Chicago Med Review: Heavy Is The Head (Season 4 Episode 3)
The Med staff faces a variety of dangerous situations as it’s life or death for a few patients and an escalated case on Chicago Med Season 4 Episode 3, “Heavy Is The Head.”
There’s just something about everyone’s story that adds a bit of overwhelming frustration and heaviness to the hour that it never finds itself out of. The most significant contributor to that feeling is the story of Ben and his father.
Pretty quickly we learn that Ben is in end-stage renal failure, but it’s not as cut and dry as a difficult diagnosis and potential treatment. It’s the fact that Ben’s father kidnaps his son that makes things so much worse.
Between that discovery and Gwen and the newest chief of the ED, Dr. Lanik, getting involved in Ben’s case, the whole situation escalates to a moment that really could be avoided.
For a minute there, Gwen’s reasoning for denying the father/son transplant is begrudgingly understandable when a larger population is at stake.
But when that stunning lack of empathy on the part of a dying boy in an emergency situation leads to a desperate father shooting himself in the head, it’s hard to see any merit to Gwen’s argument.
It’s heartbreaking to see that desperation on the father’s face as he realizes his only way to ensure his son’s survival is to sacrifice his life.
I do appreciate seeing Dr. Lanik pleadingly asking Gwen about what they’re doing, though. It adds a level of humanity you don’t necessarily see in characters that are meant to be adversarial on other medical shows.
While Ben and his father’s unfortunate situation unravels, we get to learn more about Elsa Curry. What we do learn about her definitely sets her apart from other med students or residents we’ve seen in the past on Chicago Med like Sarah or Noah, and not in a good way.
Though she does help save a patient while being paired up with Natalie, that malfunctioning machine feels a little too fortuitous, especially with what we find out about her MIT background and her goals post-med school.
A small bright spot in the hour comes with at least one solid win for the ED as Connor is forced to open the hybrid OR ahead of time because of an emergency patient coming in. Though it leaves Connor and Ava at odds, it ends with a life saved and potential future Connor/Maggie team-ups.
Who wouldn’t want more Connor and Maggie teaming up in the hybrid OR?
(It’s a rhetorical question, of course.)
Random Thoughts
- Halstead getting sort of forced into helping the family friend by the end of his first favor seemed foreseeable considering what he wanted in return. What’s not expected is the reveal that the family friend he’s caring for and being kind of blackmailed into caring for is a gangster and being investigated!
- While I’m sure there are hints of realities sprinkled into the stories that “Heavy Is The Head” had to offer, the conclusion to Ben’s father’s story feels like a bit too much.
What did you think of this episode of Chicago Med? What are the odds that Halstead ends up a mob doctor? Will Maggie say yes to Connor’s offer? Do you think that Elsa hacked the machine?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.
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Brianna Martinez
Brianna spends her time away from briefs, legal research, and pleadings, watching TV and writing about it. She generally has a lot of feelings about TV, which you can read about here and on Twitter.