Spoilers ahead for Episode 12 of Chicago Med Season 8, called “We All Know What They Say About Assumptions.”
Chicago Med definitely isn’t dropping the story with Jack Dayton integrating new technology throughout the hospital, with some characters embracing the upgrades much more than others. Last week’s episode saw Hannah join Archer in having issues with the tech having control over the care they provide, and Goodwin was ready to pick a fight with Dayton and the bosses if that’s what it took. In “We All Know What They Say About Assumptions,” Goodwin gave him an ultimatum and came out on top, but a preview for a disastrous next episode raises the question: will it backfire?
Archer was even less cooperative with the tech than usual in Episode 12, when he and Crockett had to do a surgery in OR 2.0. Unsurprisingly after his bond with Dayton and success with OR 2.0 himself, Crockett tried to reason with the ED Chief, but Archer didn’t have the patience and lashed out, damaging some very pricy equipment. That combined with his overall attitude toward Dayton and the new technology resulted in Dayton deciding to fire him, giving him thirty minutes to gather his things and be gone from campus. Archer took it well enough, but Goodwin wasn’t ready to just let it go.
Once she heard, she confronted Dayton and called him out for making a call that should have been hers, and argued in Archer’s defense. When the owner didn’t budge and insisted that his decision was final, she drew a line in the figurative sand: if Dayton wanted to get rid of Archer, he had to get rid of her too. That was enough for Dayton to cave and let Archer stay, with the warning that “if he steps out of line again, it’s on you.” It’s nice to know that Hannah isn’t the only one who has Archer's back!
Now, Dayton is generally a reasonable enough person whenever somebody convinces him that patient care should take priority over business… although that admittedly can take some serious intervention. Hannah only got him to listen to her about needing to participate in the Department of Public Health’s new program about partnering with hospitals for in-home postpartum wellness by crashing a board meeting and yelling at him.
Hannah was motivated to stop being polite after she had to give a full hysterectomy to a 26-year-old woman who had dreamed of a big family, and it would have been preventable if she’d had access to the program. Dayton was convinced and gave her the go-ahead to enroll them; is this a sign that he won’t hold it against Goodwin that she took a stand in defense of what she believed was in the best interest of the hospital?
We may not have to wait beyond the next episode to get the answer to that question, as it looks like Goodwin has another stand to make against Dayton. Take a look at the promo:
The storm of the century is coming to Chicago Med, complete with at least a partial power outage. Based on Goodwin saying “I am not letting you send people out there,” it’s possible that one of them will have to either bend or break on the subject. The final shot of the preview shows that disaster will come into the hospital, which would seem to prove Goodwin was right, but it certainly looks like there will be some conflict to go along with the catastrophe in the next episode.
Unfortunately, fans have a bit of a wait before finding out how they’ll handle the storm. The next episode of Chicago Med airs on Wednesday, February 8 at 8 p.m. ET, ahead of Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. If you need some viewing options during One Chicago’s next few weeks off, check out our 2023 TV premiere schedule! Also, you can revisit earlier days of the shared universe with all three series streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.
