Critic’s Rating: 4 / 5.0
4
Sharon wasn’t the only one spiraling out of control on Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 12.
Predictably, while she was struggling with the idea that she needed therapy, Mitch was falling deeper and deeper into self-destructive behavior.
I knew he would go into a tailspin after Sully died, but this was worse than I thought, and honestly, I’d rather have more of Sharon than this.
Sharon’s Trauma Story On Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 12 Is One Of The Best On TV
Chicago Med is one of the few shows that takes mental health seriously. This medical drama made a point of having a full-time psychiatrist in its ED — something few other shows even think about.
Unsurprisingly, Sharon’s PTSI (honestly, I never heard that term before the episode!) was handled perfectly.
It’s hard to get trauma stories right. A lot of shows depict survivors stereotypically, perpetuating the stereotype that PTSD/PTSI makes you violent and unpredictable.
Sharon’s story didn’t focus on splashy symptoms or cheap, manufactured drama. The story wasn’t even about her trauma as much as her struggle to admit she needed help.
Eleanor Hess: Do with this what you will, but in my experience, when you try to run away from your demons, they chase you.
Sharon was reluctant to even see Eleanor and only did because the board insisted, and refused a referral for long-term therapy.
Instead, she had a panic attack at the thought of changing offices but had flashbacks of her attacker while alone in her old one.
How long will it be before Sharon finally gives in and sees a therapist? And how bad do things have to get before she does?
NCIS legend CCH Pounder was perfect as Eleanor. She was soft-spoken, yet assertive, told Sharon a little bit about herself, and gave her the space to explore what was going on with her.
If Sharon had finished the session instead of running away, she probably would have made some progress.
Hopefully, she’ll talk with Dr. Charles sometime soon. He’s her best friend, so if anyone can convince her to seek therapy, it’s him.
Is Anyone Still Shipping Mitch/Hannah?
The Ripley story was as bad as the Sharon one was good.
If you’re a Mitch/Hannah shipper, I’d love your take on them. I hate it when couples go around in circles, always picking a fight about something stupid.
I thought it was time for Hannah to dump Mitch’s sorry butt when he was willing to throw away his career for Sully and got mad at her because she did the right thing instead of enabling that nonsense.
It was obvious that this was headed to some sort of alcoholic/self-destruction storyline.
I’m trained in substance use counseling.
Helping people get and stay sober is one of my passions, especially after being in a relationship with an alcoholic and addict that ended in the ultimate heartbreak after a lot of unnecessary trauma.
So I love a good addiction story. These types of stories can educate people about the insidious nature of alcohol and drug addiction and offer hope and empowerment.
This story, though, wasn’t a good addiction story.
That wasn’t what this was, though. Not by a long shot.
It checked all the right boxes, with Mitch acting out after Sully’s death and being pressured by Sully’s friends to keep drinking.
But something about it didn’t feel right.
Mitch and Sully’s other friends seemed to me to be acting like college kids at a frat party, which was cringeworthy.
They were rude about Hannah choosing to stay sober on top of insisting that Mitch keep drinking.
It wasn’t a good look for a doctor to be hanging around with guys who still have a high school/frat boy mentality.
I know this story is supposed to show Mitch’s mental health problems, but it was just obnoxious. I didn’t like that party for Sully any more than Hannah did.
All this story did for me was convince me even more that Hannah and Mitch aren’t right for each other, and I already didn’t like this pairing!
And to add insult to injury, Mitch’s hangover had nothing to do with why his young patient fell unconscious.
A hungover Mitch making serious medical mistakes might have made for an interesting story.
Most shows tackle how impaired someone is while they’re drunk and leave out that hangovers and other withdrawal from drugs and alcohol can also lead to poor cognitive skills and therefore poor performance on the job.
That’s why Mitch dealing with a debilitating hangover the day after a drunken adventure would have been fresh and original.
Instead, the issue was poor, overworked Doris making a near-fatal mistake because she was so overworked.
Lenox Was Right To Consider Firing Doris On Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 12
Doris is a senior nurse, even if she doesn’t often have much to do. According to Maggie, she’s an excellent one who wins awards.
That makes her mistake all the more unacceptable.
I get that the nurses at Gaffney are overworked and that they have to take on extra duties like stocking medication in between seeing patients.
But come on! Giving a child an adult dose of morphine could have become fatal very quickly.
Lenox was testing for meningitis after CT scans came back normal, which means several hours had passed — did anyone else find it strange that the extra morphine seemed to have just worked its way out of Abby’s system without causing permanent damage?
I wasn’t a fan of prescribing morphine to a young child who had stomach pain. I’m not one of those anti-meds people who thinks everything can be solved with herbs, but where was the evidence that Abby’s pain warranted such strong medication?
I’d think doctors would want to avoid narcotics with a child for as long as they possibly could to reduce the risk of addiction or accidental overdose.
But someone prescribed them and then Doris mixed them up with an adult’s, leading to a near-tragedy.
Supposedly, this happened because the hospital is short-staffed thanks to the Jackson-Monroe closure.
The lack of personnel meant Doris had to balance her patient load with stocking the medical supply closet because the pharmaceutical tech wouldn’t be available for hours.
I’m not sure how complicated stocking medication is, but it annoyed me that the nurses were arguing that that wasn’t their job.
Someone had to stock the medication, and I’m not a fan of refusing to do things just because someone else is “supposed” to.
It would be one thing if Lenox expected Maggie to delegate a task that was too complex for nurses to be able to handle.
But no one was asking Doris to take over for Abrams during complex surgery, and she probably could have had it done — or at least made a good start — with all the time she spent arguing about it.
Random Thoughts About Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 12
- Phew! Thank goodness Dr. Charles had more self-respect than most TV men and resisted Jackie’s attempts to kiss him.
- So Mitch was going to pretend he beat up Pawel to keep Scully out of trouble, and now that Scully’s gone, he’s beating up randos outside the bar.
- Jackie identified with the woman who was in danger of losing her child because of her mental illness. I wish they’d explored that more.
- Archer and Margot’s argument was annoying, but is Chicago Med paving the way for Archer and Hannah to be free to date each other?
Over to you, Chicago Med fanatics.
What did you think of Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 12?
Hit the comments with your thoughts, and don’t forget to vote in our poll to rank the episode.
Chicago Med airs on NBC on Wednesdays at 8/7c and streams on Peacock on Thursdays.
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