Recapping the Dramatic 100th Episode of “Chicago Med

Television shows often have a reputation for being too exaggerated and unrealistic, whether they take place in a hospital, at a police station, or out in everyday life. But even with all the out-of-this-world plotlines, characters coming back from the dead, and whatever else writers can dream up to make the ratings shoot through the roof, it’s all for the entertainment of the viewers. Drama draws in many a channel surfer, a fact taken advantage of by many TV shows. Chicago Med, as well as its counterparts that make up the rest of “One Chicago”, certainly isn’t exempt from drama and somewhat amplified plots, and it reminded all its fans of this during its one-hundredth episode, titled “The Ghosts of the Past”. Several ghosts from the past did indeed make their appearances, and unfortunately, it didn’t all lead to happy endings.

The Truly Medical Plotline

This week, Dr. Natalie Manning works with a young girl, Mindy, and her mother, Mrs. Reamus, who aren’t strangers to the hospital. Mindy was born extremely prematurely, and she and her mother have visited the hospital often since. The thing is, Natalie can’t seem to find anything wrong with Mindy. She knows that Mrs. Reamus believes her daughter has been having seizures and has a breathing issue, but none of the tests she’s running will support this claim. Eventually, Dr. Strauss brings a new idea to the table: Munchausen by Proxy. In other words, she thinks it’s possible that Mrs. Reamus is abusing her daughter by making her believe she is sick. Dr. Strauss does not believe Mindy is actually ill and wants the daughter separated from the mother. Dr. Manning, Dr. Goodwin, Dr. Strauss, and Dr. Charles spend much of the episode discussing what to do and if Mrs. Reamus was really abusing her daughter. In the end, Dr. Charles, Dr. Goodwin, and Natalie were of the opinion that Mrs. Reamus was not guilty of Munchausen by Proxy, but instead was suffering from PTSD. The mother tearfully confessed that she was so worried about Mindy dying, she couldn’t sleep at night. Dr. Charles couldn’t help but think of his own daughter, sitting in his office, and what he would do to protect her.

Rocky Relationships Abound

In the ninth episode of the fifth season, “I Can’t Imagine the Future”, Nurse April Sexton received devastating news: she was suffering from early-onset menopause, which explained why she and her boyfriend, who was also her colleague, Ethan Choi, were having so much trouble getting pregnant. Dr. Choi, as a member of the Navy Reserves, was set to leave on a six-week deployment on the day April was diagnosed, but before she could tell him about her fears concerning their future as parents, she impulsively kissed Dr. Marcel Crockett, whom she had been working with all day. Fast forward a few episodes to the 100th episode, and April is still agonizing over how to tell her now-fiancée that she kissed someone else, but she has also started IVF treatments with the hope of becoming pregnant. It hasn’t worked yet, but they’re trying again; at least until April almost collapses on the floor of the hospital due to OHSS, or ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, caused by the hormones from the IVF. In great pain, April finally tells Ethan about the kiss. Understandably upset, Ethan goes to look for Marcel, who he never really got along in the first place. Predictably, fireworks erupt, and by the end of the day, it isn’t clear whether April and Ethan will ever be able to reconcile. Additionally, Dr. Charles, Chicago Med’s psychologist, is dealing with his own personal problems. His daughter, Anna, with whom he already has a strained relationship, was suspended from school and has come to work with him. After witnessing the scene between Mindy and her mother, Anna is in tears wondering if she will be taken away from her father, who hasn’t exactly been outstanding in that role. The two share a much needed moment, and all seems to be well between them by the time the episode ended.

On a Happier Note

With all the talk about separating mother from daughter and the broken relationships aside, there were a couple of happy things that happened in this episode. In last week’s episode of Chicago Med, “Who Should be the Judge”, Maggie, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier in the season, found out that she was in remission. This was just the news that she had been waiting for, and she happily celebrated with Ben, another cancer patient whom she had met in treatment and had almost passed away because he had fallen ill with measles during chemotherapy. The two realized they wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of their lives together, and started planning their wedding immediately. In the 100th episode, Maggie was stressing over every little detail, until she found out that the venue at which she’d wanted to get married had sprung a sewage leak. So Maggie and Ben moved their wedding to an unconventional location: the bowling alley. Hey, love is love, whether it’s at a fancy venue or a bowling alley, right? In attendance at the wedding were most of the expected guests, plus someone Will Halstead had invited: Hannah Asher. The doctor was out of rehab and understandably upset with Will for turning her in for her drug usage, but later admitted that Will had been right: even if she had turned herself in, she wouldn’t have made a permanent change, and she likely would have lost her job. So although Natalie and Will haven’t been together in a while, and Ethan and April are on tight terms, at least Maggie and Ben are happy together, and Will might be starting a new relationship with Hannah.

That pretty much wraps up what’s going on in the fictional medical world of Chicago. As always, there were wild plots, relationship issues, and a whole lot of drama in the one-hundredth episode.