Allen MacDonald (Showrunner for Chicago Med)

Summary

One Chicago Podcast: Deep Dive with Alan McDonald, Showrunner of Chicago Med

Host: Brian Lucci
Guest: Alan McDonald, Showrunner (Chicago Med)
Date: January 8, 2026
Main Theme: A revealing look into the making of Chicago Med’s high-stakes midseason episodes, character arcs, and writer's room decisions, with emotional behind-the-scenes insights and teasing upcoming twists.

---

Episode Overview

This episode reunites host Brian Lucci and Chicago Med showrunner Alan McDonald for an in-depth conversation about the series' explosive midseason premiere (“Triple Threat”), the writers’ process behind major cliffhangers, the evolving arcs of fan-favorite characters like Dr. Lennox, character dynamics, and what fans can expect as the season continues. Both men reflect the grounded, emotional, sometimes irreverent tone fans love, blending heartfelt admiration with playful ribbing and candid process talk.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Dr. Lennox Cliffhanger and Her Risk-Taking Arc

(Starts ~02:03)

• Origin of Dr. Lennox’s Storyline:

  • The writer's room decided early in the season to put Lennox in grave danger for the fall finale. Her hereditary prion disease (a terminal diagnosis) and its “ticking time bomb” effect was consistent since last season ([06:13]).
  • Alan McDonald: “She knows this is in her. It’s like a ticking time bomb, but she has no idea when it’s gonna go off, and I think that drives her a little bit insane.” ([06:50])

• Progression of Her Behavior:

  • Lennox starts the season in denial but, influenced by witnessing others confront death, increasingly embraces living “as much as she can...as fast as she can.”
  • The writers intentionally escalated her risk-taking: “at first, it’s, you know, sex with a stranger at a bar...then we kept escalating the risks that she’s taking” ([08:57]).

• Purpose of the Cliffhanger:

  • The decision for the brutal “pistol whip” moment was set early, fulfilling both drama and character authenticity ([13:18]):
    • Brian Lucci: "You cliffhangered the fans again... For that, you get to keep your devious patch." ([05:28])
    • Alan McDonald: “We knew it was gonna be Dr. Lennox, whose life was put in danger, and we knew she was probably gonna get pistol whipped in the final moment.” ([13:18])

2. Risk, Death, and Emotional Authenticity

(07:54, 10:07, 12:13)

• Quotes from Key Episodes:

  • Dr. Lennox (quoted during discussion): “I am sick. I may not die today, but it’s coming. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it. No one can ... say goodbye, just in case. Because when time runs out, it’s gone.” ([07:54])
  • Lennox confronting danger: “Do you want to die? No. But it doesn’t scare me anymore.” ([09:33])

• Writers' Intention:

  • They saw “risk as a drug”—each near-miss driving Lennox toward more reckless choices, both in her personal life and on the job. Her actions build organically out of this need to feel alive in the face of inevitable decline ([11:16], [12:13]).

3. The Intertwined Domestic Abuse Storyline

(10:07–13:06)

• The “Carters” storyline (Faye and Devin) paralleled Lennox’s trajectory:
  • The writers explored the complexity of domestic violence, showing both victim’s entanglement and Lennox’s growing willingness to break rules to protect others, culminating in her involvement in altering a crime scene.
  • Brian Lucci: “As a cop showing up at a door when there’s domestic violence and it’s, ‘Oh no, we don’t have any problems’ ... that was beautiful.” ([10:53])
  • Alan McDonald: “She did it to protect Faye because she knew that Faye had shot basically an unarmed man. … So Lennox wanted to make sure that Faye had a chance of living her life.” ([22:14])

4. Writing and Directing the Triple Threat Episode

(19:23, 19:50, 25:23)

• Breaking Form:

  • “Triple Threat” broke from the usual show structure; it told the story in flashbacks and used multi-perspective interrogations, drawing inspiration from Chicago PD’s style ([19:23], [20:52], [25:23]).
  • Brian Lucci: “The wolves have different rules. POVs, no flashbacks. I’m like, oh, my God. This whole thing...is flashing back and forth. But it felt right.” ([20:34])
  • Alan McDonald: “I was taken aback by how emotional it was, and it hit me even harder than I thought it would.” ([25:23])

• POV and Emotional Core:

  • Centering on three “interrogation” POVs: Dr. Charles, Dr. Archer, and Dr. Lennox, each facing accountability and guilt.
  • Alan McDonald: “With Triple Threat, we would be locked in with these three characters who in their own ways are being interrogated.” ([20:52])

5. Character Pairings and Relationship Dynamics

(13:46, 15:36, 16:02, 32:47–37:06)

• New Pairings:

  • This season, the writers specifically worked to find new, unexplored pairings, like Lennox and Ripley during her ordeal ([13:46]).

