Chicago Med - How Do You Begin to Count the Losses - Review

In true Dick Wolf style, all of our One Chicago Shows returned with a bang, and Chicago Med led the pack Wednesday night with an exciting return, featuring many twists and turns that we did not see coming, including some unexpected departures and returns. Needless to say, Chi-hards were surely on the edge of their seats during this episode.

Dr. Halstead, Dr. Asher and Dr. Choi

After a daring rescue of Goran from the fire by Will, Dylan and a guest appearance of Christopher Hermann (David Eigenberg - Chicago Fire), Will sees Hannah being treated by paramedics after she tried to go back in to find him in the fire. She is check out by paramedic Sylvie Brett (guest appearance by Kara Kilmer - Chicago Fire), and told her lungs are clear. Despite the fact that Hannah has told Will that their relationship is in the past and they have decided for a fresh start as friends, it is fairly evident from the way Will reacts to Hannah that there is still a candle burning there on his part. It is very reminiscent of the way we used to see him speak to Natalie Manning in the early years of the series when he was carrying a huge torch for her, both before and after their relationship. It is rather endearing to see this side of Will again, and perhaps the tables will finally turn in his romantic favor this season.

Hannah was also taken to Med and Ethan begins treating her. Will comes in to see how she is and begins asking about her CO levels. Everything seems to be back to normal and she has responded well to the oxygen therapy. Hannah says she feels good and wants to get dressed and Ethan says it is okay despite Will thinking she should take a few hours, but she insists she is fine. Hannah asks about Dylan and if he found Milena (aka Jo), and Will tells her he found her and it is not looking good.

Maggie checks in on Will and he tells her he is not sure what he is going to do as he has to testify at the Vascom trial and all his clothes have been burned in the fire, and Maggie offers to see what they have at the hospital that he could wear. I think we can all agree that we should all be lucky to have a friend like Maggie, and it is great to see that this special friendship will continue to flourish this season.

A fire investigator and Officer Kim Burgess (mini cross over #3 with Marina Squerciati - Chicago PD), arrive to let Will know that the fire was definitely arson, and they will be checking security cameras in the area, but they feel Goran is the most likely suspect. Dylan apologizes to Will, saying he brought this on him, but Will tells him he does not need to apologize, and that his loss was nothing compared to Dylan's.

While she is working, Hannah suddenly starts wheezing. Will rushes over to her and she tells him she can't breath. Ethan comes to assess her, and wants to proactively intubate her, but she does not want it and Will pushes for them to wait. Ethan tells Will that he is to close to her, and even though Will says they are not together, Ethan says feelings do not just disappear. He tells Will to back off and let him treat her.  If anyone should know that feelings do not just disappear, it would be Ethan based on his past history in the love department.

Hannah has a chest CT which shows interstitial lung disease, and Ethan says she needs a bronchoscopy and biopsy to find the cause of the issue, but suddenly she crashes and they have to intubate her, and Ethan becomes angry, as he says to Will they should have done it already downstairs.

Ethan gets the biopsy back and shows it to Will. Hannah has talc crystals embedded in granulomas in her lungs. It is an unfortunate side effect of her past drug use, as talc is often used to cut heroine and when she injected it, it created emboli that embedded in her lungs. She has likely had this for years, but the smoke inhalation triggered the interstitial disease and cause inflammation, making her breathing worse. Ethan starts her on steroids and tells Will they will have to wait to see how she responds, but you can see the pain and worry in Will's eyes as he watches over her in her room.

Eventually Hannah stabilizes and they are able to extubate her, and Hannah discusses with Will and Ethan how she just can't seem to shake the past, but Will tries to reassure her that the pulmonologist will be able to get her lungs cleared up, and they reassure her that she is not alone.

Dr. Scott and Milena/Jo (with a dash of Dr. Charles)

After the daring rescue assist with Will, Dylan goes looking for Jo. He finds her lying beside a dumpster and she has been shot. She tells him it is not his fault, and he calls for an ambulance to take her to Med.

