Chicago Med Season 11, Episode 3 Recap: Natalie Manning Returns

On Wednesday’s episode of “Chicago Med,” which follows last week’s cliffhanger that saw Natalie’s son Owen get shot during a getaway to the Windy City with Will, Natalie returns to Gaffney as her son’s treatment begins. But the aftermath of the shooting leaves Will and Natalie at odds: will #Manstead be able to overcome this tragedy? Let’s recap.

Although Owen survived the shooting, he’s not out of the woods yet. Archer tells Will at the beginning of the episode that the bullet “effectively obliterated” the boy’s right kidney. Which, under normal circumstances, should be fine since a person with two kidneys really only needs one. Owen, however, apparently suffers from a congenital kidney abnormality, called a “horseshoe kidney”, where the pair of organs are connected by an “isthmus of tissue”. The healthcare team attempted kidney reconstruction, but the injury was simply too severe. Owen needs a kidney transplant or he will have to be put on dialysis.

As the stakes become even higher, Natalie remembers all of her past traumas. Just as showrunner Allen MacDonald teased, Gaffney’s former doc tells Goodwin she feels “cursed.” She sits here, pregnant once again, as she faces another possible tragedy: Will her son die like her husband did during her last pregnancy with Owen?

But Natalie turns her stress into purpose and is determined to help her son. Natalie stresses the importance of finding Owen a donor as quickly as possible: she doesn’t want Owen to undergo months of dialysis. She offers to donate one of her kidneys if she is compatible.

Will, meanwhile, reminds Natalie that it’s not the end of the world if her son has to stay on dialysis for a few months while waiting for a good match. He tells her that she wouldn’t be able to have a transplant while pregnant, and Archer agrees. Like her friend, the doctor advises her to wait for another option, but Natalie insists. As tensions rise, Natalie gets tested to see if she’s a match – and she is.

So, Natalie continues the procedure and Hannah arrives to share the surgical risks of pregnancy, but Natalie doesn’t hear it – especially not from the woman Will was sleeping with. (Yeah!) Natalie, growing increasingly agitated over everyone’s refusal to let her save her son, lashes out at Owen for letting all this happen; why didn’t he just take Owen to the match like he was supposed to?! In addition to blaming him for Owen’s condition, Natalie tells Will that she feels like he is prioritizing the life of their unborn child – Will’s own biological child – over the life of Natalie’s son.

Elsewhere, Will begins to wonder if the shooting was some kind of karma – was it punishment for his inability to properly connect with his unofficially adopted son? Goodwin, of course, steps in to save Will from this kind of thinking. She hands over Owen’s backpack, telling Will that he might want to read a note that Owen just wrote him. (Recall that before Owen was shot, Goodwin encouraged the boy to write a letter to Will to express his feelings, since they were having difficulty communicating.)

Will goes ahead and reads the note, which brings him — and us, the viewers! — to tears. In the letter, Owen shares that he was nervous about having a new little brother. He wonders what the arrival of a new baby will do to their family. Will Will love the new baby more than he loves Owen? And if that didn’t break your heart, Owen calls Will “daddy” for the very first time.

In the end, the transplant goes well, Natalie’s pregnancy survives, and #Manstead seems stronger than ever as Will officially adopts Owen. (Oh !)

What did you think of #Manstead’s reunion on ‘Chicago Med’? And are you relieved that Owen survived the shooting? Scroll down for recaps of “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago PD,” then hit the comments with all your #OneChicago thoughts!

Stella is really starting to bond with Isaiah! She takes him shopping for sneakers – where she do I’m having trouble understanding his style, and a store clerk has to intervene, but it’s progress! Later, she takes him to the fire station, where Herrmann steps in as the cool uncle at work, immediately taking the child under his wing. As Stella notices that all these other people connect so easily with Isaiah, she longs to do the same and tells Severide that she wants to spend time alone with the boy. But by the end of the episode, Stella finds herself stuck in a tough situation once again when she and Isaiah learn that her mother is facing a medical crisis that she may not survive.

Meanwhile, Novak and Violet discover that the CFD’s brownouts are starting to take a toll when they embark on another secret solo mission, trying to figure out why a paramedic got into a car accident. They discover that she was overworked and had fallen asleep at the wheel. Violet visits the woman to present an idea. They can reveal the truth about the accident while proposing a solution to their own problem: the city can deploy firefighters, already on the payroll, to replace some paramedics.

Later, Chief Pascal learns that layoffs are approaching and that six battalion chiefs are on the chopping block. Not only does the mayor’s chief of staff announce this sad news, but she also invites Pascal to go out with him. (!) Our leader then remembers his late wife, who died during season 13, and he declines the invitation with emotion. Later, while chatting with Severide about the interaction, he seems to be a little more curious about going on a date than he initially let on. Maybe this is going somewhere down the road? Only time will tell!

OK, Wednesday’s “Chicago PD” is a little strange because the teenage murder victim serves as narrator throughout the episode. Via its own voice recordings, the unit — and the viewers! — listen to aspects of the girl’s life in her own words.

This week’s victim, named Sasha, resides in the Ruzek and Burgess neighborhood, so the stakes seem high once again. The investigation leads the unit to a local campaign headquarters, where Sasha spends time volunteering, and they get a lead from a woman who accuses a donor of assaulting her and possibly murdering Sasha. Burgess accompanies the girl to a house party and sneaks in to try to see if the man will talk. Upon entering the party, Burgess has his arm swabbed, which is later found to contain drugs. She soon begins to lose consciousness, makes her way into a room and locks the door. But it doesn’t take long for the party host to enter, where he begins to assault her. Before things get too out of hand, Ruzek bursts in and saves his wife.

Thanks to Sasha’s own clues, Burgess’s relentless search for the truth, and a surprisingly clear video recorded from a Tesla, the real murderer is finally revealed at the end of the episode. It’s about Sasha’s lifelong best friend, the daughter of another local cop, who not only killed her, but also staged the whole thing to look like rape.

The whole ordeal makes Burgess question his own family’s place in the Canaryville neighborhood. Burgess reflects on the realities of raising a child who doesn’t look like her and Ruzek, and she wonders how they can encourage Makayla to connect more with her own individuality.