Warning: many spoilers ahead for the third episode of Chicago Med Season 5, called "In the Valley of the Shadows."
Chicago Med may not have wasted any time in Season 5 on resolving the cliffhanger of what happened to Will and Natalie, but the aftermath is continuing to haunt both doctors thanks to Philip. The premiere revealed that her oh-so-loving fiancé Philip is actually a master manipulator who used Natalie's amnesia as a way to trick her into thinking she had accepted his proposal, when in fact he never actually asked her and gave her the chance to answer.
The truth is bound to come out, even with everything else going on, and there are a couple of prime candidates for who could bring it about. Will it be Will, or somebody else? Let's start with Will.
Will is the one most invested in what's happening with Natalie and Philip, and he does clearly want the best for both Natalie and the patients under her care, which means continued concerns that her traumatic brain injury is still affecting her.
He and Philip have had some tense encounters, with Philip trying to and pretty much succeeding at getting under Will's skin as the new man in Natalie's life and new father figure in Owen's life. He knows Natalie the best and his suspicion about what she wanted to tell him but can't remember doesn't seem to be entirely self-serving.
That said, "In the Valley of the Shadows" proved that Will might not be the best placed to help reveal the truth to Natalie. The fact that he has a motivation to figure out what's happening with Philip can work against him, as he obviously isn't happy that the woman he loves moved on to seemingly agree to marry a guy she hasn't known all that long. Natalie isn't unreasonable to assume that his actions to try and figure out what happened with Philip are because of their personal relationship.
All signs point toward Will genuinely wanting to help her and genuinely suspecting that something is off with Philip, but Natalie would have no way of knowing that. Imagining that Philip is exactly what he seems and Will is a jealous ex is probably way easier for her to accept than Philip as a sketchy guy taking advantage of her TBI. Can Will come across as objective enough to convince Natalie that something is wrong?
Well, he may not need to. Dr. Marcel was the first person on Chicago Med to figure out that Philip was playing a game of his own, when he realized that Philip had placed the ring on Natalie's finger himself when she was unconscious, as she hadn't been wearing it when she and Will were in the accident. When I spoke to Chicago Med showrunner Andrew Schneider about Season 5, he said this when I noted that Dr. Marcel seemed to be onto Philip's game:
Yes he is! He will play a role in the triangle with Natalie and Will. His suspicions will bear some fruit later.
Well, Dr. Marcel is going to disrupt some relationships. Maybe he'll disrupt a relationship in a good way, rather than get in the middle of a healthy relationship. He clashed with April through a lot of "In the Valley of the Shadows" but ultimately proved that he's willing to do whatever necessary for the greater good. What can be a greater good when it comes to Natalie's well-being than exposing Philip for what he really is?
We'll have to wait and see. Natalie may not be getting her full memory back any time soon, and it's entirely possible that she won't be willing to take the word of her ex or the doctor she just met than the man she thinks is her fiancé is a liar and manipulator. We may be in this for the long run.
Fortunately, Chicago Med should have a lot of exciting action going down beyond what Philip is up to. The huge three-show crossover airs next week, and it should be a cinematic event that puts the heroes of One Chicago in very real danger.
