When Chicago Med season 11 opened, it was quickly revealed that Dean was the father of Hannah’s baby. This news was revealed literally within the first 60 seconds of the season, and everyone immediately accepted it and moved on. However, I’ve not been able to shake the feeling that perhaps this is a misdirect and that we’re eventually going to learn Dean isn’t the father of the baby.
My theory began when the writers included a scene in the premiere in which Ripley asked Hannah how far along she was upon learning the baby’s father was Dean’s. Rather than giving a direct answer, Hannah simply noted that she and Ripley had already broken up. It felt like an interesting choice to have him phrase the question so directly, only for Hannah to not give a direct answer. To me, the moment seemed to be a subtle way of foreshadowing that perhaps Hannah would learn she was further along than expected sometime down the line, meaning that Ripley could be the father.
Then came the decision to really push Ripley into this new relationship with Sadie. While the relationship was teased when she showed up on his doorstep in the season finale, the pair really went from zero to 100 in the blink of an eye. The show spent a good deal of time in the first episodes of the season building up the pair, only to break them up at the end of episode 6, just before the fall finale.
In episode 6, Sadie broke things off with Ripley, telling him that he wasn’t in love with her in the way he thought he was, and ending their relationship to protect her daughter from growing further attached. The breakup suddenly frees Ripley up once again, but it’s the catalyst of the breakup that really has us buying into our theory about Ripley ending up being the father of Hannah’s baby in the end.
While there were many reasons Sadie broke things up, the timing came after her daughter called Ripley daddy. Now, let’s take into consideration the fact that just a few episodes prior, Chicago Med’s writers made a big deal about Natalie’s son calling Will dad for the first time; this after Will has been in his life for literally years. Then we just randomly have Emelia calling Ripley daddy after just a few months (weeks?) of him dating her mom? The moment felt off, but what if it was another way for the show to subtly foreshadow that Ripley is about to become a father?
It could be nothing at all and just my own delusions in wanting the baby to be Ripley’s and for him and Hannah to still be endgame on the show; however, it just seems like the writers are building toward a bigger reveal and that the signs have been in front of us this entire time.
Even the timing of Ripley’s breakup coming after Hannah had a sweet conversation with Sadie, talking Ripley up for the amazing guy he is. That conversation made us think Hannah might not be as over Ripley as she’s let on, and now that Ripley and Sadie are broken up, the path has been cleared for a potential reunion between Ripley and Hannah. What better catalyst for this than for the pair to find out Ripley is the father?
Allow me to wrap things with another theory for how this could come out.
What if the episode in which Hannah and Dean got into an argument over doing further tests at that appointment in episode 5 were foreshadowing that something will be wrong with Hannah’s baby and perhaps they’re going to need to take actions that will result in the pair learning Dean is not the father?
Perhaps further testing reveal the baby has a genetic disorder or immune deficiency that could be treated in utero, and when they test Dean for donor compatibility they find he’s not a genetic match? Maybe they find that the baby needs to have a transfusion due to a severe form of anemia or Rh incompatibility, and we learn that Dean’s blood type doesn’t match the baby’s? Or maybe they proceed with simply getting more routine prenatal screenings and one reveals a genetic mutation inherited from a parent, only to discover that neither Hannah nor Dean carry it, suggesting the gene couldn’t have come from Dean and therefore he’s not the father.
The introduction of the storyline about the genetic markers in episode 5 was dropped too quickly and clearly introduced for a reason. What if it was one of many little moments the show has been working into the story as a way to foreshadow Hannah’s baby is actually Ripley’s?
Time will tell, but it certainly seems like the show is dropping clues to hint Dean might not actually be the father.