The long wait is over.
It’s been a month since we checked in with our friends at the Gaffney Medical Center, but the series is back on March 22.
Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 16 will make up for the long hiatus by getting viewers’ adrenaline pumping during a high-stakes rescue story. And CFD will assist in a semi-crossover between Med and Chicago Fire.
Before COVID, characters traveled between One Chicago shows regularly. Med’s original premise was a semi-crossover — Will was Jay Halstead’s brother beginning his residency at a nearby hospital.
Times have changed. COVID made it riskier to have actors from one show visit another, Jay left Chicago PD, and the three series became only tangentially connected. So Med staff working with Chicago Fire Department to rescue a patient is a HUGE deal now.
The story revolves around a patient stuck in an MRI machine. Spoilers say the patient suffers from paranoia, which will present additional challenges.
Dr. Charles may need to keep the patient calm. Medical dramas typically give super anxious patients sedatives so they won’t interfere in their care. But if the patient is paranoid, he might think the doctors are trying to poison him and refuse to accept medication.
His mental health would be a concern no matter what, but in this case, it’s not the only problem. The patient risks serious physical injury if the rescue isn’t handled correctly.
Hannah tells one of the firefighters that the magnets in the MRI are stopping the patient from bleeding out, and CFD admits that they don’t know where to begin with this rescue operation.
Talk about high stakes! CFD will have to rely on the doctors’ expertise to get that patient safely out of the MRI machine.
There’s plenty of opportunity to butt heads or argue about the best way to proceed, and the patient’s fear level will only add to the stress.
Plenty of people fear getting stuck in an MRI machine, but how often does that fear come true, especially in such a dramatic way?
Chicago Med’s spoiler video promises to explain what led up to the disaster — will this story be told in flashback?
This will be a fascinating backstory either way. Hopefully, Med will give us enough to keep our eyes glued to the screen without distracting from the high-stakes rescue operation.
Elsewhere in the hospital, Will and Cuevas have a big story together.
The two search for answers for a patient who has a rare disease.
Last time Will couldn’t figure out what was wrong with a patient, Grace ran symptoms through her algorithm, but Will probably doesn’t want to do that again. The algorithm suggested the Bubonic Plague when the issue was bedbugs coming from an unsanitized room.
Despite Will’s potential reluctance, Grace will likely get involved.
AI has been a huge part of Chicago Med since Dayton purchased OR 2.0 before acquiring a controlling interest in the hospital. He’ll probably want to use technology similar to OR 2.0 to guide the rescue from the MRI, and he may insist on Grace’s algorithm in this other case.
Archer and Dayton often butt heads over AI technology, and this story could lead to another showdown.
I’m curious as to Cuevas’ involvement in Will’s case.
She’s a psychiatrist, so either the patient has a mental disorder related to their symptoms or Will suspects the illness is psychosomatic.
Cuevas began as Charles’ fellow, but she’s taking on more cases independently — will she be able to handle this one without his intervention?
And what symptoms does this patient have that have Cuevas and Wll so worried? This should be interesting!
Finally, if you find Dr. Tanaka-Reed as annoying as I do, you’ll love his storyline. Spoilers say someone or something will finally give him that badly needed ego check!
Tanaka-Reed is a first-year resident who thinks he knows more than the attendings. He questions Marcel at every opportunity, then cries foul if there are consequences.
Nobody needs a doctor like that. It’s beyond time that someone takes Tanaka-Reed down a peg or two.
The spoilers don’t provide any info about what happens other than Tanaka-Reed receiving an ego check. He usually works with Marcel — if Tanaka-Reed tries to contradict OR 2.0 or get in Marcel’s way during a technology-assisted procedure, Dayton’ll have something to say about it.
An ego check doesn’t necessarily mean Tanaka-Reed gets in trouble. He might come face-to-face with a problem he can’t solve.
Admitting he needs help with a case would contradict everything Tanaka-Reed stands for, so he won’t do it unless he has no other choice.
But if he doesn’t, he could make a mistake that loses a patient. I don’t want that, even if it would mean getting rid of this annoying character.
What do you think, Chicago Med fanatics? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know. And don’t forget you can watch Chicago Med online while waiting for the newest episode to air.
Chicago Med airs on NBC on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST / PST., and you can watch Chicago Med online. The next new episode airs on March 22, 2023.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
