Chicago Med Season 1 Episode 3 Review: Fallback
Elizabeth Harlow
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Talk about a dysfunctional family.
Connor Rhodes family comes to the hospital on Chicago Med Season 1 Episode 3, causing all kinds of gossip – both their wealth and his father's behavior are fodder for the mill. Everybody loves family drama when it isn't their own.
While Papa Rhodes was busy throwing his weight around, Will tried to force his apology on Nat. We also met a new (to us) surgeon who has a lot to learn about teaching. Who will be the one to melt her icy exterior?
Not only does hot doc Connor Rhodes have to put up with insufferable colleague Will Halstead (more on him later), but his bully of a father is trying to get him fired and his sister seems to be blaming him for her own situation.
We at least found out that Claire is not the nanny cum 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) wife, but Connor's sister, from whom he is also estranged. Outside of her displacing her resentment of her father onto her brother, she seemed like a decent person. Her own problems with the pater familias are just clouding her judgment a smidge.
We still don't know exactly went down between the two of them to prompt Connor to flee to the other side of the world, and I have a feeling that might get drawn out a bit. As long as there's some payoff, that's fine.
Dr. Daniel Charles: That your dad?
Dr. Connor Rhodes: Yep.
Dr. Daniel Charles: Fathers like that keep me in business, baby.
Connor was too focused on treating his friend (a Chihuly chandelier to the chest is rather attention grabbing) to notice that he was the subject of everyone's focus. Or maybe he's just a little oblivious since he hasn't seemed to pick up on Will's hostility so far.
For a franchise built in no small part on the desirability of it's characters, I cannot for the life of me figure out what the writers are trying to do with the younger Halstead brother. As if his one-sided pissing contest with Connor wasn't enough, he's now developed a serious God complex and has become "that guy" with Nat. It's a close call which is the bigger turn off.
Somebody at NBC needs to figure out that making him seem like the entitled guy at the bar who thinks buying a woman a drink means she has to sleep with him isn't going to attract the female audience. I get more than enough of that guy in the real world thank you very much.
In addition to forcing his apology on a justifiably upset Nat (several times going so far as to physically block her movements), his outburst with her about patient Dylan was not what you want to hear from a doctor. Perhaps telling her that she would retain hearing in her other ear would have been a good place to start (and actually performing the procedure her affected side).
Nat, the medicine is clear. The patient should not be making this decision. I should.
Dr. Will Halstead
His follow-up that he had always wanted to help people rang a little false if you remember that, until recently, he'd been doing nose jobs on wealthy housewives in New York City.
We're only three episodes in though, so there's still plenty of time for Will to redeem himself. Maybe big brother Jay could drop by and beat some sense into him – we could have a mini crossover at Antonio's gym instead of Molly's for a change.
We were also introduced to a new doc tonight – surgical attending Toni Zanetti. Her brusque manner may be off-putting to nurses and patients alike, but she's probably who you'd want to operate on you. She's no nonsense and a little impatient, but it's all for her patients.
Your father, is he as big a tube steak as he seems?
Dr. Toni Zanetti
I look forward to seeing more of her, and to the show expanding some outside of the ER. One of the problems with Grey's Anatomy has always been that it's staffed entirely by surgeons, so I appreciate that we're seeing different departments. Even if we're not in all of the all the time, the realism of the hospital being a big entity is felt.
I really liked the mini-cross for this episode. Not only did we get a little helping of Kelly Severide, which is always nice, but it came about in a really natural way. I am curious that we keep seeing Brett with the young red-head EMT instead of Chili when she brings a patient in.
Chicago Med Season 1 Episode 4 (airing December 8th) will embrace it's Dick Wolf heritage with a "ripped from the headlines" incident. S. Epatha Merkerson will get another chance to show off the power and drudgery of hospital administration as Sharon manages the press while her docs treat patients from a movie theater shooting.
If you missed "Fallback" live, you can catch up and watch Chicago Med online. Tell us what you thought of of Toni in the comments, and share your theories on what exactly went down between Cornelius and Connor.
Elizabeth Harlow was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She left the organization in October 2018.
