Spoilers ahead for Episode 5 of Chicago Med Season 8, called “Yep, This Is The World We Live In.”
The doctors and nurses of Chicago Med have been struggling with supply chain issues throughout the eighth season, with varying levels of success. While Crockett was able to recruit Jack Dayton to throw a much-needed device together to save a pair of transplant lungs, Will and Vanessa had to come clean about how they got meds from a drug dealer in the previous episode to treat their patient. There was unavoidable fallout, but the story didn’t end like I expected.
The problem started when the dealer who Vanessa thought was just into medicine cabinet pharma came into the ED with cocaine laced with PCP in his system, and Will quickly realized that they had to call the police. Regardless of getting themselves into trouble, they needed to do what they could to get laced drugs off the street. (Maggie and Doris spotted them chatting, and Maggie dismissed Doris’ suggestion that they were a couple. In hindsight, Maggie might have been happier with romance than a drug deal!)
When they came clean, hospital attorney Peter Kalmick – who is probably resigned to dealing with ED issues involving Will by this point – dressed them down for putting the hospital in legal jeopardy, and Goodwin ordered them to fully cooperate with police. Luckily for the two doctors, Will consulted Chicago P.D.’s Upton – who also happens to be his sister-in-law – off-screen and learned that the state’s department is unlikely to press charges against Vanessa, even after her confession and what the dealer had to say about her.
That didn’t mean they wouldn’t face disciplinary action from the hospital, and Will at least has experience with being fired after crossing the wrong line. They seemed to expect the worst when Goodwin pulled them aside for a word, and I fully thought that they were going to be in some serious trouble before she surprised me (and them):
So the board is not happy that two of our ED doctors went to a street dealer. But they’re not going to press the matter any further. You’re good doctors. You’re fighting for your patients, and you’re being put in an untenable situation. And I’m sorry about that. I understand with your backs up against the wall how you’d need to look for creative solutions. All I ask is that in the future, you give me a heads up.
It wasn’t at all surprising that Goodwin would be sympathetic to their reasoning behind going to the street dealer for meds, as she has had to deal with the supply shortages (and how to distribute what supplies they have) as well. I just didn’t expect her to more or less give them a pass for such “creative solutions” and ask to be brought into it. No plausible deniability for Sharon Goodwin!
Will and Vanessa may have learned their lesson about getting meds from drug dealers after this situation, but they – like the rest of the doctors – still have an uphill battle in giving the best treatment possible with a shortage of the supplies and meds that they need. Jack came through to help save Crockett’s patient, but even though he’ll be around even more in Season 8, jerry-rigging devices from hospital equipment can’t fix every problem. At least fans had April’s return as an uplifting part of the episode!
See what’s next for Will, Vanessa, and the rest with new episodes of Chicago Med on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, ahead of Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. Fire pulled out all the stops for a Halloween episode that the showrunners were excited for fans to get to see, while P.D. is still dealing with the aftermath of Halstead’s sudden departure and the effects on the rest of the unit.
