‘Chicago Med’ season 2, episode 4 review: Dr. Charles’ daughter arrives; an infection spreads
Tonight’s “Chicago Med” episode was a study in many different topics, whether it be addiction, infection, and even dealing with change. It was probably the grossest episode of the season visually (never again are we eating half a pizza before watching a surgery scene), but it is probably also the episode with the most widespread impact out of any that has aired so far. It’s hard to argue otherwise when you think for a moment about said infection.
In order to better stop the spread and potentially a citywide panic, we saw the arrival of Dr. Charles’ daughter Robyn in the episode. She proved to be an asset in relative screen time, and while we would have preferred an even more substantial amount of screen time, the reality here is that there are a lot of people who needed to be attended to over the course of an hour here.
Dr. Choi’s struggle – One of those said characters was Choi, who was at the center of a powerful story about how to treat an elderly man when his child and his young girlfriend wanted very different things. Eventually, he had to make a choice, but found himself soon after haunted with questions regarding whether or not he made the right one.
Dr. Reese does her best – We typically find her stories more compelling than many others in a given episode, and for the most part that is due to the interesting array of challenges and changes she faces. She’s focusing in on a specialty while dealing with patients who occasionally don’t take her advice as seriously as they should. This certainly took place tonight with an addict who needed help, and wasn’t understanding what was happening … or at least we thought. The twist here, that he was a potential drug mule, was one that we did not see coming. This case was not a victory at all, as he was eventually released and for ethical reasons, there is nothing that they can do.
After all of this, it certainly felt like the episode needed some levity, which was what seeing Dr. Halstead and Rhodes had in seeing Manning and other familiar faces perform with the orchestra. It may have been brief, but that and the somber bar scene were reminders in different ways of normalcy, and a life beyond the harrowing truths at the hospital. This was a good episode, but one with several heartbreaking moments. Grade: B+.
Next week – Get ready for a trying case that takes place while at the Chicago Marathon. The link here offers up a few more clues on what you can expect. (Photo: NBC.)