Chicago Med season 3, episode 6 takeaways: Ties That Bind

Is Chicago Med’s Ethan Choi the coolest head in the room? Should we be heartbroken now? Here are our Chicago Med season 3, episode 6 takeaways.

Tuesday’s Chicago Med episode turned everything at the hospital upside down, so of course we have plenty of questions about what happened inside and out.

Season 3, Episode 6 was called “Ties That Bind” and included Dr. Sarah Reese (Rachel DiPillo) in trouble after she pepper sprayed a patient who got in her face, while the story of Dr. Robin Charles (Mekia Cox) came to an end. And a lot of people were not happy with a lot of people.

If you missed any of this Chicago Med episode or just want a refresher on the events that we’re discussing, you can catch up with our “Ties That Bind” recap.

Here are our Chicago Med season 3, episode 6 takeaways:

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1) Choi is a boss

Can we hear it for Dr. Ethan Choi?

It became clear last season how Choi (Brian Tee) is always calm under pressure, but once again in “Ties That Bind,” we saw how he can keep a cool head and not just that, but also keep other people from all kinds of trouble.

Choi spent the episode handling an angry patient with effortless calm, and not only that, he went to bat for Reese after she maced him. One can only fathom that without Choi telling Goodwin his own version of events, and presumably his credibility at the hospital, Reese would have been in even more trouble.

But Choi once again was the voice of reason and calm, and it’s good to see that Chicago Med season 3 is continuing to recognize his strengths and allow him to use them.

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2) Robin deserved better

It’s official: Dr. Robin Charles is no longer at Chicago Med. Or even in Chicago.

One of our predictions this season was that Robin wouldn’t last, with the show shifting its focus away from her and Mekia Cox now starring on Once Upon A Time. So the surprise wasn’t that it happened; it was the way she was written out, which left a lot to be desired.

This season Robin was written like a fifth wheel, always causing some new problem for Connor (Colin Donnell) while constantly worrying that he didn’t love her. And that’s how she went out, too—busted in his family’s department store before walking out on him.

It was obvious what story Med wanted to tell: Robin still trying to adjust to life post-brain tumor and Connor having to adjust along with her. But the series didn’t really go there in any deep way; it wasn’t so much about Robin as it was about how she complicate Connor’s life. The show just repeated the idea of Connor having to help Robin out of something, and Robin getting upset. She didn’t get to make much progress, and Connor didn’t even get to say goodbye.

(Granted, that’s probably because she knew he’d try and stop her, but from a storytelling standpoint, that scene would have provided important closure for him and for everyone that invested a year into the pairing.)

Kudos to Mekia Cox and Colin Donnell, who got everything they could out of this storyline until the very end, but Robin Charles was wasted this season. And what is it with Connor, that he keeps dating coworkers for a season before they leave him? He’d better not start flirting with Ava next week.

3) Will Reese learn anything?

The big drama in “Ties That Bind” was Reese getting suspended for macing a patient. (In fact, it’s kind of awkward that Med chose to end the episode with Charles and Reese, rather than Charles and Robin.) But what’s actually going to happen with her?

It’d be interesting, story-wise, if Reese actually served her suspension and was MIA for an episode or two. But this is the same season that skipped over most of Charles’ recovery, so we don’t see that happening. Reese will likely be back at work, but will she be any different? Is realizing that she hurt someone the thing that will make her admit she has a problem? Will she have to face any sort of consequences at work?

(And did anyone else think that it was a bit of a cop-out for Reese’s pepper spray to lead to the cure for Choi’s patient? It felt like the show was saying the ends justified her behavior, which then undercut the impact of her making the mistake. If the show’s going to have her be wrong, just let her be wrong and don’t come up with some mitigating circumstance.)

Rachel DiPillo has been wonderful in Chicago Med season 3, but especially since the season didn’t really dig into Charles’ post-shooting mindset after the first two episodes, and didn’t explore much of Robin’s story, it’d be great to live in Reese’s head for a little bit. Send her to therapy, or have her talk to somebody (like Connor?) again, but let’s take advantage of this plot twist if it’s as important as the promos wanted us to believe.

Next: Chicago Med characters' New Year's Resolutions

What did you take away from this week’s Chicago Med? Leave us your thoughts on “Ties That Bind” in the comments.

Chicago Med airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.