‘Chicago Med’ season 2, episode 10 review: Maggie’s past; Maggie and Jeff’s future
Given that there are so many people within the city of Chicago, for the most part you’re not going to run into the same faces at the hospital very often.
That’s probably what made Thursday night’s new episode of “Chicago Med” stand out. “Heart Matters” was a story that did take multiple looks at the past, and it did so in a wide array of different ways.
Maggie’s arresting officer returns – This is what NBC promoted the episode with, and it didn’t take long to start to understand why. If you remember last season, the nurse was arrested after she made the decision to not obey orders and continue to treat a patient instead.
Tonight, there were issues that rose out of the officer being shot and killed. She was at the hospital, and the nursing team had to figure out how to handle taking care of her body. April was assigned to work on her instead after Trudy Platt suggested a change. While there were a couple of emotional moments here as Maggie realized how difficult it was looking back at what happened, this wasn’t near as much a part of the episode as we thought in advance that it would be. There was a moment with Maggie getting more involved by the end of the episode, but that was around 45 minutes in. She was able to honor a woman who was once tied to trauma in her head, and now, she has some semblance of closure.
The connective tissue – The death of the officer proved integral in the story of Meghan Scott, the recovering addict who Dr. Rhodes put on the list for a transplant in this past episode. There was a perfect match for her at the same very hospital, but there was a glaring problem that quickly rose to the surface: Meghan had alcohol in her system. She violated the rules knowingly, and while you could feel for her given the reasoning behind it, it doesn’t change the rules. The doctors convened, and ultimately decided to vote no on giving her the heart. This was the hardest for Rhodes, given that he had previously campaigned so hard for her.
While Dr. Charles decided to fight to Dr. Latham that Meghan was a worthy candidate, it actually appeared as though the deciding factor in turning the time was really convenience. There was no other viable candidate for the heart, and they had to get the other surgeries done so that the other organs could be of use. This was Meghan’s relief, as was learning that her daughter would also be okay after she also was admitted with what Meghan thought at the time was an accident-related injury.
Reviewing Maggie’s past patient – If you remember what happened last week with Dr. Manning, she had to face the ramifications of her decisions. She did her best to state that she did all that she could to save the patient, even though she made some right calls in the moment. She was doing an effective job stating her case and standing up for herself. With that, what she didn’t appreciate was having Jeff there to try and defend her. There was clear tension, and while she was cleared of any wrongdoing, she still wasn’t happy with his involvement and received further embarrassment publicly about her relationship.
Who was it that actually encouraged her to let go of some of her frustration? Think Dr. Halstead, otherwise known as a person many people want to see her with. He tried to advise her, and she even then asked Jeff out to drinks. This led to her … breaking up with him? Well, this does seem to be the end of them for now, but Jeff doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
Jockeying the jockey – Dr. Halstead’s story for the week mostly revolved around trying to treat one of the most frustrating patients we’ve seen through two seasons. He was someone who refused to eat or receive treatment, knowing that he was close to getting into the Kentucky Derby and had a weight requirement in order to get him there.
While the doctors couldn’t keep him there, Dr. Charles thought of the next-best thing to save his life: Making sure the higher-ups in horse racing knew what he’d been doing to keep the weight off.
April’s future – After struggling with her TB, she made the decision to continue working at the hospital despite some of Tate’s urges for her to consider taking a break.
Overall – “Heart Matters” was an episode that featured a lot of different moving parts, but most of them were realistic, true to the show, and well-written. It does feel that the writers are pushing the Jeff / Maggie tension a little bit too much all of a sudden, but it still felt authentic given the circumstances. Grade: B+.