Chicago Med season 11, episode 4 was quite an eventful episode! Across the scope of the episode, we saw Charles and Archer working to treat a man who cut off his own hand; watched Ripley and Lenox team up on a heartbreaking case involving a woman being abused by her husband; and watched as Frost and Goodwin navigated a complicated case involving a sick young girl whose mother turned out not to be her genetic mother due to a clinic mix-up.
Each of the episode’s medical case of the week storylines were brilliantly woven together, each complementing one another with their unique natures. It was also fun getting to see some new partnerships, most notably in getting to see Frost and Goodwin working together more closely on a case than we typically get to see.
The episode also introduced a new doctor with The Resident’s Manish Dayal joining the mix as Dr. Theo Rabari, a doctor who comes to Gaffney in hopes of continuing his psychiatry research at the hospital. We also saw How to Get Away With Murder’s Jack Falahee guest starring as the abusive husband of Lenox and Ripley’s character.
Hannah Asher was missing in Chicago Med season 11 episode 4
There was so much going on in the episode that fans likely didn’t even realize how the show quietly wrote Jessy Schram’s Dr. Hannah Asher out of the episode. That’s right, there was not a single appearance from Asher within the episode, and there wasn’t even a moment acknowledging that she was not present.
Asher likely missed the episode due to the fact that series regulars no longer appear in every episode of the show due to budget cuts. For the One Chicago shows, this typically means actors on the One Chicago shows miss two to four episodes each season. These episodes are usually spaced out over the course of the season and, when an actor misses an episode, we usually get some sort of explanation as to where the character is via a quick conversation between other characters.
However, there are many times on Chicago Med, in particular, when the writers just quietly write a character out for an episode, and that was the case with Asher in season 11, episode 4.
The good news is that Asher will be back for episode 5 as Schram appears in a few images for the episode. This means it won’t be a case in which a character misses a few episodes back-to-back, which does occur from time to time, and fans can expect to see Asher back in the ED working alongside the rest of the team in time for the show’s Halloween episode!
Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.