The next time we see them, the alarms are sounding in her room, and Milena/Jo is crashing. Marcel and Will go in and Dylan tells them they just lost her pulse and he is doing compressions. Marcel takes over the resuscitation but she has been bleeding heavily into her abdominal dressing and despite his best efforts, they are unable to save her. Dylan is not willing to give up, and eventually Marcel has to stop him. Dylan kneels at her beside, holding her, and then runs out of the room. Dr. Charles finds Dylan in the lounge crying, and he tells him it is his fault and he is the one that shot her, but Daniel says it is not his fault as he was being attacked and could not have known the bullet would go through and that he was trying to protect her. Dylan is inconsolable though and tells Daniel that he killed the woman he loved. This scene was truly heartbreaking as we see the full scope of how he felt for Jo, and it was also endearing to see how Dr. Charles went to speak to him, as these two characters have had a very special working relationship since Dr. Scott joined the Chicago Med team.

Dr. Charles and Sharon meet for coffee and he tells her that he tried to speak to Dylan and that he found out Dylan was in love with Milena/Jo, and he can't imagine what he is going through. Sharon asks Daniel who he is talking to these days, and encourages him to find another therapist. They also discuss the Vascom trial starting that day and Daniel wishes her luck.

Later on, we see Daniel in a new therapists office. The gentleman is not listening at all to Dr. Charles, and begins asking him random screening questions. When he finally looks up from his screen, Daniel has left the office. Clearly this is not the kind of therapeutic relationship he was looking for.

Dr. Marcel, Dr. Blake, Dr. Taylor and Dr. Archer

When Goran arrives at the ED, he is assessed by Dr. Archer and Dr. Taylor, while Archer tells Choi to take Hannah. He has a through and through abdominal wound from the gunshot, and Dr. Archer tells the team to prep the hybrid OR for an exploratory laparotomy. Following Jo's death, Dr. Scott waits anxiously outside of the Hybrid OR to see how Goran is doing.

When we open on Dr. Marcel, we see some of the fallout from his decision to take the safe route during Dr. Blake's surgery in the season finale. He approaches Dr. Abrams outside of her room, and he tells her that she is still livid with his decision.  He says that she doing the same with no improvement, that he has recommended she go to Boston for Neuro-rehab, and that he is angry at Crockett for not trusting his surgical skills and judgement to be able to complete the higher risk repair. He also indicates to Crockett that perhaps sidelining Pamela when he was her star prodigy was a strategic move on his part for his career. Crockett, very upset by Sam's comments, goes to Sharon Goodwin and asks to be removed from the transplant service, but she refuses despite his request. She says they have invested a great deal of time and money in his training, and his reasons are personal and not related to his competence in the OR. She says his reasons seem to be related to Dr. Blake's surgery and that perhaps he feels he needs to atone for his decision, but it would take great measures to replace him and they are not about to turn away patients who need transplants. Leave it to Sharon Goodwin to always be able to balance the situation at hand and see the bigger picture. She is truly such a gem, and a much needed equalizer when it comes to difficult decisions at the hospital.

Dr. Archer and Dr. Marcel have consulted together and let Dr. Scott know that they are in agreement, and that Goran's liver is beyond repair and will need a transplant. Dylan offers to donate, but not only is he not a match, but Dr. Marcel and Dr. Archer feel he is not in a position to make this kind of decision. Dylan says though that he has to find a relative as they have to get him the transplant, and they can't let him die.

Dylan asks his father to help him find any relatives nearby, and when he questions his intentions, Dylan tells him he has to do at least one thing right, so his father offers to help him.

Dylan finds Goran's brother, Bogdan Kosovich, who is willing to donate part of his liver to his brother, and he introduces him to Dr. Marcel. His brother says that he and his brother went different ways and he knows Goran has done some bad things, but he understands the risks and he is his brother and wants to help. Dr. Scott gets him prepped for surgery.

