It seems to happen to every TV hospital sooner or later.
Some rich person who has no idea how medicine is supposed to work buys a controlling interest in the hospital, leading to chaos and poor patient outcomes.
With Jack Dayton set to take over Gaffney Medical Center, will Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 10 be any different than the stories on The Good Doctor and New Amsterdam involving a corporate takeover?
While the other takeovers came more or less out of nowhere, Chicago Med has carefully laid the groundwork for whatever Jack Dayton is going to do.
Dayton has done favors for the hospital to show his appreciation for Marcel saving his life and that of one of his employees. He financed the OR 2.0. And now he’s bought a controlling interest in the hospital.
While Dayton is a tech guru, not a doctor, he doesn’t seem to have negative intentions or be focused on cutting costs. So far, he genuinely wants to help patients — but he wants the hospital to use his technology to do it.
If there is going to be a conflict between Dayton and the doctors, it’ll be over whether or not to use his tech.
This started before Dayton purchased a controlling interest in the hospital; Marcel was reluctant to use the OR 2.0 without further training, but Dayton insisted and gave him a doctor familiar with the AI platform to assist.
Dayton and Marcel’s friendship is likely to fray over time; Marcel isn’t entirely comfortable with the OR 2.0 technology and didn’t like that the AI had to be overridden when it made an overly cautious suggestion about his suture technique.
According to spoilers, Marcel will again debate whether to use the OR 2.0 tech with another patient on Chicago Med Season 8 Episode 10. This will likely put him squarely in conflict with Dayton and his vision for the hospital.
Sharon will continue to administrate; that hasn’t changed. Doctors have always brought their debates over treatment protocols to her, but now Dayton’s opinions of technological solutions will be part of the equation.
This could be a more compelling story than the typical corporate baddie vs. caring doctor trope that often accompanies hospital takeover stories.
Meanwhile, Asher and Will both will have strong stories during the midseason premiere. Will has to help a swimmer with a heart condition while Asher and Lieu search for a lost patient in the woods.
Chicago Med likes to take the doctors out of the hospital to perform emergency medicine elsewhere; that’s how Marcel met Dayton in the first place.
Hopefully, Asher and Lieu will find their missing patient and transport her to the hospital for further treatment, as opposed to treating her using twigs and duct tape in the woods.
The patient is pregnant and could also go into labor during this misadventure, which could complicate things. And we don’t know yet why she ended up in the woods. Did she get lost during a hike? Was she running away? Does she have a mental health issue? Anything is possible here.
This story will also give viewers — and Asher — the opportunity to get to know Lieu. He’s the newest staff member, so this is a welcome development. But could the showrunners also be chem testing him with Asher?
So far, Will and Asher seem to be endgame, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to get there any time soon.
Hopefully, if there ends up being a triangle, it’ll be less obnoxious than Will and Marcel’s rivalry over Natalie (and not involve any boyfriends who are living double lives.).
Since Will’s story involves a swimmer with a heart condition, she likely won’t be able to swim anymore unless Will finds an unorthodox solution. With Marcell reluctant to use the OR 2.0, could Will again turn to him?
Depending on the patient’s condition, traditional surgery may not be an option; conversely, she could require a heart transplant and ordinarily not be eligible for some reason that Dayton thinks OR 2.0 can overcome.
Dr. Charles probably will have the most moving story again.
This time, he’s slated to help an elderly patient and her developmentally disabled grandson.
The patient might be suffering from dementia or some other type of cognitive decline; she might also be aware of her mortality and concerned about how to provide for her grandson after her death.
Charles had already helped another older patient, discovering that his symptoms were caused by something else. It seems like he’s regularly treating more seniors with memory or cognition issues; could this be a new direction for his career?
Cuevas will again assist Charles. Usually, they butt heads over patient care, so it’ll be interesting to find out what they disagree about this time.
Chicago Med has a big hole to fill after Choi’s departure; will these new stories help make up for the loss of this character?
Hit the big blue SHOW COMMENTS button, and let us know what you think.
And if you’d like to catch up before the midseason premiere, don’t forget you can watch Chicago Med online.
Chicago Med airs on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST / PST. The midseason premiere airs on January 4, 2023.
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.
