Chicago Med season 11 has arrived and the season wasted no time in answering the burning question on every fan’s mind: Who is the father of Asher’s baby?
Warning: Spoilers are ahead for the season 11 premiere.
At the top of the episode, we learn that Asher went to see Archer in the season finale because he’s the father of her baby. She informs Archer at the top of the episode that she’s pregnant and that the child is his baby. Case closed, right? Well, it’s not that simple.
When Ripley finds out that Asher is pregnant, he confronts her about the fact that she didn’t tell him, assuming he’s the father. However, Asher informs him that he is not the father, Archer is. He asks how far along she is and her reply back was that “You and I were already broken up.” And that is where our theory comes into play.
Asher never directly says how far along she is, she just seems to assure Ripley that they were broken up when she and Archer got together. Could this moment, as small as it seems, be a foreshadowing that perhaps the timing might not align as Asher thinks it has? We don’t quite know when she and Ripley were last together intimately, but the fact that he jumps right to the assumption that he was the father suggests they were intimate before their relationship ended.
Having watched Chicago Med from the beginning, I know how the writers like to make us believe one thing only for an unexpected curveball to come along later that turns things upside down. What if the reason the show “resolved” the mystery so quickly was to give us a false sense of security, only for the real reveal to come later in the season?
What if Asher’s timing ends up being off and we discover down the line that she’s actually further along than she expected? That would open the door up for Ripley to be the real father of her child, and also create some deliciously dramatic storylines as a result.
Ripley ended the premiere telling Sadie he’s ready to go all in, while Asher and Archer are coming to terms with tackling this journey together. Now imagine that the next several episodes furthers these storylines with Asher and Archer preparing for the baby’s birth and going through various milestones, while Ripley and Sadie’s relationship deepens only for the fall finale to reveal that Asher is further along in her pregnancy and that the baby isn’t actually Archer’s.
This creates a web of complicated storylines to explore. What would this mean for Archer and Asher’s relationship if he’s not truly the father? How does he deal with the fallout of this promise of a baby is ripped away from him? Would finding out he was the father drive a wedge between Ripley and Sadie, and would it eventually lead him back to Asher? What would co-parenting between the exes look like? How will the trio navigate working in the same ED following the revelation? There are just a few juicy questions that the twist could create.
Of course, this theory could just be the delusions of a Ripley and Asher shipper in denial, but as a TV fan, I cannot shake the feeling that perhaps there is still more to the story.
Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.