Eventually, every medical drama has a high-stakes story where someone has to perform life-saving surgery in a dangerous environment.

It was Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 4's turn; this time around, Marcel had to work while trapped underground, with rubble, constantly falling everywhere.

This time, everyone survived, but was this story worth it?

These kinds of stories are risky; if you don't like stories where doctors are in grave danger themselves or have to use non-medical items to complete a procedure, you'll hate this sort of thing.

In addition, this is hardly the first dangerous situation Marcel has been in; he's been held hostage and done surgery at gunpoint before.

Yet, this didn't feel like a rerun. The premise was believable and compelling.

It helped that there weren't a ton of victims with graphic injuries and that Marcel didn't face one danger after another. These stories often fail when they feature too many high-stakes events, such as doctors almost drowning or suffocating on top of being trapped.

Man: Please. Am I... going... to... die?
Marcel: I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen.

• Permalink: I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen.

This time, the drama came from Marcel trying to save one seriously injured man.

Nathaniel's injuries could have easily been so life-threatening that there was no saving him, but Chicago Med opted not to go the tragic route. Instead, Jack found a more significant purpose by helping Marcel save his friend, while Marcel had plenty of time to own up to his perceived selfishness.

I dislike the suggestion that Marcel was responsible for Blake's injuries or that it was somehow selfish for him to choose the surgery that was in her best interest instead of the one she would have been most comfortable with.

It's not his fault she needed rehab and physical therapy, and I'd rather the epiphany he had be that there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent her stroke. However, if this means she and her daughter are permanently off our screen, I'm all for it.

Blake was obnoxious and condescending most of the time, especially when it came to Marcel, and that competition between her and her daughter for Marcel's heart was cringe-inducing.

If Marcel owning up to guilt that isn't his is the price of getting rid of those two permanently, so be it.

Meanwhile, Dr. Charles and his therapist had a role reversal when Otis ended up in the hospital with pseudo-cardiac issues brought on by anxiety about his health.

I felt terrible for Charles when his therapist turned into his patient. He's been trying hard to find a decent therapist, only for the guy to collapse!

It's not realistic that a therapist could continue to treat a patient who ended up being his ED doctor. But I'm glad Charles and Otis will continue to work together.

Charles deserves a therapist that will help him. The relationship between therapist and patient is the most significant determinant of whether the therapy works, and Otis seemed like the best choice for Charles.

I was proud of Will for not wanting to use black-market drugs. In addition to the legal jeopardy he and Vanessa were putting themselves in, he was right that there was no way of verifying what was in those pills.

Will has always been one to do anything to help a patient. He even took the rap for Natalie doing something similar on Chicago Med Season 6 Episode 16.

This is probably the most mature he's ever been.

Of course, in the end, Will used that black-market drug. He tried to get around it by giving it to Rose's husband to administer, but that won't save him if he gets caught.

With Will telling Vanessa that no one can ever know, it's virtually guaranteed that someone will find out. The husband already knows since Will gave the drugs to him, and if Rose suffers further complications later, that might be a problem.

And if the wrong person finds out, Will and Vanessa could find themselves on the receiving end of an ugly blackmail plot. For example, could Matt Cooper somehow use this as leverage in his case? Will supposedly already testified, but I wouldn't put it past Cooper to mess with him like that.

These supply chain issues are a part of medicine in the post-COVID world. Chicago Med is doing a phenomenal job of demonstrating how frustrating these problems are and how desperate doctors become to help their patients when medications aren't available.

This is the second week in a row that Will has had to do something unorthodox because he couldn't get the proper meds. Let's hope this problem is resolved soon so he can practice medicine properly again!

As an aside, I was pleasantly surprised that Sharon mentioned Jay leaving Chicago. Despite Jay and Will being brothers, Med and PD are often written as if they exist in separate universes; that continuity was a refreshing change of pace.

With Marcel stuck in the tunnels, Kai was forced to work with Choi and Archer instead.

Kai: He shouldn't even be inserting a chest tube in the tunnels. That's not a sterile environment.
Archer: What did you want me to do? Send him a note saying that?

• Permalink: What did you want me to do? Send him a note saying that?

Archer quickly shot down his usual condescending nonsense, and Kai seemed impressed with Choi's makeshift chest tubing system.

Although Choi suggested that Marcel is also a good teacher, Choi seems like a better fit for Kai. Kai doesn't have the power struggles he has with Marcel, at least not so far, and losing the attitude does wonders for his character.

Archer also finally lost the attitude when it came to Asher, though she's been equally problematic.

She takes everything he asks of her personally, and it's not always about her. His refusal to agree she needed to order a CT scan was a good example.

Look. I'm being squeezed all over by these shortages, including one on contrast dye. If the antibiotics don't work, then she can have a CT scan.

Archer

• Permalink: Look. I'm being squeezed all over by these shortages, including one on contrast dye. If the...

The issue was the lack of access to contrast dye, not Asher's diagnostic skills. Archer was trying to save the dye for vital tests, which meant he needed Asher to rule other things out before he could approve a CT scan.

It wasn't the most efficient policy, but given the situation, it was understandable. Asher assumed his reluctance was due to not trusting her because she is a recovering addict.

Thank goodness they got past that! Hopefully, they can work together more effectively without that issue.

Your turn, Chicago Med fanatics. Hit the big blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts.

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Chicago Med airs on NBC on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST / PST.

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.