Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 8 Review: A Penny for Your Thoughts, Dollar for Your Dreams

If you had been rooting for Asher and Ripley to get together, Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 8, “A Penny for Your Thoughts, Dollar for Your Dreams,” delivers exactly that after a cup of tea and some misunderstandings.

It might not have been a slow burn, but the road to this point has been perfect for who these two characters are. We rarely see the doctors outside the ED, but hopefully, we will get more of this romance beyond their interactions at work.

Even then, their collaboration at work seems to be exactly what this relationship needs to move forward. The adrenaline of a rushed case pushes Ripley to go after Asher in a way that makes perfect sense.

As exciting as it is to see Ripley and Asher work together on a case and as happy as we are that both mother and baby are safe, the case isn’t about either of them. Yes, the pregnant woman is the patient, but as soon as her partner says he is telepathic, all eyes turn to him.

From the moment he walks in and says his unborn son is communicating with him telepathically, we know that Charles will be involved in the case. The great thing about Charles’s involvement is that he will always treat the patient with respect.

To many, the fact that he believes to be telepathic would immediately raise a red flag. Charles, on the contrary, questions the patient and talks to him in the most logical way possible.

Instead of immediately trying to get him admitted, he talks to the husband about the different possibilities of what is happening to him. Nevertheless, he does notice certain symptoms that point to MS.

He, however, refuses any studies because everything going on with his wife proves that he has been right all along.

He says their son is telling him it is time to come out because he is suffering. Lo and behold, his wife must deliver through an emergency C-section before anything happens to their son. Even if the doctors are right, he refuses to get rid of that connection.

Zola in Trouble…Again

Chicago Med gave us peace for a little while with Zola gone, but the minute she comes back, we’re on the edge of our seats, wondering what will happen.

Even though one of the doctors compares her disrespect of superiors to how Marcel behaves, we know Zola is far worse than her supervisor. She has even taken things further than Will Halstead had us used to.

It always seems as if Zola works and lives in a different reality. Her heart is in the right place, but her behavior and actions always cross every possible boundary.

Even though she seems to care about every patient, her comment referring to Marcel as Professor Snape makes us believe that the situation is just a joke to her. Yes, we understand she wants her patient to get the transplant, but does that mean sacrificing another life?

Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 8, “A Penny for Your Thoughts, Dollar for Your Dreams,” presents the possible donor as a terrible man. His girlfriend coming into the ED with a black eye leads us to believe that he is abusive.

Still, does this mean Zola should skip every protocol to get his organs and save her other patient? What makes one life more worthy than another?

She should have never tested the blood to see if there was a match. She should have done a thorough checkup to make sure he was indeed brain-dead. Even though these things sound terrible, they aren’t the worst of her behavior.

What makes us see her true nature and how much she disregards human life the moment she doesn’t see the patient as worthy of saving is the way in which she pushes the girlfriend to sign off on the organ donation.

Zola pushes every one of Kimmy’s weaknesses. She highlights how badly her boyfriend treated her and makes her believe she is better off without him.

This is probably true, but is it her place to do this? Should she talk badly about a patient in order to save another one?

It isn’t until Archer confronts her about her actions that she begins to worry about her career. She tells Marcel how this would be her third strike, and she would probably not have a career if they fired her.

These are things Goodwin warned her about when she hired her. Zola has been on a very tight leash, her every move being watched, and still, she refuses to follow protocol.

She follows her gut more than the rules, which will eventually backfire. As viewers, we don’t feel bad for her. She has been told this would happen, and time after time, she continues to break the rules.

Her storyline has gotten boring and predictable. We know every time she shows up, she will get into trouble. She will bend the rules, get caught, and fight with Marcel about it.

The only difference on “A Penny for Your Thoughts, Dollar for Your Dreams” is that Marcel gets in trouble with Archer for not supervising Zola as he should have.

Hopefully, after this incident, we will see more of Zola than her reckless behavior.

Liliana’s Brother is Trouble…Again

If when he first joined Chicago Med, Ripley was hesitant to work with Charles, after Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 8, “A Penny for Your Thoughts, Dollar for Your Dreams,” he will probably be hesitant to do him favors in the future.

The moment Liliana’s brother comes back into the picture, we know he is trouble. Every time he has been around, he has caused issues between Charles and Liliana, always playing the brother card to get an advantage.

When he starts asking for a prescription for painkillers, we begin to wonder if he is faking his injury simply to get drugs. However, Ripley treats him for a dislocated shoulder, so the injury is real.

Nevertheless, just like Charles, we wonder if the injury was intentional in order to get the painkillers. It seems that is the only thing on his mind until he begins questioning Ripley’s treatment.

Because of the multiple mentions of painkillers, we never expect the consequence of his appearance to be a lawsuit against Ripley and the hospital for malpractice.

Charles’s anger is very valid, but it will clearly interfere with his relationship with Liliana. At the end of the episode, she leaves to drive her brother home even though she knows he has filed a lawsuit against her workplace.

This case has just begun, and knowing how stubborn this man is, the lawsuit won’t go away that easily.

Hopefully, this won’t ruin Charles and Liliana’s relationship. Above all, though, we hope this doesn’t change the newfound bond between Charles and Ripley as they heal the wounds from their past.

Only time will tell how badly this lawsuit will affect everyone on Chicago Med.

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Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.

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