Hi, Resa! A fleeting Chicago Med idea crossed my mind this afternoon and I wanted to share.
I just watched Episode 5 again. Due to the regressive manner in which Will Halstead is being portrayed (a return to money woes, his highly questionable/unethical decisions regarding his patients), it would make so much sense at this point if he and Jay had an off-screen discussion about Will possibly joining the Army as a medic. Because Jay's unit would undoubtedly need competent, experienced doctors and Will qualifies in spades. Then Will flies off to Bolivia to be with Jay. That's my fleeting idea.
I know the showrunners won't do this, but it makes sense for Will's future given the variables.
This scenario means Will is off the show, but so far this year he's being written as a peripheral character, anyway. No substance, no reflection, no introspection. All of those missed opportunities for a Will Halstead character development scene resulting from the fire and the attempt made on his life, the demolition of the building he owned, and the loss of his settlement money, and the loss of his brother. Now, he's back to normal in the ED like nothing ever happened. He tells April "oh, it's a long story ..." okay, like he's describing he put on two different color socks that morning or something. WHAT??? Where's his emotional breakdown from everything? He just carries on merrily, merrily, merrily because for Will life is but a dream.
I'm frustrated at the untapped potential.
I'm personally a bit meh about Will going the Army route with his brother but this is an interesting take!
I do agree that it feels a bit stunted that Will isn't that affected by Jay leaving Chicago, but at the same time they've both lived in different cities before, Will's been through much worse (hostage situations, witness protection...) so maybe comparatively that's why we're seeing Will much more stable right now. I mean honestly, having your building on fire is a lot different than when he had a gun pointed at him, and to be fair he probably thought the fire wasn't even intended for him.
As for the storylines Will is having now, other than the fact I know they're angling for another love line for him, I feel the decision for his patient was a little different this time - which is probably why they had Goodwin react differently too. Early seasons he wanted to save his patients even if they didn't want saving (istg that DNR case gave me PTSD), but now it's not against the patient/family's wishes. He felt backed into a corner as a doctor. I'm not saying it was the right thing for him to do, but I feel like they can't be put side by side as a comparison to a full circle. I talked about my opinion on the money woes before so I won't go into that again.
The format of Med in itself means that they'll need to focus on the medical cases that roll in through their ED, similar to PD, so they also have some limitations with regards to how far they want to carry certain storylines, I guess? Jay is still a side character in Chicago Med, so clearly the writers don't wanna go too deep into this despite the fact that they're linked.
But honestly? Stable Will is a character development lmao.
