their landlord just turfed them out for no reason? Guess we’ll have to wait to find out.Watch Transplant Wednesdays on CTV at 9/10 MT.[video_embed id='1932093']BEFORE YOU GO: ‘Schitt’s Creek’ cast covers ‘Variety’ and chats final season[/video_embed]