Chicago Med season 3 by character: Daniel Charles

How was Chicago Med season 3 for your favorite character? In this retrospective profile, we look at how Chicago Med treated Daniel Charles this season.

As we continue to look back on Chicago Med season 3, we’re breaking down the season for each of the show’s characters.

Did your favorite character have a good season or a bad season? What were their strong points and were there any weaknesses? Was the character affected by the show’s writing, or vice versa? Where could they go from here?

Check out our detailed character breakdown, and let us know your thoughts on how this season was for each character in the comments.

In this profile, we’re looking at Chicago Med‘s lead psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Charles, played by Oliver Platt.

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MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS:

The big news for Dr. Daniel Charles was that he survived being shot at the end of the season 2 finale. He then had to testify at the trial of his shooter, and took some flak for what he said on the stand.

Charles also saw his daughter Robin (recurring guest star Mekia Cox) leave Chicago after her health issues continued to make her doubt herself.

But most of his season was taken over by the arrival of Robert Haywood (recurring guest star Michel Gill), who turned to Charles for medical help while trying to manipulate Robert’s estranged daughter Dr. Sarah Reese (Rachel DiPillo).

Charles ended his season on another cliffhanger, as Reese caught him by what appeared to be Robert’s dead or at least severely ill body.

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ANALYSIS:

Oliver Platt is always a fantastic actor—there’s a reason he’s been critically acclaimed. But as far as Dr. Charles’ season went, the writing let him down to a certain extent, choosing the dramatic over what would have been more meaningful and memorable.

It would have been amazing to see how Charles recovered from the shooting; however, NBC‘s decision to move Chicago Med season 3 to midseason meant the show had to institute a time jump that prevented that.

So we didn’t get to see Charles’ recovery, and we didn’t even get to see much of him trying to help Robin, even though her storyline got so serious that she decided to leave town. The show’s choice to essentially push Robin aside also impacted Charles in that we didn’t get to explore their story further, when they both could have leaned on each other.

And did it strike anyone else as weird that, though Charles was the one who was shot, it was Reese who wound up with a form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? It feels like it would have been more relevant, and even stronger, if Charles had the PTSD diagnosis and perhaps Reese had to step up and help him.

Instead, Charles’ story was largely taken over by Reese’s story, and him trying to battle her dad. While Platt delivered as usual, there was so much that got passed over with his character, and we may regret that in future.

PROGNOSIS:

With so much left untapped regarding Dr. Charles in the third season, Chicago Med season 4 has some making up to do. Firstly, the show needs to reveal the fate of Robert Haywood—and then move past that so it can find a story for Charles that’s about him, and not him as a part of another character’s arc.

It would be fantastic to see him branch out with a storyline beyond Reese. While the two are always going to be linked and thrown together more often than not because of their shared work in the hospital, they don’t have to only work together. Look at how much fun and how interesting it was during the second season when Charles was treating Dr. Isidore Latham (Ato Essandoh).

What about another storyline like that? What about Charles being a sounding board for Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) as the hospital goes through its leadership change? Anything is possible, and it’s time for more.

What did you think of Chicago Med season 3 as it relates to Daniel Charles? Let us know how you’d evaluate her season in the comments.

Chicago Med returns to NBC on Sept. 26.