‘Chicago Med’: Brian Tee & Steven Weber Hint at More Conflict Ahead in the ED
Bringing in his old mentor should have made ED Chief Dr. Ethan Choi’s (Brian Tee) life easier on Chicago Med. Instead, Dr. Dean Archer (Steven Weber) has done the complete opposite in just two episodes (by sharing his thoughts on patients as well as staff relationships) and he’s not done yet.
“All we’re going to do is butt heads,” Tee shared during a recent NBC press junket. That will extend to the rest of the staff as well, though we haven’t see Dean interact much with anyone besides Ethan.
“Ethan may be trying to clean up after his messes,” the actor continued. After all, it’s up to Ethan, as chief, “to tame each situation as it goes along.”
One of the problems is that Dean “has an ego and a past in which he was very assertive and figured strongly in Ethan’s world,” Weber explained. “Now he comes and hasn’t made the adjustment to his new surroundings. He assumes the surroundings will adjust to him. That’s the root of some of the abrasiveness. His ego is bruised.”
The result will be Ethan having to “school his mentor in a sense,” he added.
The two served in the Navy together, and we will hear “a lot” about their past, Tee promised. “It’s really grounding. There’s an incredible understanding in one another. There’s a sense of a relationship that you will come to see and notice in certain episodes that tell who these guys are and how they fit together. It creates the dynamic moving forward. So when things do go off rail and come back together, there’s a sense of understanding that I feel Ethan has with no other character except for Dean.”
Elizabeth Sisson/NBC
“I also have a feeling that the show — which is known for really attacking real-life issues, medical issues, health issue — with the storyline between Ethan and Dean, is going to touch on actual things that people experience in our society,” Weber added. “They’re taking a little bit of a chance here, they’re going a little deeper.”
While the actors wouldn’t share too much about what’s next, Weber did tease that “bringing Dean in [is] a trigger” for Ethan, adding, “it breaks the show out in a couple different areas that are unexpected.”
Chicago Med, Wednesdays, 8/7c, NBC
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