The midseason finale of Chicago Med welcomed, and said goodbye to, Mr. and Mrs. Choi.
Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 9 marked the final episode for Brian Tee, who has portrayed Ethan Choi since the very first episode of the medical drama. Yaya DaCosta guest starred, reprising her role as April, Choi’s longtime love, who recently came back into his life. And a second chance led them down the aisle, which was a truly joyous moment for Med fans.
They’ve had their ups and downs throughout the seasons, but they’ve finally arrived at a place where they both want the same thing and are willing to put in the work to make it a success. Since their union has been a long time coming, it’s also the reason why it was so disappointing that the wedding was so short-lived. If my memory serves me correctly, this is one of the first Chicago Med weddings, so I wish it took up a larger chunk of the episode. I know the wedding couldn’t span the whole episode, but I think fans would all agree that it would be nice to see the setup of the wedding just as much as it would be to see all of Gaffney’s finest celebrating together at the reception after.
CHICAGO MED — “This Could Be The Start of Something New” Episode 809 — Pictured: (l-r) Yaya DaCosta as April Sexton, Brian Tee as Ethan Choi — (Photo by: George Burns Jr/NBC)
Instead, the whole “big day,” which was so heavily hyped and promoted by NBC, was rushed and reduced to less than five minutes. Why did they bother bringing back Noah for the ceremony when we barely got any time with him?
And if Noah was back, why wasn’t there even a mention of Ethan’s sister, Emily, who, at one point, lived with him and April? They were one of the show’s most impactful siblings, so it just felt strange that Choi didn’t have any family there.
On the plus side, fans one final ED storyline with April and Ethan—where the romance began—as they treated her father for chest pain.
All these minor complaints aside, I couldn’t think of a better storyline to honor Ethan and April’s journey. There’s nothing more fitting than the two of them trying to change healthcare, one patient at a time from their Docs on Wheels mobile clinic. They have always gone above and beyond for patients, raising issues within the system and questioning how things are done, so their career move does justice to the characters we’ve come to know and love.
CHICAGO MED — “This Could Be The Start of Something New” Episode 809 — Pictured: (l-r) Brian Tee as Ethan Choi, Yaya DaCosta as April Sexton — (Photo by: George Burns Jr/NBC)
I’ll truly miss Ethan Choi’s presence in the ED, but I’m happy he’s finally going to live his authentic life with his love by his side. Plus, since they are both staying in Chicago, there’s potential for a guest appearance down the line.
It was also heartwarming to see how supportive Sharon Goodwin was when he tended his resignation. Goodwin is an example of the kind of boss we all want to have—she knows she’s losing a good thing, but she couldn’t be happier for Choi’s professional development. We love to see it.
The rest of the episode focused heavily on the OR 2.o, funded completely by Jack Dayton, the man Crockett saved in the train derailment episode. While it seemed like a generous gift, the moment Goodwin said that there didn’t seem to be strings attached, you knew the other foot was going to drop.
There’s definitely an ego issue with Dayton, as evidenced by how he handled Crockett’s complaint about operating in front of an audience. Crockett was being cautious considering he wasn’t familiar with the tech, and he didn’t want to make a spectacle of someone’s life, but Dayton wasn’t interested in hearing any of it. He wanted the audience there so he could prove that his innovation worked and could change the future of medicine, thus putting Gaffney on the map as a cutting-edge hospital. While all of that is great, it mostly works in his favor as it allowed him to buy a controlling investment in the Gaffney Medical Group. The danger of taking handouts from a billionaire is that he has enough money to now own the whole hospital. And while there’s a small chance it might be a good thing, by the sheer horror on everyone’s face, it doesn’t seem to be.
CHICAGO MED — “This Could Be The Start of Something New” Episode 809 — Pictured: (l-r) Yaya DaCosta as April Sexton, Brian Tee as Ethan Choi — (Photo by: George Burns Jr/NBC)
Dayton is very much a profits-over-people kind of guy. He doesn’t care about the outcome as much as he does about making money. The very accident with his supersonic train is proof that he launches things before they are ready or tested. And now that he’s the one calling the shots, they have no choice but to listen to him and meet all of his demands, even if it’s proven that the OR 2.0 isn’t entirely safe.
Dayton overlooked an issue that came up during Richard’s tumor retraction, and when Crockett brought it up, it was basically shrugged off, even though you’d think they’d want to do everything to make the system as good as it could be. What are they hiding?
