Chicago Med
Chicago Med Review – Choi and April Call It Quits, But is It Really Over? (5×19)
These doctors need to learn how to compartmentalize on Chicago Med.
The amount of personal feelings and emotions that affect the ED at Gaffney is ridiculous.
How are these excellent doctors not able to separate their private lives from their professional lives and put forth what’s most important — saving patients?
Will Halstead used to be the biggest offender, and yet, the best thing the series could have done for him was to separate his fate from Natalie Manning’s.
The minute those two began steering clear of each other and cut all romantic ties, Halstead suddenly began thinking in a clear manner.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, he still makes questionable judgment calls, but at least he’s not leading from a place of personal benefit.
When he suggested Dr. Asher to help his patient with brain cancer, there was definitely a small part of him that wanted to help her and prove to everyone else that she’s a good doctor despite the drug addiction because he felt guilty for bringing it to light, but for the most part, he truly believes that she’s the best.
He believes in her skill, her knowledge, and that she’ll make the right calls. There’s no doubt about that.
Asher shouldn’t be shunned or demeaned because of her personal life, especially because she’s taken the necessary steps to get it in order and be the best version of herself that she can be when she steps into the hospital.
She also made the right choice, and Halstead’s decision to support her treatment plan had nothing to do with his feelings for her.
Marcie made it perfectly clear that she wanted to go through with the procedure. She was aware of the risks, and her desire to leave behind a child for her husband trumped the fear of dying.
Both Asher and Halstead honored her wishes and did their best to get the best outcome. Unfortunately, there are some cases you simply can’t win. Even Marcie’s husband understood that when he thanked Dr. Halstead for honoring his wife’s last wishes.
If anyone was blinded by feelings, it was Mrs. Curry, who we know had a thing for Halstead and previously tried to ask him out.
She thought less of Asher because of addiction and when she realized that Asher and Halstead were together, it bothered her.
We haven’t seen Dr. Asher’s post-addiction struggle play out on screen, but the series wanted us to understand that she’s been doing better thanks to Halstead.
Despite warnings that a relationship isn’t good for a recovering addict, Halstead seems to be Asher’s rock. He’s given her the confidence she needs to overcome this, which was obvious when she was vocal about her struggle and needing an NA meeting following the loss of her patient.
She’s on the right path by being able to acknowledge that she needs help.
With Halstead no longer leading with his feelings, Dr. Choi is the next in line, and he’s doing a horrible job of masking his insecurities and anger at Crockett.
The guy saw April and Crockett in the same room and almost flipped a lid.
Two separate yet connected patients were rushed into the hospital and forced Crockett, Choi, and April to all work together, and let’s say, it was an explosive combo.
Choi kept digging into Crockett and pretending that it was about his patient simply because he refused to acknowledge the real problem.
He wasn’t angry with Crockett (at least not fully), he was angry at April. He simply used Crockett as a punching bag.
Dr. Charles gave us some of his best work when he told Choi that it’s often easier to focus anxiety and anger elsewhere because it’s easier to face the pain of looking at the real issue.
Once Choi realized that he could throw a million punches at Crockett and it still wouldn’t make him feel better, he knew what he had to do, and it’s something that he should have done when he first found out about April’s cheating.
Instead, he went around acting petty and leading with anger which was a disturbance for staff and patients.
April seemed rather surprised by Choi’s decision to break up, but girl, what did you expect?
Choi could have forgiven the act of cheating and kissing another man, but he couldn’t forgive being lied to for weeks.
She tried to mask the problem by going all in on the IVF, but a baby, as we all should know by now, is never going to fix the problem.
Choi would never be able to trust April completely, and he’d never get over her fleeting fling with Crockett.
And while April might be distraught, she has to know that this is for the best because it gives her the opportunity to pursue her deeply repressed feelings for Crockett.
She didn’t just mess up during surgery because of Ethan, she messed up because getting so close to Crockett makes her nervous that she’s slip up again.
Crockett is a mystery wrapped inside a riddle that I very much want to unravel.
He’s the most composed of all of them, he takes risks, but most importantly, he’s able to own up to his mistakes. On the outside, he seems like a great guy, but there’s something bubbling inside, some darkness that we haven’t tapped into yet.
