Spoilers ahead for the April 7 episode of Chicago Med on NBC, called "Letting Go Only To Come Together."
Chicago Med delivered a big development for Natalie and Crockett as they dropped their first "I love you" declarations and thickened the plot between Ethan, Will, and Sabeena Virani with the latest episode, but the real game-changer happened for Sharon Goodwin thanks to the departure of a character she was getting pretty used to having around: her son, Michael. He wasn't the most pivotal character ever to walk the halls of Med, but his departure does have implications for Season 6.
Michael's departure isn't completely out of the blue, as his work at Kender Pharma led to some friction with his mom at Med when he pushed the boundaries of what he should do there, and Sharon introducing some new policies was the final push he needed to decide to move on. Michael dropped the news on his mom, saying:
My ambitions, they're big. I push. So when management pushes back, it stings. But you're also my mom. This hits closer to home. And that's why I've decided to leave Med. I've been thinking about it for a while. You cast a long shadow. Time I get out from under it.
Sharon's response was that she raised him right, and she was clearly glad that he plans to stay in the area and switch his Kender work to Northwestern, so Michael leaving Med doesn't have to mean that he's actually leaving Med altogether, which isn't quite the case with Hannah and Noah, both of whom left the show earlier in Season 6 with the aim of going a lot further away than a university in Evanston, right outside of Chicago. So, what does Michael's departure from Med mean for the show, if it doesn't necessarily mean that he's leaving Sharon's life again?
Well, for one thing, it may be a sign that Chicago Med is moving away from storylines involving pharmaceutical companies, even though Dr. Virani clearly isn't going anywhere, and Gwen has collected some favors from pharmaceutical reps after she reversed Sharon's policies. At the very least, Med might be narrowing the pharmaceutical focus to Dr. Virani and Will's trial, especially as the trial advances while the dynamic between Ethan/Virani/Will gets more complicated.
For another thing, it may mean less screentime for Sharon, as the MIchael plot was her biggest ongoing storyline other than habitually cleaning up the messes of the doctors in the ED who tend to go rogue to pursue treatments, which really can be a full-time job. Then again, it could mean a brand new story for her, which could be exciting.
So far, she's been a great source of support for characters like Maggie and Dr. Charles while doing her best to keep the hospital running, so it should be interesting to see what Med has in store for her now that Michael is leaving and that plot for her and the show is ending.
Chicago Med will return with a new episode on Wednesday, April 21 at 8 p.m. ET to kick off the One Chicago block of programming on NBC, followed by Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET.
