Chicago Med season 11, episode 19, “Exit Strategies,” was quite an eventful episode, juggling four key storylines between Frost and Hannah confronting their respective pasts, Charles and Theo entering a power struggle, and Ripley finally piecing together the secret that Lenox has been hiding.
The episode did a brilliant job of weaving the narratives together in a way that made each storyline feel equally handled with care and balanced the plotlines in a way that allowed for meaningful character development without letting any one arc overshadow the others. It was honestly one of the show’s strongest episodes this season, as it did a brilliant job of pushing these ongoing storylines forward and setting up the final two episodes of the season.
And yet, as strong as the episode was, it turns out there was an additional moment that never made it into the final cut. This scene is one that only came to light after the episode was released and is a scene we can’t stop thinking about now that we know it landed on the cutting room floor.
The scene in question, which has been released across the One Chicago social media accounts, features Naomi and Frost and would have helped to bridge the narrative of the pair’s storyline in the episode.
Early in the episode, Frost is preparing to head out to meet with the producer of the Nick of Time reboot and admits to Naomi that he’s not really excited to be returning to acting for the reboot. He’s only doing the reboot out of a sense of obligation to help his parents, as this is the only way he can make the money needed for his father’s expensive medical treatments. After he heads out for that lunch, we never see Naomi and Frost cross paths in the rest of the episode; however, it seems that wasn’t always the case.
In the deleted scene released by NBC, Naomi drops by Frost’s place later in the day after her shift. As the scene opens, Frost is lying in bed watching an old episode of Nick of Time in which Ainsley’s character tells Frost’s character on the show she loves him and that she would always pick him over any job. That’s when he hears a knock at the door, and Naomi enters.
It doesn’t take her long to recognize that something is up as he asks if they can hang out tomorrow. Naomi sits down beside Frost on the bed and asks him if something happened at lunch today and nudges him to open up, which it looks like he’s about to do before the scene abruptly ends.
The scene was brief, and there’s no telling where the conversation might have led, but it’s truly a shame that this scene was cut from the final episode. It would have done an incredible job of bringing the story back to Frost and Naomi and allowed him the chance to open up to her, thus strengthening their relationship even further.
We almost wish we didn’t know this scene existed, as knowing it was cut from the final episode certainly has us disappointed.
Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to see Naomi and Frost have a conversation about what happened at the lunch and the revelation that his father knew about his relationship with Ainsley and did nothing to step in and protect him when he was younger. We really love how vulnerable Frost is with Naomi, and we hope the show continues that trend with the characters by allowing Frost to open up to her and for Naomi to be there for him as he sorts through this painful realization.
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