• Ripley’s Arc and Emotional Growth:

  • Ripley’s own journey through trauma informs his ability to support Lennox, without trying to “fix” her ([15:16], [15:36]).

• Will Halstead’s Heroic Return:

  • One top fan moment: Will Halstead returns, carrying a child in a dramatic entrance ([31:44]).
    • Alan McDonald: “That was a big hero moment, and it was such a great entrance for a character that the audience loves but has not seen for a long time.” ([31:52])

• Flashback Techniques:

  • A scene with Sharon (S. Epatha Merkerson) as a younger woman, reflecting the pain and joys of motherhood, deeply moved both the showrunners and the network ([34:35–35:32]).

• Interpersonal Moments:

  • The Lennox sibling dynamic: rich with affection, irritation, and realism, in part due to real off-screen rapport between Sarah Ramos and Logan Miller ([46:10–47:53]).
  • Alan McDonald: “There’s a real dynamic between them, and there’s a real affection between them... They are truly gifted actors. And they truly feel like siblings.” ([47:40])

6. Humor and Heart – “Adorkable” and Ship Teases

(36:14–39:58)

• Nurse Casey’s Comic Relief:

  • Casey (Kim Quinlan) gets standout comedic lines—“Well, well, well, Dr. Frost. Looks like you’re in an old-fashioned love triangle… But if you ever want to make that triangle a square, give me a call.” ([37:03])
  • Both host and showrunner praise her “adorkable” presence and how real-life office gossip colors the hospital backdrop.

• Novak & Frost, Love Triangles, and Flirtations:

  • The Novak/Frost “bunny in the treehouse” scene is called out as risky to write but became a standout due to casting and writing chemistry.
  • Writers coordinate between Med and Fire to keep romantic crossovers fun and layered ([39:22]).

7. Writing in the Writers’ Room – The Method

(27:05–28:21)

• Storyboarding:

  • Each character’s arc is mapped on a giant board per episode. Sometimes stories adapt or expand as new ideas take hold (“Jeremy Esme” storyline grew from three to four episodes).

• Connected Storytelling:

  • Alan McDonald: “I always look at those two episodes, the fall finale and the spring premiere as a two part episode … the stories are usually the same, connected.” ([28:01])

8. Standout Acting – Understated Performances

(40:46–43:54)

• Praise for Ashley Sharp Chestnut (Dr. Naomi Howard):

  • Alan reveals behind-the-scenes rewrites to flesh out her scenes and credits her for strong, subtle confession scenes about regret and professional boundaries.

• Doctors are Humans Too:

  • A central theme is the stark contrast between their expertise with patients and their own “screwed up” personal lives, enhancing the humanity at the heart of the show ([45:02]).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “She knows this is in her. It’s like a ticking time bomb, but she has no idea when it’s gonna go off … drives her a little bit insane.”
  -- Alan McDonald ([06:50])

• “I am no longer afraid of dying. I don’t want to die, but I’m not afraid of it.”
  -- Paraphrased Dr. Lennox ([09:25])

• “Risk is like a drug, Looch ... every time she experiences it, she has to escalate it to get a better high off of it.”
  -- Alan McDonald ([11:16])

• “That was a big hero moment, and it was such a great entrance for a character that the audience loves but has not seen for a long time.”
  -- Alan McDonald, re: Dr. Will Halstead’s return ([31:52])

• “Sometimes you just feel it in the room. And that was one of those moments.”
  -- Alan McDonald, on moving pitches in the writers’ room ([18:14])

• “If you ever want to make that triangle a square, give me a call.”
  -- Nurse Casey (Kim Quinlan) ([37:03])

