Things aren’t quite what they seem with Jack Dayton — or are they?
On Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 21, Marcel learned that Jack had deleted data from OR 2.0.
Many viewers assumed from Chicago Med Season.8 Episode 21 spoilers that Jack did it to cover up that he sabotaged 2.0 during Richard’s procedure. That still might be true, but it doesn’t look like it right now.
Jack claimed that he deleted the data to protect Marcel’s reputation, but Marcel and Will soon realized a more selfish motive: Jack didn’t want anything to interfere with his IPO launch for 2.0.
The discrepancy Grace found could tank the launch altogether — IF 2.0 is really to blame. Did anyone else think that Jack manipulated the data, adding a fake scan after the fact to make it appear Marcel made an error?
That seems unnecessarily complicated, but something doesn’t add up about this story.
Even if 2.0 created a phantom lesion on the scan, wouldn’t Marcel have noticed it didn’t exist when he got to work on removing it? 2.0’s scans shouldn’t take the place of his eyes!
On medical dramas, doctors often discover cancer has spread more than they thought when they open the patient and find extra lesions by sight. So why wouldn’t Marcel notice the lack of a lesion before removing it?
Will and Grace said that the fatal error was 2.0’s, not Marcel’s, but if he blindly followed the machine’s directions, that’s a problem.
And why would 2.0 suddenly have this serious glitch? Marcel’s been using it all this time, and it has saved a LOT of lives, allowing him to do complicated surgeries that were impossible without the assistance of the technology.
SOMETHING went wrong when it got stuck in a calculation loop. That must have been what caused the glitch. But was the error a coincidence, or did someone cause the problem on purpose?
Jack can be petty and mean, and he wanted 2.0 to be available only to his wealthy friends. Will and Marcel defied his orders by allowing Richard Evans to have 2.0-assisted surgery.
The man doesn’t seem like a murderer, but might he have caused the glitch in the hopes that Richard would have a complication as punishment for disobeying his orders?
Doing that seems counterproductive if Jack wants to launch the IPO, but not if no one ever realizes the glitch occurred. He still might have deleted the data to cover his tracks and pretended he was protecting Marcel when he got caught.
It’s equally plausible, of course, that Jack wanted to do Marcel a solid. Marcel’s the closest thing he has to a friend, and he’s grateful for the surgeon’s help when his airtrain derailed.
But I’m with Will. Jack can’t be trusted.
He also took it too calmly when Sharon refused to speak at the press conference. instead randomly deciding to live stream his own surgery without consulting Marcel beforehand.
He’s up to something, but what? And will the season end with the doctors finally getting rid of him, or is he here to stay?
Maggie: How long do you think you’re going to get away with this?
Will: What?
Maggie: Another patient with chest pain?
Will: It’s the only way to get around Dayton’s policies.
Speaking of which, what’s going on with Maggie? It’d be a shame if she left Med for greener pastures, but it’s hard to blame her when Jack it’s taking the hospital in this horrible direction.
Meanwhile, Asher’s story did the impossible — it humanized Abrams.
Abrams has been squarely on my love-to-hate list until now. He’s arrogant and demanding; I’d never want to deal with a doctor like him in real life. Yet I always enjoy it when he’s part of a story.
And this time, the story was about him and went differently than I expected.
Asher: What are you doing?
Abrams: That’s my wife on the table.
Asher: I understand. But you are a neurosurgeon. Sorry to be blunt, but you have nothing to offer when it comes to performing a cerclage.
I assumed his wife was pregnant from the get-go, but I didn’t realize it would be a surprise. Chicago Med certainly likes its miracle babies lately!
I had expected Abrams to put his nose into how Asher was taking care of Michelle. The OR scene was compelling, with Asher ordering Abrams to refrain from backseat driving and throwing him out when he tried to stop her from giving Michelle routine, necessary care during the procedure.
Surprisingly, Abrams responded by explaining to Asher his fears of ruining the relationship if he had children with Michelle. It was the most honest and vulnerable this character has ever been.
Even his quasi-apology for his behavior in the OR was a huge step forward for him. Confessing to a near-stranger that he had lost one marriage already to clashes over parenting and didn’t want to repeat history must have been terrifying for him.
Hannah’s advice was perfect. If she ever decides she’s sick of obstetrics, she might consider a rotation in psychiatry, as she can support the two most closed-off and generally obnoxious doctors on staff!
I’m not sure whether you can really learn the baby’s sex this early on in the pregnancy, but I can overlook that. Abrams’ buying that onesie was a too beautiful gesture to nitpick.
I also thought that Charles’ patient was suffering from insecurities and mistaking his thoughts for hearing voices that weren’t there.
I liked the roleplaying scene. It was an accurate and interesting demonstration of the type of therapeutic techniques doctors might use with a schizophrenic patient whose symptoms are under control.
It’s easy to forget that after finding medical treatment that works, people with these types of mental illnesses may need therapy to help them learn social and emotional skills that they didn’t pick up naturally because of their conditions.
But what is going on with Liliana? It seemed like Pavel got in her head and made her believe ridiculous things about Charles.
I’m not fully invested in this relationship, but I don’t want it to end because of Pavel’s nonsense.
Sean went off the grid, which means it’s likely he’s using again. I can’t believe this possibility never occurred to me!
I assumed Sean was angry because he thought Archer and Asher were dating and was avoiding his father because of it.
But it goes deeper than that, and now we have to pray there isn’t a tragedy waiting for us during the season finale.
Your turn, Chicago Med fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know what you think and what you hope happens during the season finale.
Don’t forget you can watch Chicago Med online anytime you’d like.
Chicago Med airs on NBC on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST / PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.