‘Chicago Med’ season 2, episode 5 review: The Chicago Marathon crisis

We’ve certainly seen quite a few difficult cases over the years for the doctors on “Chicago Med,” but the ones at the center of Thursday night’s new episode may very well take the cake as one of the most difficult of all.

The first one worthy of discussion here is a crisis that unfolded while at the Chicago Marathon, one that tested the true mettle of Dr. Halstead, April, and Noah to get the job done in extreme circumstances. What made this whole saving-lives-in-the-field story work was that it was never presented in a way that made us feel like success was guaranteed, and you could see the fear on their faces as they tried to figure out how to properly treat these patients. All of this led to Will eventually making a risky move, one that could have terrible consequences if the needle tilted the wrong way.

Let’s just put it this way: Seeing Will emotional makes us emotional, so seeing the relief on his face by the end of this was the moment of hope he (and us as viewers) likely needed.

As for the other main story of the season, this one was particularly painful given that we ended up seeing a case that went terribly awry. After seeing her daughter with a number of injuries and potential fractures, a mother decided to take her away from her father in order to protect her. She thought she was suffering from abuse, but after some tests at the hospital, it was discovered that she simply suffered from a condition and the father had not abused her at all. As heartbreaking as it was (given that this was a case of a mother simply trying to protect her daughter), Chicago PD had to be called in to take her away in the end.

To help ease the heartbreak of this, seeing Halstead and Nina Shore go back and finish the marathon was fun, as was seeing Dr. Rhodes and Goodwin head out for a little bit of Hawaiian-themed fun after a hard day at the office. They moved forward and tried to live in the moment, and with this show, that is often all you can do given how much the job would get to you otherwise.

In terms of challenging, emotional stories, this episode takes the cake as one of the best of the season. Grade: B+.

Next week – Sophia Bush will be appearing for a crossover story. Head over here to read all about it. (Photo: NBC.)