CHICAGO MED Post-Mortem: Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov on Will’s Trial Misstep, Crockett/Natalie’s Moment, and More

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Wednesday, January 13 episode of CHICAGO MED.]

CHICAGO MED returned with Will (Nick Gehlfuss) crossing some major lines as he attempted to jump start the clinical trial he was working on—much to the chagrin of the patient’s family.

And though it was a medical roller coaster—with Will temporarily banned from treating his patient—the ED was ultimately able to save the man…thanks, in part, to the support of Maggie (Marlyne Barrett).

But did he actually learn a lesson? And was that Natalie (Torrey DeVitto) and Crockett (Dominic Rains) scene actually the start of them taking a step forward in their relationship? CHICAGO MED bosses Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov broke down the biggest moments of the hour…

Will crossed a line in trying to get his patient into the trial. How much does he actually take that as a learning experience and how much will others need to step in and set him straight for the sake of the trial?
Andrew Schneider: Well, we definitely have that. As for Will learning, he’s got a pretty hard head, this guy. And he is so passionate about what he cares about and the care of his patients that he will break the rules for them.

Who might be able to get through to him?
Schneider: The head of the trial, Dr. Virani, is going to have a lot of problems with Will.
Diane Frolov: And April, too.
Schneider: She becomes involved in the trial and sees it as something that can help give more meaning to her life as a health care provider.

Dr. Charles’ ex-wife is now looking to take their daughter out of state. What can you preview about how he’ll be handling that blow?
Frolov: He is going to fight it. His daughter is back in his life, and she’s an important part of his life. And he does not want to give her up. So that will be an ongoing story.
Schneider: She will recur throughout the rest of the season, as will the ex-wife.

Natalie and Crockett have been circling each other for a bit, but it feels like their final moment was a sizable step forward. What comes next, and how might it impact their professional relationship?
Frolov: They are definitely moving forward, and we will find out a lot more about Crockett through this relationship with Natalie. It already has impacted their working relationship, and it will continue to do so; it’s just very human. These [are] two doctors, and [they have different ways of] how they look at a patient, through the eyes of their own experience.
Schneider: We’re actually going to meet Crockett’s ex-wife coming up. And we’re going to learn about Crockett’s childhood, and the challenges that he faced as a kid, which we think will be surprising.

What can you preview about the cases coming up?
Schneider: We have an ex vivo surgery. What that means is—and this is experimental, but it’s being done—you actually remove the organ and operate on it outside of the body, and then you reconnect the organ.

We have some very interesting psych cases for Dr. Charles. And we are trying to incorporate some post-COVID cases. And there will be a number of interesting heart coronary cases because of Will’s work on the trial. I think we do have our usual assortment of interesting medical mysteries. Charles is now having psych therapy sessions with the staff, which will enable us to reveal these characters’ past in a way that we haven’t been able to. And we’re very excited about that; we think it really deepens the show and these characters that we’ve come to know and love. We will know them even better by the end of the season.

Ethan has been struggling a little bit, trying to adjust to his new role in the ED. How will he be coping, especially now that April is, in theory, back from the COVID unit?
Frolov: Well, [the promotion is] going to continue to cause him conflict with his colleagues, because it’s a totally different role. It’s this change in hierarchy, as you saw, so there’s resentment. And he is a very controlling person, and that’s not appreciated always, and he sets the bar very high for himself. So sometimes he has an unreal expectation…
Schneider: About what he can do.
Frolov: It’s a struggle for him, this role.
Schneider: He’ll be seeing Dr. Charles quite a bit.

How has your guest star approach changed this year? Have the COVID restrictions made it so you’re crafting fewer non-regulars and more intimate, so to speak scenes?
Frolov: We have limits on how many people can be on the set. So, our scenes are more intimate, I think.
Schneider: We also try to socially distance the actors within the scenes. If you see Dr. Charles’ office for instance, they’re six feet apart.
Frolov: You know, we try, as much as we can, to cast locally—flying people in, wherever they’re flying from, what’s going on in that area affects how they’re coming to us. And they have to quarantine. We have to have scripts pretty far ahead of time to know who we’re going to need.
Schneider: It’s logistically tough. But everybody’s just doing their best to make it happen.

Under other circumstances, getting a three-season pickup might allow for longer term plans being made. How much have you been able to do that? Or is the main focus on trying to produce a show with the ever-changing COVID-related restrictions?
Frolov: We really do look forward to the next season, even when we’re starting out, because what’s the trajectory of the characters’ arc? Where are we going? We do keep that idea in our heads, like, what’s going to happen? But on the other hand… [Laughs.] And we’re also used to changing those plans.
Schneider: Immediately into our initial story development this season, it was the creative issues of, how do we incorporate this pandemic into our medical show; we have to. How do we do it in a way that we can not have everybody totally masked and gowned throughout the show? And how do we shoot this thing? So I think we’re actually very happy with the season, because I think that, in some ways, the necessities that we’ve had to face have made for some interesting changes, like Dr. Charles treating the staff, which is organic to what’s going on with caregivers’ [and] healthcare workers throughout the country being overwhelmed. And enabled us [because] we can shoot those and we can deal with the personal struggles of our staff in a way that we didn’t before.

CHICAGO MED, Wednesdays, 8/7c, NBC

RELATED:

• CHICAGO MED Bosses Preview Will’s New Trial, Tweaking their COVID Storyline Plans
• CHICAGO MED: ‘Do You Know The Way Home’ Photos
• CHICAGO MED: What You Need to Know About the Season Premiere
• CHICAGO MED Bosses Preview Season 6’s Time Jump, New Addition, and Relationship Shifts
• CHICAGO MED Season 6 Premiere: ‘When Did We Begin To Change’ Photos
• Daily Dose of Joy: ONE CHICAGO Stars Play Trivia for Charity
• CHICAGO MED Season Finale Post-Mortem: Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider on Ethan and Crockett’s Close Calls, Preview Season 6

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links/ads placed on the site.