Chicago Med season 3 by character: Natalie Manning

How was Chicago Med season 3 for your favorite character? In this retrospective profile, we look at how Chicago Med treated Natalie Manning 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 pediatric specialist Dr. Natalie Manning, played by Torrey DeVitto.

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MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS:

Chicago Med season 3 was the season of Manstead, so it’s no surprise that most of what happened with Natalie was in some way connected to her romantic life.

That didn’t feel as one-dimensional as it could have under other circumstances; given how long it took the show to get Natalie and Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) together, it needed to spend some time making that worth the wait, and showing the fans where Manstead was going to go.

Did it pay off? It’s likely a matter of perception. They had their share of happy moments, and the season ended with a marriage proposal, but they also took a “break” that involved Will kissing another woman while drunk—which was prompted by a separate argument about their professional vs personal boundaries.

At least we got to see Owen again, because Natalie being a mom is always worth the watch!

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ANALYSIS:

As mentioned above, the emphasis on Manstead in Natalie’s character arc made more sense than it did for other characters, such as April. The show had been making audiences wait for (and invest in) that relationship for two whole seasons, so in finally getting to it, it needed to provide a decent helping of Manstead content.

But Natalie’s arc also suffered from what’s becoming a common affliction across the entire One Chicago franchise: relationship drama created for drama’s sake, that doesn’t necessarily fit with the relationship or the characters involved. Having her get angry at Will for protecting her made sense; he does that a lot, and it’s more obvious now that he’s her supervisor.

Having her then say he wouldn’t do the same thing for her male colleagues, and especially then having Will get drunk and make out with another woman? Not so much.

Natalie seemed to be either angry or frustrated in many episodes during the second half of the season, and so it felt like we didn’t get a great feel for what this relationship would really be like. Maybe that’s something we’ll see next season, if she says yes to Will’s proposal.

PROGNOSIS:

Where Natalie Manning goes in Chicago Med season 4 is obviously dictated by whether or not she gets engaged, so it’s harder to predict her future than other characters. An engagement for Natalie is about more than her current ship; it’d be the last step in moving on from her late husband, who was such a major part of her story when she started the series. And then what comes next?

Professionally, Natalie being the only pediatric doctor in the main cast limits what kinds of cases we get to see her work on. But it’d be good, too, if we eased off on the stories where Natalie gets upset about a choice and does something to circumvent it—we’ve seen a lot of that headstrong, opinionated Natalie over three seasons. What about exploring other facets of her career?

And as always, we need more Owen. We saw more of him this season than last, but there’s still not enough of Natalie the mother—which should be a major part of who she is.

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