Chicago Med season 3, episode 18 takeaways: This Is Now
Did Chicago Med handle its timely subject well? Is Dr. Choi the smartest person in the room? Here are our Chicago Med season 3, episode 18 takeaways.
Last night’s Chicago Med had its hands full, both in terms of the characters’ challenges and in telling a challenging story.
Tuesday’s episode was called “This Is Now” and involved the hospital put under extreme pressure when a mass shooting resulted in multiple victims needing treatment all at the same time. How did our characters react to the emergency situation? And how did the show handle such a serious topic?
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 “This Is Now” recap.
Here are our Chicago Med season 3, episode 18 takeaways:
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1) A timely episode
Unfortunately, “This Is Now” is a timely episode given the renewed discussion about mass shootings and gun control in America. That put Chicago Med in an odd spot, because while it’s just a TV show, it was dealing with something that would likely be raw or uncomfortable for many viewers.
The show did a solid job in treating the subject with respect, even as it played things pretty safe. There was no serious discussion about anything outside of the medicine, aside from Dr. Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto) exploding when she heard who the shooter actually was.
That’s what also made “This Is Now” not the strongest episode—it didn’t dig into anything. The best episodes of the show have been when it has something to say beyond who lives and who is not so lucky. This episode was almost entirely about the medicine. It skipped over some chances to broaden the discussion.
It took a sensitive subject and handled it with care, which is the most important part when we’re dealing with timely material.
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2) Always suspect the other guy
Chicago Med tried to throw us a curveball by saying the shooter was among the wounded at the hospital, but it really tossed us a fastball right down the middle.
First there was a painfully obvious suspect—a guy looking shifty, hiding in the corner, holding a backpack. He couldn’t have been more obvious if he had been wearing a sign. So naturally, he was not the guy; the real shooter was a soft-spoken dude whom Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt) had been helping with some apparent survivor’s guilt.
Anyone who’s watched enough TV knew how this was going to go. There’s always someone who sticks out like a sore thumb, and 95 percent of the time, it’s then the other guy because the show wants to think it fooled you with the first guy. This is one of those times where being a discerning TV viewer bites you in the butt, because there was no suspense at all.
3) Dr. Choi deserves a promotion
For not the first time, Dr. Ethan Choi (Brian Tee) showed how smart he is and how he can always see the big picture in “This Is Now.” Choi came up with a new way of handling the mass casualty plan that made things a lot easier for the rest of the surgeons, and he did it while being one of the coolest heads in the Emergency Department.
It made us think: whenever he hangs up his scrubs, Choi could be a great hospital administrator someday, because he can balance medicine with the logistics and realities of the situation. If the season does end with needing a new boss, Choi should definitely get the call—sure, he’s still just a surgeon, but he’s one of the smartest minds on the hospital staff and one of its best when it comes to working under pressure.
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What did you take away from this week’s Chicago Med episode? Leave your thoughts on “This Is Now” in the comments.
Chicago Med airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.