Chicago Med season 4 midseason report card: What worked, what didn’t?

What’s next

Obviously, the burning questions for Chicago Med fans are where’s Will, and what does him being ushered into protective custody mean for the Manstead ship? Nick Gehlfuss isn’t leaving the show, so Will’s going to be back. And when he does return, he’s going to owe Natalie a big explanation.

But Manstead fans will want to have a little faith. The writers have already invested so much time and effort into this ship that it would be foolish to destroy it now. And unlike, say, Chicago PD, they are kind of locked into it. All the other doctors have their own ships, and we know from the second season that pairing either of them with a recurring character doesn’t go that well.

Elsewhere in the hospital, what should happen is going away from the personal drama and the not medical stories, and back to some hard medicine and hard talks about what it takes to keep things operating. Gwen Garrett has some unfinished business, and having Cornelius Rhodes on the board is too juicy not to do something with. The financial problems aren’t going to away, though it’d be nice if Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) got to do more than just lecture the doctors about them.

All the ships and the heartbreak have been fine, but it’s time to find storylines that don’t always have a ship angle or something that pulls our heroes away from what they do best: save lives and change their own along the way. And how about doing more episodes where the characters work with other partners? After all, mixing things up has worked really well for Dr. Charles!

What did you think of the first half of this Chicago Med season? Give us your thoughts about the first nine episodes in the comments, then tune back in to NBC on Jan. 9 for the winter premiere!