Spoilers for the Season 3 premiere of Chicago Med can be found throughout this article! Don't keep reading if you'd like the episode to be a surprise!
People get shot on TV. They even get shot on NBC shows like Chicago P.D., but it was surprising to see a Chicago Med character--and a prominent one--get shot right at the end of Season 2. The series ended on a cliffhanger last spring, and we've waited until Season 3 started to find out whether or not Oliver Platt's character Dr. Daniel Charles survived his big kerfuffle with a former patient. Thankfully, we can happily report the psychiatrist made it, as the Season 3 premiere returned to the night of the shooting only to jump ahead as Dr. Daniel finished up the physical recovery of his wound and began dealing with the mental trauma. We had to ask Platt what exactly it was like to be shot on TV, and he gave us all the details. According to the actor,
Surprisingly similar to getting shot in the movies. It's actually fun to do that stuff. In this show we don't experience violence a lot, we're taking care of people. But it's just fun to do that from a technical level, you know what I mean? Take the hit and roll over and [groan]. For me, it's almost always a process of going through the dramatic version and then doing so much less. Because in truth violence is actually incredibly mundane. It's never like [intense]. As an actor, that's what we want to do, but the truth is it's just really [simple].
In this case, however, Oliver Platt's character wasn't shot just once, he was shot twice. Which meant the actor had to reenact the sequence twice, both times on the cold pavement in Chicago. That second time was not quite as fun as the first. Per Platt:
Actually, it was kind-of a drag to come back and get shot again. I had to lie on a cold pavement covered in blood but no, the first part of the season is devoted to how we as a psychiatry unit--you know a psychiatrist getting shot by one of his own patients is an interesting thing. And how does a psychiatrist deal with that. And how does someone who's new to psychiatry deal with that and deal with the guy who brought her into psychiatry getting shot. I think the writers do a marvelous job of going into unexpected places with that.
So, I guess the gist is, it's fun to get shot once for a project, but never twice for the same project. If you'd like a rehash what happened at the very end of Season 2, you can take a look at NBC's video, below.
The good news? Even though there was a time hop at the beginning of the Season 3 premiere, the show looks as if it plans to spend a lot of time showing us what Dr. Daniel Charles is going through as a result of getting wounded and nearly dying at the hands of one of his patients. The mental trauma is already enough to reflect his relationship with Sarah Reese, whom he has mentored over the past few seasons. He's basically a father figure to her, but they find themselves at odds during this first episode.
Per Rachel DiPillo, who plays Sarah Reese on the show, the new dynamic between the two and the issues Sarah will be facing as people question her abilities are an "opportunity for growth." She also said:
Well, I think that when you're fighting with anyone or just experiencing conflict with anyone that is of value to you, what does trauma do in that situation?... When something bad happens it sort of snaps you back into the core of what that relationship is. I think that's more or less what you see.
So don't expect Chicago Med to take the shooting lightly, even with the timehop. It's going to have lasting ramifications in the hospital, especial in Daniel's relationships. Find out more when Chicago Med airs on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
