SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Chicago Med Season 12, Episode 1.
Chicago Med is coming for Dr. Mitch Ripley—and it could be the best thing the show ever does for him. The Chicago Med Season 12 premiere was a statement episode for Ripley in multiple ways: emotional, infuriating, inspiring and even a little chilling. But its message was clear, that his fourth season is when NBC viewers are going to see Ripley’s past, present and potential future all slam into each other, and he’s not going to handle it well. Nor should he.
Since Ripley was introduced by original showrunners Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider in Season 9, he’s been a character who can rarely stand still, propelled by an intense energy. He’s learned a lot—probably more than any other character in the last three-plus seasons—but he’s also regressed a lot. He still needs that one definitive moment where he kicks the proverbial door down and shoves himself forward. It can’t happen to him just from some external force like that car, because then it wouldn’t be authentic. He needs to do it for himself.
“Shots Fired” gave him the impetus to break that cycle, but the journey of doing so is just as important as the end result. By putting Ripley under tremendous pressure once again, Allen MacDonald and company can prove just how much he’s truly changed. How this time, the story will end differently—because it’s not so much an end as a beginning.
Read the rest of this feature at Fangirlish.
Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC.
Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.