Natalie is seeing it because she questioned if he’s alright, but the fact that Crockett refused to talk about it says a lot.
And, of course, I still can’t shake the storyline where he wasn’t able to save a child and drowned his sorrow at the bottom of a bottle at the bar. I’m holding firm in my theory that he has experienced the loss of a child which ruined his relationship or marriage.
Dr. Choi’s patient, Zach, clearly wanted to commit suicide and was being coaxed by his father to say that a homeless man pushed him.
It was disturbing to see a father completely disregard his son’s issues and claim that depression was a sign of weakness. Yes, he was scared his son would get arrested and charged for vehicular manslaughter, but it was more than that. He was embarrassed and ashamed to acknowledge that his son had a legitimate problem. He felt it made him less of a man.
Our society needs to get to a point where people realize that matters of the mind are just as real of an issue as a heart attack or diabetes. The quicker we do that, the better for all children and adults suffering in silence.
Can you just imagine how bad it must be to live with someone like that that the kid tries to kill himself and the mother refused to say a word even though she knew that by not speaking up, she could lose her child for good?
It’s a heartbreaking realization made even more daunting when you realize it’s real life for some people.
Hopefully, the mother will find the courage to reach out to Charles and give her son a fighting chance.
Maggie and Ben are also giving Auggie a fighting chance.
We all saw the fostering (which will likely turn to adoption) storyline coming from a mile away, but it was still touching when it happened.
Maggie and Ben grew attached to Auggie while he was in the hospital, but more importantly, they were the only ones capable of offering him the kind of care that he truly needed.
Maggie knew everything from his favorite breakfast to what made him laugh to the kind of treatment he needed.
She didn’t have to prep for being his foster mom, she already was his foster mom with or without the paperwork.
The storyline was also able to briefly shine a light on how inequipped DCFS is to make choices for a child that could potentially save his life.
They wouldn’t sign off on a treatment deemed necessary by doctors because they thought it wasn’t necessary. Seriously, what?
Helping a child who feels like no one wants him is hard enough, it shouldn’t have to come with several hoops to jump in order to get him the proper care.
Speaking of parenthood, Sharon is concerned about her son. At first, finding out that Michael got a job at Med was music to her ears, but when he began trying to get personal information on her doctors and surgeons, she got a little worried.
Her radar really went off when Dr. Lanik told her that her son was a great salesman because he gifted him a bottle of scotch.
At that point, Sharon knew that Michael’s tactic was to bribe the staff into giving him their time and using Kender’s products.
As someone who advocates for her doctors and fights against the system on multiple occasions, you know she won’t stand for this in her OR, but she’s personally involved now.
How will she handle it?
For an impromptu penultimate episode, Chicago Med brought out some of their best work and set the stage for a promising early season finale. If it feels slightly premature, you’re right, next week is the last episode because coronavirus forced the series to shutter production so they have no episodes left in the reserve. Womp womp.
What did you think of the episode, Cravers? Did Choi do the right thing by ending things with April?
What’s Crockett’s big secret?
Nobody Wants This Season 3 dropped on Netflix on Oct. 22.
While the season featured familiar faces like Kristen Bell as Joanne, Adam Brody as Noah, Justine Lupe as Morgan and Timothy Simons as Sasha, a newcomer was also introduced as Esther (Jackie Tohn) gets back out into the dating world.
After separating from Sasha, Esther gets her real estate license and meets Julian while showing him a property with an incredible view of the city.
Julian may look familiar to some audiences, especially fans of the One Chicago shows, as he’s played by Steven Weber, who has portrayed Dr. Archer on Chicago Med for several seasons.
During the house tour, Julian informs Esther that he has a chef who can whip them up a dinner while they wait for sunset to see the view in the evening. They share their first kiss, as he becomes her romantic prospect for the season.
At one point, Esther thinks Julian is seeing other people, but later learns that’s not the case when she tries to end things with him, as he informs her that he wants to be with her, and they declare each other boyfriend and girlfriend.
Of course, Sasha and Esther may be separated, but they end up falling into old habits and sleep together while she’s already involved with Julian.
