Spoilers ahead for Episode 8 of Chicago Med Season 8, called “Everyone’s Fighting A Battle You Know Nothing About.”
Chicago Med is on the verge of losing another key character with the upcoming departure of Brian Tee as Dr. Ethan Choi, in the same season that already said goodbye to Vanessa and Dylan. His exit is expected in the upcoming midseason finale, and “Everyone’s Fighting A Battle You Know Nothing About” may have dropped a couple of big clues about what could motivate Ethan to leave the hospital. If so, they could lead to an exit worthy of one of the show’s original stars!
The first clue about Ethan’s future is actually great news for longtime fans who just want to see him get a happy ending. He and April are finally getting married, as they found their way onto the same page after spending some time apart and the death of his father. In fact, they're getting married sooner rather than later! According to the invitation, the wedding is scheduled for December 11 at 4 p.m. at St. Ursula’s Church.
The midseason finale is scheduled for Wednesday, December 7, so the wedding isn’t timed precisely to what is presumably Brian Tee’s last episode as a series regular. Hopefully the wedding will happen on screen, however, and go a lot better than when Will and Natalie tried to tie the knot back in Season 4! Luckily, Ethan isn’t caught up in nearly the same kind of mess that Will was back in the day, and I for one am optimistic that Med will let him more or less peacefully get married in the midseason finale.
In fact, if it goes off without a hitch, I might have to amend my stance that eloping a la Upstead is the way to guarantee a drama-free wedding in One Chicago! Unfortunately, the entire episode wasn’t happy and lighthearted for Ethan, but just as the upcoming wedding set up that Ethan is ready to move forward in his life, the other half of his storyline in “Everyone’s Fighting A Battle You Know Nothing About” (which also featured Upton from Chicago P.D.) may have given him a calling that would motivate him to leave the hospital.
Ethan teamed up with Archer to treat a homeless man on the verge of death after a shady doctor did a procedure on him elsewhere for all the wrong reasons, missed what would have been a life-saving diagnosis, and then cut him loose. By the time the man got to Med, the best-case scenario that they achieved was moving him into hospice care. Ethan was tempted to just blame the doctor who had done the procedure on the man, but he acknowledged that more than one person had failed him. Ethan said:
He’s gonna die from one of the most survivable cancers. With early intervention, this was treatable. It shouldn’t be killing him. Our system failed Buddy, and it fails people just like him every day, because the people who need us the most never even make it through our doors until it’s too late. When did we decide that’s okay? That that’s just the way it is? It can’t be.
While this was a downer of an episode ending for Ethan, those sound like the words of a man who will want to make a difference for those who are being failed by the system! Vanessa left just a couple of weeks ago because she found a calling that meant she had to take her talents elsewhere; why can’t Ethan do the same?
He and April could even join forces to try and make a difference. I’m not sure what exactly that would entail or how it would happen to explain Ethan’s absence, but Ethan finding a calling and marrying the longtime love of his life would be a fitting way to say goodbye to him.
Unfortunately, fans are in for a bit of a wait to see what comes next. The fall finale of Chicago Med airs on Wednesday, December 7 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. The good news is that NBC isn’t waiting too long into the new year to bring Med and the other two shows of One Chicago back, so be sure to check out our 2023 TV premiere schedule.
