Chicago Med season 3, episode 10 recap: Down By Law

Chicago Med’s medicine and law collide with harsh results in Tuesday’s episode. Here’s what happened in Chicago Med season 3, episode 10.

Chicago Med returned from hiatus on Tuesday with an episode that juggled medicine, legalities and personal problems—things that some characters handled better than others.

Season 3, Episode 10 is called “Down By Law” and begins with Dr. Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto) helping an injured cheerleader. But as she’s giving Maggie’s ex Barry tips about what to get her for a birthday gift, the duo witness a drive-by shooting.

They spring into action to help the teenage victim, yet Natalie hits her head on a car door when Barry has to shove her down from more flying bullets. Not only that, but he’s shooting back. As Ron Burgundy would say, that escalated quickly.

They make it back to Chicago Med, where everyone is freaked out by this turn of events. Except for Natalie, who insists to Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) that she’s fine. Which is usually the biggest sign that someone is not fine.

More from One Chicago Center

Luckily, here’s Alvin Olinsky (Elias Koteas) from Chicago PD for some help! Maybe. He’s quickly on scene to investigate the shooting, while we get a Manstead moment as Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) asks Natalie what she was thinking.

"Natalie: I was thinking that there was a patient in need."

That’s all serious stuff, so here comes some hilarity. Dr. Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell) brings his one night stand into the hospital, and has to admit that she’s his one-night stand. As huge fans of Connor Rhodes, we should not be laughing at this, but we’re laughing at this.

So is Dr. Ava Bekker (Norma Kuhling). And for once, we’re totally on her side. Because a check of the woman’s ID reveals that she’s married. Connor is not thrilled to learn this information, as he wouldn’t have slept with her otherwise. He thinks. Maybe. Where is your backbone, Connor? We know it’s in there.

But when it comes out that his one-night stand may have had a heart attack, he can’t get rid of her just yet. And the hole gets deeper when we learn that the woman had cocaine in her system. So however this resolves itself, it’s going to be embarrassing for Dr. Rhodes.

Will wants to send Natalie home, but it’s a good thing he doesn’t because Reverend Cray (Jay O. Sanders) comes into the hospital with a young woman in severe pain. Everyone assumes that Lindsay is his daughter, but he explains the 14-year-old is his wife. Okay, that’s worse than the cocaine.

(By the way, if you’re a frequent NBC viewer, you’ll recognize Jay O. Sanders as Bill Weller, the father of Kurt Weller and killer of Taylor Shaw, from Blindspot. So he plays a guy who accidentally killed a child in one show, and then has a child bride on the other show.)

Time to bring in Goodwin, who is as horrified as everyone else is, but the hospital lawyer tells the room that they have to respect Michigan law and the creepy marriage. “Distasteful” doesn’t cover it.

This prompts Will to try and send Natalie home again, if she really doesn’t think that she can be part of the case. And again, she wants no part of this. We can hear the trainwreck coming down the track.

Watch One Chicago on fuboTV: Watch over 67 live sports and entertainment channels with a 7-day FREE trial!

This is where Chicago Med brings in our psych case of the week, with a man trying to commit himself because he thinks he’s going to kill his wife. His wife, who’s standing right next to him.

And speaking of wives, Connor’s fling needs heart surgery and there’s only three people who can do that. One of whom finds out he’s just the latest guy she’s cheated on her husband with, and then learns he’s being booted off the surgery because of how it would look if it goes wrong. He’s sent to his room—er, we mean the ED.

Natalie tells Lindsay that they’ve found a tumor. She has cancer. But Cray thinks she’s “scheming” to keep his wife from being able to have another baby, and tells her that all they want is for her to discharge the patient.

That will not fly with Dr. Natalie Manning.

Downstairs, things go from bad to okay to worse for Barry, who shares a tender moment with Maggie Lockwood (Marlyne Barrett) as they are indeed back together. But then a newly arrived Connor teams up with Dr. Ethan Choi (Brian Tee) and April Sexton (Yaya DaCosta) to treat a new gunshot victim, and you guessed it, this is an innocent bystander that Barry shot.

