Spoilers ahead for the sixth episode of Chicago Med Season 7, called “When You’re A Hammer Everything’s A Nail.”
Chicago Med has had to go in some brand new directions with Crockett in Season 7 after the departure of Torrey DeVitto as Natalie Manning, and that has involved exploring a potential future in transplant surgery. With the arrival of Suits alum Sarah Rafferty to play transplant surgeon Dr. Blake, Crockett has found his attention straying somewhat from trauma in the ED, which raises big questions about his future on Med. Does looking back to how Med handled Connor Rhodes’ path as a surgeon indicate what could be happening for Crockett?
Connor made a memorable departure from Chicago Med at the beginning of Season 5 after going through the ordeal of his dad dying followed by the reveal that Ava killed him, and then killed herself in quite literally a bloody mess in front of Connor. There is no indication that Med would repeat that particular storyline with Crockett (or writing out Dominic Rains like how Med was writing out Colin Donnell), but Connor also primarily served as a trauma surgeon in the ED in his earlier seasons before pursuing cardio. And that element of his story could hint at the path ahead for Crockett.
There are two primary ways that Chicago Med could handle Crockett considering a fellowship in transplant surgery like how Connor pursued a future in cardio back in his day on the show. Crockett could go after the fellowship, work with Dr. Blake, and simply pull double duty that keeps him working in transplant while also diving into the thick of emergency surgery down in the ED. Connor pulled it off, even though he didn’t exactly have the easiest time on Med. Plus, transplant surgery has to be less common than cardio surgery, so it’s not hard to imagine Med letting him do both.
Alternately, Crockett could think better of his consideration of a fellowship with transplant surgery and decide to stick with trauma, which would be the simplest way for this storyline to end, and nip any similarities to Connor’s path in the bud. But I’m not leaning toward this happening. According to Give Me My Remote, Sarah Rafferty has joined Chicago Med on a recurring basis, which wouldn’t really make sense if Crockett is going to think better of transplant within the next episode or two.
Plus, the promo for the next episode of Chicago Med reveals that Brian Tee will finally be back as Ethan, which is great news in general but could mean the ED is getting pretty crowded, especially with Archer on board as a series regular in Season 7. Crockett pursuing transplant like Connor pursued cardio could open up some new stories for him, and potentially open up some room in the ED for other stories for other characters. The similarities between Connor and Crockett’s situations aren’t exact, but Med proved that this kind of storyline can work with Connor. Why not Crockett?
Find out with new episodes of Chicago Med on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. And if you’re now in the mood to revisit Connor’s days on Med, you can find all of his seasons streaming on Peacock now.
