Chicago Med season 4, episode 4 recap: Backed Against The Wall

Chicago Med turned things slightly dark and depressing this week. Here’s what happened in Chicago Med season 4, episode 4.

Of the three One Chicago shows, Chicago Med is the most likely to be more upbeat. That wasn’t the case with this week’s episode, though.

“Backed Against The Wall” begins like another Rocky movie, with Dr. Ethan Choi (Brian Tee) having his morning workout interrupted by his sister Emily (recurring guest star Arden Cho). She wants to have him meet her baby’s father Bernie.

Choi is not enthused. Meanwhile, the rest of us take one look at him and realize that Brian Tee is probably able to beat all of us up.

Dr. Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto) is already at the hospital, treating both a woman and her son who have been injured when Mom collapsed. But wait, what’s that odd rash on Linda’s stomach?

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She meets with Linda’s brother, stating the obvious: that the exterior signs are symptoms of an internal problem.

Choi arrives at work and finds out that April Sexton (Yaya DaCosta) has also been invited to the meet and greet. He also meets Bernie, who is not at all the bad guy Choi thought he would be. He’s giving out hugs.

After talking to Bernie—which we don’t get to see for some reason—Choi remains unconvinced. The man is 20 years older than his sister, and he’s still sure that Bernie will take off and leave Emily holding the bag (or the baby).

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Downstairs, Dr. Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell) is equally happy showing off his new hybrid OR to the press. He’s like a kid in a toy store, and when he says he’d “sing and dance if you wanted,” we kind of want him to. But alas, Chicago Med has yet to tap into that part of Colin’s talents.

Instead, it shifts to Choi walking into a treatment room, where a woman is not giving Terry McNeal (recurring guest star Colby Lewis) the time of day. Terry takes it in stride, though. He’s heard worse during his football career.

And um, it’s not good that Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) has shown up to talk to Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss). Not only is Voight repeating the warning Will already got, but did he have to do it in the middle of the day, where everyone can see him there and will ask about it? Plus, this:

"Voight: You can still get ahead of this. You can make it go away…Become a CI for the task force."

Will declines, which Voight warns him is the “wrong answer.” His fiancee has to tell Linda that she has a form of leukemia, and her best option is a stem cell transplant—which naturally means the audience looks at her brother. He has to help, right? Well, not so much.

Within apparent minutes of meeting with Voight, Will is declining his phone call while trying to find out what his patient has, and Terry is reading his own patient her test results. She says she’s a lawyer and she’s kind of a backseat doctor. She demands a prescription, which makes her look like a drug addict, too.

Chicago Med hasn’t forgotten about Connor. He still has a patient to treat no matter how busy he is, and Maggie Lockwood (Marlyne Barrett) makes the snap decision to join his surgical team for the procedure, leaving April in charge of the ED. But will it be a permanent move? And why is the 19-year-old patient having a heart attack on the table?

Will lies to Natalie about meeting Voight—saying the cop was looking for medical advice—before finding out from Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) that Linda isn’t a U.S. citizen. That makes her this week’s “patient who has a bureaucratic problem.” Goodwin says the brother is Linda’s only hope.

Natalie breaks the news to Linda’s husband and brother. Despite her saying donation is a “simple procedure,” the brother isn’t interested. That obviously doesn’t go over well with her husband, and Chicago Med has yet another physical confrontation in the ED.

But why? The episode doesn’t take long to reveal the answer. The brother and his own pregnant wife are also illegal immigrants, and he believes that being entered into the donation registry will get them both deported back to El Salvador. Look at Chicago Med being topical!

"Manny: They take people from work. From home. They separate families. I might never see my wife again. Meet our child."

He changes his mind, though, a few scenes later. Elsewhere, Will continues to stare at his phone before getting his patient’s test results courtesy of Elsa Curry (recurring guest star Molly Bernard). He doesn’t want to have his patient’s ovaries removed, so he tells her to run the tests again.

Choi and Terry ask Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt) for tips on what to do about their patient, and realize she gave them a fake name to cover up her history. Like we’ve said before, he’s got a future as a private detective.

And look who’s helping Connor—it’s Dr. Ava Bekker (Norma Kuhling)! That was kind of to be expected considering the whole drama Chicago Med season 4 set up with him telling her to get out before. Plus, she’s the only character who hasn’t had anything to do yet this episode. And then they argue:

"Ava: This is my OR, Dr. Rhodes. You can assist or you can leave. What’ll it be?"

When Terry and Choi refuse to give their lawyer her pills, she not only launches into a racist tirade about how Manny shouldn’t “come before me” because he’s Mexican (not that he is) but threatens a lawsuit (of course she does).

Props to Choi for not slapping her, but this cringe-worthy scene may make him see how Emily and Bernie must feel when he’s being so hard on them.

Will confronts his brother Jay (Jesse Lee Soffer) about not protecting him enough, and Jay retorts that Will can’t just simply get another wedding venue and walk away now that the FBI have taken notice of him. His brother literally says “screw you” and leaves, which solves nothing. But it does mean he’s back in the next scene so he can admit both of his patient’s ovaries have to come out to save her life.

Natalie apologizes to Manny on behalf of the entire country, before Chicago Med conveniently has ICE agents turn up in the parking lot seconds later to arrest him. Yep, the lawyer complained to the new ED chief, who went to Gwen Garrett (recurring guest star Heather Headley), who let him get taken away.

"Gwen: My duty is to protect this hospital, not to pick fights with the feds. I am sorry."

We’re not sure she is. News of Manny’s arrest has filtered through the hospital, and Terry speaks for all of us when he says the wrong person ended up in handcuffs. Natalie then has to once again break Linda’s heart, but hey, Goodwin knows a few immigration lawyers! That…isn’t going to help much.

While Elsa kind of tries to console Will, it’s Ava’s turn to apologize to Connor for snapping at him this time, and Bernie still wants to hang out with Choi. Chicago Med ends with Bernie apologizing to Choi, saying he knows he’s made mistakes but that he’s committed to his sobriety and his new fatherhood. He really seems to mean well, so we really hope that Ethan’s got this wrong.

And speaking of wrong answers, Will has rethought his—he’s going to become an informant for the task force! Wait, is this Chicago Med or Chicago PD? But here we are.

Next. Where will Chicago Med season 4 take Natalie?. dark

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