After an insane and intense winter premiere that tackled the fallout of Goodwin’s attack and Reese’s return, Chicago Med season 10 episode 10 saw a return to normalcy… well in the sense that the show shifted back to the medical case of the week's storylines more heavily. That doesn’t mean there was anything normal about this week’s cases.
As the episode opens, Ripley is informed that Sully’s injuries are healing which is great news, but because of this, they’re going to have to discharge him back to jail. Ripley wonders if there is something they could do which is when Hannah mentions that he was brought in with a splenic lac so whoever was the ED surgeon would be the consult and have a say in his treatment. The only problem is that doctor is Lennox, who isn’t a fan of bending the rules.
Ripley goes to see Lennox, but before he can ask for help, she taps him in to help with the treatment of a pair of adult conjoined twins who are brought into the ED with fluid in the chest. Once they’re stable and in the ED, the twins reveal they’re set to undergo separation surgery performed by Dr. Hayes, who is called in by Lennox.
She informs Dr. Hayes that their latest X-ray and CT show the tumor has grown and if they don’t act soon it’ll spread to the heart in days resulting in death. The best course of action? To move up the surgery which is defintely a risky move.
Dr. Hayes assembles his team and they begin talking through plans for the surgery. As they hit a bump, Lennox proposes a technique she used while serving in Afghanistan and it impresses Hayes who asks her to participate in the surgical team.
They go to tell the twins about the need to move up the surgery, but in doing so they must tell them that Elijah’s chances of survival have lessened and are now less than 50%. Afraid to lose his brother, Powell shuts the plan down and refuses the surgery.
After the twins turn down the surgery, Ripley goes to see Lennox about Sully’s discharge. He says he feels it best to do another scan which she says feels like a reach. Lennox sees through Ripley’s play, picking up on the fact that a discharge means Sully will go back to jail, but she says the answer is no and emotions are clouding his judgment. Ripley asks her to consider where he’d receive better care, Med or the jail’s hospital. He says her asking for scans could hold up his discharge as there would be no consensus which triggers a thought for Lennox: there was no consensus among the twins, rather it was only Powell who weighed in.
Lennox and Ripley go to see the twins and she notes that while Powell was quite vocal, Elijah hadn’t shared his opinion. We see a beautifully raw moment in which Lennox opens up about her childhood and how she learned as she got older that honesty has helped her live a life of no regrets.
Powell is again adamant that he doesn’t want the surgery but Elijah opens up and says Lennox is right as he wants the surgery, and Powell eventually agrees. The surgery goes well, but sadly Elijah and Powell’s story does not end with a happy ending.
While the Separation was successful, when Powell came off bypass, he suffered a massive stroke and is on life support.
After the surgery, Ripley assures Lennox that they did the right thing and Lennox says they should run some tests on Sully. Ripley hugs her in a really sweet moment in which we see her own walls come down, but sadly Ripley’s efforts were for naught as Sully sadly had a blood clot that resulted in his death.
Elsewhere in the episode…
Maggie and Loren break up
Just when we thought things were going well for Maggie and Loren, the show threw an unexpected breakup our way.
After Frost overhears, Loren invites Maggie out for a romantic dinner celebrating their anniversary, he notices that something is off which is when she confesses that she’s planning on breaking up with Loren. Her plan is to break things off at dinner, but Frost suggests ripping the bandaid off beforehand as it’ll be awkward regardless but breaking up over dinner would be even worse.
Maggie takes Frost’s advice and goes to see Loren as he’s getting ready for their date. Before she can get the words out, he tells her he thinks they should break up too. He explains that he’s noticed her heart is not in their relationship and hasn’t been in a while and the two go their separate ways.
Hannah faces the demons of her past
Hannah’s sister Lizzie comes to town and it seems the visit is not just to catch up. Over coffee, Lizzie tells Hannah she needs her to give a PCOS diagnosis so she can afford another round of IVF. Hannah says it’s medical fraud and her sister lashes out, leaving Hannah to ponder over what to do.
She tells Frost and Ripley about her sister’s request, and Ripley encourages her to be the best version of her sister and if that’s not good enough it’s on her.
After thinking things over, Hannah goes to her sister and informs her that while she can’t diagnose her for something she does not have, she can help in another way. She hands over a check for $25,000 which Lizzie is adamant she can’t take, to which Hannah responds that she wants to support her however she can as that’s what sisters do and she deserves to be a mom.