Chicago Med 7×19 “Like A Phoenix Rising From The Ashes” is a pretty weird episode, considering we’re only four — now three — episodes away from the season finale. Sarah Rafferty’s Dr. Blake seems to have disappeared after being around for almost every episode for a while there, same goes for Vanessa, Stevie is gone, her storyline “ended,” and Will is now …eh …following Hannah Asher around like a puppy dog instead, of you know, being the Will we’d started to like again. He still has opinions, though, and remembers what common sense is, so at least there’s that.
There’s also Ethan and Dean, who go back to a pretty friendly (if somewhat tense) relationship, Dylan’s second ill-advised relationship of the season, and a lot of focus on cases. It’s all pretty normal, or it would be, if this were episode ten or twelve. But it’s episode nineteen. There are only three more episodes to go. And this is One Chicago. So, what gives?
What are the storylines for the season?
It’s hard not to watch Chicago Med 7×19 “Like A Phoenix Rising From The Ashes” and feel a little bit like the show is wasting time. The character journeys seemed pretty clear in the first half of the season, and now everything is a bit muddled. Has Will Halstead truly grown? I had a definite yes a few weeks ago, and now I’m scared to see him regress. Hannah Asher has, but will the show stick to it? Or will they make her messy just for the sake of drama?
Then, there’s Crockett, whose storyline was so tied to Pamela’s for a while that now …what? And also, is she gonna pull a Stevie now that Sarah Rafferty has been cast in another show? Because the disappearing women thing is getting …a bit much. The men of this show are good; they’re interesting. But they’re not enough to keep us engaged. Chicago Med has to figure out how to keep, and give good storylines to, characters other than Sharon and Maggie. And they should really, really find a way to give us a ship we can root for. We’re in Season 7, come on.
Dangling plot threads …
One of the things that comes with so many disappearing characters is that this show always feels like there are about a hundred plot threads it can never truly close in a satisfying way. Will and Stevie. Will and Natalie. (Stevie and Natalie? Eh, why not …We wish.) Ethan and April. Now, Dylan and Milena. And that’s just in the last season or so! Chicago P.D. has had its weird disappearances, but we’ve had the same core team for years. Chicago Fire has some casting magic because they keep bringing in people that work. Chicago Med, meanwhile, is cursed.
This isn’t real life. In real life, yes, we cannot get closure for everything. That’s normal. On TV, though, that’s not the form of storytelling we want to see. And even in real life, the amount of disappearances on Chicago Med would have someone investigating a possible serial killer or something.
We want to care about this show. We want to care about these people. On other shows, episodes like Chicago Med 7×19 “Like A Phoenix Rising From The Ashes” work because the characters work. The dynamics work. This isn’t one of those shows, and that makes this episode just sort of …okay. Not horrible, not memorable. And that’s not really what we want so close to the end of the season.
Things I think I think:
- Every second of this Dylan storyline is …not great.
- I like Hannah Asher so much better when Will Halstead is not around. And vice versa.
- Don’t you just love how Dr. Charles can disagree and still respect his patients?
- Will using common sense is very attractive, I’m not gonna lie.
- We should have spent so much more time with Dylan and his dad, instead of with him in these romances that don’t feel like they’re going anywhere.
- Give me more of Ethan Choi smiling.
- I cannot even process the quick thinking of Dr. Marcel.
- “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”
- But …was I the only one who caught on to the “big secret” with Ethan’s dad from the beginning? Like …was anyone surprised at the end?
- Yes, I saw Dr. Blake in the next promo. I’m still kinda worried about that.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Chicago Med 7×19 “Like A Phoenix Rising From The Ashes”? Share with us in the comments below!
Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.