The countdown to the Chicago Med season 12 premiere on Wednesday, Oct. 7 is officially on, especially since we have been without new episodes from the One Chicago franchise since May. It's been a long summer away from our favorite characters, and we have questions that need answered.
Even though the Chicago Med season 11 finale was one of the milder finales in the One Chicago universe this year and the medical drama mostly left its characters in stable, non-life threatening positions, the loose threads will bring us to mostly uncharted territory in season 12.
Chicago Med has not less than two couples navigating tricky territory, whether it's having a baby together or finally getting to a real place with their feelings, as well as a key character fighting to keep their career from ending. See? We don't need lives on the line for high drama!
Before Chicago Med season 12 premieres on NBC this fall, we're looking back at the events of the season 11 finale and brushing up on the four major questions that need to be answered!
Will Archer and Asher stay together?
In the season 11 finale, Asher gave birth to her and Archer's daughter Mabel, thankfully without incident. Despite Asher's fear that something would happen to her or her baby throughout her pregnancy, and the intense circumstances in which she went into labor, all was well.
Once everyone was safe and sound post-birth, Archer took the opportunity to share how he has felt about Asher for a long time, admitting that he's in love with her. It's a tender moment between the new co-parents, but it doesn't really result in them defining their relationship.
Asher doesn't turn him down, but she also doesn't outwardly and completely share his sentiment. When season Chicago Med 12 premieres, will they be together as a couple? Will their relationship stay the way it was? Either way, we need to know as soon as the new season begins airing.
Can Goodwin save her job at Gaffney?
Because Goodwin can rarely catch a break as the administrator of Gaffney, she's once again on the defensive at the end of season 11. After saving Miranda's life on an airplane earlier in the season, Goodwin still finds herself the target of Miranda's ire and revenge.
Upon learning that Goodwin shared Rabari's medical files during the situation with Charles, Miranda not so subtly declares war on Goodwin. By the end of the season 11 finale, it's not looking too good for Goodwin's future as there are no clear exit strategies to prevent her firing.
But where there's a will, there's most definitely a way. Goodwin will have the entire team on her side, including Charles, who will inevitably feel guilty that she's in this position in the first place. While it's sure to be a multi-episode fight with Miranda, the season 12 premiere needs to give a solid update.
Is Ripley and Lenox's relationship on solid ground?
Speaking of solid updates, we need to know what the status of Ripley and Lenox's relationship is as soon as Chicago Med season 12 premieres. Preferably, the very first scene should be Ripley and Lenox. The people yearn for an immediate update on the show's current best ship.
Last season, the mismatched pair went through quite the mortality scare together, a situation that brought them closer together on a personal level. Ripley and Lenox began casually sleeping together, but their connection quickly blossomed into something more.
Although Lenox tries to break up with Ripley in the season 11 finale, he doesn't let her to run away from their relationship out of fear. Because that's what she was doing: running from a real connection. He knows about her condition and they fell in love. Please don't let them be in a bad place!
What's next for Frost after his dad's death?
Let's just say it: Frost's storyline hasn't been that most interesting and needs a revival. No, he doesn't need to actually go through with the Nick of Time revival, but Chicago Med needs to hit the reboot button on Frost's storyline and give him some much-needed new direction in season 12.
Frost confronted his trauma surrounding his child stardom and the older woman that took advantage of him, which his father knew about. Discovering his father's knowledge of the situation made the process of his father's death much more difficult, but he was able to forgive him in the end.
When we reunite with Frost in season 12, he will likely be grieving his father and rebuilding his relationship with his mother. He's also still seeing Naomi. But Frost deserves some new storylines and a romance that actually goes somewhere and doesn't fizzle. Answer that question, season 12!
Chicago Med showrunner hints we've seen the last of one of the show's most disliked characters
The final episodes of Chicago Med season 11 took an unexpectedly darker turn for Dr. John Frost as the season revisited his traumatic experiences growing up as a child actor and his rocky relationship with his parents, who failed to protect him. It all began when Frost’s parents, James and Celeste, showed up in town hoping to reconnect with their understandably estranged son.
Frost would eventually agree to meet with his parents, and he came to learn that his father’s health was in decline due to his MS diagnosis. As the season progressed, Frost would come to learn that his father was not suffering from MS, but rather he had a tumor on his spine which was causing MS-like symptoms. He’d also come to learn that his dad knew about the tumor but didn’t explore treatment out of fear.
By the time Frost found out the truth, his father was no longer eligible for a medical trial which could provide treatment designed to shrink the tumor. Despite their fractured relationship, Frost didn’t want to give up on his dad and agreed to sign on for a Nick of Time reboot series in order to make the money needed to pay for his father’s expensive treatment.
It was clear from the start that Frost did not want to return to acting, but it was a means to an end to make the money needed for his father’s treatment. He was all set to proceed with the project until the reboot’s producer surprised him at lunch with the news that Ainsley, the woman who played his mom on the show and took advantage of Frost as a teen, had been added to the cast.
Upon learning the news, Frost chose to walk away from the reboot which was when he’d come to find out that his father knew about his relationship with Ainsley and never stepped in to protect him. Instead, he turned a blind eye. This led to another fallout between Frost and his father, one that was short-lived as Frost would learn in the penultimate episode of the season that his dad’s treatments were not working and he’d been moved to hospice care.
The season finale saw Frost make peace with his father as he stayed with him through his final hours and remained at his side until his father passed as the finale came to a close.
Jessalyn Gilsig not expected to return for Chicago Med season 12
Needless to say, the back half of the season was particularly trying for Frost in many ways, but it was one that allowed the show to close the book on the past as the show focuses on how Frost will move forward. With the closing of this book, Chicago Med showrunner Allen MacDonald seemed to indicate that we’ve seen the last of a character that quickly became one of the show’s most disliked characters: Ainsley.
While you can truly never say never in the world of television, MacDonald appears to have all but confirmed we’ve seen the last of Ainsley on Chicago Med. In speaking with Parade following the finale, MacDonald noted that while they’ll always make reference to Frost’s past and to Nick of Time and Ainsley, specifically, they’ve closed the book on that—seeming to hint that while Ainsley might come up in conversation, she won’t be popping back up on the show directly.
“There’s a weight lifted off his shoulders. I think the past has always been something he’s run away from, that he thought he didn’t need to deal with it but it was actually weighing him down more because he wasn’t. We’ve spent the last two seasons with him slowly confronting the past and growing from the processing of it, and now I believe next season he’s going to move on,” MacDonald revealed. “There will be other challenges next season for Dr. John Frost, but as far as the past and Nick of Time and Ainsley, those are things we’ll always make reference to, but I feel like we’re closing the book on that, on the past, and now he’s going to move forward.”
As much as we love Jessalyn Gilsig, who was phenomenal in the role of Ainsley, it does make sense for her appearance in season 11, episode 19, “Exit Strategies," to serve as her final episode on the show.
Frost will surely continue to unpack the events of his past in the new season as he works on his relationship with his mom following his father’s death, but we don’t need to see Ainsley back again as it’s time the show began to allow Frost to reclaim his future and move forward. Thankfully, that seems to be the plan, and we’re certainly eager to see what season 12 will bring for Frost as he begins this new chapter in his story!
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