In a bid to impress Martin and his colleagues, Rhys purchases a barbecue and invites them over for dinner. He is granted an interview with the surgical board to join their training program at the hospital. Following a night out with Dane Canning (Luke Pegler), Rhys gets a hangover and is horrified to learn his interview has been moved to an earlier time. Rhys struggles to answer the panel's questions and he is not invited to join the program. He later visits his mother, Elaine, at her hospice, where he tells her he has joined the program. Rhys treats Chris Pappas (James Mason) after he is attacked, but fails to get him to stay for his X-rays. Aidan Foster (Bobby Morley) spots that Chris has a broken rib, which is pressing on his lung and Rhys finds him collapsed on the floor of Fitzgerald Motors. Rhys performs an emergency decompression on his lung and saves his life. Rhys asks senior surgeon Jessica Girdwood (Glenda Linscott) to reconsider letting him join the surgical program, but she declines. Rhys tries unsuccessfully to get Robbie O'Brien to quit the program and he turns his attentions to Erin Salisbury. He pretends to be romantically interested in her and tries to distract her from her studies.
