Chicago Med season 1, episode 5 rewatch: Malignant
Look back at where Chicago Med began this summer. Read our retrospective on the fifth episode as we rewatch Chicago Med season 1, episode 5.
Over the One Chicago summer break, we’re looking back at where it all began by rewatching the first seasons of our shows—and today we’re revisiting Chicago Med season 1, episode 5.
If you want to rewatch this episode along with us, you can find Chicago Med season 1 on iTunes and DVD.
The fifth episode, “Malignant,” was the show’s first episode of 2016. It was also its first official crossover, as One Chicago engineered a three-hour crossover that started on Chicago Fire, went through Chicago Med and concluded on Chicago PD.
How did it manage that? Well, this was the episode where Chicago Fire‘s Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) clung to life after being stabbed on his show.
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That storyline set up tension between the first One Chicago show and its new sibling. Dr. Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell) was responsible for Herrmann’s treatment, but found himself second-guessed by the Firehouse 51 crew, particularly Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney).
“Malignant” is interesting for that cross-show conflict, which we haven’t seen as much of in the later seasons. One Chicago is a family and that’s why we love it, but we’ve also seen that a healthy dose of disagreement makes for some great episodes.
Not to say that there haven’t been arguments between characters since, but “Malignant” shows how they can be done well and contribute to the story.
And that Connor holds his own with Severide helps establish him as a character with a real backbone; remember at this point we’ve only started to get to know him. Between this and his family drama in “Fallback” he’s proven his toughness.
Of course, what’s going to carry the crossover onto Chicago PD? Well, that comes in the B-story, as the Intelligence Unit is called in to look at another patient in the hospital and determine if she was the target of a murder attempt or not. It’s not a spoiler to say her case ends up being much bigger (because if it wasn’t we wouldn’t need the third part of the crossover!)
This is a packed episode, with eleven different guest stars from PD and Chicago Fire alone. As you can imagine, they don’t all get a lot of screen time. That’s the one criticism of “Malignant” when it is watched a second time. Because it’s the episode in the middle, it has to answer plot points from the first part and set up story for the third part—a lot of plot, a lot of characters, and as such there isn’t a ton of time to develop everything.
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But Herrmann’s fate gives the episode a major hook, and Donnell, Taylor Kinney and guest star Julie Berman are all in fine form. This episode shows what Chicago Med can contribute to the One Chicago crossovers. Watch it again on iTunes and DVD.
Next: Where can you watch Chicago Med this month?
Join us every Tuesday this summer for our Chicago Med season 1 review. For more Chicago Med related news, follow the Chicago Med category at One Chicago Center.