'Chicago Med' season 5 episode 1: Ava's death may have been disappointing, but Philip's plans for Natalie make the drama even worse
When Dr. Ava Bekker, played by Norma Kuhling, was first introduced in season 2 of 'Chicago Med', the character looked like she would be a counterpart to Dr. Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell), initially only professionally and not romantically. And Ava was really competitive with Connor, often clashing on many matters. But a season later, she was reduced to just being a manipulative woman and did things that would shake up the lives of herself, Connor, and those in the hospital. This got really bad in season 4 when we find out that she slept with Connor's father to secure funding for the Hybrid Operating Room (Hybrid OR) at the hospital and doesn't tell Connor about it. This all culminated in Connor's father's death from an insulin overdose, only he wasn't diabetic.
In the first episode for which Donnell and Kuhling came back to wrap up their storylines where Ava and Connor accuse each other of being responsible for Connor's father's death while Atwater from 'Chicago P.D.' is investigating it, it is eventually revealed that the batch of insulin used can be traced. This is when Connor and the viewers understand that, yes, Ava is responsible for the insulin overdose and she tries to escape. When Connor does not help her, she slits her throat.
An already disappointing character gets an even more disappointing end. But at least that would mean the writers on 'Chicago Med' would stop with these overly-dramatic storylines. But that was proven wrong when Phillip (played by Torrey DeVitto's 'Pretty Little Liars' costar, Ian Harding) stuck around in the season premiere. It's difficult to like a guy who starts dating the woman who operated on his dead wife to deliver his baby and then decides to ask her to marry him when his daughter is prepping for surgery. Phillip has all the red flags and as with Ava and Connor, it is annoying when an otherwise smart character does not see these red flags.
It only got worse when Phillip puts the ring on Natalie while she is unconscious after the car accident of the last season's finale. He slips the ring on which the new character, Dr. Marcel, observes wasn't there when she was brought in. When Will comes to see Natalie, Phillip goes all alpha male ("how do you sleep at night?"). Will asks him what gives him the right and Phillip tells him Natalie is his fiancee which both Will and Connor find odd. When Natalie wakes up, she tells Phillip she does not remember him asking her.
The only question we have for the 'Chicago Med' writers, is why? Most would have hoped that with Ava's exit, these soap-opera kinds of storylines would go with her. But unfortunately for the viewers, the writers may be confused that they are writing for DeVitto's and Harding's previous show 'Pretty Little Liars'. The only thing we can ask of them now is to be done with Phillip in as few episodes as possible and stop introducing obstacles (even ones that don't make any sense) to throw relationships in trouble.