Ever since the series began on NBC, Chicago Med has been a show about heroes. The dedicated team at the Gaffney emergency department work together tirelessly to help save the lives of every patient that's brought through their days. Even though they aren't always successful despite their strongest efforts, they are still heroes who have to contend with various villains.
Whether that villains a disease their patients are battling or an actual human villain (like Lenox and Ripley being held captive by Devon Carter), Chicago Med has had its fair share of antagonists during its decade and counting on the air. The character have had to contend with all kinds of opposing forces, between enemies at work and difficult figures in their personal lives.
However, Chicago Med season 11 introduced a unique villain for Goodwin to face off against at the highest level at Gaffney, and one who directly put her job on the line multiple times last season. Goodwin's brutal battle with board member Miranda Lewis (Orlagh Cassidy) began in season 11, and with hopes to keep the stories interesting in season 12, she should definitely come back.
Chicago Med season 12 needs to keep Miranda around as a villain
Obviously, based on the events of the Chicago Med season 11, Miranda will return for at least part of the next season. In the season 11 finale, Miranda pushed all the way back at Goodwin after learning that she leaked the contents of Theo's file to Charles. Miranda gives Goodwin the ultimatum that she must quietly resign from Gaffney before she's forced to reveal the truth to the rest of the board.
Goodwin won't be going down without a fight, as we know her to do, but it's going to be quite the fight, that's for sure. It's a wonder that her rivalry with Miranda has reached this boiling point, considering that earlier in season 11, Goodwin saved Miranda's life. While on an airplane flying to a board meeting, Miranda had a cardiac event that required emergency surgery performed by Goodwin with Naomi walking her through it remotely back at the hospital. Even then, Goodwin's job was on the line.
Miranda was planning to fire Goodwin before she saved her life on the plane, and their bad blood started even earlier in the season. When Gaffney was looking for a new candidate for a nursing externship, Miranda attempted to push her nephew through the ranks to secure the spot. But while getting to know him, Goodwin realized that nursing wasn't what he wanted to do and gave the externship position to someone else more qualified, which really angered Miranda.
Knowing all of this and how frustrating of a character Miranda has been, most viewers are probably hoping that Goodwin defeats her and she loses her job on the board after everything that she's put Goodwin through. Sure, antagonistic characters are always frustrating to watch and can drive us to near madness for putting our favorite characters through their paces, but that's why we need them.
Chicago Med season 12 will be better for leaning into Goodwin's fight against a villain who's trying to tear down the good work at Gaffney. She made a mistake, but Miranda has a personal vendetta against her even without that slip-up. There's a way to expertly balance Miranda's antics to create challenges for the characters and makes for excellent and rewarding television for us fans.
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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