Warning: spoilers are ahead for the fall finale of Chicago Med Season 11, called “Double Down” and available streaming next day with a Peacock subscription.
The fall 2025 TV schedule is somehow already out of episodes of Chicago Med, with the fall finale delivering the last batch of medical crises in One Chicago until the 2026 TV schedule kicks off early in the new year. My hopes were high ahead of “Double Down” after Med delivered by far my favorite One Chicago fall finale last year, and the promo that aired after the penultimate episode last week hyped a hospital-wide blackout, something going sideways for Hannah’s pregnancy, and a little bit of Lenox continuing to make risky decisions after her diagnosis.
And while “Double Down” wasn’t a bad episode, I was just kind of disappointed after what I expected from the promo, and the Season 10 fall finale had set a high standard after it ended with Goodwin getting stabbed and a harrowing reaction shot from Steven Weber as Archer.
What I Expected From “Double Down”
As you may recall from the promo that aired after last week’s episode with Ripley finally going a little too far with his pettiness, the first few seconds do focus on Lenox making a risky decision in the ED with a patient suffering from an electrical injury, but they seemed like moments that could come from pretty much any Chicago Med Episode of the Week.
The moment that was hyped after “ONE SHOCKING MOMENT” in the preview showed Hannah seemingly in distress with her pregnancy, with Archer asking via voiceover what was wrong. Throw in the blackout while Archer was in surgery, and I was thinking that there was going to be a problem with Hannah’s pregnancy while Archer was unavailable to do anything about it. Take a look:
Now, was it entirely fair of me to get my hopes up for a dramatic A-plot for Hannah and Archer, especially since the writers presumably didn't cut the promo together? Maybe not, and it’s not like I haven’t gotten plenty of their storyline in this first portion of Season 11. Plus, Hannah’s pregnancy has been stressful enough already this fall, and it was an interesting twist on Med’s usual format that the misdirect about her distress and Archer calling out to her was via a dream sequence.
Plus, I can acknowledge that the fall finale preview had part of me flashing back to an eventful episode of ER and a twist between Abby (Law & Order’s Maura Tierney) and Luka (Goran Visnjic) when she was pregnant, and that's definitely not the fault of anybody in One Chicago. I enjoyed the similarities between Will’s departure from Med to Carol’s from ER, so this isn’t the first time I’ve seen shades of the classic medical drama where I should only be seeing Med. (In fairness, I did it with The Good Doctor and ER as well. ER is great.)
But fair or not, the promo had me expecting a big storyline for Hannah and Archer, and that’s just not what I got from the fall finale.
What I Got From “Double Down”
Unlike the promo for the fall finale, NBC’s episode description ahead of the fall finale did split the focus between storylines. This was what fans had to go on in the days leading up to the episode:
Charles grows increasingly suspicious of a colleague’s intentions. Lenox crosses a line to protect a patient. Hannah and Archer treat a soon-to-be father battling cancer.
Ultimately, the storyline with Lenox is the one that led to the harrowing cliffhanger of the finale. Jack Falahee returned as Devin Carter, an abusive husband who first appeared in the fourth episode of Season 11 with wife Faye (Olivia Nikkanen). At the time, Lenox tried to convince Faye to report and leave her husband for her own safety. She wasn’t ready to do that, however, and Devin took her home after a parting message to Lenox that gave the impression that she was on his radar.
So, the stage was set for conflict when Devin arrived in the hospital with a relatively minor injury, but Faye was nowhere to be seen. His behavior gave Ripley and Lenox reason to fear for Faye’s safety, and those fears were only increased when they tried to call her, only to discover that Devin had taken her phone.
Determined that calling in a welfare check wouldn’t be enough, Lenox took off into the storm to go to their home and check on Faye. She had to do a little breaking and entering in the process, but her instincts were proven correct when she discovered a bloody and battered Faye lying at the bottom of the basement stairs, crying out in pain just at Lenox helping her to sit up.
And with a few minutes still left in the episode, it seemed like a safe bet that Lenox wasn’t out of things that could go wrong. She couldn’t get reception to call an ambulance from the basement, and cautiously went upstairs to investigate a noise and make the call. In true horror movie style, Lenox relaxed after discovering that the banging she’d heard was just the screen door in the wind, only for Devin to suddenly appear behind her and attack as soon as she turned around.
Roll the credits!
The Verdict On "Double Down"
Unfortunately, "Double Down" as the fall finale means that the resolution to the cliffhanger isn't just days away, and fans are on the hook until Chicago Med returns to NBC in the usual 8 p.m. ET time slot on Wednesday, January 7. My #1 hope at this point is that, like last season's fall finale leading into the winter premiere, the action picks up almost exactly where it left off.
Not only would I hate to miss out on how Lenox handles the initial confrontation with Devin, but there were some unfinished cases in the rest of the episode. I wouldn't mind if Sean Archer sticks around into the winter premiere to talk to Hannah either, because his conversation with his dad about getting a new sibling at the age of 39 was one of my favorite fun parts of the episode.
Lenox did come to the ED with backstory as an Army veteran, which made for some interesting exchanges with Archer as a Navy vet early on. I can imagine that Army training serving her well in her situation as of the end of fall 2025, but only time will tell. At least NBC isn't making One Chicago fans wait long into the new year for what comes next!
If you want to revisit the first episode with Lenox making an enemy of Devin, you can find it streaming on Peacock now. The stakes don’t feel quite as high as when Goodwin was stabbed last year, but Med officially delivered the first One Chicago cliffhanger of fall finale night. It certainly wasn’t a bad twist to end an episode, and I think I’ll come around to it more once I fully get over the finale not delivering what I expected. Besides, I highly doubt that the promo was cut by any writers, so any misdirects likely weren’t intentional.