Chicago Med Winter Premiere Recap 1/2/18: Season 3 Episode 5 “Mountains and Molehills”

Chicago Med Winter Premiere Recap 1/2/18: Season 3 Episode 5 "Mountains and Molehills"

Tonight on NBC their medical drama Chicago Med airs with an all-new Tuesday, January 2, 2018, episode and we have your Chicago Med recap below. On tonight’s Chicago Med season 3 episode 5 as per the NBC synopsis, “When a young woman with HIV symptoms and no insurance refuses to take the test, Goodwin and Choi attempt to treat her without taking a toll on the hospital’s resources. Natalie and Will try to diagnose a young girl with increasing paralysis. Noah deals with his first death as a resident and takes it upon himself to inform the family. Sarah continues to avoid work as her fear over the hospital’s security increases.”

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Chicago Med begins tonight with Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) and Dr. Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto) joke about sneaking around and making out in cars like they are in high school again but things begin to bring them back to reality like her toddler car seat, a car alarm and a squeaky child toy. He is disappointed when he reminds her that this was already her raincheck.

Inside the hospital, Nurse Doris (Lorena Diaz) is inviting people to her birthday party, when Dr. Ethan Choi (Brian Tee) declines, April Sexton (Yaya Da Costa) learns he doesn’t want to pretend they are not together on their off time as well; but before they can continue, Maggie Lockwood (Marlyne Barrett) tells them to go to Treatment 6 for Abena Kwemo (MaameYaa Boafo). They find lesions all over her body but when Dr. Choi tells her they would like to run an HIV test, she refuses; even after April informs her it is a manageable disease.

Dr. Choi meets with Sharon Goodwin (S. Ephatha Merkerson) and Dr. Stanley Stohl (Eddie Jemison), telling them of the situation. Stohl says they can “turf” her back to East Mercy, but Choi and Goodwin say they are not turfing someone who has AIDS. Sharon suggests that since she has been diagnosed with toxoplasmosis, it can cause cognitive impairment and Choi says she was confused when he came in, they feel they can call in Psych and she can possibly lack the capacity to give consent.

Dr. Connor Rhodes (Colin Donnell) is impressed that Dr. Robin Charles (Mekia Co) took her meds and is loving her new dress and earrings. She is not happy that he thought when she initiated sex that if it was just her or the illness; she continues to get ready for work suggesting they do have dinner but no movie, implying they will be intimate later. He smiles as she giggles and kisses him.

Dr. Halstead and Dr. Manning walk in the ED just as a mother is pleading with the nurse for someone to see her daughter, who is dragging her foot; but before the nurse can finish telling her to wait the daughter falls on the ground. Halstead takes her to a room and promises they will figure this out. Her mother thought Denise (Natalie Loop) was just sitting too long on the plane ride home from Australia, they want to run some tests and hope it is just temporary paralysis from the long flight.

Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt) finds Dr. Sarah Reese (Rachel DiPillo) in the ED, who has been working in the research projects, rather than be working on the floor and seeing any patients. Dr. Choi rushes over to them, asking for a psych evaluation, he asks Sarah to catch up later. Dr. Noah Sexton (Roland Buck III) approaches Sarah about Doris’ party but is interrupted by Maggie for an incoming trauma with Dr. Rhodes.

Suddenly, Maggie calls Dr. Rhodes out for the second victim of the accident and Noah insists he can handle victim, Spencer. Dr. Rhodes leaves with his patient to the OR as Terrence screams out asking if he killed her, just as Noah pops his dislocated hip back into place. Meanwhile, Daniel meets with Abena Kwemo, whose Aunt arrives wanting to know what is wrong with her niece. He says they are working on it.

Halstead and Manning perform a spinal tap on Denise, saying they should have the results in an hour. Her mother is concerned because all her tests came back normal but she continues to get worse, as she can’t move her legs at all anymore.

