Reviewer Rating: 4.9/5.0
4.9
I didn’t see that person coming.
Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 4 could have gone in a different, darker direction for Hannah, but it didn’t, in part because she found support from a surprising source.
No, not Ripley, although I’m also surprised he’s not so stupid that I expected Hannah to ignore him entirely.
Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 4 Offers One of the Best Stories About Addiction and Relapse Ever
Hannah’s mental health took a serious hit after Eloise’s death and I was sure she would relapse. If she were a real person, I would apologize for not believing her.
I’ve studied addiction in two different training sessions, so I know that going through a rough patch doesn’t necessarily mean a person will return to substance abuse.
The problem is that most TV shows adopt the tired TV trope of someone with an addiction problem going from chronic sobriety to a full-blown addiction once tempted.
But not medicine.
Hannah is in poor health for much of the hour, and her exhaustion, melancholy, and refusal to go home may be signs of use.
Instead, Hannah did the responsible thing, at least as far as her addiction was concerned.
She reaffirmed her commitment to sobriety and attended NA meetings every day before work to get the support she needed to stay sober.
Hannah: You run, I work.
Ripley: Is this your coping mechanism?
Hannah: That meeting and the daily North American meeting. I go every morning before work.
Ripley: You…
Hannah: For the first time in four years I’m considering using. But no, I didn’t use it.
That doesn’t mean she’s out of the woods. She works too much and admits to Ripley that she is using the job as a coping mechanism.
That’s not healthy. She essentially traded one addiction for another by distracting herself from her pain through work.
Nonetheless, Hannah’s choice to manage her disease by getting support, rather than automatically giving in to the desire to use, is a positive and uplifting social message that viewers who may currently be struggling with addiction need to hear. to this message.
‘Chicago Med’ Season 10 Episode 4’s ER Case Conference Goes Better for Hannah than She Realizes
Lennox decides that bringing Hannah in with the group to discuss Elise’s case could be a disaster.
When Kay reveals that she neglected to give Eloise an abdominal ultrasound, Archer understandably rushes to protect Hannah, who may not be happy with her situation.
This is the new policy Sarah Ramos told us Lenox will soon have in place, and I like it, even though it may be very uncomfortable for doctors.
It’s a good idea for physicians to regularly review case results with an eye toward improvement, rather than assuming that interns can abandon the practice once they receive full licensure.
Furthermore, if Hannah didn’t have to critically examine Eloise’s case, Hannah wouldn’t have gotten some surprising but much-needed support from Lennox after the meeting.
The meeting itself is undoubtedly a shock to Hannah, as Archer and Kay refuse to act like adults.
Kay does his usual superiority complex thing (I swear, that man gives Abrams a run for his money in terms of smug know-it-alls!) and Archer responds with personal attacks. Way to keep things classy by the ED co-director.
This also triggers Hannah’s desire to tell Lennox how sure she is that Eloise’s death was due to her negligence.
This gave Lennox a chance to do something she had never done since arriving at the medical center: be supportive.
Lennox: I agree that Eloise’s death was caused by a doctor’s negligence, but that doctor was not you. I don’t know why I have to explain this to you because you are too smart a doctor to think otherwise.
Female friendships are a rarity on TV, not for the seemingly fussy new ER co-director, but for a doctor who’s mired in undeserved guilt and shame on Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 4 Some sympathy was expressed, which was refreshing.
Ripley also redeemed himself somewhat by apologizing to Hannah and offering her support.
I still don’t like them together. There was so much crap between them and Ripley was so awful to Hannah during the Sully episode that I’m not sure an apology is enough.
Still, I hope they get along and not continue to have nasty and unnecessary conflicts just for the sake of drama.
Jackie’s return story is similar in some ways to Hannah’s
I have to admit, even looking back at the scene. It took me a minute to remember who Jackie was.
She was last seen in Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 12, the same episode where Marcel had to cancel a liver transplant that a young boy desperately needed, leading to his exit story.
No wonder I forgot about her!
Jackie’s original story was that she cut herself in response to the stress of working in the ER, and Dr. Charles ended up having to monitor her for 72 hours to prevent her from hurting herself.
She’s a mysterious face from the past who’s expected to reappear in ER on Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 4, which leads to a second strong mental health story that fits nicely with Hannah’s story.
Jackie’s problem is the opposite of Hannah’s. While Hannah works too much, Jackie can’t get Maggie to trust her enough to let her do the real work.
This is an issue that’s not adequately addressed on television. The only show I can think of off the top of my head about well-intentioned people abusing people coming back from hospitalization is Season 3 of Heartstopper.
When someone is suffering from a mental health problem, it is not helpful to treat them like a vulnerable person, especially when they are trying to support their recovery by returning to a normal life.
Maggie was afraid to let Jackie work because she thought doing so would trigger a relapse, but trying to manage Jackie’s mental health in this way only left them frustrated.
Furthermore, it’s not Maggie’s job to decide what Jackie can handle, and trying to do so would be counterproductive.
Likewise, Archer must learn to let go of Sean.
He destroyed his relationship with Margot because he couldn’t separate her need to run the rehab center properly from the fact that his son was the one she fired, and was prepared to go to any lengths to get Sean back at work.
This obnoxious behavior is why Archer is often a character I don’t want to be associated with. He is very controlling and many of his behaviors are irritating.
Also, why did he have to assume that when Margot texted him she meant more than just seeing him?
I can’t stand people looking for hidden meanings in everything. I know this is typical male behavior, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying.
‘Chicago Med’ Season 10 Episode 4 Unusually Focused on Mental Health
In addition to Hannah and Jackie’s storyline, Dr. Charles attempts to support a woman who threw acid in her eyes due to severe mental health issues, while Ripley and Frost dealt with them via surrogate Father thought to have Munchausen syndrome.
Much of the time was spent dealing with these types of mental health issues, and the father turned out to have a neurological condition that he was unable to treat, leading him to make up stories about his daughter’s health in order to get the medication he needed. .
This last case would have provided an interesting consulting case for Dr. Wolf of Brilliant Minds, had it not been in two different parts of the United States.
I love the emphasis on mental health.
I’m often frustrated by the way television misrepresents mental illness and people with mental illness, so it was refreshing that Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 4 spent much of its time depicting these issues sensitively and accurately.
Over to you, Chicago Med fanatics.
What did you think of Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 4?
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Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC and Thursdays on Peacock.
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