• “There's a real dynamic between them, and there's a real affection between them... They are truly gifted actors. And they truly feel like siblings.”
  -- Alan McDonald, about Lennox and her brother ([47:40])

---

Important Timestamps

• 02:03: Jump into the Dr. Lennox cliffhanger and risk-taking
• 06:13–09:19: Writer’s room discussion and Lennox’s arc origins
• 10:07–13:32: The domestic violence storyline and its impact
• 15:16–16:29: Ripley’s character arc and connection with Lennox
• 19:23–21:20: Breaking form in “Triple Threat”—structure and POV
• 25:23: Emotional aftermath of filming “Triple Threat”
• 27:05–28:21: Storyboarding and interconnected episodes
• 31:44: Favorite moment—Dr. Will Halstead’s return
• 34:35–35:32: Making a powerful family flashback scene
• 36:16–39:58: Comic relief, love triangles, treehouse scene
• 40:46–43:54: Shout-outs to actor performances and nuanced confessions
• 46:10–47:53: Lennox’s sibling relationship and casting story
• 48:03–49:07: Teases for the rest of the season and what to expect

---

Looking Ahead: What Fans Can Expect

• Major plotlines to come:
  • The continuation of Dr. Hannah’s pregnancy arc and its impact on Archer
  • Big episodes focused on Dr. Charles and his emotional journey ([48:41])
  • More “rock star hero” moments for Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson)
  • Emotional and character-driven stories with surprising pair-ups and evolving relationships

---

Conclusion

This episode offers a rare, candid look behind Chicago Med’s most memorable arcs—how writers layer in risk, emotion, and surprise, and how real-life dynamics inform on-screen chemistry. Alan McDonald’s transparency about process and decision-making, plus Brian Lucci’s fan-savvy questions, make this illuminating for longtime fans and potential new viewers alike.

Catch Chicago Med Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC (or stream on Peacock). The One Chicago Podcast drops every Thursday.

Transcript

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Shifting a little money here, a little there and hoping it all works out well. With the name your price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance and they'll help you find options within your budget. Try it [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

Toogood and coffee creamers are made with farm fresh cream, real milk and contain 3 grams of sugar per serving. That's 40% less than the 5 grams per serving in leading traditional coffee creamers for a rich, delicious experience. Whether you enjoy your coffee hot, cold, bold or frothy, two good coffee creamers make every sip a good one. Two good coffee creamers, real goodness in every sip. Find them at your local Kroger in the creamer aisle.

[Brian Lucci]

I'm Brian Lucci and this is the official One Chicago podcast.

[Alan McDonald]

Action.

[Brian Lucci]

Oh baby, it's good to be back. It's been a nice long holiday breakover over here on One Chicago. But as much fun as we had, I think I speak for everyone when I say we're thrilled to bring another new batch of episodes to you, the wonderful shy hearts man. I'm feeling a whole lot like Santa right now. Last night's mid season premieres were killer and there's one I was really relieved to watch. You know the cliffhanger? I'm talking about Dr. Caitlin Lennox being pistol whipped right before that fade to black. Executive producer Dick Wolfe. How's that for suspense?

[Alan McDonald]

We knew very quickly that it was going to be Dr. Lennox whose life was put in danger.

[Brian Lucci]

And amazingly, she's still alive. Thank you baby Jesus. And thank you my friend Alan McDonald. He's the brilliant, funny and sometimes devious showrunner on Chicago Med. You know, I got the man's number so I had to call him up and get him back in the chair. So to explain himself and take us inside last night's incredible episode 1108, triple threat. And boy oh boy, does my man get into it.

[Alan McDonald]

I knew that it was going to be emotional. I was taken aback by how emotional it was and it hit me even harder than I thought it would.

