Chicago Med Season 11, Episode 8 concludes all of the plotlines that the NBC medical drama left hanging in the fall. The entire function of “Triple Threat” is to close that chapter; there’s very little about what may happen going forward. And the resolution is, by and large, familiar to anyone who’s watched the show for a while. But the strengths of the midseason premiere are also happily obvious.
The best part of the episode is the subplot between Hannah Asher and Dean Archer, as they continue to navigate Hannah’s pregnancy. Dean has noticed Hannah pulling away from him, and when he tells her, “I just want my friend back,” that’s a line viewers wouldn’t have expected to hear from Archer when he was introduced years ago. It’s a new level of vulnerability for him—one that Hannah helped to make possible. Actor Steven Weber delivers that dialogue perfectly. And it’s great to see Dean and Hannah patch up their friendship, even if the rift isn’t that long, because they have become the heart of Chicago Med. Their scenes make this episode worth the watch alone.
Another strong point is also not a surprise: the performance of Oliver Platt as Dr. Daniel Charles. He could read the credits and it would be entertaining, but once again viewers get to see Charles in a difficult position and how Platt can deliver such emotion. They probably also have a heart attack when Charles admits that he’s thinking about retirement—but it’s hard to tell how serious One Chicago fans should take that. Honestly, Oliver Platt should be on Chicago Med as long as he wants. It’s impossible to imagine the show without him.
But he’s also one of the few remaining original cast members, so if he’s decided he wants to move on, that’s understandable. Or maybe this is a canonical way to give him a few episodes off; fans are well aware that main cast members don’t appear in every episode for budget reasons (see: Darren Barnet not being in this one). Charles could easily say he needs a break and be written out for a short time, unless showrunner Allen MacDonald wants to get cheeky and film a cutaway scene of Charles at a tropical resort somewhere.
After these two things, though, is where “Triple Threat” starts to fall apart. This is another season in which Chicago Med has set up a big cliffhanger and then decided to do a time jump, telling the story in reverse instead of just staying in the moment. That method isn’t as clever as it seems. It relies on reveals to create suspense when the show could just tell a straightforward story and let the tension build naturally; the actors definitely can carry it. And the biggest twist of all, that Faye Carter shot her abusive husband, is not really surprising to anyone who’s watched enough TV dramas. Neither Dr. Caitlin Lenox nor Dr. Mitch Ripley can be jailed for murder—at least not if they’re staying on the show. Even then, it would be an exit on the Ava Bekker level.
Ripley’s presence in the Lenox storyline honestly feels like Chicago Med needed something for Luke Mitchell to do, and so they had Ripley come looking for Lenox. It’s Sarah Ramos’ plotline, and she carries it with just as much toughness and conviction as fans expect. She becomes the indignant voice of the audience, who have wanted Devin to pay since he was introduced. Lenox can be abrasive, but between this and how she previously stood up for Naomi Howard, that’s turned into one of her best qualities. It would have been more impactful for that story to be Lenox on her own; the medical logistics would be different, but Ramos would have knocked that out of the park and it would have made the suggestion that Lenox shot Devin even more plausible.
“Triple Threat” doesn’t offer much in the way of emotional reward. What’s memorable is mostly the warm, fuzzy feeling provided by Dean and Hannah. It’s hard to know how worried to be about Charles; one is mostly left thinking how great an actor Oliver Platt is again. This episode accomplishes its mission of wrapping up prior plot threads, but because of that, it feels like looking back rather than moving forward. If the story had been told chronologically, there would have been more of an emotional buildup because the audience would have been moving with the characters through their arcs. But by once again focusing on surprise, the episode gets away from what Chicago Med does best: making fans feel with these characters.
Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
