The opinion of one resident should not carry that much weight in a major personnel decision. And maybe it doesn’t, but fans don’t have the full picture because it’s skipped over. It was clear once Chicago Med set up its “this town ain’t big enough for the both of us” scenario that it would find an excuse to retain Lenox, because otherwise Sarah Ramos would be off the show. But this explanation is particularly vague, and to do it at Archer’s expense is another example of how disappointing his arc has been in Season 10. Between this and what happened to Sean, it almost feels like the writers are getting tired of Archer — who’s actually one of the show’s best characters.
Will Chicago Med Reunite Asher With Her Sister?
Jessy Schram Is the Episode’s Best Actor
There’s a brief scene between Archer and Asher near the beginning of “Family Matters,” in which she checks in on him after his outburst. It’s a small moment, but a meaningful one. And it’s Asher who has the best and most emotional plot in the episode. After finding that her patient Gary has his son’s baseball card in his wallet, Asher calls Alex — only to learn that the two have been estranged for 20 years. Alex explains that Gary walked out of his life when he was 11. Yet thanks to Asher, things seem to be looking up; not only are father and son talking but Alex decides to donate part of his liver to keep Gary alive. Then Chicago Med throws a fourth-act curveball by having Alex disappear just before the surgery, meaning Gary will have “less than a year” left to live.
Dr. Hannah Asher: I don’t know if you’ll ever fix your relationship. What I do know is if he’s gone, it can never be repaired.
Again, this happening off-screen doesn’t do any favors for the storyline, as Asher (and the fans) are left to assume what motivated Alex to have another change of heart. It’s implied that he couldn’t fully forgive his father, but what convinced him of that? There’s no blow-up between the two (the one big conversation they have is not heard, only observed by Asher) and Alex disappearing is understandable, but deprives the script of valuable context. Thus the real impact of this story is the effect it has on Asher, who’s once again reminded of the struggles she went through as a recovering addict. She makes an effort to reach out to her sister at the end of the episode, and it would be intriguing if the audience meets Lizzy at some point later in Season 10.
There’s also another subplot for Charles and nurse Jackie Nelson, which is mostly memorable because it means Chicago Med is really using Natalie Zea this season. But Season 10, Episode 7 could have been a lot more if it had dropped that subplot in order to devote more screen time to some of the things it didn’t show. It certainly creats problems for the characters to solve in the fall finale, but by not getting the most out of its storytelling.
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