Things are complicated—but one thing is for sure: Julian will likely return in Nobody Wants This Season 4.
Where Have You Seen Steven Weber Before? Here’s Why He Looks So Familiar
In addition to Chicago Med, he has appeared in The Shining, Single White Female, Hamburger Hill, 13 Reasons Why, NCIS: New Orleans, iZombie, 2 Broke Girls and Chasing Life.
Chicago Med returned for its 12th season with major changes on the horizon for all of the doctors at Gaffney.
And it wasted absolutely no time throwing us all back into the chaos of the E.D. with a mass shooting situation at a wedding that initially seemed random, before the bride revealed her jealous ex-boyfriend, Henry, was responsible.
The victims began overwhelming the E.D., which was already understaffed thanks to Sharon Goodwin’s (hopefully temporary) replacement, Ms. Sloane, who cut plenty of the staff due to budget constraints.
Since Goodwin was the heart and soul of Gaffney, it’s no surprise that not a single soul has taken kindly to Sloane’s arrival.
Audiences learn that Goodwin willingly stepped down after being accused of leaking Dr. Rabari’s medical records, though she’s not pleased about any of it, as a fight between her and Miranda heats up. Goodwin is encouraged to take a sizable payout with the promise that the hospital won’t press charges, but she assures them she’s not guilty, despite Miranda claiming to have evidence. We don’t know what that evidence is just yet, but she seems pretty confident that it’ll incriminate Goodwin, who also seems kind of nervous about everything. At first, I thought maybe that was an admission of guilt, but I think it’s just that everything she’s ever worked for is on the line, and she doesn’t have anyone from leadership in her corner.
The final few moments of the episode reveal Doris showing up at Sharon’s door and admitting that she was the one who leaked the records, which is a plot twist I didn’t see coming. Sweet Doris?! Of course, we know Sharon will always protect her own, so it’s possible she’ll take the plea deal to prevent this going to trial—or she’ll find another way out of it, since she, of all people, knows how to work the system in her favor. I know Sharon will not go down without a fight, and Miranda is absolutely naive to think otherwise.
And obviously, the hospital functions more smoothly when she’s in charge.
The mass shooting event ensured that it was an all-hands-on-deck situation, with Hannah even coming out of her maternity leave early to help the bride, who was 23 weeks pregnant and had a bullet lodged in her uterus. Thankfully, she was able to successfully remove it without having to deliver the baby early.
We also got to see Hannah and Archer’s baby girl, Mabel, as Doris asked the question we all wanted to know—are they “co-parents with benefits?” Obviously, new parents are extremely tired, but that is the elephant in the room after Archer declared his love for Hannah after Mabel was born. By the way they look at each other, there’s clearly something more there, even if she hasn’t admitted it yet.
The bride’s situation was taken straight out of a soap opera, as it was revealed that her fiancé, Dexter, didn’t know about the baby. And they couldn’t find him after the shooting, leaving her to believe the worst. On top of all of that, her ex was responsible for this disaster, and her soon-to-be mother-in-law was adamant that she was only marrying her son for money, which prompted Dexter to get cold feet and not even show up to the church where the tragedy occurred, ultimately saving his life but potentially putting his marriage in jeopardy.
When he finally got wind of what happened, he arrived at the hospital full of regret. Dr. Charles told him the best course of action was to apologize and come clean to Tamar. Dexter realized the root of all his problems was his mother, so he finally did the right thing and put his family—along with the unborn child he just found out about—ahead of whatever it is his mother was trying to do.
Their wedding day didn’t pan out as they expected it to, and came with plenty of hurt and loss, but the couple still managed to find a semblance of a happy ending.
The most heartbreaking plot, however, was with the flower girl, Dakota, who came to the hospital with a head wound after her mother pushed her under the pews when the shooting erupted. She couldn’t find her mom in the aftermath, but the wedding’s guitar player, Bruno, stayed by her side to make sure she was okay, and they formed a sweet little bond. The trauma of the day led to Dakota losing her eyesight temporarily, while everyone else searched for her mother, Edith.
Dr. Frost’s reaction to learning that both Edith and Bruno were dead mirrored mine because how could they put this little girl through so much pain? The nerve!
