Following his suspension in the previous episode, Chicago Med season 10 episode 14, “Acid Test,” marked an unexpected turning point for Ripley as he finally began to process the consequences of his actions.
At the top of the episode, Ripley goes to see Lynne after she calls him to come check on Nate, who has been running a fever. Luckily it’s nothing serious and Ripley assures her it’s just a cold and he offers to stick around for a bit to help keep an eye on him, withholding the truth that he’s been suspended.
Later, Lynne gives Ripley a gift Sully had intended to give him before his death: a baseball. Ripley then begins to tell Lynne the story behind the ball which was a home run ball from a game he and Sully attended when they were kids. She mentions how she’s all alone and he reminds her that she’s not as she then kisses him, clearly misreading the signals Ripley had sent in checking in on them.
After racing out, Ripley heads to a church where he’s greeted by a nun who is able to quickly see he’s struggling. As they talk, Ripley confides in her that he feels as though he’s reverting to an old version himself and can’t stop it to which she reminds him that sometimes all you can do is limit the damage you do to yourself as the storm passes while dealing with grief. She reminds him to remind himself of what is important over and over, like a mantra as she prompts him into closing his eyes and thinking about what he can’t live without.
As the episode closes, Ripley meets up with Hannah and begins to apologize having clearly realized she’s what is most important to him. Hannah cuts him off and says she keeps thinking she’ll help him and they’ll be okay again, but then they get through something only for there to be another bad patch. Through tears, Hannah tells Ripley she can’t be the one to save him as he tells her he loves her, but she says it’s not enough as she away leaving Ripley heartbroken.
Speaking of Hannah, this week Hannah teamed up with Naomi to treat a young girl brought into Med for some stomach and body aches, in what proved to be quite an interesting case.
After speaking with the patient and ordering some tests including a pregnancy test, the young girl’s mom pulls Hannah aside and makes it clear she’s not happy about Hannah bringing up certain topics and it becomes clear the mom is more than a little overprotective. While Naomi is talking with the patient, she begins getting shakes which is when Hannah says it’s a sign things could be getting worse. They order some additional tests and begin antibiotics as they chase a lead. Tests come back negative for mono, but she has a staff infection so they order more tests.
When she begins to code during a scan, Hannah discovers that the infection stems from a tampon she forgot to remove – the result of the girl not feeling comfortable telling her mom about going for a swim during a group trip and talking through the proper use of tampons. Fortunately, the moment serves as a wake-up call for the mom who realizes the best approach is to be more open rather than not talking about hard subjects.
Elsewhere in the episode…
Maggie and Goodwin team up to help save Med... only for Archer to save the day by accident
A member of the National Accreditation Board of Hospitals shows up unannounced to look for health and safety violations at Med and it seems this could put Med in a really bad spot. As Maggie tells Naomi, if NABH reps find enough things are found wrong they can lead to the hospital shutting down — hinting that’s what happened to Jackson Monroe.
Upon learning of his arrival in the ED, Goodwin comes to speak with the NABH representative and gets a sense he’s nitpicking and looking for trouble. She tasks Maggie with helping to keep a close eye on the staff to make sure things are in order and on the best behavior.
Maggie tasks the nurses with cleaning up the ED to make sure everything is in order when she notices something off with Archer. It’s then they discover Archer’s patient gave him an LSD sticker which means Archer is high which is definitely not a good look with the NABH rep breathing down their necks looking for any signs of imperfections and breaks in protocol. Maggie quickly sends Archer to treatment to get him some fluids and hides him from the rep.
As Goodwin and Maggie catch up later, Goodwin confesses that she fears this man has some sort of vendetta which is when Maggie notices he left his notebook open on the desk. She takes a peak and finds he’s written down about 15 violations already to which Goodwin responds that Jackson Monroe was shut for 20.
Funny enough, the storyline comes to an end with Archer saving the day after listening to the NABH rep and making him feel seen, the irony being that Archer didn’t even know who the man was.
Chicago Med’s newest additions team up to save a young gunshot victim
The final key storyline from Chicago Med’s latest episode came via a pairing of the season’s two newest doctors: Frost and Lenox.
When a gunshot victim is brought into the ED, Frost and Lennox team up to treat him and this case quickly proves to be an interesting one. We learn that the boy’s older brother shot him accidentally after mistaking him for an intruder and that he also happens to be the son of a city councilman.
While treating the patient, Frost notices the boy's mother has an injury suggesting she was the one who shot her son, not his older brother. When he confronts her about letting her son take the fall for shooting his brother, she explains that it would result in her husband getting custody as she reveals to Frost that her husband is abusive and has been abusing their sons for years.
He takes this news to Lenox and she reminds him, they’re not cops and what matters to them is tending to their patients, which in this case is the boy who needs heart surgery following the accident. The surgery is a success and after Lenox and Frost share this news with the family, the mom finally comes clean about her role in the shooting in which the councilman lets his true colors shine through prompting Lenox to ask him to please leave.
Although Lenox might not have openly expressed support at first when Frost brought the news to her, she came through in the end ordering some post-op body scans of their patient. These scans back up the mother’s claims about the councilman abusing their son and Lenox reveals to him that she has reported the findings to the police. With their help, the older brother is going to petition to become his brother’s guardian and thanks Frost for keeping his promise and proving Lenox isn’t as cold as she lets on.