[Brian Lucci]

If you haven't seen this episode yet, what the hell are you doing? Go watch it. Once you're all caught up, join me after this break when we'll go inside Chicago med with Alan McDonald. You guys have heard Me talk about how working on Chicago PD is like therapy for me. It helps me shake all those demons, tell my stories, and it gets my eyes leaking in a good way. I know a lot of you feel the same way and have been looking to get your own therapy going, but it could be so hard to find a therapist you like. And even if you find a great one, they hardly ever take your insurance. Well, the folks at Rula are doing things different. First up, they want to find you a therapist who actually gets you and understands what you need. They don't just stick you with the first guy that's available. And they partnered with over 100 insurance plans, so the average copay is just $15 per session. So you get real therapy from licensed professionals at a price that actually makes sense. That's pretty good stuff. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high quality therapy that's actually covered by Insurance. Visit rula.comchicago to get started. After you sign up, you'll be asked how you heard about them. And please support our show and let them know. Oh, Luke sent you. That's R U L A.com Chicago. You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget. Hello, I'm Brian Lucci and this is the official One Chicago podcast today. There's no need for a very long intro because we already know my guest. We not only we do know him, but we love him. He is the brilliant Chicago med showrunner, Alan McDonald or I like to call Daddy Donald. Now, he didn't know this, but we brought him back because it's such an incredible interview. And we want to talk about two things that are really getting the fans. First thing is the. The twisted hangover thing that you left us on that cliffhanger. Okay. You cliffhangered us. If there's one thing to say with. With Lennox. And then we also want to talk about. And we want to get into this episode, which would be the mid season, so fall finale, winter finale, whatever you want to call it, and then the mid season premiere. So are you ready to jump right into this?

[Alan McDonald]

I'm ready to go.

[Brian Lucci]

Are you happy to be back?

[Alan McDonald]

I am so happy to be back and so flattered to have been asked.

[Brian Lucci]

I'm happy too. I said, that's my guy. One thing I want to tell the people out there is if you haven't listened to our podcast, our original podcast, you really have no idea what an incredible human being Mr. McDonald is and what a wonderful person, how smart he is, how long he's been in the business to learn how he started out as a PA and how he grew into this incredible showrunner that everybody just loves. All right, you cliffhangered the fans again after Pistol Whip and Lennox in the last second of the fall finale before fading to black. For that, you get to keep your devious patch. All right, Showrunner patch.

[Alan McDonald]

I appreciate that.

[Brian Lucci]

Can you take us back to the writers room and how you guys made the decision to leave us like that to torment us through the whole winter?

[Alan McDonald]

Well, it definitely started in the first week in the writers room when we came back this last June. And it all came out of a conversation we were having about the character arc for Dr. Caitlin Lennox and where we wanted to take her, you know, during the first half of the season. And in the season finale last year, Lennox finds out that she has prion disease, and that is a terminal diagnosis, but it's a bit of a mystery when it's going to hit. She could start showing symptoms in six months. You know, she's in her early 30s. Her mom started showing symptoms in her mid-40s, and some people don't start showing symptoms until their. Their 50s.

[Brian Lucci]

It's hereditary.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

Oh, wow.

[Alan McDonald]

So basically, she knows this is in her. It's like a ticking time bomb, but she has no idea when it's gonna go off, and I think that drives her a little bit insane. So her initial reaction to it in the season finale last year was to kind of shut it out of her mind. So when we saw her come back for the series premiere this year, Lennox is, you know, kind of just gone back to her life and is kind of shutting it out of her brain. But she had a case in the series premiere when these two sisters that had been injured in a rave came in. And by watching them confront death, Lennox shared with them her diagnosis in a way that she wouldn't share it with people that know her. And she basically, you know, found that she wanted to live, and she doesn't know how much time she has, so she wants to embrace that, and she wants to live life as much as she can and as fast as she can in the time that she has.

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

From here on, things will move very quickly. So I wanted to give you two a minute to talk to each other alone, to say goodbye, to say the things that you would regret not saying.

[Alan McDonald]

Stop it.

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

Dr. Lennox, stop. So, Casey. No, it's not. Aren't you supposed to offer at least some semblance of hope? People think they want hope, but hope is dangerous. Hope just gives you an excuse to Put things off. You don't understand how we feel. I understand exactly how you feel. I am sick. I may not die today, but it's coming. And there's nothing I can do to stop it. No one can. So, yes, say goodbye, just in case. Because when time runs out, it's gone.

[Alan McDonald]

But what we talked about in the writers room is, as you know, we progressed through the fall finale and the spring premiere. We wanted her to keep going farther and farther with that freedom because it's risk taking at its core. And so at first, it's, you know, sex with a stranger at a bar,

[Brian Lucci]

a little quickie, which scene I kind of love.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, no big deal. Cause that was basically how the season premiere this year ended. But as we went through those early episodes, we kept escalating the risks that she's taking. And they're fun risks and they're not dangerous yet, but we knew we wanted to move toward danger.