Not only do they have to tell her that her mom died, but Bruno, who survived a mass shooting event and walked away barely unscathed, was then killed while he was being discharged by the shooter as he drove his car through the reception area?
And this whole time, the shooter survived? Ripley was in sheer disbelief as Bruno’s body flew through the air on impact. And honestly, same.
CHICAGO MED — “Shots Fired” Episode 1201 — Pictured: (l-r) Luke Mitchell as Dr. Mitch Ripley, Michael Alix as Bruno — (Photo by: George Burns Jr/NBC)
It’s a reminder that not only is life super fragile and unexpected, but it’s also completely unfair. Thankfully, Mitch Ripley later revealed that they got their wires crossed and Edith was actually alive, so at least the little girl didn’t have to grow up without a mother, and this tragic day didn’t put a permanent stain on her life. And she’ll always have Bruno as her guardian angel!
Ripley had a tough day, no doubt, as he also had to lay down the law with a new 4th-year resident, Anna Wu, who Archer described as “smart, cocky and a pain in the ass.” Sound familiar?
Why do I feel like those are the personality traits they give every single new character? There have been so many Wus throughout the years.
Ripley was pissed that she undermined his call with a patient, accusing her of deliberately making the shooter suffer, which she said wasn’t the case, as she did what she had to do to keep the patient alive. However, she then made another bold move and called Ripley out for projecting onto her, suggesting that maybe he enjoyed seeing him suffer after all the pain he’d caused.
Doctors take an oath, but they’re still human, and watching innocent people die all around you while the person responsible survives could take a toll on anyone, even if it’s only subconsciously.
Either way—it seems like Ripley and Wu are off to a rocky start, which may set a precedent for their working environment moving forward.
As for Caitlin Lennox’s absence, she’s on a “3-month sabbatical” for a drug trial for her prion disease, which will hopefully buy her some extra time, though, as Ripley noted, nothing is ever guaranteed, even with a clean bill of health.
What did you think of the premiere episode? Do you think Chicago Med has started veering too much into soap territory, or do you enjoy the overly dramatic storylines?
Chicago
One Chicago Shows Finally Get 2026 Fall Premiere Dates—Here’s When ‘Chicago Fire,’ ‘Chicago P.D.’, and ‘Chicago Med’ Return
Summer may have just started a few days ago, but NBC is already looking to the fall, specifically, its fall premieres.
On Wed, June 24, the network set return dates for its fan-favorite shows, including all of the One Chicago franchises.
When Will Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med Return for Fall 2026/2027
One Chicago will stick with its Wednesday night time slots, which is great for fans who have gotten used to the schedule.
The 2026/2027 Fall TV schedule will see all One Chicago shows returning with new seasons on Oct. 7, 2026.
Chicago Fire will return for Season 15, Chicago P.D. will kick off Season 14 and Chicago Med will be back for Season 12!
Full NBC Fall 2026/2027 Schedule
Wednesday, September 9
7-8:20 P.M. – Football Night In America
8:20-11:30 P.M. – NFL Kickoff Game (New England at Seattle)
Sunday, September 13
7-8:20 P.M. – Football Night In America
8:20-11:30 P.M. – Sunday Night Football (Dallas at N.Y. Giants)
Thursday, September 17
8-10 p.m. – THE TRAITORS: NEW BLOOD
Monday, September 21
8-10 p.m. – The Voice
10-11 p.m. – LINE OF FIRE
Tuesday, September 22
8-9 p.m. – The Voice
9-11 p.m. – America’s Got Talent
Wednesday, September 23
8-9 p.m. – The Voice
9-11 p.m. – America’s Got Talent season finale
Friday, September 25
9-11 p.m. – Dateline NBC
Wednesday, October 7
8-9 p.m. – Chicago Med
9-10 p.m. – Chicago Fire
10-11 p.m. – Chicago P.D.
Thursday, October 8
9-10 p.m. – Law & Order: SVU
10-11 p.m. – Law & Order
Friday, October 23
8-8:30 p.m. – Happy’s Place
8:30-9 p.m. – NEWLYWEDS
Monday, November 2
8-8:30 p.m. – St. Denis Medical
8:30-9 p.m. – The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins
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