Chicago Med
Chicago Med Review – Will Dr. Choi Ever Learn? (5×11)
Chicago Med packed in some heavy storylines into one gut-punching episode that will have plenty of repercussions in the weeks to follow.
An electrical fire at O’Hare filled the ED with a few burn victims including one man that was so far gone, they weren’t even able to identify him.
Based on the seat number and the medical convention pass in his pocket, they deduced that it was their Head of Neurosurgery, Sam Abrams.
It was a blow to everyone on the staff as the realization that Sam would never walk or operate again set in.
His wife, Michelle, was a mess and after some time, decided to pull the plug on him because “Sam wouldn’t want to live like this.”
It was a fair assessment as the odds weren’t in his favor. Crockett and Choi believed he’d be mentally okay once his brain swelling went down, but Michelle knew that this wasn’t the quality of life an independent and successful man like Sam would have wanted.
And, of course, Choi didn’t respect Michelle’s wishes at all.
Choi’s always had an arrogance about him and his ego has pushed him into corners that don’t paint him in the greatest of light, but assuming that Michelle didn’t know what she was talking about because she was his wife of three months was a new low.
How did Choi think he had any authority to speak on Sam’s behalf if he mistook Michelle for Sam’s daughter? Clearly, they aren’t as close as Choi led on and thus, Choi wasn’t equipped to be making any kind of calls for Sam.
In fact, it’s way out of line for a doctor to try to push his own beliefs onto a patient or the patient’s spouse. And that’s what they were — Choi’s beliefs of what he would have wanted versus what was in Sam’s best interest.
Choi went to great lengths to stop Michelle, who he even called money-hungry, but even the board didn’t agree with him.
And neither did Crocket, who seems to be the only doctor in Gaffney who ever practices what he preaches and stays in his own damn lane.
Dr. Choi did do one thing right and that was saving the unknown patient after realizing that Sam is very much alive.
Sure, he was a little burnt by the Hawaiian sun, but not nearly as bad as the man they thought was him lying on the table getting the plug pulled.
Everyone’s reaction to seeing Sam was the equivalent of seeing a man get raised from the dead. Technically, he was, he just didn’t know it.
And yet, Dr. Choi still couldn’t let it go.
After Michelle left the hospital, he approached Sam to inform him that Michelle was going to remove him from life support and that proposed they wait until his daughter could be there to make a ruling.
Sam echoed the same exact thoughts Michelle did — he didn’t want to live like this and he never wanted his daughter to see him this wear or bear that responsibility — meaning that Michelle knew Sam better than anyone.
When Choi suggested that Michelle was a gold-digger, Sam pointed out that she’s the one with money in the relationship after inventing the formula for a widely popular protein shake. Cha-ching.
See what happens when we make unwarranted assumptions about a person based on our own personal bias.
Choi should spend more time worrying about his relationship and less about others.
Because last time I checked, he proposed to a woman who cheated on him with the very doctor he’s been clashing with and judging without really knowing.
Passing judgment is such an ugly look on Choi.
He apologized to Crockett in the end, but a friendship between Choi and Crockett is even more dangerous than them being frenemies.
Crocket promised to keep his and April’s kiss a secret, but will he be able to lie to a colleague for long?
The longer April keeps this from Choi, the worse it’s going to be for their relationship when he finds out because the fact that she’s hiding it means that it meant more than just an in the moment kiss.
April is trying to ease her guilt and smooth things over by marrying Choi and proposing IVF, but those are just attempts at covering up the truth.
Another employee at Gaffney had an eventful day and proved that she’s a terrible person who probably deserves everything that’s coming for her.
Gwen Garrett, the Chief Operating Officer, left her baby in the car when she went to work.
If it wasn’t for Natalie finding the baby (and knocking on the window as if an infant would somehow open the door and let her in), the child would have died.
Then, things would have been even worse for her.
Sharon Goodwin took mercy on Gwen, despite their very obvious differences when it comes to patient care. She understood that Gwen’s going through a lot with her divorce and custody battle and knew that it was an honest mistake that Gwen deeply regretted.
It’s the kind of compassion that mothers should show each other in a time where judgment for actions isn’t necessary and won’t’ change anything.
And here I thought we were making some kind of progress with Gwen; that she was being humanized from the constant profit-turning machine that we’ve known her to be.
It’s easy to make calls to protect the hospital when you’re not on the receiving end, but now that Gwen was, it was obvious how much help and support she needed.
She also wanted Natalie and Sharon to keep the secret from her husband and lie about what happened, which isn’t only unethical but it’s just wrong.
Yes, telling the husband the truth would give him a lot of pull in the custody battle to paint Gwen as a bad mother, but owning up to her mistakes was the right thing to do.
Sharon thought that Gwen would understand that. Instead, Gwen tried to “return the favor” for Sharon’s silence by pushing through Halstead’s proposal for safe injection sites at Gaffney.
Eventually, Natalie came clean to the husband who did not have kind words for Gwen and in return, Gwen pulled the plug on the proposal that would help thousands of drug users with a safe space to wean off drugs.
It was an eye for an eye with her.
She never thanked Natalie for saving her son in the first place or the hospital for showing her so much sympathy when they could have dialed up DCFS.
Gwen proved that she’s a monster through-and-through who didn’t learn from her mistakes. She doesn’t care about other people, she only cares about what’s in it for her.
I hate to say it, but I don’t feel bad for her one bit. I do feel bad about the patients who will suffer at the hands of her wrath.
Speaking of Halstead’s safe injection site, it’s a cause near and dear to his heart following the death of his patient on Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 10 who died of addiction after being hooked on painkillers he prescribed her.
It’s great that Halstead is trying to right his wrongs and take responsibility, but with the proposal shut down, he has decided to open his clinic at an unsanctioned site, which Dr. Charles informs him is illegal and could cost him his medical license.
Halstead agrees seemingly admitting defeat, but if we believed that, we wouldn’t truly know Halstead.
Instead, he went to the site and struck up a deal with his partner to move forward with the injection site.
There’s trouble ahead for Halstead, but what else is new?
Amidst all of that action, there was an IVF switch-up storyline that found a couple from the plane crash delivering a baby that wasn’t there’s.
The baby needed a lung transplant, but only one of the parents was a donor match, which brought up the revelation that they weren’t the biological parents.
The real parents were finally tracked down (and were pregnant with the other couple’s embryo) and one of them was also a match so the “mom” that carried baby agreed to donate to save the baby’s life.
Despite the trauma that they endured due to the switch-up, everyone bonded and they came out of the situation with new family members. Sometimes, there is a happy ending.
What did you think of Chicago Med?
Are you happy Sam is still alive?
What did you think of Dr. Choi? Should April tell him the truth?
Is Gwen the worst or is Gwen the worst?
And be sure to watch all episodes of Chicago Med season 5 right now
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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