Going into the surgery, Sharon speaks to Dr. Marcel and lets him know that with the current blood shortage, she can only authorize 7 units of red blood cells for this patient, and despite Crockett's protests that this surgery takes at least 10, she tells him that they have reached out to other hospitals but they are in the same boat, and she cannot authorize more than the 7 units.

Dr. Marcel performs the surgery, but Goran starts crashing and getting acidotic, and Dr. Scott is watching and Dr. Marcel tells him he has to trust him, and he packs the abdomen and has to give the patient time to stabilize before he can complete the full transplant. After packing for a while to get him clotting, Dr. Marcel unpacks the abdomen and there is no active bleeding and he completes the transplant for Goran.

After the surgery, Dr. Marcel goes to see Dr. Blake, and she says she told Dr. Abrams to tell him she did not want to see him. Crockett says he did but he wanted to come to thank her, because his win in the OR that day was thanks to what she taught him, and he cannot throw away the knowledge she gave him. She says that is nice, but when she is back, he will not be on her team. He tells her to remember if the tables were turned, he is pretty sure that she would have done the same thing he did.  His words seem to hit Pamela hard as he leaves, as she definitely looks upset and perhaps this will give her something to consider, and let her know that he still really does care about her.

Dr. Archer, Dr. Charles, Dr. Cuevas and the Sullivan's.

Doris comes to find Dr. Archer for a patient, David Sullivan, who was handed over from the night shift, after being brought in after smoking marijuana laced with fentanyl. The resident had started an IV to flush his system, and his latest drug panel showed most of the drugs out of his system, but the young man is acting very paranoid and strange. His overbearing parents are also there and are definitely not showing a great degree of support for him. So Dr. Archer asks Dr. Charles to come see him.

Dr. Charles and Dr. Cuevas go in to speak to David and his parents, and David becomes agitated and his parents become very angry at him, and also say he does not need a psychiatrist. They let them know they will do what they can to help get him home as soon as possible. Dr. Charles introduces Dr. Millie Cuevas to Dr. Archer, and as soon as Dean says "Another lamb to the slaughter", she immediately fires back to say she is hardly a lamb. This was a great interaction because it showed Dr. Archer still has some of that "ole boy" attitude we have come to love to hate over the last year, but also that this new young doctor is not going to stand for it. It is nice to see someone not afraid to put him in his place either.

They begin to discuss possible diagnosis for David, and whether the issue is chemically induced or biological, and they determine that they need a better history from the parents and to wait to see if the symptoms resolve, which they would if this is chemically induced. They sit down and speak to the parents and the father apologizes for how he acted before, but says smoking marijuana is so out of character for his son. His parents indicate that his grades have also fallen off recently and that he seems quieter and off in his own world, spending a lot of time in his room alone. They also mention he is up at night and not sleeping well. They decide to give permission for Dr. Charles and Dr. Cuevas to speak to David again.

Dr. Charles and Dr. Cuevas go in to speak with David, but he does not want to speak with them at first. Eventually, they get David talking, and Dr. Charles is able to connect with him and get him to open up about what is going on. Daniel tells him he can trust him that they will help figure out what is going on. As they leave the room, Dr. Cuevas says now that they have a diagnosis, they can start treatment, but Dr. Charles reminds her that he is a minor and it will be up to his parents how they proceed and that he hopes she was observing them as closely as she was observing David.

Dr. Archer comes to find Dr. Charles to let him know that his new fellow is looking for him, and Daniel tells him they were able to diagnose David, and that there is more to diagnosing that putting a name on the condition. He says they will need to do more testing and follow up, but it looks like schizophrenia. Dr. Archer tells Daniel out of the blue that he tried to call his son yesterday, and that he lost him to drugs 15 years ago and he is not sure where he is. He tells Daniel he is sharing this with him because he understands how hard this will be for the parents for them to understand an outside force stole away the happy kid they remember. Dr. Charles goes to tell the parents and Dr. Archer replies that as Daniel always says, at least now he will get the help he needs. I think this conversation was a huge turning point for Dean Archer's character. After some of the revelations and milestones that he and Dr. Charles crossed last season, to see him begin to open up and start to show a more human side, especially to Dr. Charles, is a huge step forward. And after being the character we all love to hate, perhaps we will enjoy a new side to Dean Archer this year. Only time will tell...

