Chicago Med season 4 character review: Sharon Goodwin

What it means

Chicago Med season 4 highlighted how there isn’t a lot of development for Sharon Goodwin. She fills a specific role on the series, and for the most part, she doesn’t deviate from that. She’s always going to be a supporting player, and the show’s content to have her just pop up as necessary when someone else’s storyline needs her.

That works for some characters; remember District Attorney Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) from Law & Order, who was great even though he only appeared in a scene or two per episode? But there was a lot of missed potential with Goodwin. The introduction of Gwen at the end of last season could have been awesome; Merkerson and Heather Headley were so good together. Yet since Gwen was written as just another outside antagonist, that relationship never got fleshed out much.

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Goodwin also wound up being used in a similar fashion. She would show up to slap someone on the wrist or remind them of a rule just to create dramatic tension in a subplot. For example, trying to open up the hybrid OR to patients who didn’t need it, just to keep the hospital profitable. In one way, you could understand it because that might help to make things look better.

But on the other hand, it was frustrating to see her pushing something that was clearly against what Connor was trying to do. It felt like she was prioritizing something other than patient care. So there’s a fine line to walk between Goodwin being an administrator, and making it look like that’s the only thing she cares about.