[Brian Lucci]

There was one when they came in, and she stood in front of the guy with the gun. That was this season?

[Alan McDonald]

Yes.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, that was crazy. And they realized she doesn't give a shit, right?

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, that's right.

[Brian Lucci]

That's right.

[Alan McDonald]

She's like. She said, I think something to the effect of, I am no longer afraid of dying. I don't want to die, but I'm not afraid of it.

[Brian Lucci]

You can't just grab them out like

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

that, cut them out, they'll die. Not my problem. That's not happening. I won't allow it. Do you want to die? No. But it doesn't scare me anymore. I get it. You think what's most important is getting those drugs. But I'm telling you, and I want you to hear me, that's not a choice that exists anymore. Your real choice is walking out of here right now with what you already have. We're leaving in handcuffs.

[Alan McDonald]

That was a big moment there and then. We wanted to escalate that to this case that she's exposed to in the early episodes, where it's a domestic abuse case where, you know, the husband is obviously the Carters.

[Brian Lucci]

Faye, I believe.

[Alan McDonald]

Faye. And Devin.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

And, you know, he is kind of a chameleon. He can be very charming, but he's also very dangerous.

[Brian Lucci]

I hate him.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, well, you're supposed to. And his wife loves him and hates him and is terrified of him, but feels connected to him and doesn't want to leave him. So in an earlier episode, Lennox knows what's going on. She says to Faye, she basically gives her an escape hatch, and Faye chooses not to take it, which is very common in those cases.

[Brian Lucci]

And so can I say something about that? I thought it was so interesting with the red sticker. They put the red sticker on the bottle if you're a domestic violence. And she comes back and she confronts her on that. Yeah, that episode was awesome. Like, as a cop showing up at a door when there's domestic violence and it's, oh, no, we don't have any problems. You know, Go ahead. It just that. That. That I thought was very interesting and well written. That was beautiful.

[Alan McDonald]

Oh, thank you so much. And I should credit the writers of that episode. Andrew Gettens and Lauren Mackenzie. You know, they kicked ass with that. I believe that was, if I'm correct, I believe that was in the 200th episode. So anyway, we were just trying to get Lennox to a place by the fall finale where she, you know, like, risk is like a drug looch, I think, for some people. And every time she experiences, she has to escalate it to get a better high off of it, so it's more fulfilling. And that leads her, in the fall finale into putting herself in a far more dangerous situation. She had a gun put to her face early on the season, but that wasn't her choice this time. She's choosing to go into a dangerous situation first and foremost because she's trying to save a woman who's in danger. But also, I think there's a part of her that invites the danger and invites the possibility of death, because I think in her head, she's like, I'm probably gonna die anyway.

[Brian Lucci]

Do you think she wants to feel alive? Like, the things that.

[Alan McDonald]

Oh, absolutely.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah. So she's trying to feel it. Like, I'm telling you, like, I liked her before, and I'm really into the show now. And, like, I love. You know, sometimes they feather. We have the opportunity to feather in a story for the arcing story. Like, you guys are just doing it, right. The birdcage tattoo that she ended up showing, I thought was, holy cow, that guy who was the victim and his wife died because they were drinking water out in the cabin, had this musky little. What's it called? But he got to her. That felt so real and so awesome that she was caught. You know what I mean? Like, so every time you put her through this stuff, like you said, you guys thought about it. It just feels so real that she's on her toes, you know, and what is she gonna do? And then, boom, she showed up in that house and she got pistol whipped. And I was like, oh, my God, the guy got out of the hospital. Like, the way you guys set it up out of nowhere. That basement is creepy too.

[Alan McDonald]

It's creepy. It's a creepy set too.

[Brian Lucci]

So you guys went to the writers room. You knew going out in the fall finale exactly who the actor was gonna be.

[Alan McDonald]

You mean Lennox, right?

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, Lennox. Yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah. When we were in the writer's room for the first couple weeks, we knew very quickly that it was gonna be Dr. Lennox, whose life was put in danger, and we knew she was probably gonna get pistol whipped in the final moment.