They go to speak with David's parents, and his father seems adamant at first that this is normal teenage stuff, but Dr. Charles give him specific examples of David's behavior, and tell them they feel he should see an outpatient psychiatrist for a more fulsome evaluation process, and that they feel he is likely developing schizo-affective disorder. They become very upset and tell them their child is not crazy and they are taking him home. Dr. Charles tries to reassure them it is a treatable condition, but they will hear nothing of it. Dr. Cuevas is upset by their reaction but Daniel reassures her their reaction is not uncommon.

At the end of the episode, we see Dr. Archer receive a collect call. It is from his son, who is apparently in jail. It will be very interesting to see if we finally have more of Dr. Archer's back story and get to see more of who his is this season. While he has not necessarily been a favorite character, I am sure we would all love to know how he became that man we dislike, as with all of our One Chicago characters, there is likely more behind what we are seeing.

Will and Sharon

Sharon comes to get Will from Hannah's room and reminds him they have a date in court. Will is wearing an outfit that Maggie found for him and receives some ribbing for what he looks like. As they approach the court, Kim Burgess and some uniformed officers arrive and arrest Jessa Rinaldi, and indicate that she is being charged with arson and the attempted murder of Will Halstead. Her lawyer protests but Burgess tells her they have evidence of her buying accelerant and have her on camera leaving the building just prior to the fire. Will is in complete shock as the police take Jessa away.

Will catches up with Dylan as he is leaving Med, and lets him know it was not Goran who set the fire, and that it was Jessa. He wants to make sure him leaving did not have to do with the fire, and tells him to take a few days before he makes his final decision. Dylan tells Will he is a good guy and to take care of himself, as he walks away from Med forever.

Maggie, Grant and Vanessa

Grant has come to visit Vanessa at the hospital. He texts Maggie and asks her to meet and speak with him. He asks her if she is uncomfortable and she says no, and that she is happy that she brought him and Vanessa together. He asks if she ever thinks about what if they had kept and raised Vanessa, but she tells him that is not what happened and that she is married and cannot think about that, and that it is great that he has a relationship with Vanessa but she cannot be a part of it. Based on her reaction, one can only wonder if there are still some old feelings that Maggie does not want to deal with because of her love for her husband. Knowing our Wolf writers, one can also wonder if there will not be further resurfacing of this relationship in future episodes...I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Surprise Departures and Returns!!

Our first big shock in this episode is when Dylan Scott goes to see Sharon Goodwin and resigns from Chicago Med. He tells her that every time he is in the hospital or walks past the room, he will think of Jo and that he has to leave to be able to move on. He tells her that here in Chicago he will never be able to shake his past of being a police officer and fully take his blue coat off. He says he needs to go somewhere where he can just be a doctor. Sharon wishes him luck and tells him he will be missed. And based on the response from the Chicago Med Fandom, that is an understatement. Dr. Dylan Scott (and the actor who portrays him) have become true fan favorites over the last season as we learned about this character and watched his incredible skills and compassion for his patients. Guy Lockard, you will be sorely missed and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Then in shock number two, Ethan goes to visit his father's gravesite and who does he find there, but April Sexton (played by YaYa DaCosta)! She tells him that she has completed her NP training and is back in Chicago and was sorry to hear about his father's passing, but was not sure about coming to the service. They discuss Ethan's recovery and his family, and it is clear during their conversation that there is still a torch burning on both sides. Welcome back YaYa! You have been missed! And we cannot wait to see what happens with April and Ethan over this coming season...perhaps we will be able to finally see your story together come to a happy ending.

Needless to say, this first episode was a true emotional roller coaster that only the Dick Wolf amusement park could deliver! With so many shocking realizations and developments to start the season off, I am excited to see where all this new season will take our Chicago Med friends...how about you?

What did you think of this episode of Chicago Med? Share your thoughts in the comments below.