ONE CHICAGO Women: CHICAGO MED “Nothing to Fear” (3×02) & CHICAGO P.D. “Politics” (5×08) recap

We saw a lot of characters conflicted in the ONE CHICAGO world this week, particularly the ladies of CHICAGO MED and CHICAGO P.D., who found themselves in situations where decisions that needed to be made were not so simple. Read on to find out who had some tricky choices to make and why…

Sharon Goodwin:

The responsibilities of being in charge never stop for Goodwin. This week Dr Manning and Dr Halstead share their concerns about a pregnant woman whose organic diet is leaving her unborn baby to be malnourished. Goodwin calls an emergency meeting with the ethics committee to see if the doctors are allowed to step in and go against the mother’s wishes to protect the child but they say no, resulting in Dr Manning to take matters into her own hands and puts the patient on an IV against her wishes. Once again Goodwin has to step in and let’s just say it’s lucky that Dr Manning is lucky that she was able to connect with the patient and avoid a lawsuit! Goodwin also contemplates installing metal detectors at the entrance of the hospital but by the end of the episode decides against as she realizes it goes against their values of wanting patients to trust them.

CHICAGO MED — “Nothing to Fear” Episode 302 — Pictured: (l-r) Yaya DaCosta as April Sexton, Marlyne Barrett as Maggie Lockwood, Brian Tee as Ethan Choi — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

Maggie Lockwood:

The staff at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center really need to remember that Maggie sees all! The head nurse notices when April and Dr Choi are trying to hide the fact that they’re sneaking around romantically and then later have tension due to a disagreement on how to treat a patient, so she gets fed up and pulls them into a room and warns them not to bring their dramas into the ER and have it affect their professionalism. This dose of tough love is what they need and they vow to be better at keeping their personal lives out of work.

CHICAGO MED — “Nothing to Fear” Episode 302 — Pictured: Torrey DeVitto as Natalie Manning — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

Dr Natalie Manning:

Following last week’s kiss and confessions of feelings, it looks like Dr Manning and Dr Halstead are now a thing with the pair discussing their upcoming (first?) date. Aww! On the professional side of things, they’re also working on a case together this week and it’s one that gets Nat all fired up that she does something risky (and unprofessional) – a move that you’d come to expect from Halstead but not her. A pregnant woman is admitted to the hospital after fainting and Halstead initially deduces that the baby is five-months but when the woman says that it’s eight and reveals that she’s on an organic diet, Manning is horrified to realize that it’s causing the unborn child to be malnourished. She begs Goodwin to let them intervene and treat the unborn child against the mother’s wishes, arguing that the fetus has rights too and what the mother is doing is basically child abuse, but when Goodwin says that the board says that they can’t, Nat hooks the woman up to an IV while she is sleeping. When the woman wakes, she is livid to say the least but Nat shares her own fears as a mother to try and connect with her and convince her to let them help her save the baby. It’s only when it looks like they have no choice but to do an emergency C-section that the woman finally agrees to let the two doctors help her through whatever means necessary. While working on this case, Manning remarks to Halstead that fear can take a hold of you and reveals her own fear of heights, which was only something that developed in recent years. At the end of the episode, the pair finally go on their much anticipated date and while Halstead had fancy dinner plans, he takes a detour first and takes Nat to the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. When she realizes where they are, she initially freaks out but he convinces her to trust him and reassures her that he’ll be there with her and the pair enjoy a romantic ride looking over the city.

CHICAGO MED — “Nothing to Fear” Episode 302 — Pictured: Yaya DaCosta as April Sexton — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

April Sexton:

April and Dr Choi are still keeping their relationship a secret and are making out in the supply closet at the start of the episode but the honeymoon period doesn’t last for long. April has a patient that comes in regularly for medication but this is the first that Dr Choi has met him and decides to do some tests first before giving the patient medication. The patient is reluctant but Dr Choi persuades him by putting April on the spot and having her tell the patient that she agrees with him. While she backs him up in front of the patient, she then pulls Dr Choi aside an tells him never to do that again – just because they’re sleeping together doesn’t mean she’ll just agree with everything he says. When the patient later becomes worse, potentially due to the tests that were done, April apologizes to the patient and gets into a heated argument with Choi, who pulls the doctor rank card on her and basically makes her feel inferior to him. This tension doesn’t go unnoticed by head nurse Maggie and later when it turns out that Dr Choi was right and there was something deeper to the patient’s condition, April swallows her pride and apologizes to Choi and also tells him they will find a way to make their professional and personal relationships work without them affecting each other.

