Chicago Med’s new recruit, Dr. Caitlin Lenox (series regular Sarah Ramos), didn’t waste any time ruffling feathers at the hospital in the Season 10 premiere.
When a mass-casualty accident brings an influx of patients to Gaffney, Lenox shows up for work even though she’s not scheduled to start until the following week. Goodwin doesn’t even have a chance to inform the staff about the new hire before Lenox announces that she’s heading up the ED. Goodwin clarifies that Lenox will be co-running the department with Archer, who asks how old she is. Lenox fires back, “How old are you?”
As the chaotic day progresses, Lenox takes charge, setting up a makeshift patient room in the consultation room, which she calls wasted space, instead of diverting patients. Archer deciphers from Lenox’s demeanor that she’s military — Army, to be exact — but that detail doesn’t do much to endear Lenox to the Navy vet. Ripley also ends up butting heads with Lenox as they both argue to Goodwin that their patient should get the last of the blood supply. Even after Goodwin sides with Ripley, Lenox says she would have made the same call because protocol demands it.
Lenox really exercises her authority when resident Dr. Zach Hudgins gets overwhelmed by all the blood and death, and abandons his patient. Hudgins explains that he froze up and knew the patient would be better off if he wasn’t there, and Lenox replies that what he felt was a normal human reaction. But he can’t be a normal human because he’s a doctor, and she fires him. Archer is enraged that that she did so without consulting him first, but Lenox reveals that she got permission from Goodwin. Under Archer’s watch, the ED almost fell apart today, she notes, so she’s not here to keep the status quo.
Elsewhere in the premiere:
* The vibe is quite icy between Ripley and Hannah, who spend most of the episode avoiding each other and are on a break, per Hannah. After learning that a witness came forward to place him at the scene of Pawel’s attack and an arrest may be imminent, Ripley confesses to Hannah that he tried to talk Sully out of beating Pawel, but he was too late. He found Pawel in an alley just after Sully and his boys walked away, wearing face masks so Pawel couldn’t ID them. He adds that he shut her out, even though what they had was good, and for that, he’s sorry.
* Liliana transfers to another hospital, bringing an end to her and Charles’ relationship. She still thinks Ripley attacked Pawel, and Charles doesn’t. Goodwin encourages Charles to talk to his own therapist.
* Archer makes brief mention of a goodbye party the previous night for Crockett, who’s on his way to Boston.
