Emergency Room Chronicles: Healing Wounds and Holding Hope in the Face of Adversity

Chicago

Med Season 10, Episode 16, “Poster Child” is a hard episode to get one’s brain around. On one hand, the NBC show takes a plot that could be cringe-worthy and makes it so much stronger. On the other, it contains the most cringe-worthy subplot in the entire season — possibly one of the most awkward in series history. It’s a tale of two extremes.

“Poster Child” does give Sharon Goodwin more to do, as a patient whom she treated 22 years ago returns to the hospital. But elsewhere, Dr. John Frost is involved in two controversial storylines. One involves Frost treating a seventh-grade boy who’s struggling with his sexuality. The other circles back to Frost and his old friend Ainsley Towne, introduced in Episode 15, “Down in a Hole.” It goes exactly where viewers thought it might, and that’s not good.

The talking point from Chicago Med Season 10, Episode 16 will be the reveal that John Frost was involved in a relationship with Ainsley when he was a minor. It’s not a surprise, because Frost throwing up after Ainsley’s arrival in Episode 15 made it fairly clear to the viewers where this was going, but it’s still a shock that the writers wanted to go there. In “Poster Child,” Ainsley kisses Frost in a supply room before Frost admits to Maggie that he and Ainsley were involved when she played his mom on TV. He says that it started near the end of the show, and he was 17 when it ended. It’s a storyline that will make some viewers uncomfortable, and it’s also hard to see what this adds to Frost’s character.

In fairness to the creative team, Chicago Med has done some strange storylines around characters’ romantic lives before. Fans weren’t thrilled when Dr. Crockett Marcel was flirting with both Dr. Pamela Blake and Blake’s daughter. And before him, Dr. Connor Rhodes found out that his ex-girlfriend Dr. Ava Bekker was a sociopath who murdered his father. But that doesn’t mean it needed to do this one. Maybe there’s going to be a greater exploration of Frost’s self-image later down the line, but right now this just feels more like a plot point for shock value, especially with Ainsley’s insistence that he loved her when Frost comes to break off their dinner plans.

It’s a shame, too, because Frost needs more character development and there are avenues where he’s really excelled. For example, the brief scene between him and Dr. Mitch Ripley near the beginning of the episode is a reminder of how the dynamic between those two characters has been a pleasant surprise in Season 10. Frost was the guy who called Ripley out earlier in the season, and there seems to be a growing respect between them. Darren Barnet has fit in well, and there’s a lot he could do with the character that’s not so controversial.

The fascinating thing about this Chicago Med episode is that the two most memorable characters are actually played by guest stars. That’s a very rare occurrence, but Adam Aalderks as Henry Russell and Deirdre Lovejoy as Angela Tucker are the MVPs. Viewers will recognize Lovejoy as Assistant State’s Attorney Rhonda Pearlman on HBO’s The Wire, and it’s wonderful to see two experienced actors play off each other as she works opposite S. Epatha Merkerson. Angela’s daughter Josephine has been in a coma since she was originally treated at Med more than 20 years ago. It comes out that Goodwin previously advocated for the surgery that left Josephine in a coma.

This plot has its ups and downs; it’s a bit of a head-scratcher that Goodwin apologizes to Angela for expressing her opinion 22 years ago, when the characters on this show dispense advice to patients and their loved ones all the time. But Angela’s emotional story arc, separate from Goodwin, is memorable. Lovejoy is great as a woman who is carrying around so much anger, yet then becomes cognizant of it and is able to let it go. It’s also important that Chicago Med lets the plotline end on the positive note of Josephine surviving her surgery and then squeezing her mom’s hand afterward. The show could have opted for the bad ending in any number of ways, but it leaves Angela (and the audience) with hope instead.