Abhiroop Das
Co-created by Dick Wolf and Matt Olmstead, ‘Chicago Med’ takes place in the same world as ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘Chicago P.D.’ and traces the daily medical odysseys of Gaffney Chicago Medical Center. The fall season run of the medical drama’s eleventh season ended with a series of shocking cliffhangers, as the life of Dean’s patient is left hanging by a thin thread due to a sudden power cut. Elsewhere, Lenox breaks into the home of one of her patients, a domestic abuse survivor named Faye, only for Devin, Faye’s husband, to knock her out. Thus, episode 8 of the season, titled ‘Triple Threat’, frames these plot threads under a unique narrative lens, jumping between past and present to paint a collage of several narratives. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Dean, Charles, and Lenox Try to Make Sense of The Night Before in Their Own Ways
‘Chicago Med’ season 11 episode 8 begins with a tryptich ranging from an interrogation to a therapeutic exchange. Goodwin, along with another senior member at Gaffney, has initiated an inquiry for Dean and Jennifer, specifically regarding how they handled Jeremy’s surgery. This suggests that the previous episode’s cliffhanger of a floor-wide power cut has been dealt with offscreen, and both Dean and Jennifer have to answer for their unconventional decisions. The scene then transitions to Charles, who is having a psychiatry session with Gloria. The conversation is about the last day, which also proved to be quite eventful for Gaffney’s psychiatrist, as he was closely involved in an organ transplant mishap.
Elsewhere, at the police station, we see that Lenox is alive, but pretty beat up. A police officer joins her in the interrogation room and pushes her to recount the events exactly as they transpired at Devin’s house just a few hours ago, bridging things to episode 7’s horror-inducing cliffhanger. In keeping with the flashback theme, the next scene shows Jeremy’s operation from last night, when Dean is faced with a choice: he can either shift his patient downstairs, where there are still working lights and electricity, or he can risk it all and complete the procedure on this table. Given the many variables involved in a potential shift, he chooses to trust his instincts in the dark and finish the surgery before Jeremy loses too much blood. In the present, Goodwin is shocked at Dean’s decision, but also understands why he went with it over all the other options.
The Nature of Hannah’s Nightmares is Finally Revealed
While Dean and Jennifer may have shown exceptional medical prowess that night on the operating table, the results didn’t exactly come out as they expected. While Jeremy’s blood pressure is back to normal, he is surprisingly in a comatose state, and nothing can be ascertained till he wakes up once again. Jeremy’s wife is heartbroken at this turn of events, as his being comatose for life is not a scenario she has made peace with just yet. The moment seems too much for Hannah to bear, and she leaves the room in a half-panicked state, catching Dean’s attention. The gaps in their communication have been quite apparent these past few episodes, and this time, Dean seeks a full heart-to-heart. To this, a reluctant Hannah reveals that she has been having nightmares of her mother’s death at childbirth, and that same fear has now consumed her life.
Hannah fears that her baby might be a girl, in which case she will have an even harder time dealing with the possibility of the past repeating itself. Still, with no easy solution to the nightmares, Dean realizes that what they need is more time together as a pair. Back at the station, Lenox’s interrogation continues, and we get our first glimpse into the fateful night, right after she got knocked out. Waking up, she finds herself tied up in the basement, with Faye — still injured — sitting next to her. Devin, Faye’s husband, is acting in a paranoid frenzy, but stops short of killing Lenox. His plan is to skip town with Faye, and the latter agrees, if only to save her doctor’s life. The problem, however, is that Faye’s leg is broken, and while Devin gets Lenox temporarily out of the zipties to treat the injury and create a makeshift cast, the crisis is far from over.
Lenox and Charles Layer Their Experiences With Lies
When Lenox hears a doorbell ring, followed by Ripley’s voice in the hallway, she briefly lets out a sigh of relief, only to learn that Ripley has been defeated, too. At the same time, Faye’s lung collapses, likely from when she was pushed down the stairs. This time, Lenox must be even more involved than before, but luckily, she has help from Ripley this time around. Together, they craft a makeshift tube to draw out excess fluids from, and the operation is a success. The scene then returns to the present, this time with Charles recounting his perspective of last night. Linda Myers, a person with a rare heart disease, has been on the heart transplant list for five years, but as fate would have it, her turn coincides with her overdosing on the medicine, leading to her hospitalization.
Over the course of his conversations with Linda’s sister, however, Charles confirms that the overdose was not an accident, but an intentional, last-ditch attempt on her part to fast-track the heart transplant. Still, with another patient needing the organs critically, the doctors are at an impasse. Morris and Charles have a huge fight about the value of life, and realizing that he is on the losing end, Charles has to walk back to Linda’s room and tell her point-blank that her transplant is getting delayed yet again. All of this appears to have taken a mental toll on Charles’s mind. However, when his psychiatrist tries to get him to open up, he is quick to raise his defenses. But being a professional himself, he quickly realizes the faults in his thought process and tries to have a transparent conversation with Gloria.
As it turns out, Charles no longer feels in tune with his profession, and days like the previous one truly test his moral integrity to the limit. Although he has been thinking about retiring for quite some time, this time it feels rather serious. Yet another flashback, this time back to Lenox, shows the aftermath of the operation. Faye is now awake, but Devin’s guard is also lowered just so that the doctors can make their next move. Lenox and Ripley work in sync, with the latter distracting Devin, and the other freeing herself with a knife and taking down their abusive captor. However, just when Lenox heads outside to call the police, she hears a gunshot and rushes back to the basement to find Devin dead.
Hannah and Dean Will be Welcoming a Baby Girl
With the reveal of Devin’s death, the chronology of events makes sense, as the police believe that it is Lenox who shot and killed Devin. The doctors, on the other hand, claim that Devin got out of his restraints and tried to attack the group, and in an instant, Faye gunned him down. The problem with this narrative, however, is that Devin’s ligature marks do not show any signs of struggle. Still, Lenox has all the cards on her side and boldly exclaims that she is ready to take things to the jury. In reality, Faye shot her husband voluntarily, likely to put a definitive end to all the abuse she had to endure thus far. In the present, Charles reveals the greatest detail from last night yet: shortly after his argument with Morris, he had his first panic attack in decades, followed by an intense nosebleed. He believes that there is something physically wrong with him, which puts dark shadows ahead of his future role in the larger narrative.
Fortunately, Jeremy wakes up from his coma and is assured enough health to at least live to see his wife give birth to their child. Jennifer, Dean, and Hannah are all glad with this happy ending, but for the former two, there are still deeper issues left unresolved. That night, Dean pays Hannah a visit at her house, this time with an ominous-looking envelope. Hannah quickly realizes that it’s the gender confirmation for her baby, and fears learning the truth. Dean, however, reminds her that the baby’s growth is already underway and that learning the truth can only help her prepare in the long run. As it turns out, Hannah and Dean are having a girl, and this time, her fear at last gives way to a glimmer of excitement.
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