SPOILER ALERT AND WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Chicago Med Season 11, Episode 19. It also contains discussion of sexual content.
Chicago Med Season 11, Episode 19 is reminiscent of the season as a whole: when it’s great, it’s some of the best stuff on television. But when it’s not, it’s really not. “Exit Strategy” provides some incredible material for Dr. Hannah Asher. But then the NBC medical drama also brings back that plotline for Dr. John Frost that everyone, including Frost himself, would rather forget about.
Let’s discuss the positives first: Hannah’s storyline involves working with an out-of-state doctor to perform an “exit procedure,” allowing Giselle Dutton to deliver her baby while also dealing with a tumor attached to the fetus. On the surface, this seems to be the typical “main character butting heads with another doctor who thinks they know better” storyline (see: Dr. Daniel Charles and Dr. Theo Rabari). But it’s actually much more, and Jessy Schram is absolutely gangbusters throughout. This episode may be one of her best performances on Chicago Med, full stop.
Obviously this case is sensitive for Hannah because of her own pregnancy, but “Exit Strategy” doesn’t stop there. Instead, it reveals a whole backstory about Hannah’s mother dying while giving birth to her, and Hannah’s belief that her father hates her because of it. It’s very poignant material, and the scene in which Hannah confides in Dr. Charles inside the hospital chapel is an example of why Chicago Med has lasted for eleven (soon to be at least twelve) seasons. Schram and Oliver Platt are perfect, the scene highlights what Dr. Charles brings to the table—which reinforces his own storyline—and the audience learns so much more about Hannah in a relatively short period of time. So many times, TV shows hyperfocus a character’s development on one particular quality or relationship, but “Exit Strategy” gives Hannah an arc that isn’t just about her baby.
The following scene, in which Hannah confronts her father and finds out he’s actually emotional because she reminds him of his late wife, is also so honest. When they hug it out, it’s both tear-jerking and feel-good. At its best, Chicago Med tells very human and very relatable stories.
And then there’s what happens with Frost. In fairness to “Exit Strategy,” the whole Frost and Ainsley storyline was a bad idea from the start, and so this episode is already behind the eight ball in that respect. Partly because, speaking of hyperfocus, so much of Frost’s development has been about his history as a child actor. But mostly because it’s a creepy and uncomfortable subplot that doesn’t seem to have any purpose beyond tormenting Frost in every way possible.
“Exit Strategy” makes the Frost-Ainsley problem worse by revealing that his father knew about the sexual relationship between them and saw nothing wrong with it. David Costabile is even more hateable here than he was as Daniel Hardman in Suits (and on that subject, Jessalyn Gilsig is stuck with an even more unpleasant character than she played on Glee). The only positive in this subplot is that when Frost confesses the truth to his Nick of Time co-star Ian, Ian is immediately supportive of him. It would’ve been too easy for Ian to disbelieve Frost simply to create more drama.
But this episode misses a massive opportunity for Frost and Dr. Naomi Howard. Naomi appears early in the episode to wish her new boyfriend good luck, yet “Exit Strategy” is begging for a more serious scene in which Naomi and Frost are able to face this issue together. Frost deserves to have more than Ian in his corner, Naomi can potentially relate since she had to deal with the unwelcome advances of a coworker last season, and what better way to establish Frost and Naomi as a couple than to have them working through something important together? Instead, Chicago Med uses Naomi’s screen time for a subplot about her and Goodwin being gifted expensive watches that doesn’t add much to the show and doesn’t give Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut much to play.
This feels like a repeat of when Frost tried to open up about his family to Lizzie Novak earlier this season: fans get a cute couple moment, but the writers bypass the chance to give that couple something far more meaningful. Hopefully this storyline ends soon (especially since Frost’s mom is likely about to find out), given that Frost’s dad seems headed to join Pat Halstead and Cornelius Rhodes among One Chicago’s many dead parents. And just like on Suits, David Costabile has created a character fans won’t miss at all when he’s gone. Darren Barnet is once again wonderful when Frost explodes in anger at his father, as well as when Frost confesses to Ian. But the emotion in his performance just reinforces that Frost deserves more than constantly going back to his past.
Elsewhere, Chicago Med continues its tiring back-and-forth between Dr. Mitch Ripley and Dr. Caitlin Lenox, as he still wants to talk to her after he walked away from her at the end of Episode 18. “Exit Strategy” spices this up by having Ripley deduce Lenox’s prion diagnosis, so the cat is finally out of the bag there, just in time for Season 11 to end. But even in a very huge moment between them, nothing in this pairing feels real. Lenox’s brother Kip can compliment Ripley all he wants; that doesn’t make up for this duo not having the depth of feeling that Hannah and Dr. Dean Archer have in one brief scene together, or that Frost and Naomi could have in the future.
And speaking of feeling, one cannot talk about “Exit Strategy” without talking about Dr. Daniel Charles. Charles’ story is the C-plot logistically speaking, but Oliver Platt brings so much to it anyway. The early scene between Charles and Sharon Goodwin is another reminder of how much Platt and S. Epatha Merkerson provide to the show. Past that, though, it’s a gut punch when Charles learns Celia’s sister is dying—especially when the sister wants him to “see what he’s done.” One thing Chicago Med has been impressive with is finding ways to weave subplots back into later episodes, and this is one that viewers probably didn’t expect to see again, but Platt makes Charles’ pain so palpable even in just a few moments. Yet then Dr. Charles turns around and is able to be there for Hannah, just like he’s done for so many others over the years. That is an incredible shift for both the character and the actor.
“Exit Strategy” has some incredible moments for Oliver Platt, Jessy Schram and Darren Barnet. Some of these scenes feel like they define these characters’ whole seasons. But for every moment that hits home, there’s another that falls well short of expectations. Chicago Med is clearly trying to wrap certain storylines and set others up for the Season 11 finale. And it is indeed the time to throw overboard what doesn’t work, because time is limited to focus on the things that do.
Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC.