CHICAGO MED — “Nothing to Fear” Episode 302 — Pictured: Rachel DiPillo as Sarah Reese — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

Dr Sarah Reese:

There are still some tensions between Dr Reese and Dr Charles following last week’s episode and Dr Noah Sexton is also still persistent in pursing the Psych resident. She’s still turning him down though and says if she were to grab drinks with him after work it’d be as friends. He’s convinced that he’ll be able to change her mind someday soon; in the meantime he has a case for her – a woman has been admitted for injecting herself with insulin except she’s not a diabetic. The patient reveals that she wasn’t trying to kill herself, she had her divorce hearing that day and she panicked. She asks Reese to write her a doctor’s note but Reese refuses and the patient gets angry and asks to see her supervisor. Awkward. (Side note, I loved Reese’s line “You didn’t have an emergency. You caused it” in response to the woman’s pleas to write her a note.) While Reese is ready to discharge the patient, Dr Charles thinks that there is more to this woman’s issues and encourages Reese to keep trying with her. The patient seemingly has a breakthrough and hugs Reese but really it was an act so she could steal her prescription pad. Reese realizes before the woman leaves the hospital and demands to see inside her bag, the woman refuses but Reese gets a hold of it and finds her pad inside and the defensive patient then physically attacks her! Once guards come to pull her off Reese, the upset doctor flees to the rooftop. Dr Charles eventually finds her crying, but when he defends the patient, Reese gets upset and calls him an enabler, accusing him of letting people get away with their actions including his shooter. Later on he pages her for a consult…on him. She thinks it’s a joke but he says he wants her to clinically diagnose him and so she does, citing that it seems like he has moved on from the incident. He says he has and gently tells her that it’s time for her too as well now, reminding her that most of their patients are harmless and grateful for their help and that she can’t let that fear affect her judgement. Will this be the turning point in their contentious relationship? I hope so.

CHICAGO P.D. — “Politics” Episode 508 — Pictured: (l-r) Marina Squerciati as Kim Burgess, Jason Beghe as Hank Voight — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

Kim Burgess:

This week we get a Burgess centric episode, finally meeting her mysterious US attorney boyfriend Matt Miller. Don’t get too excited though because Intelligence’s latest case involving a congressman accused of murder happens to have a person of interest involved in an important case that her boyfriend is working on and when Burgess innocently shares some details with her beau, thinking it could help Intelligence, Voight reprimands her. They agree to have a meeting with the feds and agree to play nice but Burgess soon finds herself in a position where she has to choose between her job and her boyfriend. Feeling like the case is falling apart because of her, she shares her woes with colleague and ex-fiance Ruzek  and he tells her that she is the best person that he knows and he knows that she’ll do the right thing. She ends up playing her boyfriend and when Intelligence get a win at the cost of the Feds case, Matt shuts the door in Burgess’ face when she goes over to his place that night to apologize and explain. Is this the end for them? Is there now hope for Burgess and Ruzek? (Side note, it was nice to see more of Burgess’ life outside of work in this episode.)

CHICAGO P.D. — “Politics” Episode 508 — Pictured: (l-r) Amy Morton as Trudy Platt, Marina Squerciati as Kim Burgess — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

Trudy Platt:

We get Platt in one scene this week, organizing officers to look for a colleague of the dead girl from the case Intelligence are working on. As the gathering is adjourned, Burgess thanks Platt – calling her Trudy, which was a little weird because I don’t think I’ve ever heard Burgess refer to her by her first name before – and Platt pulls her aside to give her a little advice. She tells Burgess that if she wants her relationship with Matt to work out, she’s better off removing herself from the Intelligence case. After the way this week’s episode ended, Burgess is probably wishing that she had taken Platt’s advice. We’re also wondering if Platt was speaking from personal experience…

CHICAGO P.D. — “Politics” Episode 508 — Pictured: Tracy Spiridakos as Hailey Upton — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

Hailey Upton:

Following what went down last episode, Upton is understandably concerned about her partner Halstead and suggests to him that maybe he should go and see someone to speak about everything that has happened. Halstead thanks her for her concern and tells her that he’s fine and doesn’t need a babysitter. Upton is a smart girl and we know she’s not convinced but lets Halstead be for now.

CHICAGO MED airs Tuesday at 10/9c and CHICAGO P.D. Wednesday at 10/9c. While CHICAGO FIRE  returns Thursday January 4 at 10/9c. All three shows air on NBC.

RELATED LINKS:

CHICAGO MED: Marlyne Barrett talks Season 3, real life connections and more
ONE CHICAGO Women: CHICAGO P.D. “Care Under Fire” (5×07) & CHICAGO MED “Speak Your Truth” (3×01) recap
CHICAGO MED: Season 3 Cast Photos