Connor “MacGyver” Rhodes works on saving the dude with a zip tie and a needle, before he’s set upon by an Assistant State’s Attorney who wants Barry’s bullet for evidence. It’s unfortunate that Monica Barbaro wasn’t available for another scene as Anna Valdez.

Speaking of legalities, Natalie tries to empower Lindsay to speak for herself, only to be physically accosted by Cray, causing the two of them to have a shouting match outside her room that ends with him calling her the B-word. Here comes Goodwin, who throws Natalie off the case and puts Will in.

"Goodwin: Dr. Halstead will be primary until the patient can be discharged."

Natalie’s resulting meltdown prompts her to pass out, thanks to the concussion she suffered from the thwack to the head earlier. When she comes to, she’s calmer but still despondent, but then we have Will telling her “It’s not too late.” As in, he’s going to play along until he can change Lindsay’s mind, since he’s now the one in charge of her care. We see what you did there, Dr. Halstead.

Lindsay tells Will that there’s a history of cancer in her family, and demands a hysterectomy, as she doesn’t want to bring a kid “into this world” ever. While we get gut-punched by that, Barry gets arrested, even though the shooting victim will recover.

We haven’t checked in with the psych team for a bit, so here’s Dr. Sarah Reese (Rachel DiPillo) as she finds a way to get through to Ben the apparently homicidal guy. She has put a knife in front of him, and locked the door. Needless to say, this draws a crowd, including a dumbfounded Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt).

In the episode’s final act, Chicago Med picks up with Reese telling Ben that because he can’t stab her, he has a conscience. And Dr. Charles telling Reese that she’s “reckless and insubordinate” and not “all-knowing and invincible.” This may be the angriest he’s ever been.

Maggie is called into Goodwin’s office, where she’s told that Barry “changed his identity at some point because of a juvenile record,” which was uncovered when Olinsky looked into his permit to carry his firearm. That’s right, Barry is not her ex-husband’s real name. Okay, that takes the case for surprise of the week, especially as he’s about to be criminally charged for it.

Something good has to come out of this episode, right? Wait for it, as Will gets to show Cray the signed consent form for Lindsay’s procedure. We’re just disappointed that he doesn’t hit the other man with the tablet when he does it.

"Will: You have two seconds to step aside, Mr. Cray, or I will have you forcibly removed from the premises."

While we all gloat a little bit, Connor can’t stop himself from checking up on his fling, who’s gone through her surgery just fine. Her husband is there, too, though that doesn’t stop her from side-eyeing Connor through the hospital room door and the husband from giving Connor the world’s most awkward thank-you hug, Hey, Connor, the next time you need something to do, go play a board game or something. We hear Monopoly is fun.

Will breaks the news about Lindsay to Natalie, who is more understanding than he expects. She thinks Lindsay is tough and will get through it. While Reese thinks on what she’s done, Connor’s checked out of the hospital—and gets hit on by the Assistant State’s Attorney. The one that met him for two seconds. He has learned nothing, and we beat our heads into the proverbial wall.

“Down By Law” is a satisfying return for Chicago Med because it delivers pretty much everything we’ve come to expect from the show. It’s not a perfect episode, but it does remind us of what we love about this series, and dangles a couple of ideas in front of us for later episodes.

Here’s Natalie knowing she’s right and doing anything to convince everyone else of that, and her getting righteously indignant about something that’s absolutely worth being indignant about. It has sometimes been frustrating when Natalie is stubborn, particularly when it blinds her to other points of view, but there’s no doubt in “Down By Law” that she’s right and she’s the right person to handle this story. We want someone to give Reverend Cray the what-for, and that someone is absolutely Natalie.

The subplot with Connor is supposed to be funny to an extent, and it is, thanks once again to Colin Donnell’s spot-on facial expressions (it’s unbelievable how well he can react to things) as well as a perfect use for Norma Kuhling. Ava’s snarky humor has been ill-placed at times, as the show leans so much into it, but for this B-story it fits right in and she runs with it.

And there is actually a great point here about how Connor can’t operate because of liability issues. It’s not touched on beyond a mention, but it’s neat that Chicago Med works that in.

Next: Read our interview with Chicago Med's Nick Gehlfuss

What did you think of this week’s Chicago Med episode? Leave your reaction to “Down By Law” in the comments.

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

Home/Chicago Med