Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 3 Review: In the Valley of The Shadows
Jasmine Blu
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Bodily autonomy was at the forefront of the hour.
Between some of the patients and what was happening with Maggie, Nat, and Caroline, it seemed Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 3, had a theme happening, and the way each storyline played out varied.
Were Will, Charles, and Goodwin overstepping?
Maggie is incredibly stubborn, and it's frustrating. It's no way she can continue working at the hospital without everyone finding out she's going through chemotherapy.
She can barely keep it under wraps, and her behavior has changed a great deal. Goodwin put her foot down and arranged for Maggie to have someone follow her around to provide aid.
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Maggie's job was to train this woman to take some of the load off of her, so she's less worn down while undergoing treatment.
It's reasonable, and yet, Maggie was resistant the entire time. The poor woman had the task of helping Maggie, and all Maggie gave her was a hard time.
She didn't deserve the terrible treatment. Maggie had her running errands like she was a personal assistant instead of getting to do what she was assigned to do.
April, thank you for helping me scrub in today. I would like to start training you to take over the position formally.
Maggie
Maggie sent the woman 12 blocks away for a specific cup of coffee to get her out of her hair.
Maggie is winded and tired, and the chemo is doing a number on her. She couldn't even make it through surgery and had to rush out during a pivotal moment.
Here circumstances are unfortunate, but she is risking the lives of patients when she's stubborn, and she should have considered that when she was doing everything in her power to run off her assistant.
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The final straw was how ugly she got when she lashed out at the woman who only wanted to help. I commend the woman for knowing Maggie was out of line and disrespectful in how she was speaking to her, and she didn't stand for her.
She quit, and she had every reason to after her experience with Maggie.
Maggie knew Goodwin was right though, so she did something she probably should've done in the first place, she decided to train April to take over some of her responsibilities.
It'll give her the necessary relief she needs, and she gets to have someone she trusts and respects running things for her. It's the best for all parties, and it's a wonder this wasn't the solution from the beginning.
Take care of my baby, OK? Tell him I'll come for him as soon as I can.
Nicole
Goodwin did the right thing stepping in and forcing Maggie's hand. It was for Maggie's well-being and the patients.
However, Will is a mess.
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He's concerned about Nat's TBI, and he has reason to be, but the way he is going about things is the worst.
He's coming across like a jealous man with a vendetta who is punishing her for not remembering and for sticking things out with Philip.
He proposed a study of some sort for her to participate in, and he hoped it would help her recall what she had forgotten.
The problem is that he's already told her about how she was supposed to be telling him something when the incident happened. She knows how invested he is in her remembering, so his concern doesn't come across genuine.
I'm going to want to oversee all of your cases until I know your TBI isn't affecting your judgment.
Will
Instead, his concern comes across spiteful and calculated. He's condescending and overbearing.
He has no right to impose his position on her, but if his concern was about her forgetting things and causing harm to the patient, he shouldn't bury it underneath the personal baggage.
The lines between what is personal and professional cross over too much, and that's how Will always ends up with valid reasoning for some of his stances but executing them poorly because of his selfish focus on how something affects him.
He's an excellent gaslighter, that Will. Every interaction with Nat regarding Keisha felt like he was setting her up and waiting for her to fail.
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She could have easily been flustered by him, and it came across like he was projecting slip-ups on her to prove she needed to listen to him.
Nat: You are fixated on me getting my memory back. Why?
Will: Nat, I just want you to get better.
Nat: No, I don't think that's it. You want me to remember why I came to see you that night so I can tell you something you want to hear.
He was trying to manipulate her into conceding to his suggestion about getting help, and then he got her booted off of the case.
It's not to say Nat isn't struggling, and she could pose a threat to patients if her memory is shoddy. She may have returned too soon, and if she has difficulties, it should be addressed.
After she was kicked off Keisha's case, Nat shouldn't have come barging in with her diagnosis.
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It doesn't matter if she was right about Keisha not producing enough cortisol, she should have run that past Will, especially since the parents didn't want her anywhere near their daughter.
A combination of Nat's behavior and Will's overbearing nature has now led to him overseeing all of her cases.
It's too much. Will isn't in a position to make impartial decisions about Natalie. He hasn't done himself any favors with their relationship either.
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He does have reason to be suspicious of Philip, who is like a bad rash who won't leave.
Why is he always at the hospital? Does he not have anything else to do?
He hangs around there like he's rubbing it everyone's face that he bamboozled Nat into believing they were engaged.
It's disturbing how often he has Owen as if he's Mr. Mom or something. When will this man be exposed? It's ridiculous!
Who hangs around at hospitals all of the time with children under three? Hospitals are cesspools. Why doesn't Natalie send him elsewhere or comment on this?
You draw anyone's blood without consent that's considered assault. Well, I don't know about you, but I like being a doctor.
Marce
Will was the worst of it as far as not respecting someone's choices, but Charles fell somewhere in the middle.
Caroline injured her arm and wanted to undergo surgery to fix it so she could make Robin her signature Baked Alaska. Making the dish meant something to Caroline, and she was willing to risk everything to make it.
Charles was understandably resistant to his new wife undergoing a surgery she didn't need that could cost her her life.
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He couldn't express himself without sticking his foot into his mouth, and Caroline was not thrilled about him making decisions on her behalf.
April: I cannot believe you undermined me like that?
Marcel: Excuse me?
April: You knew I was calling DCFS to talk to her. You sedated her on purpose.
Marce: Please.
April: You know what? If you don't want to help, that's fine. Just stay out of my way.
Their compromise at the end was cute, though. He needed to trust that she would reach the right decision for herself in the end.
He loves her, but he was overbearing too.
His and Ethan's case with Shep gave him some perspective though.
It was a fascinating case where Shep wanted to die at the hospital and have a cryo company freeze his body and preserve his head for the future when he could maybe come back to life with science.
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It's something many people are getting into. They have made plans for their bodies to be preserved.
Mr. Shepherd: My wife and I decided we're going to honor our son's wishes.
Mrs. Shepherd: This way, maybe someday we'll get our son back.
He gave it a lot of thought, but he was young, and Ethan didn't know if it was the best decision for him.
Ethan wanted Charles to declare Shep mentally unstable and incapable of making decisions on his own. Once Charles did that, they could disregard the DNR/DNI, and Shep's parents could make the decisions for him.
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Shep had it all planned out, and his talk with Charles showed he thought everything through. When facing his mortality, he decided this for himself, and as absurd as it was to everyone else, they should've respected it.
His parents respected his wishes in the end.
April: I cannot believe you undermined me like that?
Marcel: Excuse me?
April: You knew I was calling DCFS to talk to her. You sedated her on purpose.
Marce: Please.
April: You know what? If you don't want to help, that's fine. Just stay out of my way.
If only Marcel could respect what April was saying to him in the beginning.
Marcel remains a complicated character who is difficult to pinpoint. Sure, we can give him credit for drugging Nicole, drawing her blood, and contacting the authorities, but does it explain how dismissive he was in the beginning?
If he came around eventually, does it change your impression of him? It's hard to say.
Nicole was showing all of the signs of a troubled woman, and her attachment to the baby grew suspect by the second.
She wasn't getting tended to, since she refused treatment. The situation could've been nipped in the bud sooner if Marcel wasn't being an ass to April.
It was supposed to make him look good at the end, but it was more annoying than anything else.
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Now, April has to work with Marcel a great deal because of her workload. Something tells me there will be more drama between the two of them.
Over to you, Med Fanatics!
Was Will too overbearing with Natalie?
What is your take on Marcel? Hit the comments below!
You can watch Chicago Med online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
