How Chicago Med could have fixed Ava Bekker

Chicago Med is letting go of Dr. Ava Bekker, but it could have kept Norma Kuhling’s character if Chicago Med season 4 had changed these things.

Another One Chicago character leaving this season is Chicago Med‘s Dr. Ava Bekker. Norma Kuhling‘s cardiothoracic surgeon is being written out in the next three episodes, for the same “creative reasons” that the show is getting rid of her ex-boyfriend Dr. Connor Rhodes.

But it didn’t have to be this way. Ava has been a polarizing character since she arrived at the hospital in the season 2 finale, both professionally and personally. But the fourth season has been particularly challenging for her, sending her in some questionable directions.

If Chicago Med had made some different choices over the last season, there would be more to write for Ava Bekker. Norma Kuhling has certainly given her all to the character, and if the writers had fixed just a couple of things, they might not have needed to let her go.

Here are a few aspects of Ava’s season that could have been different:

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4) Given her more backstory

Though Ava’s been a series regular for two seasons on Chicago Med, fans still know very little about her. Fans met her mentor in one episode last season, but audiences haven’t been introduced to anyone else in her life, or learned anything more about who she is outside of the hospital.

Even the most workaholic characters still have to be developed. That’s because the way audiences get to know and love a character is by learning about them, and identifying with their story. Ava’s story remains mostly vague, and with only three episodes left, it seems that it will probably stay that way.

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3) Allowed her to make mistakes

Every time Ava was in the wrong about something, Chicago Med found a way to get her off the hook. For example, when she left a piece of equipment in a patient, she was crying over it and that was enough for a sympathetic Connor (Colin Donnell) to try and take the blame on her behalf.

In an episode this season, she’s played hard and fast with surgery assignments, but Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) hasn’t really disciplined her for essentially doing whatever she wants or thinks is best. And with Ato Essandoh busy doing The Code, we have no idea what her direct boss thinks of most of her behavior.

To err is human, as the saying goes, and the series never let Ava be human. Instead, it felt like the writers were constantly giving her outs—like they wanted viewers to like her so much that they didn’t want to show her in a bad light. But it was actually the other way around: if we’d seen that she could learn from mistakes, or be held accountable for her actions, we would’ve been more sympathetic to her.

2) Not made her story about Connor

Every character should be able to stand on their own, unless they’re a guest star brought in for the express purpose of servicing a story. Especially if it’s a main character, that character deserves the chance to completely develop. Unfortunately, Chicago Med made 95 percent of Ava Bekker’s story about Connor.

Ships are perfectly fine, but the show in general has felt like it’s overly focused on its relationships this season, and both Ava and Connor haven’t gotten as many storylines that are independent of their now ex-relationship or each other.

At least Connor has his issues with his father and trying to run the hybrid OR; Ava’s lack of other family and friends, and the show working more downstairs, has meant almost everything she’s in has been somehow connected to him. Even her ethics problem is because she did something for him, with his dad. If she’d had more storylines with other characters, she’d have had more options going forward.

1) Made less controversial choices

Even if Chicago Med just wanted to focus on Connor and Ava, the biggest reason that Ava’s character ran into a metaphorical wall was the head-scratching, sometimes offensive choices that were made for her.  We discussed it previously here, but the mere suggestion that she might be trading sex for funding was frustrating for a character who’s supposed to be a strong, independent woman. It also felt particularly tone-deaf right now with the increased discussion around sexual harassment and the treatment of women in the workplace.

Her other choices since—perhaps self-injuring for attention, perhaps orchestrating some kind of fake kidnapping—are not only hard to watch but downright outlandish. They’re the kinds of things that TV fans would see in a movie of the week, not on a show like Chicago Med which has been able to tell some relevant, important stories about medicine.

Even if those things turn out to be false, she still looks opportunistic at best, and at least Connor certainly wouldn’t work with her just because of how she’s behaved trying to steal his surgeries or override his opinions. The writers painted her into a corner where there’s no logical way she could stay at the hospital, so it’s no wonder that she won’t be.

For the latest Chicago Med season 4 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago Med category at One Chicago Center.