After flirting all season and one interrupted previous attempt at a kiss, Mitch Ripley and Hannah Asher finally fit in time for some affection.
Love can happen amidst the most tumultuous circumstances.
Chicago Med always brings pulse-pounding action in the emergency rooms, but also offers a look at the romantic lives of the hospital staffers — and there are two doctors that fans have been rooting for all season. Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram) and Mitch Ripley (Luke Mitchell) came close to kissing once and almost went on a date more than once, but lawsuits, other staffers, and their own self-doubts kept getting in the way.
In Season 9, Episode 12, titled “Get By With a Little Help From My Friends,” Ripley’s old buddies, Sully and Lynne, were back at the hospital, and while Ripley made sure they were both getting the medical care they each needed, the couple returned the favor by helping give him the confidence to open up to his love interest.
In the prior episode, a stubborn Sully finally agreed to get treatment for his lung cancer, and he returned to the hospital in Episode 12 to begin chemo, accompanied by his pregnant girlfriend, Lynne.
Worried about having chosen to treat his cancer too late, Sully said to his old pal, “Rip, a baby on the way, tell me I didn’t wait too long.”
“Hey, you’re here now,” Ripley reassured him.
Dr. Ripley’s old friend pushed him to date Hannah
“At least I’m not the only dumb one. What’s your problem anyway?,” teased Sully, eliciting a perplexed look from Ripley.
Sully minced no words with his old friend, explaining, “Asher! I thought you two were going out.”
At first, Ripley made an excuse about not dating a colleague but then got to the truth of the matter. “She doesn’t know about how I grew up… My psych diagnosis,” Ripley said. “Look, I can’t imagine she’d find that very attractive.”
Just then, Lynne walked into the room and joined in with pestering Ripley about why he’s not with Hannah. Apparently, the pair of doctors aren’t doing the best job hiding their attraction to each other. “I see you guys planned this ambush,” Ripley said. Suddenly, Lynne’s water broke and she needed to be examined stat.
Hannah and Ripley delivered his friends’ baby together
As Hannah began to examine Lynne, Ripley excused himself from the room to give Lynne privacy, but his old friend insisted that he stay, since her boyfriend Sully was still getting chemo. It was a good thing he did, as Lynne started having painful contractions, and the situation suddenly turned dire. Hannah jumped into action with Ripley by her side and rushed Lynne to the operating room to deliver the baby.
Sully eventually made it to the delivery room after his treatment, in time to see his baby being born. “Shouldn’t he be crying?,” a panicked Sully asked when the baby boy failed to make a sound after delivery. As Ripley gave Hannah a concerned look, she confirmed that the newborn wasn’t breathing. Ripley stepped in to perform life-saving treatment on the infant, and they finally heard a cry, to the relief of everyone in the room.
The two doctors once again deftly navigated a complicated birth, as they did in Season 9, Episode 8, right before their almost-kiss in the staff lounge. That earlier attempt at a smooch was interrupted when other workers stepped into the lounge. And when the pair made plans to hang out after work together that same night, Ripley was served with a lawsuit, foiling the plan.
Ripley got a pep talk: “Hannah should be so lucky”
After the successful emergency delivery, Sully thanked Ripley as they admired the healthy newborn in the hospital nursery. “Look, Rip, maybe becoming a dad has made me soft, but you’re not that kid anymore,” he said, referring to Ripley’s troubled childhood. “I mean part of him is still in there kicking my ass whenever I need it. All that juvie and psyche stuff, none of that matters. Look at what you did. You’re a freakin’ superhero. Hannah should be so lucky.”
That seemed to have been just the pep talk Ripley needed to feel comfortable with opening up to Hannah about his troubled childhood. At the end of Hannah’s work day, Ripley spied her in a hospital elevator and ran to catch up with her before the doors closed. The two doctors finally had a moment of privacy.
Ripley finally opened up to Hannah, and told her how he feels
When Hannah jokingly said, “It is easy to imagine you and Sully getting up to no good,” Ripley saw his opportunity to reveal more about himself. “Yeah, well, how much no good might surprise you,” he said. Piquing Hannah’s interest, she turned to face him directly and the two inched closer as he continued, “Look, the truth is, I was an angry kid. I spent some time in juvie. Lots of mandated therapy. Even got myself a diagnosis of impulse control disorder. All of this is just to say, I really like you.”
“And if I haven’t completely scared you off…,” Ripley continued, before Hannah kissed him.
“I’m not concerned with who you were, Mitch Ripley. I like who you are,” she said. This time, Ripley moved in for another kiss, but as fate would have it, the elevator doors opened and he was summoned by a nurse to help with incoming patients. There’s nothing like a little romance to help get the doctors through another intense day on Chicago Med.
For more adventures in medicine — and romance — watch all-new episodes of Chicago Med on Wednesdays at 8/7c p.m. on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
