After cutting Mitch Ripley out of the action last week, it’s like Chicago Med is trying to make it up to him, because “I Think There Is Something You’re Not Telling Me” is basically the Ripley hour with a side order of Loren. Unsurprisingly, banking on the show’s strongest new performer results in a pretty solid episode.
The two major plotlines in the episode are a sequel to Season 9, Episode 6, “I Told Myself That I Was Done With You,” as Ripley’s childhood friend Sully returns to the hospital. (This explains why NBC reran that installment two weeks ago.) This time, Sully has his pregnant girlfriend Lynne in tow, and she happens to be another of Ripley’s childhood friends. On top of that, Chicago Med goes back to Ripley being sued for malpractice by the scheming brother of Dr. Daniel Charles’ girlfriend. So the whole 42 minutes is a big, jumbled mess of past and present for Ripley.
Elsewhere, Loren Johnson jumps at the opportunity to impress Dr. Dean Archer by taking the case of a car crash victim that Loren and Maggie Lockwood helped to rescue. However, Maggie worries that Loren is coming back to work too soon after the helicopter not-crash that nearly killed him. Chicago Med also introduces a new medical student named Naomi Howard, who is possibly the replacement for the now-fired Zola or maybe Nellie Cuevas, since Naomi ends up working with Charles. But that subplot is honestly forgettable, and only prompts realizing that Dominic Rains got this episode off. (If audiences haven’t figured it out by now, it’s clear that the One Chicago shows were saving some money this season by rotating out a few actors, as all three series have been missing at least one regular for two consecutive weeks.)
The bulk of the episode is the Ripley of it all, and that allows Luke Mitchell to double down on the emotional turmoil that his character is going through. Because it’s all personal in one way or another. To make the episode even more interesting, there’s also a tie-in to one of the actor’s earlier roles: Lynne is played by Hope Lauren, who portrayed the love interest for Mitchell’s character on the short-lived CW series The Republic of Sarah.
Let’s tackle the medical drama first: Sully brings Lynne to the hospital fearing that there may be an issue with her pregnancy, which is a reason for both Ripley and his girlfriend Dr. Hannah Asher to get involved. Ripley is mortified when he learns that Sully hasn’t told Lynne about his cancer diagnosis, and so while Hannah is treating Lynne, he ends up trying to help Sully again. This time it works out much better, as Lynne turns out to be fine and Ripley convinces Sully to come clean by bringing up his unborn child. Chicago Med does cop out by having that confession take place off-screen. That’s the emotional crux of the storyline, but maybe because it doesn’t involve a main character, the script doesn’t think it’s important enough to show. The guest characters deserve to have their moments, too.
One thing that does work is Hannah deciding not to push Ripley into speaking more about his past. An episode that starts with comments about baby photos and has a bit where Hannah tries to get some details out of Lynne could have devolved into a cheat to push forward the romantic relationship between Hannah and Ripley… which still doesn’t feel like anything other than Chicago Med wanting more romantic plots, despite the best efforts of both Mitchell and Jessy Schram. But Hannah respects his space, while also making clear that the door is open if and when Ripley wants to talk. Maybe that’s because she has her own complicated history with her addiction, yet it’s nice to not see a forced moment between them.
If there’s anything that feels forced, it’s Charles’s part in the lawsuit storyline. The deposition for Pawel’s lawsuit gets ugly when Pawel’s lawyer has done her opposition research on Ripley, and wants to bring up his history. Chicago Med makes sure viewers see Mitchell’s physical reaction to the line of questioning, the restraint it takes, and then lets him go and assault a trash can. The dude has now had two meltdowns in five episodes. Seeing this, Charles pushes him to settle the lawsuit so all the bad stuff doesn’t come out. When Ripley refuses, Charles then goes to Sharon Goodwin and wants her to push Ripley into doing it. There are two problems with this, one of which gets ameliorated at the end.
The show is once again using Charles to be the sounding board whenever Ripley has an issue. That makes a little more sense in this episode because it has to deal with a past that they share together, but Chicago Med can’t make that a habit. It shouldn’t always be Charles to the rescue; that’s too convenient and doesn’t allow Ripley’s world to grow. The series can’t turn into Chicago P.D. where everyone has their strict team-ups or relationship lanes and rarely interacts with anyone else. The other issue is that Charles is, for better or worse, trying to take Ripley’s choice away from him by going to Goodwin. Ripley has made his opinion clear to Charles, and yet Charles is still determined to get the outcome he wants.
Charles explains himself to Ripley in Chicago Med‘s understated last scene, when Ripley calls him out for that manuever. Charles explains that Ripley’s past belongs solely to him, and that when he wants to go public with it, it should be on his own terms and not those of a lawyer. Mitchell’s performance in the scene says a lot; it seems like Ripley’s considering opening up. Does he feel comfortable enough to? Is it just to Asher, or does the show take the far more interesting path and have him be honest with the whole hospital? Or does he decide to keep his privacy? He can do that, too, it’s well within his rights and wouldn’t diminish him one bit. But one figures Chicago Med didn’t introduce that bit without planning for it to come out eventually, and there are only two episodes left in Season 9.
There are a lot of good performances here, though, not just from Luke Mitchell. Oliver Platt, Steven Weber and guest star Henderson Wade all show a little more vulnerability to their characters, and it’s particularly timely to have Archer mention his past struggles again because the episode is directed by his former scene partner Brian Tee. Audiences remember how Archer’s progress came because Tee’s character Dr. Ethan Choi was there for him. Now, it’s Tee behind the camera as Archer continues to pay that experience forward. Plus, Tee’s experience on Chicago Med is obvious in every single frame. He directs the episode in a very subtle way, even in its most action-packed moments, and really lets the actors shine. He knows when to hold a beat to let the emotion sink in. It’s great to see a Chicago Med episode that’s quieter, a little less melodramatic, and rooted in character. That’s what makes the show worth watching and hopefully that’s what it will go back to as Season 9 draws to a close.
Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. on NBC. This article is exclusive to Fangirlish and if reproduced or excerpted anywhere else, has been stolen without the author’s permission.
