Why Chicago Med Just Made A Huge Mistake

Fortunately for Chicago Med fans, the TV show's 10th season has been truly great overall. Some examples of that include the fact that Sharon Goodwin was wildly improved as a character and fans saw several characters from the show's past return. However, anyone who is familiar with television history will likely know that virtually every show will make missteps, even when they are at their height.

During the 10th season of Chicago Med, fans were disappointed to see that the character Dr. Daniel Charles was put through more misery. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem with Chicago Med's 10th season. For example, Chicago Med's 10th season recently made a huge mistake with two of the show's main characters.

Why Chicago Med's Cliffhanger Ending To Season 10 Was A Huge Mistake

During the 10th season of Chicago Med, Dr. Hannah Asher went through a lot. While every Chicago Med character goes through a lot, her character's biggest storyline seems to be set to completely change her life.

After her other efforts to help her sister become a mom failed, Dr. Asher began the process to become a surrogate and carry the child herself. However, at the end of Chicago Med's penultimate episode of Season 10, Dr. Asher learned that she was already pregnant with a baby of her own.

During the 10th season finale, fans were waiting to learn who the father of Dr. Asher's yet-to-be born baby is. However, the finale ended on a cliffhanger that resulted in fans not knowing if Dr. Dean Archer or Dr. Mitch Ripley is the dad of Dr. Asher's baby.

While cliffhanger endings are often very engaging for fans, the problem in this case is both options feel like a mistake for the show.

The rest of this article will look at why both options for the father of Dr. Asher's baby that have been set up would be wrong for the show.

Why Dr. Mitch Ripley Being The Father Of Dr. Hannah Asher's Baby Would Be Wrong For Chicago Med

Throughout television history, there have been endless examples of couples who've broken up and then wound up together. In many cases, those will they or won't they relationships have captivated fans and led to huge success for the shows they are part of. However, in this case, bringing Dr. Ripley and Dr. Asher back together would be a huge mistake for Chicago Med.

To be clear, just because two people share a child doesn't mean that they have to be in a relationship. However, since Chicago Med always puts characters into couples, it seems extremely unlikely that Ripley and Asher won't become a couple again if he is the father. As a result, this article will assume that is what will happen, at least temporarily, if that is the storyline.

After Dr. Hannah Asher was first introduced to Chicago Med fans during Season 5, Jessy Schram was given a recurring role during Season 6. Brought back for Season 7 of Chicago Med, Jessy has starred in the show as Dr. Hannah Asher ever since.

In 2024, there was a time when fans were overjoyed at the prospect of Dr. Ripley and Dr. Asher being a couple. It made sense in the world of Chicago Med since the two characters had chemistry, they were both single, and the characters were portrayed by gorgeous people. A post on the r/ChicagoMed subreddit from March 2024 shows how excited some fans were at that time for the pairing.

"I personally love them and can’t wait to see more of them, the chemistry is there and honestly the show was in need of a relationship and fresh feel that Ripley allowed the show to have."

However, then Chicago Med fans saw Dr. Ripley and Dr. Asher as a couple and they were truly terrible together. Rarely on the same page, Dr. Ripley and Dr. Asher almost never made each other happy. Not only that, Dr. Asher and Dr. Ripley were constantly going behind each other's backs and making decisions alone that had huge impacts on their relationship.

Worst of all, Dr. Ripley's tendency to self-sabotage seemed poised to drag him down and potentially Dr. Asher with him. After fans saw Dr. Asher fight for stability in her personal and professional lives, the last thing they wanted to see was for her to get off track for some guy.

During Season 10 of Chicago Med, Luke Mitchell's character, Dr. Mitch Ripley, almost completely blew up his life. First off, Dr. Ripley tried to take the fall for a crime that his buddy Robert "Sully" Sullivan committed, which would have ended his medical career. Then, Dr. Ripley started to regularly drink excessively and got into a fight with someone while inebriated. After that person's life was put into peril due to the injuries he suffered at Dr. Ripley's hand, he still treated him. Dr. Ripley came extremely close to losing his career more than once, but got a second chance after putting his life at risk to save someone.

As a result of how Dr. Ripley was affecting Dr. Asher, many fans were overjoyed when they broke up.

Now that Chicago Med is hinting at the possibility of Dr. Ripley and Dr. Asher having a baby together, may fans are expressing their disapproval. In May 2025, a fan on the r/ChicagoMed subreddit posted a link to an article that argued that the person who works on Chicago Med who wants Dr. Ripley and Dr. Asher to get back together must be stopped. The top most-upvoted response succinctly argued why Dr. Asher and Dr. Ripley should never be together again.

"I really like Ripley. But I don't like him with Asher."

The tide has turned. Fans don't want Dr. Asher and Dr. Ripley together, and the show's writers not listening to viewers would be a mistake.

Why Dr. Dean Archer Being The Father Of Dr. Hannah Asher's Baby Would Be Wrong For Chicago Med

Over the last several seasons, tracking how Chicago Med fans have felt about Dr. Hannah Asher and Dr. Dean Archer together has been fascinating. While some fans have been troubled by the characters' large age gap, there has also been a vocal group of viewers who want them together. Unfortunately for everyone, it now seems like Dr. Archer being revealed as the father of Dr. Asher's baby would disappoint both groups.

In terms of the fans who feel like the age gap is too big, the ongoing problem is pretty obvious.

Since Chicago Med isn't the kind of show that features time travel, it is impossible for the age gap between Dr. Asher and Dr. Archer to close. As a result, there is no way to change the dynamic, which led to some fans feeling the age gap between the two characters is too big.

On the other hand, for people who've long wanted to see Dr. Asher and Dr. Archer together, it may seem like this storyline would be tantalizing. However, that thinking completely ignores why fans who ship Dr. Archer and Dr. Asher would be outraged by him being revealed as the father.

When fans want to see two characters become a couple, there is one thing that they definitely don't want. They don't want the two characters to have their first embrace off-camera. Instead, those fans want to see the two characters fall for each other and share their first embrace.

If Dr. Archer is the father of Dr. Asher's baby, that means that fans will have missed out on that moment. The only way that could be fixed is if the show had a flashback, but that would seem very out of place.

There is one more problem with the idea of Dr. Archer potentially being the father of Dr. Asher's baby. The implication appears to be that, if that is the case, the characters had their intimate encounter when Dr. Asher was once shown visiting Dr. Archer at his home.

The problem with that was when Dr. Asher went to Dr. Archer's home, he was morning because his ex-wife had recently died. As a May 2025 Screen Rant article argues, if Dr. Asher slept with Dr. Archer when he was in severe emotional distress that is highly problematic. Since Dr. Asher is a fan-favorite character, it seems like it would be a huge mistake to reveal that is what happened.