Some TV series episodes exist merely to get the characters where they need to be. These have become known as “filler episodes,” and they can be great — at the least, they serve an important purpose. Audiences have to come along for certain steps in characters’ journeys in order to understand them. A new relationship or a major plot twist won’t land if it appears out of the blue. Chicago Med Season 9, Episode 7, “Step on a Crack and Break Your Mother’s Back,” is an efficient filler episode led by the delightful pairing of Hannah Asher and Dean Archer.
What normally would’ve been the one-third point of an average Chicago Med season is closer to the end of Season 9 due to the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, so the writers have to get characters like Asher and Archer in position for their big moves. Episode 7 does that efficiently, while also letting Crockett Marcel serve as the voice of the audience. Ultimately, though, it’s a reminder of how good Asher and Archer are as a duo and how much the show loses by spinning them in different directions.
Chicago Med Highlights Asher and Archer’s Friendship
Yet Season 9, Episode 7 Also Moves Them Apart
The dynamic between Steven Weber’s cantankerous Dr. Dean Archer and Jessy Schram’s Dr. Hannah Asher has been one of the most pleasant surprises on Chicago Med over the last few seasons. Archer didn’t hide his concern when Asher first returned to the hospital — and yet they became not only colleagues, but a potential couple. Audiences will remember the psuedo-love triangle that involved Asher, Archer and Archer’s son Sean. Mercifully, the show didn’t go that route — but the events of “Step on a Crack and Break Your Mother’s Back” show how well the two characters (and the two actors) work together.
Asher’s case involves a woman named Marisol whose birth control implant has become inexplicably lodged in her heart. Asher calls in Archer because she knows the surgery is his “bread and butter,” but is surprised when he initially passes the procedure off. However, when it all goes south in true Chicago Med fashion, it’s Archer who steps in and saves the day. This is another opportunity for Weber to show how much Archer has grown since he was initially introduced as a foil-slash-support for Brian Tee’s fan-favorite Dr. Ethan Choi. Archer has softened considerably and been given more depth, although he still gets great one-liners.
Dr. Dean Archer: I don’t think there’s ever been a good time to have kids.
This episode also officially ends any chance for Archer and Asher as a pairing, because Asher encourages Archer to pursue Margo, the head of the rehab facility at which Sean works. After being introduced in Chicago Med Season 9, Episode 5, “I Make a Promise, I Will Never Leave You,” Margo is seen with Hannah, Sean and a few others celebrating Sean’s birthday. Archer asks her out on a date, which just so happens to precede a scene in which Hannah comes across Dr. Mitch Ripley on the street and the two go back to her apartment together. It’s clear that the show is having Archer and Asher banter about eac other’s personal lives so it’s okay for them to enter their respective relationships, which is bittersweet, because so many of the Chicago Med characters wind up defined by their romantic pairings. Great friendships can be just as fulfilling, and Archer and Asher have developed one of those after a lot of hard work; they deserve to take center stage more often.
Ripley and Charles Continue Down Their Road to Recovery
Chicago Med Keeps Shaping the Characters’ Dynamic
While Luke Mitchell is still credited as a guest star in Chicago Med Season 9, Episode 7, it’s pretty clear that his character Dr. Ripley is here to stay — and not just because Ripley and Asher end the episode together. This is another episode where Ripley and Dr. Daniel Charles end up on a case together, as the show continues to play off their past doctor-patient relationship. It’s not the best example of that, but it does affirm that Ripley is more than just a short-term character; he serves multiple functions on the series. Which is a good thing overall, because Mitchell is the biggest plus in the whole season.
Chicago Med is at its best when there’s a character who’s willing to push back — but for a justified reason, not simply for the sake of being contrary. Some of the disagreements between hospital staff in the later seasons have felt like they exist simply so somebody can have an argument. Ripley, like Archer before him, is coming in and purposefully standing his ground. He turns out to be wrong, but the audience gets to see him and Charles working together to find a solution for Ripley’s patient, a man with OCD whose own health problems are compounded by being terrified of what’s going to happen to his mother.
Dr. Mitch Ripley: Time’s the one thing we don’t have.
The writers are definitely getting their mileage out of Ripley’s backstory. Chicago Med Season 9, Episode 6, “I Told Myself That I Was Done With You,” is a much better exploration of who Mitch Ripley is and who he wants to be. And putting him into a relationship with Asher will not replace any individual character development. But the subplot between him and Charles effectively fills some time with good performances by two good actors, and continues to figure out how their characters can work together. Which is more than happens in Dr. Crockett Marcel’s plot, despite the best efforts of Dominic Rains.
Chicago Med Puts Dr. Crockett Marcel in Time Out
Dominic Rains’ Character Asks a Very Tough Question
The third major storyline is an example of how Chicago Med sometimes awkwardly handles conflict. Dr. Crockett Marcel wants to operate on a cancer patient when he finds a tumor on her neck, but the patient has a lifelong history with Dr. Dennis Washington (guest star John Earl Jelks), and Washington advises against the procedure. Crockett takes the case to hospital administrator Sharon Goodwin, and after she rules in favor of Washington, reminds her — and the audience — that Goodwin is dating Washington. While he later apologizes for the comment, Crockett is not wrong in questioning if Goodwin’s personal relationship makes her biased.
Personal relationships constantly interfere with professional ones in the hallways of Chicago Med. Part of that is the dramatic license that comes with any TV show, but even by that standard, there are pretty strong levels of personal interest throughout the hospital. Crockett is trying to save someone’s life, and while he’s got nothing to suggest Goodwin is playing favorites, her being the boss doesn’t make her exempt from the scrutiny anyone else would face. He knows how it works first-hand; this is the guy who had to fill out HR forms to disclose his relationship with Dr. Natalie Manning, before Chicago Med got Manstead back together. Dominic Rains plays it well, too; he’s upset but not overly on the attack, making it clear Crockett’s concern comes from compassion for his patient and it’s not just sour grapes.
But when the conflict is resolved — with Goodwin and Washington realizing that Crockett was right, and the surgery happening successfully — the underlying issue peters out. Crockett apologizes to Goodwin and she accepts his apology, yet when Washington asks her about the whole thing, she brushes it off and it’s right back to talking about their dinner date. This perceived bias should be a huge deal to Goodwin. Crockett handled it politely, but if he’s worried about it, who’s to say someone else isn’t — and the next person might not be so nice. There should be a little more of a discussion between Goodwin and Washington, especially since Goodwin was worried about dating someone she works with in the first place. By moving past it so quickly, Chicago Med creates the impression that it doesn’t matter — that Goodwin’s personal life is the priority. And that emphasis on personal over professional is what sometimes gets the show in trouble.
