Chicago Med
Chicago Med Midseason Premiere Review – The Drama Between Will and Nat Continues (5×10)
New year, same old ED.
Chicago Med’s second half of season 5 picked up roughly six weeks following the dramatic events of the midseason finale.
Dr. Charles was grieving the loss of CiCi, who passed away off-screen, as we assumed. April was reeling with guilt following her kiss with Crockett and debating whether or not to tell Ethan when he came home from deployment, and Natalie and Will’s friendship remained fractured after she’d confessed her feelings for him after getting her memories back and getting rejected by him.
And from what just transpired between Will and Natalie regarding their patients, these two are not going be smoothing things over anytime soon. Or ever.
We can all agree that Will and Nat are toxic for each other as a couple, but they don’t even make good friends or partners. They have two clashing personalities — they believe they’re always right and never see eye-to-eye.
Patient care is at the center of their drama now. Will once again asked Natalie to bend the rules for a former patient, Lynne, who came back and blamed him for her oxy addiction,
She was treated by Will four years ago for a knee injury, which is when she began abusing drugs.
Will felt an enormous pang of guilt as Lynne made it very clear that she blamed him for what transpired, but Will should have known better. Despite writing out the prescription, it wasn’t his fault that she’d abused the drugs.
Moreso, the moment failed to really underline the issue of doctor’s “handing out prescription pain killers like candy.”
The statement was made, but it got lost in the hoopla of Lynne’s case and Will and Nat’s disagreement on how it should be handled.
Will wanted so badly to believe that this was a one-off situation with Lynne because it would ease his conscience, but we know addiction is a lifelong struggle. She was a patient four years ago and chances are, she has been using since then.
The rapid detox was a dangerous treatment method, but in their dire situation, one that felt necessary to help keep Lynne with her son.
Though, it was obvious even if Lynne was weaned off the addiction that she wasn’t in the right state of mind to take her son home and be his primary caregiver.
Lynne’s intentions may have been in the right place but it takes a lot of willpower to quit a bad habit. And sometimes, as we saw in this situation, loving your son isn’t motivation enough.
Did that mean Lynne should have lost her child? Absolutely not. She needed a helping hand and some guidance to set her on the right path.
It’s beyond frustrating that in these situations it’s either you keep your addiction a secret to keep a child or get help and risk losing your child. There’s truly no winning.
However, when you take a step back and take the personal out of it, Natalie did the right thing. She spoke to the son and realized this wasn’t a one-off situation as he carried Narcan in his backpack and administered it before to help revive his mother.
This was a 6-year-old boy who was taking care of a drug addict because he didn’t want to lose his mother. The realization that getting Child Protective Services involved was heartbreaking and likely not a choice Natalie wanted to make. But that’s the thing — she didn’t have a choice.
Her priority was to get the boy out of a toxic environment, which she did by calling CPS.
Now, Goodwin and Med should have handled Lynne better. They shouldn’t have approached her mid-detox when she’s at her most vulnerable to tell her they’re taking away the only thing that matters to her.
And there’s absolutely no way she should have been considered in the right state of mind to check herself out.
But that’s exactly what happened, which lead to the deadly overdose.
In a way, the drugs won out for Lynne in the end, which again, underlines the power they had over her that Will was blinded to because of his guilt.
Will will now blame Natalie for his patient’s death when it isn’t that simple. It’s not black and white, and what really needs to happen is for Will and Natalie to stop placing blame on each other for making medical calls that they see fit. It’s not personal. Natalie didn’t want to get back at Will for refusing her love. Let’s not get it confused, though, I know we will.
Then we have April and Crockett whose relationship is tense because of that one little kiss on the finale.
It’s been six weeks and April is still obsessing over it. The guilt is eating her up inside, which means that Ethan will eventually find out what happened.
It won’t be April who tells him either as she’s seemingly made up her mind about keeping it a secret, especially now that Ethan has proposed and accepted that she might never have a child.
Crockett is going to be the one to blow the whistle on it after learning of April and Ethan’s engagement.
I haven’t been able to put my finger on Crockett or whether or not he’s a good guy with good intentions, but nothing has made me dislike him either aside from his pursual of April while knowing she’s with Ethan.
All I know is that trouble is brewing for April and Ethan once the truth comes to light. If April had just come clean, Ethan might have understood that the kiss was innocent and happened in a moment of weakness and vulnerability, but by keeping it a secret, April is proving that it means a lot more.
Other Med Musings
- Noah Sexton is alright, you guys. And who knows what happened to the girl he was helping or the gang that beat him up. I guess we’re just ignoring it.
- Dr. Charles’ grief resulted in a beautiful and therapeutic karaoke piece. I love that despite being the “all-knowing” psychologist, he realizes when he himself needs help and takes advice.
- Ben is alive, thriving, and cancer-free! Woo! The same cannot be said for Maggie who is starting her radiation, but hopefully, they can both celebrate victory soon enough.
What did you think of Chicago Med’s return?
Are you over the Will and Natalie drama?
Was April right for keeping the kiss a secret from Ethan?
!
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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