Chicago Med season 6 character preview: Natalie Manning

What should happen

Natalie Manning has become Chicago Med‘s most problematic character over the last few seasons. There’s the repeated back and forth between her and Will; they’ve broken up, gotten back together, broken up again, and both had other love interests—usually rushed ones—in the meanwhile.

But there’s also the fact that Natalie has a moral superiority complex. She’s the most likely to get outraged about something that doesn’t go her way. And repeatedly she’s done what she feels is right, regardless of what a patient or their loved one wants or even what the law states. Maybe it’s supposed to show how dedicated she is to her job, but it comes off as her being self-centered and reckless.

So rather than rush her into yet another relationship, season 6 would be a good time for Natalie to just do Natalie. Remember when she broke up with Jeff Clarke (Jeff Hephner) ages ago saying that she needed to focus on herself? She never actually did that. Now, especially coming off of an injury and everything she learned about Phillip, she has all the more reason to re-evaluate her life and take things easy for a bit

Not to mention, she still has a son. The show doesn’t mention Owen much, but he did pop up in the recent past, so he’s still out there.

Natalie has to come back down to Earth and the show needs to explain to us who she is outside of her romantic relationships and whatever trauma happens to her next. There doesn’t seem to be a lot else for her besides those two things, but there should be.