DVD Review: Chicago Med Season 6

 

Season six was a shortened season (just 16 episodes) due to the covid-lockdown and the fact that all of the shows started production later in the year than they normally did. As you can imagine, the covid pandemic is front and center in the overall series arc this season. The first episode was especially covid-centric (we even find out that Doctor Charles contracted covid during the hiatus), but it was always in the background throughout the entire season. The show mostly stayed out of the political debate but did make references to people thinking it was a hoax, and references to misinformation and the like. The first few episodes also tied up the storyline with Dr. Charle's ex-wife and younger daughter Anna that was not able to be resolved at the end of last season, and then went on to the current season's storylines.

There is more cast turnover this season, with the addition of Steven Webber as Dr. Archer, who has a past with Dr. Choi coming into the ED. Also, as most people likely know, two original characters left the show at the end of the season. The show basically found a way to write out one of the characters and kind of left the fate of the other character in limbo as a part of the cliffhanger in the season finale. I will not spoil which characters/actors it was, but I will say I think that each deserved a bit better sendoff than the finale gave them. Although, I know one of the actors came back in the Season Seven premiere to have their story arc resolved (akin to how the Connor and Ava storyline extended from the Season Four finale into the Season Five premiere). 

Overall, the show remains good, although I would say not as good as in the first couple of seasons. It has definitely gotten a bit more soap-opera-ish over time and has doctors making very questionable decisions that probably (hopefully) are not made in real life. Oliver Platt continues to be the stand out in my opinion, although Brian Tee did a great job with his character's increased role this season. There are no extras on the DVD at all. There was no big "One Chicago" crossover this year (although characters from Fire and PD did make cameo appearances as happens every season), so the usual crossover episodes from the other shows that appear as DVD extras were not there. So, really, the only reason to get this DVD set is if you really prefer physical discs to streaming or if you want to keep an existing collection complete.