'Chicago Med' Season 6 Episode 2 Review: Will and Ethan clash in the ED but who is really in the right?
Spoilers for 'Chicago Med' Season 6 Episode 2
When 'Chicago Med' came back with its Season 6 premiere, it did so with a bang — right off the bat, the 'Chicago Fire' spinoff reealed that it was not afraid to show how serious things were. There were some major developments — Dr Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) broke up with Dr Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram) and Dr Ethan Choi (Brian Tee) is heading up the Covid-19 response team.
We felt that the pandemic gave the show a chance to move away from its soap opera plotlines. Whether the show will continue to raise the bar with the second episode without the need for petty drama we will have to see but our hopes are high.
The episode starts with Will contemplating where to stay for the next few days because the apartment he lined up was infested with bed bugs. While he speaks to nurse Maggie Lockwood (Marilyn Barrett) about this, the latter mentions that Will might be named the new Emergency Department (ED) chief and tells him the reasons why he could be. However, when admin Sharon Goodwin (S Epatha Merkerson) later names Ethan as the new chief, Will is visibly disappointed.
Meanwhile, nurse April Sexton (Yaya DaCosta) continues to work with coronavirus patients, and like in the previous episode, she helps the patients in isolation communicate with their loved ones by holding up a tablet so they can video conference. However, the patient is worried because her mother is continuing to go to work and April sympathizes with her.
Later, when the patient needs treatment, April finds herself arguing with the attending doctor – she believes a different treatment is necessary and the doctor tells her that he won't forget her slighting him.
In the ED, Dr Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto) is called in to treat a 24-year-old pregnant Black woman who was brought in from prison. When Natalie asks if the woman's handcuffs can be removed, she is told that the patient is a violent offender. However, the patient tells Natalie that she is not a violent offender — she was arrested for pushing an officer and later for a busted taillight.
When the patient asks if the cuffs can be removed, Natalie declines, leading the patient to tell Natalie that she wants to see a licensed OB/GYN, not her. When the new OB/GYN Angela Douglas shows up, the patient goes into a seizure. As Douglas tends to her, she angrily asks why the patient is still handcuffed and Natalie can only look on in fluster.
The patient gives birth to a healthy baby, but the police come in to put the handcuffs on her just as soon as she is out of emergency surgery. Douglas fights for the patient to be free of the handcuffs, at least, while she is breastfeeding. Later, Natalie talks to Goodwin about doing something for the patient, so that she can get to be with her baby and Goodwin says she will look into it, though it is not likely.
Meanwhile, Will learns that his patient has a pocket of air trapped in his head. While he thinks that it could have come from a hole in the esophagus, Ethan comes to check on his case, saying he wants to take a more hands-on approach. He disagrees with Will and says that the hole is likely elsewhere and tells Will to send the patient for a different scope.
However, when it turns out that Ethan's guess is wrong, Will's patient becomes unresponsive and he decides to go ahead with what he planned initially. Will is getting more upset with Ethan for interfering with his work. In fact, the only person who seems happy about Ethan being the new ED chief is April, who earlier fought with a resident over a Covid-19 patient's treatment route, leading the resident to tell Ethan that he won't work with her.
Ethan sides with April and says he will transfer the resident to another shift. However, when Ethan disagrees with her later, she tells him he is being a "hardass." As Will moves to go ahead with his plan, Ethan shows up again and overrules him, sending the patient straight to surgery. By now, Will has had enough and talks to Ethan about meddling in his job. However, Ethan interprets it as Will being upset over Ethan being chosen as the ED chief over him.
Later, when it turns out that Will was right, rather than apologize, Ethan just says he has to make some changes in the way the ED is run. Will points out that a good leader does not need to micromanage his team and has to trust them. Will talks to Goodwin later about why Ethan was chosen as chief and she tells him it was the military experience. Will argues that he is a better doctor and that he wishes he was considered more seriously and asks why he was not chosen.
Will realizes that it was his relationship with Hannah and Goodwin tells him it's how Will makes impulsive decisions that affected the board's decision not to hire him, she also adds that Will wasn't even considered for the job. It is then that Will decides to work with Dr Sabeena Virani (Tehmina Sunny) on the clinical trial that she approached him about in the previous episode.
When a police officer comes to arrest the patient, Natalie fights for the patient to stay with her baby. As the police moves to the patient, Natalie pushes him, surprising not just the viewers, but the viewers as well. Natalie is handcuffed later, but she is freed when the police decided not to press charges.
Elsewhere in the hospital, Dr Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt) has his ex-wife brought to the hospital when she coughs up blood, making their daughter very nervous. Charles is also occupied with getting Dr Crockett Marcel (Dominic Rains) to talk to him, but the latter is reluctant.
When he had seen the preview for the episode, we thought that Will may have been overreacting, but it turns out that he may have been forced to do so. However, Ethan's reaction to himself being the chief seems a bit odd given that he is usually better at interacting with people. What Goodwin tells Will is harsh, but it was about time Will realized his decisions have consequences.
While the episode was still strong, it was nowhere near as strong as the season premiere. We would also like to see more of April besides her work in the Covid-19 unit. Again, it is much too early in the season to see whether this season will truly be better, but so far, the medical drama is doing okay.
'Chicago Med' airs on NBC on Wednesday nights at 8/7c.