'Chicago Med' Season 6: Here's why Rachel DiPillo should return as Dr Sarah Reese in NBC's medical drama
When 'Chicago Med' first began airing on NBC five years ago, nearly every character in the medical drama was new. Viewers wondered whether the 'Chicago Fire' and 'Chicago PD' spinoff would be as successful as 'Grey's Anatomy' on ABC, which by that point had been running for just over a decade and is still on. However, 'Chicago Med' defied expectations and it was soon known to be just as dramatic as 'Grey's Anatomy', and often, for being more accurate than the ABC show.
Certainly, the characters on 'Chicago Med' helped viewers in getting familiar with the show. We first met Dr Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss), the brother of Detective Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) of 'Chicago PD' in a backdoor pilot in the cop drama. In 'Chicago Med' itself, Will was one of the central characters. The characters with which we perhaps identified the most were probably Dr Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell) — an experienced surgeon, but new to the hospital featured on the show — and Dr Sarah Reese (Rachel DiPillo), a fourth-year medical student who was doing her residency in the hospital. Unfortunately, as 'Chicago Med' returns for a sixth season, both characters have long left the show. Donnell exited the show in its fifth season premiere.
DiPillo's final appearance as Sarah Reese came in the season prior to that. As Sarah, DiPillo was excellent in portraying a young woman who was at first grappling with doubts and failures, and learning to love psychology after realizing that she did, in fact, want to work with patients who work in the pathology department as she originally wished. Sarah was initially quite closed off and introverted, and over three seasons, we saw her coming out of her shell. It was her work with Dr Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt), the chief of the psychiatry department at the hospital, that truly made her shine.
Unfortunately, it was that association itself that brought an end to her character. After Charles discovers that Sarah's father is a serial killer and interferes between the father and daughter, Sarah and Charles — who served as a father-figure to Sarah until then — had a falling out, forcing Sarah to transfer to a different hospital. That was the last we saw of Sarah Reese and it was also the last we saw of DiPillo on screen as the actress has not appeared in any other work since.
According to CinemaBlend, showrunners Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider would like to see Reese return and while there is no word from DiPillo herself, we think the sixth season is the best time for her to stage her comeback. The one problem that all three 'Chicago' shows have is that they do not have adequate female representation. Of course, 'Chicago Med' is slightly better, but we are often introduced to women who are either portrayed as being manipulative or whose plotlines only focus on romance (we're looking at Dr Natalie Manning played by Torrey DeVitto here).
Reese was the exception. Here was a female doctor, painted in all shades of grey. She is neither perfect nor entirely flawed. As far as characters on 'Chicago Med' go, Dr Reese was one of the most believable ones, with an excellent actress to bring her to life. 'Chicago Med' certainly needs more of that given that it seems to have lost its touch on making its female characters' story arcs compelling.
'Chicago Med' Season 6 will premiere on NBC on November 11.