Chicago Med season 5 midseason report: Natalie Manning

What it means

Drama follows Natalie Manning everywhere, and Chicago Med season 5 was no exception. One has to wonder when fans will ask to get off the rollercoaster that is Natalie’s constant up, down, back and forth.

The show missed a golden opportunity to really explore the effects of traumatic brain injury by skipping ahead past the bulk of her challenges in that respect. Sure, we saw her make one huge mistake, but the show essentially gave her a mulligan on that by having her mis-diagnosis also be what led to the proper outcome. It didn’t let her completely fail, and we didn’t get to see a lot of her struggle, both professionally and emotionally. We never felt like we were seeing a vulnerable side of Natalie.

Instead, she was as stubborn as usual. And the Phillip storyline was just as cringe-inducing as the Ava Bekker (Norma Kuhling) storyline from last season. Granted, the Phillip thing was weird from the start given the death of his wife, but the show turned him into another full-blown sociopath. It probably came off a little worse because it was right after Ava’s heel turn, but it just felt like it was way over the top for a medical drama.

The surprise was that Chicago Med didn’t give us another Manstead reunion. We’ve seen these two break up and get back together so many times, and the act is getting old. It was time for one of them to say no, especially since Will had to feel like a consolation prize with how much he’s had to chase her over the seasons. The question is, are they actually going to stay broken up or will he end up running back to her by the time season 5 ends?