Chicago Med Season 10, Episode 7, “Family Matters” has every reason to be an incredible episode. Instead, it seems like one that’s just meant to stir up some more angst in advance of the NBC show’s midseason finale. While the major storylines start out interesting enough, they aren’t developed to their full potential, and thus all of them end in ways that are likely to divide fans.
“Family Matters” sees Dr. Hannah Asher try to facilitate a reunion between a dying man and his estranged son. Meanwhile, Dr. John Frost wrestles with private information that contradicts a patient’s do not resuscitate (DNR) order. And most notably, the show finally settles the beef between Dr. Dean Archer and Dr. Caitlin Lenox that’s been going for six episodes — but the resolution is one of the most head-scratching things to happen all season.
Chicago Med Gives Frost His Most Serious Case Yet
Season 10, Episode 7 Moves On From the Jokes
Since his introduction, Dr. John Frost has mostly been the subject of comic relief. Aside from his very tense storyline with Sharif Atkins’ character, Frost has been the overly charming guy trying to fit into the Emergency Department or the guy being made fun of because he was previously a child actor. But the jokes have gotten old, so it’s good to see that Chicago Med Season 10, Episode 7 gets him back to being serious. Frost and Dr. Mitch Ripley are frustrated that their patient Declan has a DNR, because he could make a full recovery if they’re allowed to treat him. Yet Frost learns that Declan’s co-worker is also his mistress, and that he had conversations with her that suggest his wishes have changed. Does he expose his patient’s affair if it saves the man’s life?
It’s an incredibly awkward storyline, but worth it to see more of Barnet’s serious side and how he grapples with a moral dilemma that has no good answer. Plus, it’s intriguing to watch Ripley in a mentorship role — something that wouldn’t have seemed feasible when he was sorting out all his own issues last year. That he’s now able to provide advice to others and be the stable contrast to Frost’s more emotional take is an example of how much Ripley has grown and continues to grow. And for Frost to learn is a step forward in developing him beyond the jovial personality.
But one of the red flags in “Family Matters” is how it concludes the plotline. Moments after Declan is indeed resuscitated, his wife Sheryl announces that she’s decided to leave him and walks out of the ED. This is the woman who fought so hard for her husband’s wishes even after learning about his affair — yet all it takes is one brush with death a short time later and she doesn’t hesitate to let him go. That comes across as Chicago Med needing a quick resolution to a complicated problem so it can move on to one of its many other stories.
Chicago Med Season 10, Episode 7 Undercuts Dean Archer
The Show Hasn’t Done Archer Any Favors
Season 10, Episode 7 promised a showdown between Dr. Dean Archer and Dr. Caitlin Lenox, and it delivers. Lenox does a case review on the death of their patient in Episode 6, and Archer is unable to keep his mouth shut, criticizing her until the normally calm Dr. Daniel Charles gets angry with him. This naturally brings him to the attention of hospital administrator Sharon Goodwin and Archer expresses his concerns about how Lenox has been running the ED. But Goodwin’s investigation happens mostly off-screen, and the way it’s concluded is both unsatisfying and somewhat implausible.
Audiences are told that Goodwin is asking around about Lenox, when those are the kind of scenes that are worth showing. Saying that everyone is being tight-lipped just seems like a shortcut, especially in a hospital where audiences have seen characters be outspoken time and time again. None of the main characters are shrinking violets, so who has Goodwin been talking to? Viewers don’t know, because the only one they see is Naomi Howard, the nervous resident who gets scolded by Lenox while they treat a man with an axe in his back — and then they don’t get to hear what Naomi says. Goodwin just tells that to the viewer (and Lenox) too. Yet based on Naomi’s comments, Goodwin decides to keep Lenox and demote Archer. And that moment, too, is off-screen.