While the OR 2.0’s technology is impressive and lightyears ahead of what they’ve been using, it’s not without flaws, and a manual override of a suggestion it made that could have killed the patient is definitely concerning. If a less seasoned doctor was operating and they listened to the AI’s advice, it may have been the patient’s life on the line.
All of this could blow back on Gaffney, and I don’t doubt that Dayton would let it in order to preserve the integrity of his name. And since Crockett is the face of it all, I feel like Dayton would be fine with making him the scapegoat. He can tear him down as quickly as he built him up, especially because it seems as though he feels like he owns him now.
CHICAGO MED — “This Could Be The Start of Something New” Episode 809 — Pictured: (l-r) Jessy Schram as Hannah Asher, Marlyne Barrett as Maggie Lockwood, Marc Grapey as Peter Kalmick, S. Epatha Merkerson as Sharon Goodwin, Oliver Platt as Daniel Charles, Dominic Rains as Crockett Marcel, Nick Gehlfuss as Will Halstead — (Photo by: George Burns Jr/NBC)
The ED is always action-packed, and that was especially true during the midseason finale.
No one ever wants to deal with a parent’s ailing health, but April and Ethan were forced to when her dad began having chest pains the day before the wedding. Thankfully, it wasn’t a heart attack as previously believed, and Choi got to the bottom of the issue, noting that it wasn’t urgent and didn’t require surgery prior to the big day.
Charles treated an elderly patient that came into the ED after falling down the stairs. His daughter was terrified that her father had Alzheimer’s just like her late mother, but after having a brief chat with him, Charles wasn’t convinced. After being discharged, the man had a seizure, and a CT scan later revealed that it was a mystery illness that led to inflammation that was affecting the brain. The good news is that a round of steroids would clear it all up. Sometimes, there is a happy ending to a story!
Meanwhile, Dean and Asher helped Grant, Maggie’s ex and Vanessa’s dad, with a complication following the accident. While Maggie was in surgery with him, Ben stopped by with the cupcakes that she ordered for April and Choi’s wedding, and the new intern, Justin, blurted out all about the accident. Read the room, man!
Of course, Ben flipped out on her, assuming that she was having an affair. While Maggie swore that wasn’t the case, the fact that she withheld something so important from him was a breach of trust, and he suggested that they take time apart.
I feel for Maggie, I truly do, but she made some questionable decisions this season. And Ben’s character also seems so inconsistent—the jealousy over Grant from day one has been so strange—it almost doesn’t feel like it’s the same man she married. He has every right to be upset with her about the lying, but it just seems like the writers want us to all of a sudden hate Ben so that when she gets back together with Grant, we’re not upset about it. But let me remind you—Ben was a sweet and soft-spoken guy a few seasons ago, and that guy would’ve been much more understanding from the get-go when she first introduced him to Grant. It really doesn’t help that Maggie is being so weird and secretive the whole time, but I also wish Ben handled it better. Don’t ever underestimate the power of clear communication.
Archer also confided in Asher about his kidney disease, adding that if the renal diet wasn’t going to make everything better, the next step was dialysis. It was only a matter of time before she figured it out, and with Choi gone, it’s nice that Archer will have someone in his corner, even if he is asking her to keep it a secret from the other colleagues.
There’s also a new love interest brewing for Dr. Charles—Liliana, the woman who cleans his office. He happened to catch her incredible opera performance during an open mic night at the piano bar he frequents, and it completely caught him off guard. He went back and forth with himself about asking her out, as there is an unequal power dynamic between them, but he eventually mustered up the courage. And she was more than happy to grab coffee with him.
After everything that he’s been through in his romantic life, Charles more than deserves some happiness. I’m rooting for them. However, I was a little thrown off when he said that Lilliana is Polish. I only picked up on a handful of words in the song she sang, and truthfully, it sounded more Ukrainian to me. It’s entirely possible that I’m not familiar with the song, that it was in both languages, or even that it was just the way the actress pronounced the words—but it’s just a stray observation from a native speaker who was a little puzzled.
Regardless, I’m thrilled that the series is embracing the huge Polish population in Chicago and finding a way to work it into the plot.
Overall, the title, “This Could Be The Start of Something New,” applied to many aspects of the episode from April and Ethan’s marriage to their new business venture, the OR 2.0 and Gaffney’s new leadership, and even Charles’ relationship with Liliana.
What did you think of the episode? Were you happy with Choi and April’s sendoff? What was your favorite part of the midseason finale? Till next year, Cravers!