Finally, we had our team working different shifts!

Okay, so that's a silly thing to be excited about, but there really wasn't anything else on Chicago Med Season 3 Episode 12 that peaked my interest. 

Same old, same old. 

Two of our docs finally got out of the ED, which was a nice change, I guess. I was pretty disappointed with the whole homeless pregnant teen story, although it did lead me down some to some interesting Google queries. 

This case, once again, highlights one my biggest frustrations with Chicago Med Season 3. It's not that Natalie is almost solely relegated to pregnancy and infantile cases, but that there seem to be no long-term changes based on any of the doctor's cases or revelations. 

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Nat's attitude about the homeless teens at the end was terrible. There was absolutely no indication that she was going to take steps to address the problem of homeless youth, so saying that it kills you is basically complaining that you're aware of it.

Sharon: It turns out the pizza room was the source of the problem, so I shut it down.
Peter: No. No, no, no. The board's not going to let you do that.
Sharon: Why not? It was influencing the decision making of ambulance crews.
Peter: And it's making this hospital a lot of money.

• Permalink: And it's making this hospital a lot of money.

You know who it could literally kill? Those teens. Reality check, Natalie. 

This seems like a good place to remind you all that my precious ER did a much better job highlighting the problem of homeless youth in Chicago with Charlie, played by Kirsten Dunst, over the course of ER Season 3. 

And what was with that weird pressuring Laura to keep her baby? Giving up your child in that situation is selfless and noble. 

Nat and Ethan know next to nothing about the foster system, and even if that girl wasn't homeless, adoption would likely give the baby more advantages in life.  

Laura: Babies with sixteen year old mothers go into foster care. But babies on their own, they get adopted into nice families.
Nat: Laura, this is your baby. You'll never see her again.
Laura: I know.

• Permalink: But babies on their own, they get adopted into nice families.

Nat wasn't the only character having meaningless (and soon forgotten) epiphanies though. April, yes, holier-than-thou April, learned not to judge her patients.

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Because, you know, that's something that she hasn't managed to pick up in her many years working as a nurse, and hasn't preached to other ED employees. 

How long before she's fighting with a doctor over if a patient should be treated or not based on non-medical considerations again?

April: Why are you fighting so hard for this guy?
Will: Because it's not my job to judge him.

• Permalink: Because it's not my job to judge him.

I get that the pedophile patient was supposed to be this big, bad, evil monstrosity that we were supposed to hate. But the fact that he had been battling his demons and refusing to give into his urges kind of nullified that for me.

It's just that there were more interesting approaches to having a patient that self-declares as a pedophile. Like, maybe have somebody coming in demanding chemical or surgical castration and then we have to assess them?

Yeah, this instance played better with the diagnosis of Sarah's father.

Incompetent? Who cares? The man is a pedophile. Okay? He wants to die, why don't we just let him?

April

• Permalink: Incompetent? Who cares? The man is a pedophile. Okay? He wants to die, why don't we just let...

I was shocked, shocked I say, to find out that Robert Haywood is a psychopath. Fine, admittedly I was thinking more sociopath, but semantics (not really).

Daniel really needs to stop treating this guy. Not only would an ethics board not be cool with what he's doing, he's shooting himself in the foot...repeatedly.

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Clearly, his goal isn't really to help Haywood, it's to protect Reese. Not that he's against helping Haywood with his problems, but, priorities. 

Guess who's not a sociopath? Ava! Yeah, yeah, she was only accused of being a bitch, but again, semantics.

Turns out Ava's a real softie deep down, and smart enough to not keep screwing her super hot, super damaged coworker. It might not make for the greatest TV, but respect.

Even though we all totally know that they're going to end up hooking up again. And again. And again.

There are no right answers with cystic fibrosis. It's relentless, and impervious to whatever we throw at it. Every decision you made for your son, you made out of love. And I believe whenever you do something out of love, it can never really be wrong.

Ava

• Permalink: There are no right answers with cystic fibrosis. It's relentless, and impervious to whatever...

I'm actually hoping that Ava gets to stick around. I feel bad that all of Connor's paramours get booted from the show. It's totally expected given how badly Med deals with women, but still. It sucks. 

Ava showed some real heart with the patients, and everyone who hated her for her ambition should feel bad.

We'll probably find out that she became a cardiothoracic surgeon for super noble reasons, that she had a brother or sister die in childhood from cystic fibrosis or some other terrible disease. 

Except, I kind of hope we don't. Maybe she's just actually a decent person able to express empathy and understanding. The backstory I proposed isn't bad per se, it's just so, so, so overdone. 

With the accessibility to treasured shows of yore via Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and other sites, writers and showrunners really need to step up their games. It's not enough to put a new twist on an old thread, I want fresh material. 

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Unfortunately, there we'll be treated to more of the same when it comes conflict in the ED on Chicago Med Season 3 Episode 13.

Nat and Will are going to be odds this time, which may be a little more interesting than usual after the brush-offs we saw this week. "Don't ask me about it" is not a good phrase in a relationship.

On the surgical floor, I'm just hoping that Connor's screwing over of Ava isn't motivated by her refusal to screw him. At all. I mean, I'm sure it's also because of his patient, but he might be taking being rebuffed so well. 

I'm pretty doubtful about the tagline for Choi though. He can't figure out why a woman can't wake up? This is definitely one of those releases where whoever wrote it didn't see a script. 

April: How was the night shift?
Ethan: Only got puked on twice.
April: Sounds like it was a good night.

• Permalink: Sounds like it was a good night.

So what was your take on "Born This Way?" Will Ava and Connor develop into a lasting romance or will she be on the first plane back to Johannesburg come the finale? Did it matter why April wanted to let the patient die since it was what he wanted? Will we see Deb again? 

Join the conversation in the comments section to share your thoughts! 

Our past Chicago Med reviews are always available for your perusal, and you can watch Chicago Med online anytime!

Elizabeth Harlow was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She left the organization in October 2018.