The back half of Chicago Medhas been particularly rough for Dr. Ripley, who has sadly gone down a very dark path in recent episodes.
It all began with the sudden and unexpected death of his friend Sully following his brief battle with cancer. The death of his friend has put Ripley in a dangerous spiral, making a series of questionable choices that have just gotten worse with each passing episode.
What started as simply drinking his pain away, ultimately has seen Ripley pushing a major wedge between him and Hannah that we’re not sure they’ll be able to recover from. If that wasn’t bad enough, Ripley’s spiral led to a drunken night out that ended in disaster when a man picked a fight with Ripley outside a bar which ended in Ripley delivering a beating to the man and taking a beating of his own in the fight.
After the fight, things went from bad to worse when the man Ripley got into the fight with was brought into Med with an internal bleed connected to an injured kidney. Rather than excusing himself from the case, Ripley asserted himself into the man’s treatment which led to a blowup between him and Frost in which Ripley admitted his involvement in the fight that put the man in the hospital.
Ripley’s actions left Goodwin with no choice but to suspend Ripley immediately without pay with an investigation to be launched by the board. As she made clear when informing Ripley of his suspension, her plan was to recommend termination which immediately left fans to worry about whether Luke Mitchell’s time on Chicago Med could be coming to an end.
We don’t know if Ripley is leaving, but writing Luke Mitchell out of the show would be a major miss
It’s clear that Ripley’s future at Med is very much in danger and there is no telling whether he could be leaving as there is still a lot of gas left in the tank this season. Given Ripley started the season covering up for Sully and risking his career when he was accused of attacking Pawel, it’s not a good look that he’s now once again in a similar predicament.
As Hannah pointed out, it’s almost ironic that he went from being falsely accused of assault to actually committing assault against a man that resulted in the man needing medical treatment. This is a storyline that could very well have been set up as an exit storyline and we could see Med following through with writing Ripley out of the show, after all, it wouldn’t be the first time a doctor’s actions led to their exit and the departure of a cast member.
Fans have every right to be concerned about Ripley’s future, but if we’re being honest, writing him out of the show would be a major miss.
While it’s been so hard watching Ripley spiral down this dark path, Mitchell has been delivering a standout performance and we’ve loved seeing the writers giving him an amazing storyline to dive into this season. Ripley was already a character with a lot of emotional layers—conflicted, determined, and often grappling with personal and professional challenges including his struggle to shake the demons of his past—but Sully’s death has really pushed him to his breaking point.
Mitchell’s portrayal of Ripley’s growing instability has been both heartbreaking and captivating to watch. He’s brilliantly navigated that slow unraveling with such depth. It’s been painful to watch as Ripley has lost control and pushed away those closest to him, we should be outraged by his choices yet we can’t help but empathize with Ripley’s pain as he faces the consequences of his actions.
This storyline has truly allowed Mitchell to shine, showcasing his versatility and range as an actor. Ripley may be on the brink of losing his job, but Mitchell’s performance makes it clear that the character still has so much to offer—he’s flawed but deeply human, and his arc deserves a chance to evolve further and end with redemption.
It would be a mistake for Chicago Med to write Ripley off the show. Yes, we recognize he’s made some poor choices and there should be consequences for his actions, but this storyline should not end with the exit of Mitchell from the show due to Ripley losing his job.
There’s still so much potential for the character to grow and learn from these mistakes, and it would be far more interesting to see the show explore a redemption arc of showing how exactly Ripley picks up the broken pieces of his life in order to turn things around. He’s burned a lot of bridges and has a lot of work to do to regain control of his life, and this is something we hope the show chooses to explore.
We’ve seen the amazing work Mitchell has delivered already this season as Ripley has spiraled out of control, and we have no doubt he’ll continue to wow the audience with his performance via a redemption arc – an arc that will surely challenge him in new ways as he answers for the actions he’s taken and works to rebuild his life.