Spoilers ahead for the Season 4 finale of Chicago Med on NBC, called "With a Brave Heart."
Chicago Med knows how to deliver a killer cliffhanger, so it should come as no surprise that the Season 4 finale delivered some doozies. Surprisingly, though, the biggest shockers didn't involve the two characters leaving the show for Season 5. Fans have known for more than a month now that Colin Donnell and Norma Kuhling are leaving Med, meaning Connor and Ava won't be around, and the Season 4 finale didn't definitively send them off.
Connor spent the episode both mourning the death of his father and working with Ava to save the life of a baby. Ava was being very thoughtful and accommodating to Connor as he mourned. In fact, if not for the fact that Ava slept with Connor's dad to secure funding, it might have been possible for sparks to start flying between them again. Ava certainly thought so, and she approached Connor in their final scene in the episode to say that, with his father out of the picture, they could finally be together.
His reaction was understandably of the "WTF?" nature, and he shot her down relatively gently, considering the circumstances. His coworker/former flame told he they were "free" to be together because there's no longer anything keeping them apart. Considering Connor learned earlier in the episode that his dad had been killed via an overdose of insulin, Ava's apologies for his father's death probably began to have a different implication.
After hearing Connor's rejection, Ava called him an "ungrateful prick" and told him to "rot in Hell" with a seriously unnerving look on her face. She walked away, leaving Connor and the audience to totally come to the conclusion that she might have killed his dad. While it was a cliffhanger, it wasn't a shocking one, as it was easy to predict last week that she might be the killer. So, how will Med explain Connor and Ava's absences in Season 5? Here are some options.
Colin Donnell and Norma Kuhling return for the Season 5 premiere. Connor and Ava were reportedly written out for creative reasons related to the evolution of their stories, so Colin Donnell and Norma Kuhling presumably aren't leaving behind bad blood. Since both of their stories ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, could Chicago Med be bringing them back as guest stars for the first episode of Season 5?
That would allow Med to tie up some loose ends without having some characters simply drop a bunch of exposition, and it would allow fans a chance to get some closure and say a proper goodbye.
Ava killed Cornelius, and Connor had to leave to deal with his emotions. The coroner marked Cornelius' death as "suspicious," and Connor has reason to think Ava might have done the dirty deed. He has no reason to feel loyal to her, so it stands to reason that he could turn her in and she could be arrested for the crime. Alternately, maybe she would go on the run if she realized that Connor suspected her.
Either way would get rid of Ava ahead of the Season 5 premiere, but what of Connor? Well, even Connor might have a hard time working at the hospital where his manipulative coworker murdered his dad -- who she slept with -- to try and get back together with him. He could willingly leave.
They left together. Maybe Ava is misunderstood, and Connor decides that it's his responsibility to help her get her head on straight. Just because she hinted he should be grateful that his dad is dead doesn't mean she murdered the man. It's still a troubling thing to say.
If Connor believes it's even a little bit his fault that Ava would be in a place where she'd say such a thing, maybe he'd feel obligated to try and help her through her trouble. As a doctor, she'd probably realize that a coroner would pick up on an overdose anyway. If she was going to kill Cornelius, maybe she'd be smart enough not to do it in a way that could be easily detected.
Ava kills Connor. If Ava gets the idea that Connor suspects that she overdosed his dad with insulin, maybe she snaps, kills him, then goes on the run or is arrested. That would certainly explain why neither is around.
Ava went on the run after killing Cornelius, and Connor is on a mad vigilante quest to bring her to justice. It's not like Chicago Med presented an alternate suspect for who could have killed Connor's dad, and it would be a tall order for the show to investigate the murder if Connor isn't around. Ava really is the likeliest candidate as the murderer. If she did it, wouldn't Connor want justice?
Of course, that doesn't mean Connor would go on a mad vigilante quest (or Ava kills Connor), but since Chicago Med didn't reveal why either character won't be around as a regular in Season 5, why not imagine the most entertainingly bonkers possibility until we know differently?
We'll have to wait and see. Honestly, it's possible that Chicago Med will pick up by paying off on all the other cliffhangers and count on fans to be so preoccupied with those that we don't bother wondering what happened to Connor and Ava. It would be a bold move if Med just never addressed what happened.
As for those other cliffhangers, there are three lives in danger and one potential bun in the oven. The woman to whom Maggie had donated her kidney earlier in Season 4 was admitted to the hospital with a tumor on her kidney, understandably upsetting Maggie. The doctors discovered that it wasn't kidney cancer, but rather a sign of metastatic breast cancer... that came from the donated kidney.
Maggie apparently has metastatic breast cancer. The diagnosis wasn't confirmed, but she did admit that it had been a long time since her last mammogram. Sharon insisted that she get the mammogram as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the man who Will helped put in prison got out, and he quickly went after Will for revenge.
Rather than go into hiding, Will wanted to stay to remain close to Natalie. In a case of extremely terrible timing, Natalie came running up to his car and climbed into his front seat to talk to him... just as the bad guy rammed Will's car with his own. Natalie's door was open, and she went flying backwards onto the cement, while Will's head was bashed against the roof.
Will rushed to try and help her, both bleeding from head wounds. Her eyes fell shut, and Will began to panic. Is Natalie dead? Is the bad guy okay enough to get up and come after Will? Is Will okay enough to help Natalie?
On a less urgent cliffhanger, April revealed to Ethan that she's "late." Because Ethan apparently didn't know that it's season finale season, he didn't immediately realize what she meant. She had to clarify that she might be pregnant. His expression was pretty blank, so we will have to wait until the fall for his reaction.
Chicago Med will indeed be back in the fall, as it along with both Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. were renewed for the 2019-2020 TV season.
