Chicago Med season 3, episode 17 takeaways: The Parent Trap

Did Chicago Med make fathers look terrible this week? Should it have had a different ending? Here are our Chicago Med season 3, episode 17 takeaways.

Last night’s Chicago Med was an eye-opener, but in the sense that we can’t believe what we just saw, so it’s time to talk about it!

Tuesday’s episode was called “The Parent Trap” and while Dr. Sarah Reese’s (Rachel DiPillo) dad made it, Dr. Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell) found out his father was way too interested in his ex Dr. Ava Bekker (Norma Kuhling). And things just got more uncomfortable from there.

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 “The Parent Trap” recap.

Here are our Chicago Med season 3, episode 17 takeaways:

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1) Connor’s dad is officially creepy

Was anyone else as disturbed by the behavior of Cornelius Rhodes (guest star D.W. Moffett) as we were in this Chicago Med episode? Not only did it make us dislike Cornelius more, but the whole subplot was incredibly uncomfortable.

We already know that Cornelius is a jerk. That is well-established. But to have him hit on Ava was not only inappropriate professionally, not only weird considering the age difference between them, but a new level of jerkdom when he also admitted he didn’t care how Connor took it.

It was even weirder for Chicago Med fans, because at least Cornelius didn’t know that Ava and Connor had previously been together. We found ourselves unable to not think that Cornelius was hitting on someone that his son had slept with.

The whole concept was just so painfully wrong. Cornelius Rhodes is a piece of work (this is the guy who probably drove his wife to suicide), but he’s never been portrayed as a creep. Chicago Med could have just as easily come up with some random character to make a pass at Ava and come up with the same result, instead of making our skin crawl.

And then for this to be the thing that makes Connor jealous and prompts him to tell Ava he still has an interest in her? There’s no context to this. First of all, he deserved to be a lot more weirded out by his dad’s interest than just a few snarky comments.

But also, that’s what gets him to change his mind about Ava? We don’t understand why. All he’s done with Ava recently is fight and watch her cry. So what’s made him jealous, regardless of who it was hitting on her?

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2) Reese’s dad should have died

It sounds morbid, but we’re convinced that “The Parent Trap” should have ended with Robert (guest star Michel Gill) passing away, rather than being in recovery. The character proved in this episode that he makes no positive contribution to Chicago Med, and yet his storyline is going to be dragged out for at least one more episode.

In “The Parent Trap,” Robert was snarky as heck with Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt) and more than terrible to his daughter, openly taunting her and suggesting she could have a personality disorder. His behavior was enough to make us almost change the channel. But the show sees more in the character than we do.

Not only did he make it, but it’s a little vague as to whether or not Reese was lying when she told Connor he was okay for the heart transplant. At least we weren’t convinced when she said it.

And hey, is anyone else bummed that there wasn’t a scene between Reese and Connor talking about their rude fathers? When she walked into him after her father verbally attacked her, we were thinking Connor could’ve helped that situation, either with Reese confiding in him or him having overheard something. It was a disappointment that neither happened, because he was the perfect character for that moment.

3) Is Goodwin about to be fired?

We’ve talked about this for months, but this week’s Chicago Med officially put Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) on notice when hospital attorney Peter Kalmick (Marc Grapey) warned her the board would fire her if she kept challenging them.

It feels likely that they will, too; she’s had a lot of negative happenings this season, including lawsuits and ticking off donors, and more notably, we’re getting to the end of the season—where firing Goodwin would be the kind of major twist that this franchise loves to end on.

But if Goodwin gets fired, who would replace her? Unless it happens in the season finale and she’s somehow back in her job by the next season premiere (because we’re hoping for a season 4!) no one we currently know seems qualified to fill her shoes.

Possibly Maggie Lockwood (Marlyne Barrett), but running an ED and running a hospital are two different things. Unless Chicago Med casts a recurring player to be the temp administrator, like how Fire has had temp Chiefs come in on occasion, but the success of that would entirely depend on casting. The idea makes sense, but how will it play out?

Next: Chicago Med's 5 most stressed characters

What did you take away from this week’s Chicago Med episode? Let us know your thoughts about “The Parent Trap” in the comments.

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