If the Schitt's Creek Emmys sweep taught us one thing, it's that now's the time to pay closer attention to Canadian TV.
In early September, NBC aired the series premiere of Transplant, a new medical drama that just so happened to be the most-watched series on Canada's CTV network earlier this year, according to Deadline. The 13-episode show follows Dr. Bashir "Bash" Hamed (Hamza Haq), a doctor from Syria who arrives in Canada after fleeing his home country with his sister, Amira, and overcoming war as an emergency medicine doctor.
Unsure of what the future holds, we find Bash quickly scoring a residency at a top hospital in Toronto following a nearly-fatal accident in which he helped save the life of said hospital's senior doctor. The framework sets Bash up for plenty of confrontation with new colleagues and patients as he attempts to start over in a new country.
Over time, he also certainly plants himself as someone others can look up to.
In a sneak peek exclusive to E! News, Magalie "Mags" LeBlanc (Laurence Leboeuf) turns to him for advice when she finds herself unsure of how to handle an unexpected scenario.
"If a patient admits to a crime in confidence, would you tell the authorities?" she asks him after posing a "hypothetical" question. "I can't help to think that you, a rule breaker, doctor instinct, would understand that someone would break an oath for a moral obligation that you felt outweighed the needs of a patient."
In response, Bash offers a not-so-relatable anecdote from his battlefield days. "During the war I treated regime soldiers, only when they forced me, often at gunpoint," he says. "The point is, I chose sides. And now I can't go home."
Haq opened up to E! News about this episode. "I loved filming this scene. It really drove home the point that Bashir's reality is something nobody around him can relate to, but he feels absolutely no need to apologize for it," Haq said. "Good on Laurence for taking the hit."
To see just how Mags' relationship with this mystery patient unfolds, watch the Sept. 22 episode of Transplant, which airs every Tuesday at 10 p.m. on NBC.