ONE CHICAGO: CHICAGO MED “Be My Better Half”, CHICAGO FIRE “A Closer Eye” and CHICAGO P.D. “New Normal” Episode Round-Up

With CHICAGO MED, CHICAGO FIRE and CHICAGO P.D. now taking over Wednesdays nights, we’ve decided to cover the ONE CHICAGO franchise a little differently this season. Here’s our wrap-up of what went down during the franchise’s return…

Time lapses

CHICAGO P.D. — “New Normal” Episode 601 — Pictured: (l-r) Patrick John Flueger as Adam Ruzek, LaRoyce Hawkins as Kevin Atwater — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

We saw time jumps on both MED (weeks) and FIRE (several weeks, possibly a couple of months), while P.D. picks up not that long after where the season finale ended, allowing us to see a proper farewell to Olinsky, who was killed at the end of last season.

Comings and goings

CHICAGO MED — “Be My Better Half” Episode 401 — Pictured: (l-r) Heather Headley as Gwen Garrett, S. Epatha Merkerson as Sharon Goodwin — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

On MED we were lead to believe that Dr Rhodes was leaving to take the position at the Mayo Clinic. He was pretty adamant on leaving, even though we knew it wouldn’t really happen, but thanks to Goodwin’s stipulation that he heads the new addition to the ED he is staying. However, we were surprised to find by the end of MED’s first hour for the season, it was psychiatry resident Dr Reese that ended up leaving the hospital (and show), after deciding she could no longer work with mentor Dr Charles given the situation with her dad last season and how he kept it from her. Also on MED there’s a new power player, Gwen Garrett, who we met at the end of last season and as predicted, Goodwin is already clashing with.

CHICAGO FIRE — Pictured: (l-r) Kara Killmer as Sylvie Brett, Annie Ilonzeh as Emily Foster — (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC)

Over on FIRE, Dawson is in Puerto Rico on the recovery mission and while we knew that portrayer Monica Raymund will no longer be part of the show, we were pleasantly surprised to see her appear in the season premiere to wrap up her storyline – first on a FaceTime call to Casey and then in person to let him know that she’s extending her work with the relief aid permanently. This now leaves an empty spot on Ambo 61 and after dismissing temporary partners for weeks, Chief Boden warns Brett that she better get used to her next partner because she’s going to be permanent. Meet Emily Foster. She may have only been with the CFD for months but we like her already and are intrigued that she seems to have some sort of medical profession background – we think as a doctor/surgeon. Keep your eye out on the new assistant deputy commissioner AKA Grissom’s new right hand man – he has history with Boden and we don’t trust him lurking around Firehouse 51. In bittersweet news, the show also paid tribute to the late DuShon Monique Brown, who played exasperated receptionist Connie. The show wrote the character out with her getting her degree and being offerred a dream job as a counsellor. When Hermann laments that he didn’t get a chance to say goodbye and Boden responded with “None of us did”, it tugged on the heartstrings.

CHICAGO P.D. — “New Normal” Episode 601 — Pictured: Anne Heche as Katherine Brennan — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

On PD, Voight has been benched following the investigation of the shooting that took place at the end of last season and new character, Deputy Superindendant Katherine Brennan seems to have it in for him. Antonio Dawson is taking the lead on Intelligence’s latest case in Voight’s absence but Brennan isn’t happy with how things pan out and at the end of the episode, she and Voight form an alliance. We’re not sure how this is going to go… We also see Intelligence and the CPD officially farewell Olinsky following his tragic death last season.

Risky business

CHICAGO FIRE — “A Closer Eye” Episode 701 — Pictured: (left) Jesse Spencer as Matthew Casey — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

On MED, when a patient requires immediate surgery but it’s taking to long to get to an OR, Rhodes grabs a scapel and ends up cutting into the patient right by a nurse’s station! (This also leads to him propose that the ED have a hybrid area on standby that can be turned into a surgical suite.) While on the subject of cutting into, on FIRE new paramedic Emily makes the think quick decision to use a scapel on a patient despite Brett protesting that they’re not trained. To which the newbie remarks that she is – cue mysterious background here. That’s not the only risky move on this week’s FIRE; can we talk about how Casey slid into an elevator shaft like a ninja? I mean, if we had blinked we would have missed it! Meanwhile Severide was the warn barking out sensible orders – role reversal much? Or maybe not? He did go against protocol to save a man who was literally on fire later in the episode.

On PD, Ruzek still has beef with Antonio Dawson over him not covering for Voight over last season’s shooting and is making things difficult for Dawson while he’s in charge, questioning his calls and arguing back. Then Ruzek secretly seeks Voight’s help even thought Voight is benched and should not have anything to do with the case. Upton also warns Ruzek not to get her involved after she discovers intel they were working on came from Voight. Get your head on straight, Ruzek?!

Romance roundup

CHICAGO MED — “Be My Better Half” Episode 401 — Pictured: (l-r) Nick Gehlfuss as Will Halstead, Torrey DeVitto as Natalie Manning — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

I have to say I was surprised to discover MED’s Dr Manning accepted Dr Halstead’s proposal BUT am also relieved that she didn’t accept it straight away and it took her a week to give him an answer. He’s way more into the wedding planning than she is and it causes a bit of tension but they make up in the end. April and Dr Choi are still on the outs but when they’re brought together by his sister’s latest drama, maybe there is still hope for them. The same can’t be said about Noah and Dr Reese – now that she’s left the hospital, Dr Sexton laments that they never had a real chance to see where they could go. We agree – they could have been cute together! While whatever was going on between Dr Rhodes and Dr Bekker is over with him leaving for the Mayo Clinic. She even tells him they could have had something, but remember that he asked her if it were her not him that had been offerred the position, she would have taken it too. She’s also playing with fire cosying up to his dad, even if it is for alterior motives and trying to get funding from him…

On FIRE, Casey and Dawson are doing the whole long distance thing but he’s more frustrated about it than she realises. When she does come home, he puts on a brave face and lets her go more permanently without him. There is a bit more closure there but you can tell he’s not feeling great about it. On the flipside, things are going great between Severide and Kidd.

Worth mentioning

CHICAGO MED — “Be My Better Half” Episode 401 — Pictured: Marlyne Barrett as Maggie Lockwood — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

On MED, we discover that Maggie knows ASL and she’s able to help translate for a couple that come into the ED. On FIRE, how great was it seeing Boden, Severide and Casey just enjoying fishing on a boat. It’s always nice to see them have some downtime outside of the job. I also love a bit of Kidd and Otis riffing on each other but I liked the reveal that she was the mysterious person he was playing chess against BUT that she wasn’t doing it to mess with him – they’re always competiting against one another so she thought it would be nice for them to just play without being overcome by competitive spirit. Aww! On PD, Platt’s proving herself to be Voight’s new confidant now that Olinksy is gone. She goes to check on him when he’s not answering calls and is concerned when she finds him with heck of a lot of empty bottles. If the Platt and Voight friendship is how we get to see more Platt on the show, I’m all for it – Amy Morton was waaaay underutilisied last season!

Undercover antics

On PD, Jay Halstead rocks a hoodies and poses as a guy trying to score dope.

Crossover count

Not too many this week. Just FIRE’s Brett popping up on MED.

CHICAGO MED, CHICAGO P.D. and CHICAGO FIRE air Wednesday nights on NBC.

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