I’m sorry, but Chicago Med has a couple problem that can’t be ignored anymore.
As much as I complained about Will and Natalie back in the day, I’d take ten episodes centered around them over one Mitch and Hannah story.
They’re not the only couple on Chicago Med, but they seem to be the only one to get decent stories, and the other couples don’t get much, either.
The One Chicago Crossover Underscores How Bad This Situation Has Gotten
January’s One Chicago crossover reran on March 12, so it’s a great time to discuss this problem.
During the crossover, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD characters both had to worry about their significant others.
Trudy was shot, leaving Mouch to sit vigil by her bedside and worry about whether he was making the right medical decisions for her. At the same time, Ruzek and Kidd were trapped in an underground train that couldn’t move because of a structural collapse.
You’d think with three shows, there’d be one couple from each show that dealt with the possibility of death during the crisis.
Instead, two Chicago Fire couples and one Chicago PD couple went through this ordeal together, while Chicago Med staff were there to try to pick up the pieces once the victims got to the hospital.
That was partially storyline-dictated, but it also proved one thing: Chicago Med has a couple problem, and it’s so severe that the writers couldn’t find a pair important enough to include in this story.
Who Would Even Have Worked In This Story?
The only pair that possibly could have been part of the “couples in danger” storyline was Hannah and Mitch.
However, their own version of it aired on Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 15, and it only proved how terrible this pair is for one another.
Mitch’s near-death experience mirrored the story in the crossover, with Mitch ignoring Mouch’s warnings to rush into a collapsing well and save a mom and daughter, only to be trapped there himself with little oxygen left to breathe.
However, it happened after Hannah FINALLY broke up with Mitch — which she should have done ages ago — and ended with a ridiculous scene that looked like it was straight out of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.
Mitch’s eyes popped open when Hannah said she loved him.
The credits then rolled, and while we have to wait til the end of March to find out what happens next, I’d bet anything she’s about to take him back despite how toxic he is for her.
Hannah had spent part of the episode musing to her sister that maybe she was too hard on Mitch since, after all, she’d done self-destructive things in the past, and people had forgiven her and received very little, if any, pushback on that idea.
Yuck!
The writers have spent most of Chicago Med Season 10 demonstrating that Hannah and Mitch are in different stages of life and, thus, entirely incompatible.
From the beginning, Mitch was reluctant to share his past with Hannah.
More recently, he was still spiraling into drinking and other self-destructive behavior, while she is so committed to her sobriety that when she was tempted to use, she added extra NA meetings to her already busy schedule.
Chicago Med HAS To Focus On Hannah And Mitch Because They Don’t Have Anyone Else
This couple seems to be as central as Will and Natalie used to be, and I hate it. Yet I can’t blame the writers for forcing these two on us. There isn’t anyone else.
In recent years, Chicago Med has broken up Maggie with two guys who were great for her.
I loved her stories with Ben even though the whole idea of a meet-cute in a chemotherapy treatment room seemed ridiculous.
Sadly, these two were split up for the sake of drama and never found their way back to each other.
More recently, she went from deciding she had to take a chance on Loren after he almost died to randomly ending the relationship for no apparent reason.
Meanwhile, Archer and Margot had a good run, but that ended because of their conflict over Sean.
Sharon and Dennis have promise, but it’s hard to build them up right now because Sharon just survived a life-and-death battle with a stalker.
And Dr. Charles keeps getting into relationships that are just as bad as Hannah and Mitch.
All that Pawel nonsense poisoned his relationship with Liliana, and let’s not even talk about the ethical problems of dating someone who was recently your therapist.
Fun fact: you can’t just quit to date a client in real life. You have to wait three years or run afoul of ethical guidelines.
Anyway, the sad thing is that Hannah and Mitch are one of the better ideas among the current pairings, reinforcing the idea that Chicago Med has a couple problem.
Chicago Med Squandered Its Best Chance To Move Hannah On From Mitch
Hannah broke up with Mitch at the same time as Margot made it clear there would be no reconciliation with Archer on Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 14.
This was a golden opportunity to move Hannah and Archer into each other’s paths in a different way.
I’m not saying that Hannah and Archer becoming romantic would completely solve Chicago Med’s couple problem.
Honestly, I’m not sold on this couple, either. I was once in a terrible relationship with someone much older than me, so I tend to be suspicious of romances with large age gaps.
Plus, Hannah and Archer have such a strong friendship.
Friendship can be the basis for a strong romantic relationship, but some people are platonic soulmates, and there’s nothing wrong with keeping people friends.
Still, Archer and Hannah would be a huge improvement over Hannah and Mitch. They’ve already done the classic enemies-to-friends thing; they know how to call each other out on their BS, and they offer each other emotional support during tough times.
They’re also a popular pairing, so putting them together would probably make many fans happy. Sadly, instead, they’re forcing Hannah and Mitch on us AGAIN.
Does Chicago Med Even Need Couples?
Part of me feels like saying that Chicago Med could solve its problem by forgetting romance. Overfocus on relationship drama can make the medical drama feel more like a medical soap.
We already have one of those. It’s on ABC in the afternoons, and it’s called General Hospital.
Still, Chicago Med has always straddled the line between medical drama and soap opera. Plus, all the other One Chicago shows have strong couples to root for.
So yes, I’m all for romance on Chicago Med. I just want it to be with couples I can root for instead of toxic pairings.
Over to you, Chicago Med fanatics!
Do you agree that Chicago Med has a couple problem?
What do you think the medical drama should do about the lack of romance on the show?
Vote in our poll, then head over to the comments to discuss.
Chicago Med airs on NBC on Wednesdays at 8/7c and streams on Peacock on Thursdays. The next new episode airs on March 26, 2025.
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