'Chicago Med' Season 6: Among Chexton, Halsher and Mankett, which romance will survive when the show returns?
NBC recently announced that all three of its 'Chicago' shows are set to make a comeback with new seasons in November 2020. The previous seasons for each of the shows had to end a couple of episodes short each due to the shut down of production due to lockdown restrictions implemented in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.
This meant that 'Chicago Med' could not end its season with a bang like it normally does. Season 4 had ended with a mobster ramming his car into Dr Will Halstead's (Nick Gehlfuss) car, with Dr Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto) in it, just as she was about to perhaps tell him that she still loved him. While Will ended up okay, Natalie ended up with a traumatic brain injury and amnesia.
For Season 5, the biggest event in the finale was the hostage situation that Dr Ethan Choi (Brian Tee) found himself in. He made it out alive but the experience made him realize he messed up with April Sexton (Yaya DaCosta), a feeling she echoes. Much of Season 5 focused on the intense drama in that relationship, with them first trying hard for a baby, and then the love triangle with the new character, Dr Crockett Marcel (Dominic Rains).
Crockett seemed to be moving on from April during the latter half of the season when he was put in a tight situation with Natalie. While Natalie initially had ill feelings towards him when she found out about his kiss with April, she warmed up to him especially when she found out that he had a daughter who died from leukemia as a 1-year-old.
The fifth season was much more about the romantic tensions between characters than actual medical emergencies, which was a letdown for a show that is known to be among the most accurate of medical dramas. While the writers focused on will-they-won't-they situations and love triangles, the rest of 'Chicago Med' suffered. For instance, at least three characters were given arcs that could have been quite promising -- Will with his illegal safe injection site, April with her promotion, and Maggie Lockwood (Marlyne Barrett) with her cancer --, but in each case, the writers let go of professional and personal developments for the characters, choosing instead to make them all about the romantic pairings.
It is likely that the trend will continue and since none of those developments might make it to Season 6, we believe there is plenty that can happen drama wise. Take a look at what we expect from the new season of 'Chicago Med' with three of the main couples on the show currently.
Will and Hannah (Halsher)
Will met Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram) when she came in as an overdosed user at the safe injection site. It was only later that it was revealed that she is also a doctor at the same hospital Will works at. While Will was at odds with her over practicing medicine while being high and there were some ups and downs, the two eventually started going out. By the time the season ended, the two seemed to be going steady. It could be that Will and Hannah continue to go down that path, but given the writers' propensity to destroy every relationship, it is possible that there will be trouble brewing. Perhaps Hannah might go back to her addiction, or perhaps Will may have feelings for Natalie resurface.
Ethan and April (Chexton)
After the demise of the Manstead relationship, Ethan and April's relationship became the main one on 'Chicago Med'. It looked like things were going well with them planning to start a family. With Crockett in the picture, their relationship crumbled, but when the season ended, it looked like they both regretted their decisions to end their relationship.
To have two people of color form a leading romance in a procedural drama is the most remarkable thing about 'Chicago Med' -- this show does diversity better than both 'Chicago Fire' and 'Chicago PD', though not when it comes to LGBTQ characters. As such, we hope Ethan and April do get romantically involved again (for the third time). However, this time, the characters need to be written more maturely and the writers need to stop inserting petty troubles just to create meaningless drama.
Crockett and Natalie (Mankett)
When Crockett Marcel boarded the ship, there were a lot of expectations. After all, he was seen as the replacement for Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell) who exited the series in the Season 5 premiere. However, the character was a disappointment. The only things we learned about him was that he liked to party and that he had a daughter who died, the latter of which we learned in the final moments of Season 5.
What we need of Crockett in Season 5 is more personal development. However, based on what the showrunners intended for Season 5's ending, we may very well see Crockett and Natalie getting together. It makes sense logistically -- both of them are single and moving on. But it remains to be seen whether these characters will have the chemistry that Manstead had and that is unlikely to develop unless viewers get to know Crockett better.
'Chicago Med' will return to NBC on Wednesday, November 11, at 9/8c.