Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14 Review: It May Not Be Forever

at .

Will isn't known for making good decisions, but this last one was a doozy.

Naturally, his struggle with his conscience on Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14 led to him agreeing to stay the night with Dr. Asher.

It's obvious where this is going ... but does anyone want to go there?

(TALL) Nat and Marcel Disagree - Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14

This whole Will safe injection site storyline has been disappointing, mostly because Will doesn't seem to have the first clue what the site is meant to accomplish.

Sure, he understands the site helps people not overdose, but he seems to have confused it with traditional abstinence-only substance use treatment.

In actuality, safe injection sites are part of a harm reduction approach. 

It is a newer form of treatment in which doctors leave it up to the patient to decide whether or not to continue using drugs while using a combination of education and psychotherapy to help reduce drug dependence and to use safely should they choose to use at all.

His constant hounding Dr. Asher to quit is contrary to this approach and put the safe injection site at risk in more than one sense.

A Romantic Moment - Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14

Not only could Asher have reported Will and the site itself if she wanted to be vindictive, but Will's behavior was a serious violation of trust.

Will: Missed you at the meeting this morning.
Asher: So you're stalking me now. Do you do this with all the women who leave the injection site, or am I special?

If word got around that one of the doctors was stalking users and threatening to turn them in if they didn't get treatment, that could destroy trust and stop people from going to the site at all.

Plus, there was no way that Will's approach was going to do anything positive for Asher.

Trying to force someone to quit rarely works. The person has to want sobriety more than they want the temporary relief that comes with getting high, and getting browbeaten into going to Narcotics Anonymous won't do it.

April's Struggles - Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14

Will came off as controlling and annoying, and it was surprising that Asher agreed to meet him at all.

And then the two of them held hands, and Will agreed to go to Asher's place with her.

How naive can he be?

It will likely lead to some meaningless sex and/or Asher tricking WIll to go off and get high again while he's asleep.

At least Will is done with the safe injection site for now. But how long is this next phase -- which better not be a precursor to these two becoming a bona fide couple -- going to last?

A Misdiagnosis - Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14

Far more interesting was Nat and Marcel's dilemma.

Nat's position didn't make much sense, and I was surprised the ethics committee agreed with her. 

Kim being an abuse victim didn't make her incompetent to make decisions on her husband's behalf, and they hadn't proven at that point that he was the source of the abuse.

And they made this decision without Dr. Charles or another member of the psychiatric team evaluating Kim to see how competent she was or wasn't.

Marcel Talks to an EMT - Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14

If they had involved a psychiatrist, it's possible that things would have ended differently.

Let me put it like this. A victim of abuse is being hauled off to jail. And in my opinion, that's a lousy outcome.

Marcel

Instead of a desperate Kim unplugging her husband's ventilator, Kim might have got some help. Nat called a social worker but left a vulnerable woman alone with her abuser while she talked to the social worker herself.

Marcel's passionate defense of Kim's right to decide made me wonder what else he's hiding in his past.

An Ethical Dilemma - Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14

Marcel is almost always strongly in favor of whatever it is he wants to do, but this seemed personal, and comments like the ones he made usually aren't accidental.

Let me get this straight. We're going to take away the rights of an abuse victim because she's been abused.

Marcel

We know that Marcel lost a child in the past, but was he involved in some sort of abusive situation as well?

Speaking of weird reactions, what was that power struggle between Lanic and Charles?

Lanic seemed invested in not investigating what was going on with a seemingly comatose patient. He yelled at Elsa, interrupted Charles' conversation with Xavier's parents, and tried to convince the parents that further treatment was a waste of time.

Nat is Upset - Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14

It would have made more sense if it was a bigger part of the story. After Vanessa decided she wanted to hear what Charles had to say, Lanic disappeared altogether, making this seem like a pointless obstacle.

Xavier's case was one of Charles' more interesting ones, but I wasn't clear on why and how Xavier came out of his catatonic state.

Charles and Elsa's detective work revealed that Xavier was scared of the bad guys killing his stepdad, Alvin offered to leave temporarily, and then Xavier woke up.

That was confusing. How did Charles talking to Xavier's parents outside of his presence help him awaken?

Or was taking Xavier off the ventilator supposed to be enough to get him to wake up?

Goodwin Steps In - Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14

Finally, April and Ethan's silly case provided some much needed comic relief.

April: The couple in Treatment 3 is having sex.
Maggie: I don't get it. The ED is about the last place I'd ever want to have sex.
April: I know.
Maggie: You kow what? God bless the couple who can't keep their hands off each other even in this place.

While everyone else in the hospital was dealing with ethical dilemmas, they were dealing with a patient who not only kept having sex with her husband in the hospital but was allergic to his semen.

Poor Harlan, having to divulge the details of their sexual escapade to try to figure out what was wrong with his wife.

And what's up with every case April works on having some relationship to IVF? Way to be subtle, Chicago Med.

Your turn, Chicago Med Fanatics.

What did you think of the various ethical dilemmas, and do you think Will has gone too far?

Hit SHOW COMMENTS to share your thoughts.

Want to see it again? Watch Chicago Med online right here on TV Fanatic.

Chicago Med continues to air on NBC on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST/PST.

It May Not Be Forever Review

Editor Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
  • 4.0 / 5.0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
User Rating:

Rating: 2.2 / 5.0 (20 Votes)

Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.

Show Comments
Tags: ,

Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 14 Quotes

Nat: There are bruises all the way down your back.
Kim: It must be from the accident.
Nat: No, these are old bruises. It takes a while for bruises to turn yellow like this.
Kim: Oh. I forgot. I fell down the stairs last week.
Nat: I have to ask. Did someone do this to you?

Marcel: So... I wonder if it's gonna snow today.
April: Crockett, it's okay. What happened is in the past.