Chicago Med season 5, episode 8 recap: Too Close to the Sun
Charles and Choi
Charles is surprised when he finds out that Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) has continued to see her ex-husband Bert (guest star GregAlan Williams). On top of that, Goodwin wants them to double date. But his confusion is about to get a lot worse.
Choi’s latest patient Dennis has brought his girlfriend—and all of his social media followers. His girlfriend is live streaming his entire life, and Dennis has to ask his many followers to vote before he even decides to get treatment. When the followers vote “no,” he tries to leave the ED, even though he’s clearly hurting from “a ton of discount sushi.”
Annoyed but not willing to leave a patient in distress, Choi recommends a scan that mercifully, the followers agree to. The scan reveals that Dennis has appendicitis. But again, social media gets in the way, and they overwhelmingly vote against the surgery. Since his patient won’t consent, Choi storms off to find Dr. Charles.
Charles tries to reason with Dennis, but he’s unwilling to give up his social media following, since it’s provided him fame and financial stability. “We can’t lock a patient up just because he wants to be internet famous,” he tells an infuriated Choi.
Chicago Med has Dennis get even worse, but of course he won’t do anything because he’s hit a million followers and can get people to give him money. Charles tries to appeal to his girlfriend instead, by pointing out that if he dies, then that would put a major crimp in their plans. His girlfriend is convinced their followers are their friends, though, so Charles and Choi have a new idea: push him to the roof and see if they’ll vote to have him commit suicide.
They vote “yes” proving that they don’t actually care what happens to him. A shocked Dennis refuses to kill himself, so even as his social media following deserts him, he finally consents to surgery. While Dennis makes a full recovery, Goodwin wants to know what Charles was thinking, because now he’s got a viral video.
The two of them meet for drinks with Bert, as Caroline “wasn’t up to” joining them, which seems like a very big hint that Chicago Med is about to make Charles unhappy, too.