Not only did Archer pull a six-foot tapeworm out of a man, but somehow he could tell the story over lunch without anyone losing their appetite.
As a doctor, Hannah’s probably seen a lot, but still. That wasn’t appropriate lunch table conversation!
The tapeworm incident was only one of several odd stories on Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 20, but it left an impression!
The visuals of a tapeworm sticking its head out during surgery were shocking and dramatic. But is this how tapeworms are usually diagnosed and treated?
Maybe the budget cuts at the ED stopped Archer from being thorough in his testing, but I’d think that if a patient came in with weight loss and stomach pain, the hospital would do blood tests and take stool samples as well as order a CT scan.
That probably wouldn’t be as dramatic as the parasite deciding to appear in the middle of surgery, so Chicago Med didn’t go that way.
Thankfully, Archer was able to get it out without significant complications — at the same time as Asher was helping the patient’s wife through labor despite nobody being aware she was pregnant. What were the chances of that?
I know some women don’t show throughout most of their pregnancy, and PCOS can cause irregular periods, so Pam had a reason not to be concerned about hers being late. Still, the trope of the woman not knowing she’s pregnant is incredibly overused on TV,
Pam’s labor juxtaposed perfectly with the tapeworm removal, but it was hard to take this story seriously. Both husband and wife experiencing a bizarre event simultaneously was a bit much to believe!
After the birth, I misread everything that was going on. While Sean appeared to be enamored with Hannah earlier in the hour, I thought his dopey smile was because he helped deliver a baby.
I also thought that since Hannah made such a big deal out of checking on Pam and the child, something would turn out to be wrong, and the baby would end up in the NICU.
Wrong and wrong. All that was set up for a ridiculous and unnecessary father/son love triangle.
If there’s one trope I hate with a passion, it’s when someone acts on a misunderstanding that could be cleared up in two seconds instead of communicating and learning the truth.
Sean’s skulking away appears to be just that.
Hannah is blissfully unaware he has a crush on her, and there was nothing romantic about what was happening between her and Archer. But Sean probably thinks his dad decided to romance her, so Sean couldn’t.
That’s a recipe for unnecessary drama. Sean might verbally attack a bemused Archer or withdraw his offer to donate a kidney, neither of which is a great way to handle this situation.
Let’s hope Med surprises me and this situation is resolved quickly. The first scene of Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 21 would be acceptable.
We already had one ridiculous triangle involving a parent and child when Marcel was caught between Avery and her mother. Thank goodness both those annoying characters were shuffled off-screen!
We don’t need a repeat now.
Marcel’s current story is the most exciting one as Chicago Med approaches the end of Season 8. Jack Dayton began as someone who felt he owed Marcel a favor because Marcel saved him and his engineer after a train collapse, but he won’t appreciate Marcel defying his new rules.
Dayton’s becoming more and more the stereotypical evil tycoon, which is a shame because he started with such promise. But at least his tech can save lives once Med’s staff get its creator out of the way.
Something untoward happened while Marcel was working with OR 2.0. It didn’t get stuck while calculating by coincidence.
Dayton can be petty, but would he really cause a patient’s death because he’s angry that Sharon stopped his wealthy friend from hogging the machine when he wasn’t using it?
Sharon: Anything I can do to make you stop looking [for another job]?
Maggie: You got a time machine so we can go back to the time when we used to put people over profits?
If so, Marcel will get to the bottom of it. He’s upset and doesn’t understand how this patient stroked out without 2.0 warning him, so he’s not about to let it go.
If Marcel discovers that Dayton sabotaged 2.0 out of spite, it will be ON. (It also will probably be grounds for a lawsuit, but I’m not sure if Chicago Med will go that way with this.)
Sharon’s also had enough of Dayton. He might have the money and the tech, but he’s met his match and doesn’t know it. Sharon does NOT play around regarding patient care; if Dayton’s crossed a line, he will be sorry.
And Will, who has never met a rule he doesn’t consider optional, isn’t about to accept Dayton’s interference with patient care either.
One way or the other, Dayton is going down!
Meanwhile, how many times does Dr. Charles have to explain that you can’t talk someone out of a delusion?
This is far from the first time someone tried to do that, with nearly disastrous results.
Charles’ playing along with Jan’s delusions got her into the hospital. It was a miracle that she agreed to let anyone stitch her hand up.
Too bad Zac’s scenes were off-screen — I’d love to know how the resident dealt with Jan and her conspiracy theories. But Charles was right that the best they could do was to plant a seed about getting Jan to see a therapist.
Why did Maggie take it so personally? I know she’s a cancer survivor, but that didn’t seem like enough of a reason to get this angry. Was she taking it out on Charles that she was powerless to do anything about the way Dayton was changing Gaffney for the worse?
What did you think, Chicago Med fanatics? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know!
Don’t forget you can watch Chicago Med online whenever you’d like.
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 Twitter.