Spoilers are ahead for Episode 10 of Chicago Med Season 10 on NBC, called "Broken Hearts."
Chicago Med is back in the 2025 TV schedule, and "Broken Hearts" was the first episode after the medical drama resolved the cliffhanger after Sharon Goodwin was stabbed. Archer was responsible for saving Goodwin's life (and quality of life) in the winter premiere, but he wasn't as much of a fan of his patient this week: Sloan, a wealthy and demanding exec with a knack for burning bridges. When her medical issue turned out to be much more serious than it first appeared, Archer got to know her assistant, Meg, and seemingly came to a realization about life that – according to Steven Weber – will continue to affect him moving forward.
And nobody even had to die for the message to hit home for Archer, or even be stabbed a la Goodwin!
What Happened To Archer In Chicago Med's Latest Episode
Sloan was pretty insufferable until she got the news that she might be dying, at which point she became... well, kind of insufferable in a different way, as she started trying to buy off all the people she'd wronged, and it was a full room of people who she'd wronged. Meg, who had previously described her boss as a "lunatic" she was only working for to try and get a step up the ladder, was encouraged by how Sloan had seemingly turned over a new leaf, only for Sloan to get back to her ways once her life was saved.
Meg announced that she was quitting, reminding her boss that none of the people she paid off even cared if she lived or died, which clearly hit home for Archer. Now, I don't think he'd have an empty waiting room if he was having life-saving surgery, but he has been pretty abrasive over the years. (You can rewatch his earlier episodes streaming with a Peacock subscription.) I suspect he might think back on the speech he gave Meg. When she asked if it matters why people change, he told her:
I think that if you have a moment of clarity and you see a better version of your life, don't ask too many questions. Just run at it, and don't look back.
Can Archer take his own advice after seemingly getting a wake-up call courtesy of nobody caring about Sloan when she was possibly on death's door? Well, I maintain that he was never as bad as Sloan even at his very worst on Chicago Med, but he also didn't endear himself to many coworkers early on.
And that brings us to what Steven Weber told CinemaBlend in addition to dishing about Archer's "unlikely pairing" with Hannah and the upcoming "One Chicago version of Avengers: Endgame."
Steven Weber Pondering His Mortality
When I spoke with Steven Weber as part of NBC's One Chicago winter premiere junket, he previewed what was going on for Archer after the Goodwin stabbing. I personally didn't really see how his comments would apply to Season 10 after the events of just the winter premiere, but they make so much more sense in the wake of what he witnessed with Meg ranting about Sloan's legacy. He shared:
Going forward, there's something about this, the [winter premiere] cliffhanger and the subsequent activity that happens that makes him kind of rethink his choices, and not just having to do with leaving or staying, but his life choices. And where is this man? Where is this particular person now, at this time of life, after everything he's been through, after all the self-loathing and all the damage that he's done and also helped to repair? He's starting to think about meaning. He's starting to think about mortality and where his place is. Actually, it's not just a person telling him or him... or to help him decide. It's the world that he finds himself in, in spite of his wanting to leave it.
We did see in the first episode of 2025 that Goodwin talked him into staying despite his determination to quit after being demoted to working under Lenox, but it was clear the story wasn't done when that conversation was included in the "Previously On" segment at the start of Episode 10. He had to imagine his mortality after how Sloan reacted to her own, and it seems that will be on his mind throughout the rest of the season. Archer isn't the only one facing such an ongoing arc, as he also said:
Well, it's not just Archer. It's all the characters. All the characters have these arcs that are infused into the action of this hospital, so there will always be stories walking in the doors of Gaffney, there will always be people who need help, but through it all, we're going to see, yes, Archer on his trajectory, but also everybody else. This is a great function, again, of our great writers who see that we're not just paper dolls. We're not just cutouts put in the hospital to do hospitally things. These are characters who the audience is invested in, emotionally, and the writers have risen to that. It's a long-winded answer, but there's going to be, not only an arc for Archer, but for everybody. It's gonna be really fascinating.
Whatever the future holds for the character arcs of Chicago Med Season 10 to pay off on Steven Weber's comments, we may have to wait until February for any big developments. That's for a fun reason, though, as the three-show One Chicago crossover will air next on January 29 starting with Chicago Fire at 8 p.m. ET in Med's usual slot, followed by Med at 9 p.m. ET, and concluding with Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET, all on NBC.