Maggie brings over Spencer’s mother, Candace, and brother, Terrance Bouren (Gregory E. Freeman). Noah says he just located his hip and other than that he will be fine. Spencer says he hit someone, but Noah says the best trauma surgeon is working on her as Spencer frets that she won’t make it; but Noah tells him not to worry that she will make it. Maggie looks at Noah will concern on her face.

In the OR, Dr. Rhodes is busy working on his patient when Noah comes to see how everything is. He asks for an update, saying the kid that hit her is freaking out, and when he informs Rhodes that he told him she was going to be okay; Rhodes reprimands him to never do that!

Stohl is shocked that Dr. Charles says Abena is of sound mind when she says she would rather die than her family finds out she has AIDS. Sharon tells him about the stigma in Africa and how Abena must have seen it. Dr. Charles says the best way to help her is to convince her to do the test because the only way to hide those lesions from her family is to begin treating it. When Ethan leaves to attend to her nausea, Daniel asks Sharon, even if they force her to take the test, who is going to be there to shove the pills down her throat for the rest of her life?

Alarms sounds and Denise is unable to breathe on her own and Dr. Manning reveals the paralysis is moving up her spine. Dr. Halstead intubates her as Maggie moves her mother to the hallway so they can work on her. Dr. Sam Abrams (Brennan Brown) confirms that she is paralyzed but now Manning feels they should have started the meds earlier for GBS; Halstead disagrees, feeling it isn’t GBS anymore as it is happening too fast.

Dr. Rhodes comes to see Spencer, who immediately asks about the woman he hit, but Rhodes can’t tell him anything due to patient confidentiality. He does tell him that she pulled through. Noah offers to stay with Spencer as his brother Terrance has to go off to regionals, saying he will be fine.

Security and CPD arrive looking for Dr. Sarah Reese, she is brought outside and finds her car has been broken into; the only thing missing is her gym bag. Sarah insists she knows that it was Edith Lake who did it, swearing she slashed her tires before. Sarah is told they don’t think it was that lady, as this is the 4th break in this month, Sarah is furious no one is taking her concerns seriously.

Ethan talks to April about Abena, saying they know she has AIDS and she knows she has AIDS, and her Aunt must know on some level that this isn’t the flu. April reminds him that there is a difference between knowing and saying it out loud. Ethan, says it is real whether you say it or not! They rush to the room, as she begins to vomit blood, they tell her aunt to put on glasses and gloves who has fluid in her lungs now. Ethan looks at Sharon, saying they are doing all they can.

Natalie talks to Will, who has also begun to shake his leg saying it has been feeling like its falling asleep. When he gets up, he falls over; he says his foot went numb and it gave out and now he can’t move his foot. They both look at Denise.

Dr. Noah Sexton moves Spencer into a wheelchair as he was given permission from Melody’s husband to go see her. As he begins to move him, Spencer touches his head and Noah offers him a Tylenol but Spencer falls out of the wheelchair and has no pulse; Noah yells for a crash cart and begins chest compressions. Dr. Rhodes sees that his pupils are blown, they attempt to resuscitate but Spencer doesn’t make it and Noah officially loses his first patient.

Dr. Rhodes tells Noah it looks like it was delayed epidural hematoma, and it happens sometimes, no way to predict it nor prevent it. Connor overs to break the news for Noah but he says he should be the one to do it. April approaches Noah and offers him support.

Dr. Halstead is now in his own bed in the ED, as the whole team is determined to find out what is happening to him and Denise. Dr. Sam Abrams will do his spinal tap, as they all worry about it being contagious. Dr. Manning is ordered to get a list of all the tests they ran on Denise, so they can run them on Will to see if there are any patterns.

April and Ethan attend to Abena, whose stats are not improving. When Dr. Choi leaves the room, her aunt accuses Dr. Choi and Sharon of not giving them the best care because they are immigrants; Ethan begins to tell her there are more tests they can do but they need Abena’s consent to run them, Sharon tells him they need to speak in private. She reminds him of the Hippocratic Rule that they cannot share the patient’s information with anybody else. He says if all they were going to do and follow the rules, then they should have turned her back to East Mercy!

