‘Chicago Med’ EPs Preview Turns in Natalie & Will, April & Ethan’s Relationships
Q&A
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Relationships are complicated going into the Chicago Med fall finale.
“What we tried to do is bring all the stories to a head that were set up either at the end of last season or the beginning of this season and bring them all to a big moment either of resolution or spring-boarding in another direction,” executive producer Andrew Schneider told TV Insider.
And that means that while Natalie’s (Torrey DeVitto) memory of the night of the accident is coming back, don’t expect that to solve all of her and Will’s (Nick Gehlfuss) problems. Then there’s the budding love triangle between Ethan (Brian Tee), April (Yaya DaCosta), and Crockett (Dominic Rains).
Here, EPs Schneider and Diane Frolov preview the fall finale of the NBC medical drama.
You’ve certainly put Natalie and Will through some hard times this fall. But Natalie’s memory returning is not an automatic fix, right?
Andrew Schneider: That’s correct. Her memory will come back in the finale. But it may present a surprising turn in their relationship.
And that paramedic Will was with at the end of the last episode — is that an ongoing romance or just showing he’s out there dating?
Diane Frolov: It just really indicates he is out there dating. Natalie told him to stay out of her life, so that’s what he’s been doing.
(Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)
April and Ethan started off the season in a solid place, but things have gotten rocky recently. What can you preview about the “unfortunate news” she receives in the fall finale?
Schneider: It has a big affect on her, her feelings about herself and about Ethan. She also has some unresolved feelings about Crockett, which cause a lot of internal conflict with her.
We’ve seen a flirtation between April and Crockett and Ethan’s taking notice. How much of that is about who Crockett is as an individual and how much is it about how he’s different from Ethan for April?
Frolov: That’s a very good point. He is very different from Ethan, and that is part of the attraction, but it’s complex because of what’s going on inside of April. Crockett represents a completely different option, you might say, than Ethan.
Schneider: But Ethan really has ambivalent feelings about Crockett. He butted heads with him. He doesn’t necessarily like his style. He lost Noah, his student, to Crockett. There are these feelings that are going to keep bubbling up.
Frolov: Does Crockett symbolize something a little wilder than Ethan? That’s true.
Crockett’s been a very different doctor for the hospital. Is that something you wanted to explore with him in his introduction?
Frolov: Exactly. He’s very different from the other characters. He has a different point of view. He’s not so deeply entangled with them all. He has a wider perspective.
(Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)
Will he become more entangled as the season progresses?
Schneider: Eventually. It’s unavoidable. He’ll become part of the group, part of this often dysfunctional family.
Frolov: But he has a different voice.
You’ve put Maggie through a lot already. What did you want to do with her medically and personally with her love life?
Schneider: Yes, we did want to put her through a big, emotional, physical journey.
Frolov: But she has found love. There is that.
Schneider: And Maggie’s story plays out through the rest of the season.
Is there hope on the horizon for her?
Schneider: Where there’s love, there’s hope.
A photo out for this week’s episode of Dr. Charles and CeCe (below) has me very worried about her. What you wanted to do with their relationship and for Dr. Charles by bringing them back together like you did?
Schneider: We wanted to show a growth in Charles, that he had a potential for intimacy he might not have had as a younger man. His own emotional issues of depression are under control, allowing him to be a very good husband.
(Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)
How worried should we be about her?
Schneider: She’s very sick, so it’s a concern.
Is a complete reconciliation on the horizon for Sharon and her ex?
Frolov: Right now, it’s still in a rocky stage.
Schneider: It’s a very slow process, as she says to Charles. He’s got a lot of explaining to do. Initially she was so enraged by the betrayal, but time heals wounds.
Frolov: And also, she’s watching the lives around her. That has an effect on her about when you start to ask yourself what’s important in life.
Elsa’s trying to find her footing both professionally and personally. What did you want to do with her, on the outside looking in, but trying to get on the inside without actually wanting to?
Schneider: She’s a difficult nut to crack, and we really like her for that. You can feel that she’s cold, but in fact, she isn’t cold. She has great depths of feeling. It’s just hard for her to express them.
(Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)
Frolov: You see when we get in Episode 10, we’ll have a bigger story for Elsa, with another side of her as well.
We saw her stumbling toward asking Will out. Was that all about Will or just that he was someone she started to connect with?
Schneider: Where do you draw a line between those two things?
Frolov: She admires Will. She thinks he’s a great doctor. There’s a bit of a crush there. … He’s very warm, very caring. She looks up to him on a lot of levels.
We saw Natalie struggling medically after the accident, and we’ve seen a couple of the doctors dealing with some strange cases in the first part of the season. Will we see any of the doctors changing their approaches to medicine?
Frolov: Yes, we are. We are going to be dealing with safe injection sites and so that’s a new thing and it’s something that is controversial with doctors. That’s a prominent storyline in the second part of the season.
Chicago Med, Wednesdays, 8/7c, NBC
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