Spoilers ahead for Episode 7 of Chicago Med Season 9, called "Step On a Crack and Break Your Mother's Back."
Chicago Med finally got to check back in with the doctors and nurses of One Chicago with "Step On a Crack and Break Your Mother's Back" following a few weeks off in the 2024 TV schedule. The medical mysteries of the week involved Ripley joining forces with Dr. Charles for a patient suffering from OCD, Hannah and Archer treating a woman whose birth control implant had migrated in her body, and Goodwin facing some professional complications from her relationship. The episode also neatly avoided a love triangle that I've been a bit nervous about, which is a relief to me and undoubtedly plenty of other fans.
Read on for what went down in the seventh episode of Season 9, as well as what Luke Mitchell shared about the reactions he's seen from fans!
The Avoided Love Triangle
One of the strongest relationships in Chicago Med when the show returned following the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike delays was between Hannah and Archer, with Jessy Schram and Steven Weber delivering a dynamic that not even the showrunners were expecting. Season 8 toyed with the idea of a love triangle between Archer, Hannah, and Archer's son Sean, and Schram even described her character's dynamic with the two men last year as "an emotional triangle."
And that kind of triangle would have been even weirder than when the show was toying with a Will Halstead/Natalie Manning/Jay Halstead triangle! I was a huge fan of Archer and Hannah after Season 8, but not necessarily romantically, and Hannah didn't see him that way. Still, it could have been messy if either Archer or Hannah was uncomfortable with the other exploring a romance with somebody else. Having watched a lot of TV in my lifetime with other shows telling similar stories, I couldn't help but be wary of Med going down that path.
"Step On a Crack and Break Your Mother's Back" proved that the two are not only supportive of each other in romance as much as anything else, but there's surprisingly little drama with their prospects at the moment. Archer called her out for having a crush on Ripley, while she gave him some nudges in the right direction about Margot. By the end of the hour, Archer asked Margot out, and Hannah asked Ripley back to her place for "some epic herbal tea."
The episode ended without revealing if Hannah and Ripley's evening went any farther than herbal tea, and some complications seem inevitable for Archer and Margot due to her role as Sean's boss, but I'm loving how Med handled giving Hannah and Archer new love interests without their friendship taking an awkward turn. Plus, Ripley connecting with Hannah has been a nice showcase for Med newcomer Luke Mitchell.
Luke Mitchell Shares The Fan Reaction He's Gotten
Luke Mitchell joined the cast of Chicago Med Season 9 to play a doctor with a complicated history with Dr. Charles, and his story with Hannah has given him some lightness to go along with all the baggage from his childhood. Speaking with CinemaBlend, he opened up about working with Jessy Schram on the dynamic, but he actually came to Med with just days between his audition and arrival in Chicago.
This meant that he didn't have a lot of time to prepare for the show or the fanbase. I asked the actor how aware he was of the One Chicago fandom when he joined Med, and he opened up about the response he's gotten from viewers:
I obviously knew that it was strong, because the three shows have been going for many years. But that's about it. I wasn't really sure what to expect, knowing that [and] coming into the ninth season of a show like Chicago Med. And I've just been pleasantly surprised every step of the way, from the cast to the crew to the fan response. It's been really lovely.
There's never any guarantee that fans will immediately respond well to a newcomer on a show that has been airing for the better part of a decade, let alone when that character could potentially cause complications for a popular relationship like Hannah and Archer. Fortunately, Luke Mitchell has had a "really lovely" experience with fans as well as his coworkers, and I for one am with the rest of the fandom. Ripley has been a great addition to Season 9, and I'm hoping that he sticks around as the hit drama continues.
Given that Season 9 is expected to run for thirteen episodes, Chicago Med is just over halfway done. For a peek at what comes next, check out the promo for the upcoming episode:
While the promo doesn't shed light on what happened for Ripley and Hannah after the final credits rolled on "Step On a Crack and Break Your Mother's Back" or if Archer has a successful date, see the latest with new episodes of Chicago Med on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. As always, Med opens the night of One Chicago action ahead of Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. You can also find all three shows streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.
