Warning: spoilers are ahead for Episode 9 of Chicago Med Season 11, called "Blindsided" and available streaming next day with a Peacock subscription.
Chicago Med was more or less back to business as usual in the 2026 TV schedule after the winter premiere last week resolved Lenox's scary fall finale cliffhanger. While the immediate aftermath of Dr. Charles' panic attacks seems to have been for the purpose of writing Oliver Platt out for a few weeks, I'm very excited by recent developments on the Archer/Hannah front. After showrunner Allen MacDonald previewed the abrasiveness to come with her dad in the mix, I find myself crossing my fingers that this storyline is going to get messy. (Sorry, Hannah!)
A New Wrinkle In Hannah And Archer's Story
Mark Asher, played by Hightown vet Mike Pniewski, got an unceremonious introduction on Chicago Med as one of the construction workers on the job in the ED. Stressed by what went wrong last week, Archer snapped at him to be careful, and he stood his ground against the doctor. It wasn't until Hannah turned up that Archer realized he'd made possibly the worst impression imaginable on her dad, and Mark had reason to be biased again the father of his future granddaughter.
The two men got along better over lunch, with Archer making the very good decision to agree with Mark that it says a lot about a person to see how they treat somebody they view as beneath them. Things went sideways again when Mark announced that he thought their coparenting plans wouldn't work, and a baby should be raised in a two-parent household. Poor Hannah was caught in the middle, as her dad brought up her addiction struggles to pack an extra emotional punch.
Fortunately, Archer redeemed himself as far as I'm concerned when he made it clear to Mark that the ship had sailed on wanting to making a good impression, saying this:
Next time you feel like you need to vent, or just be a prick, do me a favor and direct all that stuff towards me. I'll give you my cell. You can call me anytime, day or night. And that daughter of yours is a remarkable woman, and we both know that she will be an incredible mother with or without my help.
The good news? The speech impressed Mark enough that he went to Hannah to make amends. That didn't extend to believing that co-parenting would actually work between them, though, and he told his daughter that it's "gonna be a total disaster" because "that man is head over heels in love" with her.
Now, I've always been a fan of Hannah and Archer's friendship, but wasn't even 100% sure that I wanted him to be the father of her child until the Season 11 premiere, Captain Crunch comments aside. I still don't tune in each week because I need to see them get romantic, and historically have just rooted for the path of least resistance for Hannah, who has gone through enough already.
But dang it, nobody watches TV for relationships that always follow the path of least resistance, and the Hannah/Archer situation seems on the verge of getting messy in the best kind of One Chicago way. The latest developments also match with what showrunner Allen MacDonald shared about the second half of Season 11.
What The Showrunner Told Us About Mark Asher In Season 11
Fans knew that Hannah's dad was on the way going back to the fall finale, when the promo revealed Mark being greeted by his daughter in the ED. That didn't happen in the winter premiere as expected, but when I spoke with Allen MacDonald ahead of One Chicago's return in the new year, he did weigh in on the dynamic between Hannah, Archer, and her dad. He said:
I can guarantee that Archer will continue to be abrasive, and that kind of unspoken thing is Archer and Hannah's dad aren't that far apart, age-wise, and so there's various reasons for them to clash. When Mark Asher shows up, I don't think he approves of their relationship or their plans for the future with this baby.
Considering that Archer is closer to Mark's age than he is to Hannah's, I think he deserves a little bit of leeway in adjusting to the idea of the Navy vet as the father to his granddaughter! In fact, actor Steven Weber and Mike Pniewski, who plays Mark, are both 64. So, what kind of actor was the Chicago Med team looking for to play her father? The showrunner answered that very question, saying:
Someone who could carry a lot of emotional weight and a lot of family history, but still be able to hold his head up and be proud of who he is and be proud of his daughter. I think Mark Asher is somebody [for whom] a large part of his life is defined by a tragedy, which is the death of his wife when she gave birth to Hannah. And I think that's always created a little bit of a space between him and Hannah.
Hannah has spoken before about how her mother's death affected her relationships with other members of her family, and "Blindsided" confirmed that her sister still isn't speaking to her. Fortunately, MacDonald went on to confirm that this one episode wasn't the only family interaction we'll see for Hannah in the rest of Season 11, saying:
That’s something we intend to explore later in the season, because he will be coming back. There's this unresolved tension between them, an unresolved issue. And I think that Hannah has always, even though she was an infant and didn't know what was going on, feared that her dad blamed her for that in some weird way, even though that's not really that rational.
While I did speak with the showrunner before "Blindsided" aired on NBC, I think it's safe to say that all of these issues weren't resolved over the course of Mike Pniewski's first episode. Season 11 may also bring back another family member of the expectant parents after Sean Archer had a very brief (although very fun) appearance in the fall finale. I asked Allen MacDonald about seeing Sean again before the end of the season, and he shared:
I hate confirming or denying, because things aren't always 100% certain, but I will say this: the plan is for Sean to come back.
So, is Mark correct that Archer is in love with Hannah, or did he misinterpret what he saw because he doesn't know Archer vet? I honestly didn't get any especially romantic vibes out of Archer's speech, since it's not strange to see him being protective of Hannah and the two do clearly love each other.
Still, whether her dad is right or not, Hannah having the idea that Archer is in love with her now planted in her head could affect how she acts towards the father of her child as Season 11 continues. Based on the promo for the next episode, viewers might not actually have all that long to wait to see more twists to the tale. Take a look:
Sparks are flying at Gaffney Med, and not the kind that requires Stella and Severide to drop by from Chicago Fire to save the day! That said, I suspect that one of the two characters getting steamy in a closet at the hospital might be crossing over from the other One Chicago drama. The promo for Chicago Fire's next episode shows Dr. Frost hooking up with EMT Novak; if Darren Barnet can cross over to Fire for a romance with Novak, who's to say that Jocelyn Hudon isn't crossing over to Med to hook up with Frost?
Whoever it is, I'm pretty confident that the duo is not Archer and the doctor who came down to the ED to ask him out, and the promo shows just enough of Hannah reasserting their friendship that my hopes are officially up that we'll see her reaction to what her father said. Find out the next stage of the story with a new episode of Chicago Med on Wednesday, January 21 at 8 p.m. ET, ahead of Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET and Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET, all on NBC. You can also stream past episodes on Peacock.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.