'Chicago Med' Season 5: Hit show's writers must avoid going down the 'Grey's Anatomy' path and treat female characters with maturity
When Dick Wolf's third installment of the 'Chicago' franchise premiered on NBC in the fall of 2015, the show featured some of the best female characters on television playing doctors, nurses, and even the hospital administrator. On its premiere, it promised to have a different outlook for those in the medical professions than the erstwhile 'Grey's Anatomy'. While 'Grey's Anatomy' took an emotional approach, 'Chicago Med' would be grittier and more accurate about what goes on in a hospital.
However, 'Chicago Med' has been slowly going down the 'Grey's Anatomy' route and focusing more on the personal issues of certain characters rather than their professional lives. By certain, we mean female. The male characters on 'Chicago Med' continued to receive outstanding storylines that showed them making strides. Dr. Connor Rhodes came up with the idea for a hybrid Operating Room and goes on to head it. Dr. Will Halstead worked undercover for the FBI to take down a local gangster while his personal life took the toll. Finally, Dr. Ethan Choi - arguably the best character on the show - proved time and again his skills as a doctor, keeping a cool head throughout.
When it comes to the women on the show, in season 1, 'Chicago Med's female characters promised viewers they would be less soap-opera than their 'Grey's Anatomy' counterparts. When we are first introduced to Dr. Natalie Manning, she is a pregnant widow, her husband having been killed in action, powering through her loss by being an understanding and efficient doctor. There is April Sexton, a first-generation Brazilian-American Emergency Department nurse who is working to support her family and pay for her brother to become a doctor. Dr. Sarah Reese is a fourth-year medical student inclined towards pathology due to her discomfort in working around patients, but by the end of the season is accustomed to working in the ED. But over the seasons, some of these women's storylines have devolved to circle the men in their lives, while some are not even regular enough to make an impact on the viewers.
Take Natalie for instance -- after becoming a mother, her plots soon involved her will-they-won't-they dance with Will who's been harboring feelings for her since season 1. In season 4, Natalie was set to wed Will, only to break off her engagement to Will after the secrecy regarding his undercover stint with the FBI. She then begins seeing Phillip whose wife died of an aneurysm while she performed an emergency C-section on her. In a few episodes, it got to Phillip planning to propose to Natalie by the end of Season 4. April, the hardworking nurse, was seen significantly in season 4, however, everything that happens to April depended on her involvement with Dr. Choi. From dealing with Ethan's sister and her personal issues to April probably being pregnant at the end of the season - a route that the writers have taken previously (along with her being diagnosed with TB).
However, the character which received the worse treatment was Dr. Ava Bekker, a character so irredeemable, that she will be written off when the first episode of season 5 premieres in September. When Ava first appeared on the show in season 2, she was seen as the equivalent, if not smarter than Connor Rhodes. But when Ava's life began to revolve around Connor, she was made into a manipulative, unethical woman, with no development outside of her life with Connor.
However, Maggie Lockwood, the nurse who started as the head of the ED nurses, she moved on to become the head nurse of the hybrid OR with Connor. We do not get see enough of Maggie and here too, the writers take an often taken route: at the end of season 4, Maggie is diagnosed with cancer. This leaves us wondering whether the next season would bog down Maggie with an emotional storyline as well.
In Season 5, when Ava bids goodbye to the Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, we hope the writers will bid farewell to the dramatic storylines that are pulling down down their female characters. While 'Grey's Anatomy' is a successful show going on for more than fifteen seasons, 'Chicago Med' needs to chart its own route to keep its viewers invested in their characters. If Will, Connor and Ethan's season 4 stories have proved anything, it is that we don't need the women to just be worried about the men they date, or their health, but also where they can go professionally.