Yes, I’m stepping back into another realm of One Chicago to complain about Chicago Med’s obsession with a pairing.
As we head into the season finale of what is inarguably the best season of the series in quite some time, I maintain that Mitch Ripley has been Chicago Med Season 10‘s biggest drawback and weakest link.
And now, the frustration with the character continues with Hannah Asher’s latest plot development.
The end of Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 21 didn’t exactly leave a girl enthusiastic. Pregnancy plots aren’t always the most entertaining, but One Chicago notoriously has a pregnancy problem that makes it hard to invest in these arcs in any capacity.
One Chicago pregnancies always result in pain, heartache, drama, and tragedy, and it’s rare that their mothers-to-be ever have a happy ending. In that regard, they should steer clear of attempting these arcs with their great female characters and spend more energy with them pursuing other storylines.
The franchise treats pregnancy like a dramatic plot point to generate buzz, rather than a genuine vehicle for character development.
Thus, Asher’s result is already displeasing, but now there’s the matter of who the father is, which makes this possible arc even more off-putting.
For reasons beyond comprehension, Chicago Med is obessed with tying Ripley to Asher like a freaking anchor.
Plain and simple, Ripley continuously brings Asher down, and she deserves so much better than Chicago Med continously sticking her into the toxic orbit that is his life.
But Chicago Med never seems to think so. Every time it feels like Asher is finally free of this man, they throw his ass back into her line of sight, and we’re right back on this rollercoaster ride of their “situationship.”
I. Want. Off. This.Ride.
It’s not a fun one. It’s such a hindrance to Asher’s own development (especially in a season that’s genuinely done wonders at evolving someone like Lenox) that the series treats her development and progression as if she must always be tied to Ripley.
Ripley is not a compelling enough character to demand this much narrative space and gravity. However, Asher is. She actually has depth, complexity, and growth.
Asher THRIVES when she’s away from him. Yet every time she gains momentum on her own, the series pulls her back into Ripley like it’s mandatory — as if she can’t just exist without him and it’s his primary job to stall her development.
The series seems to think they’re the new iconic ship.
However, they are not. It’s nothing “iconic” or endearing about Rasher. They’re not a pairing that we’ve ever had the chance to see in a positive enough light to make them worth rooting for, and there are no real layers to this pairing that leave us wanting to see them explored further and deeper.
Frankly, they don’t even have the type of chemistry that holds a girl’s attention or sparks anything more than indifference on a good day and annoyance on the worst ones.
We’re in “worst ones” territory right now as they’ve now saddled Asher with a pregnancy, and we’re led to believe that the father is Ripley. Because who else could it be?
Oh, right. Apparently, the Chicago Med showrunners want us to speculate about the possible paternity by implying that, because of one single night where Hannah showed up to support Dean after the death of his ex-wife, something could’ve happened between them offscreen.
But we all know that’s bullcrap. It wouldn’t have crossed anyone’s mind that they would make the cardinal mistake of not cashing in on the pairing’s actual onscreen chemistry by making something happen offscreen.
It certainly would be foolish to do so after a couple of seasons of people genuinely invested in whether or not that relationship would evolve into something more romantic. We deserve to see the emotional payoff of that moment, and pulling that move offscreen would invalidate viewers’ investment.
So why are we acting like the father of Hannah’s child is anyone other than freaking Ripley? They even foreshadowed it well enough with his little arc of babysitting a baby while on shift instead of taking the kid to the hospital daycare.
But all that means is we’ll NEVER be free of this ship. It’s a romantic subplot equivalent to a cockroach — a nuisance, invasive, and unkillable.
I won’t bemoan the pregnancy of it all (even though I’m not thrilled), but if this is just another attempt to rehash Rasher, Chicago Med could’ve done so much better.
Because Asher deserves so much better — she deserves to be more than just Ripley’s emotional rehab center or his narrative crutch, and this possible baby shouldn’t have to be his shot at redemption or whatever else they have in mind.
WHY can’t Chicago Med let Rasher die and move on? It’s like they either can’t read the room or insist on beating the dead horse; that is their relationship, whether it serves the characters or the plot well or not.
Tying them together with a child means we’re stuck on this carousel of contrived drama and tiresome toxicity as we head into another season.
Who wants that? Because I sure don’t. Do you?
Agree? Disagree? Have a theory?
Let us know in the comments, or share this article with someone who will want to argue about it with you. That’s what makes it fun.
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