After a lengthy hiatus over holidays, Chicago Med season 11 returned with a real bang. Leaving Lenox's fate up in the air in the midseason finale kept us breathless for weeks, but the first episode of the new year answered all of our burning questions about her battle with Devon Carter.
In Chicago Med season 11 episode 8, Lenox took it upon herself to check on Faye Carter at home after her abusive husband returned to Gaffney with suspicious injuries. Lenox ends up tied up in the basement with Faye, and when Ripley arrives to make sure Lenox is okay, he also becomes a potential victim of Devon's rapidly panicked mental state.
Thankfully, Lenox and Ripley survive the unfortunate situation, as does Faye. However, when Faye kills her husband, Lenox and Ripley ensure that her motive would be seen as self defense. Tampering with the crime scene gives Lenox and Ripley a shared secret and a new connection they didn't have before. The show's boss revealed the unexpected inspiration behind this pairing.
How Buffy inspired Chicago Med pairing up Lenox and Ripley
In an interview with NBC Insider, Chicago Med showrunner Allen MacDonald shared the polarizing television couple he pulled from when deciding to push Lenox and Ripley together in the midseason premiere. We would have never guessed, but Buffy and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer were the inspiration behind Lenox and Ripley's storylines colliding going forward.
"There was a villain named Spike. And there was an episode where [Buffy] went through a really emotional experience, and at the end of it, she’s talking about it. And the camera pulls out, and she’s talking to Spike. And it was like the least likely person that she would ever confide in. He’s the villain. They’re enemies. But yet she felt like he was the only one she could talk to," MacDonald explained.
Buffy fans know exactly what MacDonald's referring to. For those who haven't watched the iconic supernatural teen drama, Sarah Michelle Gellar's titular hero battles antagonistic vampire Spike (James Marsters) for much of the series. Later on in the show's run, Spike becomes a main character and a love interest for Buffy. The pair share a toxic relationship, which has become not only one of the most polarizing of the show but likely in television history.
You're probably wondering, if the hero fell for the villain, who's the hero and who's the villain between Lenox and Ripley? MacDonald admits that there's isn't a direct comparison to Buffy and Spike's dynamic. Simply put, when Buffy the Vampire Slayer shook up its character dynamics and explored new pairings, interesting things happened. That's the inspiration for Lenox and Ripley.
We're not against a potential Lenox and Ripley romance
MacDonald further explained, "Now that’s not a great one-to-one example to Lenox and Ripley, who are not enemies. But the idea behind pairing Lenox and Ripley was simply that we hadn’t seen them before. And the writers in the writers' room and I got very excited about the possibilities of how they would get along. And how they would work together. And how they would kind of push each other to be better doctors."
Lenox and Ripley end episode 8 agreeing to keep their shared secret, and after going through a life-or-death situation, they will certainly be bonded — both as coworker, friends, and maybe more? MacDonald teased that Ripley will notice that Lenox is hiding something personal and "challenge her in a way that she’s not used to." Could he be the one to open up about her diagnosis?
One Chicago Center spoke with MacDonald and he said that Asher and Ripley are "done as far as I'm concerned." Since Ripley getting back together with Asher in the near future has been taken off the table, this could lead to his relationship with Lenox deepening. Honestly, with the way the show left things between them, the sparks are there and we're here for this unexpected pairing.