Chicago Med season 4 midseason report: Will Halstead

What it means

Will Halstead’s story arc has dominated this Chicago Med season so far, because there’s two parts to it: the wedding part and the gangster part. Each of the first nine episodes had to include scenes to keep both portions moving, so if you were a Will fan or a Manstead fan, you really got your fix in the front nine.

The problem, though, was the same problem that happened with Charles’ storyline last season. It just didn’t quite fit. Yes, there was a medical angle with Will’s desire to do well by Ray Price as one of his patients—so it was better than the Robert Haywood plot in that sense because it felt more relevant to Will’s day job. (Robert had a heart transplant, but Charles didn’t have to actually do any of that stuff himself.)

But One Chicago fans who wanted to watch undercover investigations could just wait two more hours for Chicago PD. This storyline was 70 percent a cop plotline, and it would have fit tonally a lot better there. Imagine if it had been Will guest-starring on Chicago PD with Jay having to run this task force and worry about what it was doing to his brother? And that would’ve also given Jay more to do than just get shot.

All the writing concerns aside, the season so far has been fantastic for Nick Gehlfuss. The worse that things get for characters, the better the material usually is for actors, and Nick has done a lot this season. He’s had to plan a wedding, mourn a parent, and attempt surgery with a power drill. You couldn’t ask an actor to do much more and he should be applauded for how well he’s carried off this hectic plotline.