After being on the air for over a decade, you might think that Chicago Med might have gotten stuck in its ways and lose the potential for growth. But going into its twelfth season, the NBC medical drama continues to reivent itself and find new layers of storytelling that set it apart from other shows of its kind. We need more of this kind of unique risk-taking in season 12 from a specific perspective.
More so than even in the past, Chicago Med season 11 introduced patients with long-running medical issues that were later brought back in subsequent episodes. It's rare for medical dramas to bring back guest stars from the case of the week storyline, but multipl patients returned to Gaffney throughout season 11, allowing for a larger scope in the season's overall arc.
In the beginning of season 11, the doctors treated expectant parents Jeremy and Esme Lockhart. While the couple came in for a checkup on their baby, the doctors later diagnose Jeremey with an aggressive, late-stage cancer that could prevent him from living to see his child born. Ultimately, the series brought back the Lockharts toward the end of the season for the child's birth and treatment for Jeremy.
Additionally, Chicago Med season 11 also featured Devin and Faye Carter, who come into the ED with suspicious injuries. Rather quickly, Lenox discovers that Devin has been abusive to his wife. She tries to lend a helping hand to Faye, who doesn't take it. Devin returns to Gaffney episodes later, which rings alarm bells in Lenox that something terrible has happened, which leads to one of the season's climactic events as Lenox and Ripley face off against Devin.
In both of these instances, we had the chance to catch up with characters that otherwise would have been in episode, which is par for the course with procedural dramas. And their returns later in the season weren't for nothing or even forced. It felt natural that these doctors would have repeat patients, memorable ones with stories that progress forward to new events.
Chicago Med season 12 should without question continue employing this storytelling device. Instead of doing away with certain patients that come into the ED, it's even more impactful to have a chosen few circle back and conclude their storylines. Some patients' stories are able to be completed with a single episode, but sometimes, it's refreshing to extend the life of a story that could continue beyond one episode.
Beyond adding some realism to the series, bringing back patients for multiple episodes makes these lengthy seasons feel as though they have a vision from start to end. The main cast members, which is made up of doctors and medical professionals, are the connective tissue for Chicago Med's drama. Their personal and professional struggles are what keep us coming back for more.
But including guest stars for multiple episodes and calling back to recent medical cases has breathed new life into Chicago Med. The series shows no signs of slowing down, and season 12 still has lots of questions to answer (and might even include a character death), but hopefully we can look forward to exciting new cases with patients that surprise us when the pop back up.
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