SPOILERS for Chicago Med season 10, episode 14, “Acid Trip.”
There have been a lot of twist developments in Chicago Med season 10, but the writers need to stop reusing one particular story twist involving Caitlin Lenox. Twists are something that the show does well, and just about every member of Chicago Med’s cast experiences their share of unexpected plot turns by the time they move on from Gaffney. The series often delivers its twists in an especially gut-punching way, why is no small part of how Chicago Med became NBC’s top drama.
Caitlin Lenox has her head on a bit straighter than most of her colleagues, so her role in more dramatic story beats is often straightforward and sometimes antagonistic. She’s an extremely logical person, and Lenox’s refusal to treat people with kid gloves can often cause tensions. And while that’s not to say she’s logical to the point of lacking emotion, the writers might want to dial back their reliance on one specific twist regarding Caitlin’s personality if they want to avoid her growing stale ahead of Chicago Med season 11.
As if Gaffney wasn’t overworked enough in the wake of a fellow hospital’s closure and Mitch Ripley’s suspension, Chicago Med season 10, episode 14 hands Lenox and Frost an emergency patient with a gunshot wound to the heart. Patient Brayden Whitlocker’s brother Jeremiah admits to accidentally shooting Brayden when he thought there was an intruder breaking into his mother Olivia’s house, but Frost quickly notices a slide bite on Olivia’s hand and deduces that she fired the weapon. Jeremiah’s only taking the fall because the gun was unregistered, and going to jail would mean Olivia losing custody of Brayden.
Lenox cautions Frost against getting involved because they aren’t cops, so the Whitlockers’ legal concerns aren’t Gaffney’s problem. That changes when it’s learned that Olivia thought she was firing at Brayden’s abusive father. Lenox then does a full skeletal workup to establish evidence of Brayden’s abuse and gives it to the police before approaching Brayden’s dad and challenging him to punch her in retribution. Frost is awed that Caitlin did an unnecessary skeletal workup to help with a nonmedical issue, but this isn’t exactly the first time she has gotten involved in a patient’s life after advising against it.
Lenox helping Brayden already shouldn’t be colored as surprising, since doctors in most states are mandated to report suspected abuse. But it’s also not a twist, because this isn’t the first time Caitlin’s gotten personally invested. In season 10, episode 10, Lenox opens up about her childhood to encourage a patient to separate from his conjoined twin. She provides an extremely vulnerable origin story for her bluntly honest demeanor, simply because she knows the patient’s not being open with his brother about wanting surgery. After that, it’s hardly surprising that she has enough compassion to help an abuse victim.
In the same episode, Caitlin commits a possible ethics violation to help a criminal. Prior to Sully’s unexpected death on Chicago Med, Ripley asks Lenox to perform unnecessary tests to keep Sully from getting discharged back to prison. Lenox gives Ripley a similar lecture about professional ethics to the one she gives Frost regarding the Whitlockers, but she ultimately relents and promises to help. After her vulnerability with the twins and bending the rules for Ripley, Caitlin’s compassion should never be treated like a twist again. But if Chicago Med’s intent on doing so, there might be a way.
The easiest way to keep the twist of Lenox breaking her own professional rules and boundaries from getting stale is, somewhat ironically, to double down on establishing her rules and boundaries. As of now, Caitlin’s professional boundaries are somewhat vaguely defined. Perhaps she wouldn’t have involved herself in the Whitlockers’ legal matters if not for the abuse, although reporting a suspicion and performing full-body x-rays require very different levels of involvement. If Caitlin’s concept of professional boundaries were more clearly defined, it would be easier to surprise viewers when she makes exceptions.
Now that Lenox and Archer’s rivalry appears to have been resolved and her storylines are becoming more personally revealing, this shouldn’t be difficult to accomplish. Chicago Med doesn’t need to change any of Caitlin’s basic character traits, but a deeper understanding of her personal values would explain why she’s willing to let Brayden’s brother go to jail over a lie despite giving a heartfelt speech about honesty just a few episodes prior. Without that understanding, treating her compassion as surprising just feels like withholding information for the sake of forcing a twist.
