‘Chicago Med’ Recap: ‘Forget Me Not’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

CHICAGO MED -- "Forget Me Not" Episode 1006 -- Pictured: (l-r) Steven Weber as Dr. Dean Archer, Sarah Ramos as Dr. Caitlin Lenox -- (Photo by: George Burns Jr/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 1006 of ‘Chicago Med’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Regardless of what career field we choose, we hope for one specific thing in the workplace… harmony between us and our co-workers. Because at some point along the line, we’ve run into someone or heard stories about people that are just pains in the rear in the workplace. All because they don’t want to communicate or they don’t work well with others, and that story or that moment is bad enough to prompt us to seek out a place that looks harmonious and where perhaps we can find common ground. But even then, there are no guarantees, and we may be forced to handle such matters in a rough and tumble fashion that just makes work hell. But the good news is, that most of us can get that fixed up pretty easily through human resources or a decent boss and get back to what we want.

But it does leave one to wonder, how then… do people get resolution in jobs where it is hard to find that harmony? Or what if they are in a field where accountability is more difficult to bring forth because of how many rules are involved? Well, it just so happens that Chicago Med took the time to explore the bare beginning of such matters, courtesy of some unique arrivals in the ER. For ‘Forget Me Not’ saw Dr. Lenox and Dr. Archer deal with a trio of patients that went through physical hell, two of whom were minors and one of them… was in bad shape. For this was a camp for troubled teens and he took a spill off of a cliff during drills, and a great debate between the two doctors got underway. In that, should they try a surgery to help him heal or a slower treatment?

Of course, Lenox wanted the quick route, and Archer wanted the slow and that brought their normally icy working relationship to a boil. Because Lenox just kept pushing to have things her way, even going so far as to get consent for the surgery from the camp counselor, who was also in the ER, since he was the legal guardian on this trip, and that forced Archer… to explore the questions at hand. Because he’s never gotten along with her and this field isn’t one that you can just go to HR and file a complaint. It requires nuance and special requests, such as talking with the in-house lawyer. All of which Archer did and lost… but it was all borne out of the fact that he was deeply worried that Lenox was too pushy and reckless to work in this particular hospital and its culture, and his worries came true.

For she lost the patient during surgery, and while there was no way of knowing which path was the right path, her push to just make something happen was enough for Archer to declare… he would fight harder on this and hold her accountable. All of which informs us, that in a field such as this, bringing harmony to the workplace is no easy feat. Because of the nature of the industry and because of the fact that it is harder to prove outright negligence because of the unknowns that can exist in medicine. So, now we wait to see what Archer does next to have his harmony, and that made for a fascinating and powerful tale, one that did offer some lighter moments. After all, the mobile pregnancy unit paid off in spades by bringing a baby into the world that was going to get some serious love, and Dr. Charles figured out how to help a young man handle his deep-rooted trauma.

Plus, Goodwin finally had her troubles put to rest. Since the police identified the stalker and were able to capture him and bring him to the hospital through some unique circumstances. But she’s safe, and likely will be embroiled in that fight to bring harmony to the ER. But before we ponder on what that is going to look like, we can celebrate another engaging tale from this story. One that truly plunged us into a corner of this world we don’t think about, and this episode made it clear that in this setting, harmony is indeed hard to come by. In fact, it really does look like Archer and Lenox are going to go to war, and that will indeed bring about more moving moments from a series that continue to captivate us, with its in-depth look at the human experience in a place of suffering and healing. Until next time.

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