Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 2 Review: This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us

Is Marcel right that Zola is the new Will?

She came to Gaffney on Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 2 with a questionable past, got placed on probation, and kept annoying Marcel — but in the end was two-for-two on her diagnoses.

She checks all the boxes for a Will replacement, but no one can be a carbon copy of the erstwhile rogue doctor, so let’s hope there’s more to her than that.

Zola has advanced medical knowledge. I don’t know how far she got in her previous residency before she was fired, but it probably feels to her like a step backward to start all over again.

Sharon: Dr. Melvoin spoke very highly of the time you worked together at the Mayo Clinic.
Zola: That’s very generous of him.
Sharon: Except Mayo itself was less enthusiastic. Evidently your residency was terminated for what they deemed ‘vigilante medicine?’

One thing she has in common with Will is that her empathy for patients governs her and she is willing to do unorthodox things to get them the help they need.

Although Marcel was upset that she left her shift without permission, she did tell someone to inform Marcel before she set off on her imitation of New Amsterdam’s Max Goodwin (no relation to Sharon).

The bigger problem was that she didn’t listen when they initially worked together to get Sheryl emergency treatment. Marcel told her it was too dangerous to do anything with the hematoma outside of the OR, but she grabbed a scalpel and started cutting anyway.

The inability to follow directions when she’s a resident who doesn’t know how much she doesn’t know is more than problematic — it could cost a patient their life someday.

Luckily, she made the right call this time, but that needs to be addressed.

As for Wade Martin’s outburst, it likely would happened regardless of whether Zola had wandered off for an hour.

Martin was equal parts stressed about his wife’s condition and angry that immigrants allegedly were squeezing out other groups. He came off as racist and xenophobic, to the point that I wondered whether he was trying to hurt the pedestrian on purpose when he had his accident.

It didn’t help anything that Marcel scolded Zola for disappearing in front of this patient. That’s rarely a good idea — at best, it’ll undermine the patient’s confidence in their doctors.

Surprisingly, Martin was willing to listen to Zola’s diagnosis and even turn to her for comfort after ranting about immigrants ruining his family’s life and shoving her.

You’d think he’d be even more angry that he was being held by security after his outburst and would blame Zola for it.

On the other hand, second chances seemed to be the theme of the hour.

Not only is Zola on her third chance (fifth if you count the two times Marcel complained about her behavior), but Ripley’s on thin ice with Charles, and Archer’s been struggling with the ultimate second chance now that his once-estranged son has agreed to give him a kidney.

Archer’s story annoyed me. I was with Hannah: demanding Leanne approve of the procedure seemed like a new way to procrastinate about having the transplant done. After all, he’d tried to put off the procedure to sit in on Zola’s interview only a few hours before.

If Leanne’s blessing were a necessary prerequisite, I’d rather she change her mind after talking to Sean. Instead, Maggie used her breakup for the sake of drama with Ben to empathize with Leanne and get her to change her mind about demanding the procedure be reversed.

It seemed cruel to do this to Sean when he wanted so badly to give his father a kidney. And as Hannah pointed out, Sean had signed consent papers and was an adult.

I’d rather they had gone ahead with the procedure and let her file her baseless lawsuit demanding the kidney be removed from Dean and put back in his son. I doubt any judge would have gone for it, and Leanne would have realized how ridiculous she sounded.

Archer: I want this kidney.
Asher: Good. You’re saying it like you mean it. Now tell Dr. Cameron.
Archer: It’s not just that. If I go through with this again Leanne’s wishes… Sean might never be able to have a relationship with his mom again.
Asher: I’m going to be blunt. Leanne is being petty. This isn’t about protecting Sean. It’s about hurting you. You remember that Archer I first knew, the one who was a self-centered egotistical jerk? Be more like him today.

Her argument that a recovering addict cannot make decisions was insulting, and I didn’t blame Hannah for being upset about it. It was also no wonder that Hannah refused to give Leanne the benefit of the doubt when Leanne was being so obnoxious!

Hannah was also right that Archer needed to put his health first — not his ex-wife’s wishes, regardless of what her motivation was.

Sean was the only donor they’d found, he wanted to do it, and he’d already undergone the procedure. So Archer needed to swallow his pride and let him do it.

If Leanne chose to cut ties with Sean, that was her problem. Archer must learn he can’t control everyone and everything and can’t make up for the past by sabotaging his present.

Predictably, Maggie came to the rescue, telling Leanne about her divorce and realizing she needed to let Ben have his cat back.

Who else thinks Maggie and Ben will eventually call the divorce off?

Maggie’s still deeply in love with Ben, and their problems aren’t insurmountable. These two need to get back together already — all this fighting is an unnecessary, tired TV trope I’d like to get to the other side of ASAP.

Finally, why is it that every time Ripley does anything that makes him likable, he ruins it?

That neuromuscular twitch trick was clever, especially since he had been teaching it to the residents in a seemingly innocuous scene earlier.

But Ripley violated ethical guidelines and tricked Neve into consenting to his sister’s surgery, and that’s seriously uncool.

If Zola is Will 2.0, Ripley is Dean 2.0, and one of those is often more than enough.

Dean Archer’s early episodes left a bad taste in my mouth because he always found ways to disregard patients’ wishes without getting in trouble.

He was far worse than Will about breaking the rules — at least Will didn’t deliberately put people in comas so he could remove their right to refuse treatment!

Ripley more or less did the same thing by making it appear Allison consented to the treatment when she did no such thing.

You know, she’s under an enormous amount of pressure, trying to honor the wishes of her dying sister. Maybe focus more on that and less on how you’re right.

Charles

He didn’t follow Charles’ advice — he still thought he was right and manipulated the situation to get his way.

Allison still has no hard feelings about having her DNI order ignored. If anyone finds out, Gaffney could be looking at a lawsuit.

And now Ripley and Charles are butting heads again, just after they finally began to treat each other civilly.

What did you think, Chicago Med fanatics?

Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know!

Chicago Med airs on NBC on Wednesdays at 9/8c. New episodes are available to stream on Peacock the day after they air.

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Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.

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