Dr. Charles runs into Dr. Reese, saying he has a car body repair guy, but she wants to call the insurance company. He wants her to see his “Jane Doe” but as soon as she sees the patient she rushes off again. Maggie informs Noah that Spencer’s family just arrived, and tells him not to keep them waiting too long. He takes a deep breath and goes into the room, but things go very wrong as the mother sobs and Terrance attacks Noah, and they both smash through the glass wall. Connor is able to take Terrance off Noah as Sarah calls for Security.

April cleans up Noah’s cut and Connor tells him he is looking at 2 or 3 stitches on his cheek. Sarah wants him to press charges but Noah doesn’t want to; Sarah is furious and demands to know why security wasn’t in the room as reactions to a loved one’s death is unpredictable and a guard should always be nearby. She wants to know how they are supposed to do their jobs if they don’t feel safe and protected; it’s an outburst that everyone witnesses, including Daniel.

Sharon comes to see Abena, showing her files of patients who died in the 80s. Sharon was their nurse, saying it was a terrifying time because they didn’t know much about AIDS then nor how to treat it. She says far too many of them died without their families. Sharon tells Abena she is so young and her aunt is terrified of losing her; she shouldn’t rob herself of a future that all her former patients could only dream about. She pleads with her not to have to add Abena to the folder too, Abena cries. Sharon leaves the room and tells April that Abena is asking for her. Abena verbally consents to the HIV test, and she quickly orders it, nodding at Sharon.

Maggie brings Natalie the latest scans and wants to know why Will was getting a brain MRI, but before Natalie can respond she gets a call from PICU, saying it is her patient in EAST, and they need her upstairs. Dr. Abrams is tapping Denise’s leg and all her reflexes are completely normal again; she even stands for Dr. Manning, walking for her, like nothing happened. Dr. Abrams feels this must have been some sort of toxin that was playing some sort of game of tag, but he isn’t sure how it got to Will. He worries that now Natalie is the one who will get it.

Natalie returns to Will’s room, and she goes through his hair and is able to find a tick in his head. It isn’t Lyme Disease but ticks paralysis. They believe it traveled with Denise and must have detached from her scalp and attached to him when he picked her up in the ED, but he still has to spend the night in the ICU as he still hasn’t gotten the worst of the paralysis yet. She needs to get the tick to neurology. She mocks him telling him, “Don’t move!”

Outside, Sarah is waiting for her ride, when Dr. Daniel Charles asks her about the comment she made about not being safe in the ED. She swears it was “in the heat of the moment” but he doesn’t buy it. He feels that the ED isn’t for everybody. She insists she wants to be working in the ED and promises they won’t need to have this conversation again as there is nothing they can’t deal with and gets in her car and leaves.

Will says his paralysis only went up to his knees. Maggie jokes that he got lucky and it must have been the red hair because no creature in the world can resist that. Natalie closes the curtains and tells him the best part of being in an isolation room is the privacy and she doesn’t have to be home for a couple hours. She turns off the lights as he suggests they should make sure he can still feel everything above the knee; she climbs on top of him and kisses him.

Abena and her aunt are talking as Ethan and April look on, wondering how things are going. Doris and Maggie are all dressed and ready to go when Doris asked April if she is coming. April grabs Ethan’s hand and says, “I and my boyfriend will meet you there!” Maggie grabs Doris telling her to pick up her jaw and laughs. Ethan smiles, asking April what has changed. Noah is broken-hearted, saying he is just going to head home instead of the party.

Connor finds Robin, who is looking at scarves, saying they are the next table up for dinner. He tells her she should buy the scarf, but she says she has enough. The pager goes off and their table is ready. Robin stuffs the scarf in her purse as they leave the store, Connor completely unaware that she just stole it. Meanwhile, Sarah arrives at a gun shop, where she is told about applying for a gun license but in the meantime, she is told to purchase pepper spray to keep herself safe.

END!