Chicago Med season 4 midseason report: Ava Bekker

What it means

Now that fans have had a season to adjust to Ava Bekker, it still feels like she’s the one character Chicago Med hasn’t fully tapped into. The writing for her has followed some pretty straightforward lines, with so much left unexplored.

It feels like everything about her is related to her romance with Connor. Case in point: the opening episode, with her going to Cornelius, was something she did for him—but instead of just saying it was because she believed in his idea and thought it was best for the hospital, the writing made it sound like she did it so that she didn’t lose him.

It wouldn’t have been any less romantic if Ava had simply said she believed in Connor enough to go out on that limb, but the script had to emphasize the romance aspect. And that’s somewhat par for the course with her right now; most of what she’s given has been hiding from Connor, helping Connor, or now being Connor’s girlfriend.

There’s so much more to learn about Ava and it feels like there’s so much more we haven’t seen from Norma Kuhling. The two could’ve had a huge, blow-out fight that would’ve been a fantastic piece of acting; instead the script again leaned into the romance and had Ava do a noble thing that made Connor forget everything else and just kiss her.

Ava should be allowed to make mistakes and face the consequences. She hasn’t since she was introduced onto the show, and she’s a strong enough character that she can handle it. She needs to be fleshed out more. She can disagree with Connor and still be dating him. She can work with other characters for more than a scene or two.

Norma Kuhling has fit into the ensemble much better than she first did when introduced at the end of season two, but Ava hasn’t gotten the writing she deserves to unlock what could be a really good character.