[Brian Lucci]

Did Ripley earn it or. Or did you guys always have Ripley showing up too?

[Alan McDonald]

We always planned to have Lennox down there with someone else. I think it was a little while later that we decided to include Ripley in that.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, it was kind of nice having Ripley there.

[Alan McDonald]

It was. Because, you know, one of the things we do when we get in the writers room the beginning of the season, in addition to the other things, is that we want to see if there are pairings of characters that we haven't done yet and have them spend some time together. And this season, like, we have some scenes between do Hannah Asher and Dr. Naomi Howard that are very moving and we see a friendship forming there. And then, you know, for this particular storyline, we thought Ripley was the perfect person to kind of go literally in that hellhole with Lennox, because all this risk taking and putting her life on the line, you know, and cheating death so she can feel more alive. These are things that I think Ripley, Dr. Ripley has experienced in his own life because he had a really rough childhood. And when we met him in season nine, he was a bit angry young man. And then we started to see him kind of unravel in season 10 and become more self destructive. But he got stuck in a well last year and when he came through that, that was like walking through the fire. And he was grateful to still be here. And it changed his whole view on the future and life. So he's a little bit farther down the road in a way than Lennox is. And he recognizes the self destructive behavior. He recognizes the pain that she's feeling, although he doesn't yet know why that is, even though the audience does. But he felt like the right person to be there with her through a very traumatic experience.

[Brian Lucci]

I like that it was Ripley because that whole story that you had, he was with that young lady who her legs was cut off and they have a daughter and it was like he was trying to save her. But I don't feel like he's Trying to save Lennox. I feel like he just like he wants to be there for it, but it's not his saving project, you know?

[Alan McDonald]

Exactly. And that's right, because something we say about Ripley amongst the writers is that he does have a savior complex and he was willing to put himself on the line for it. But that can be also a negative thing. And it messed up his relationship with Hannah. And because he had a self destructive pattern in him. Well, he got past that after the. Well, then he met Sadie and then he started a relationship with her this season.

[Brian Lucci]

And the daughter. Cause the daughter called him dad. Yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

And her little girl. And I think finding out that Hannah was pregnant and thinking for a second that it might be his made him really think about the fact he wants to be a father. And so I think when he was hurt by the fact that Hannah was actually pregnant with Archer's child and something was going on with them, that he kind of wanted an insta family. He wanted to turn around and have a ready made family to go. And here was Sa and Amelia and

[Brian Lucci]

he was all in. When he was dressed as Tigger. It takes a certain kind of cat to dress as Tigger. Right?

[Alan McDonald]

It takes a really special cat to dress a Tigger. And you know, one thing I, for better or worse, read a lot of the online chatter.

[Brian Lucci]

Me too.

[Alan McDonald]

One thing that nobody ever put together about that is the reason they were dressed as Winnie the Pooh characters is because in the well episode, Sadie, the mother sang the Winnie the Pooh song to her daughter Amelia as she was

[Brian Lucci]

being pulled out of the well.

[Alan McDonald]

So that was a little connection.

[Brian Lucci]

Oh my God. Yeah. The bookends, huh?

[Alan McDonald]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah. On pd, I. I just want to throw this out. Like on PD, we have 42 minutes for one case to focus on. And you guys have 42 minutes and there's like five cases that you're working on. And to me, like, I'm pulled in on it. You know what I mean? I feel like I'm walking through the halls and I'm checking on the patients and checking the rooms and oh, what's this person going on? And it's kind of crazy with the police department. I mean, as a cop, we know where the violence is coming from. We know who the enemy is. Like you guys as doctors and stuff. Because I never really watched doctor shows until I started watching this. And I'm so happy I did. It's like you don't know where your enemy is. It's coming from everywhere. And I was just curious with you this Season, I was wondering, like, who do you think was the worst enemy so far? Of what the worst thing? Because I know mine, and I'll throw it at you. But one of the worst things that someone had to go through so far this season that affected your character, let me put it that way.

[Alan McDonald]

Well, I mean, it kind of circles back around to what we were talking about before, but I think Ripley and Lennox's experience in that basement is one of the most dramatic things that have happened this season.

[Brian Lucci]

Well, oh, my God. The guy who wanted to see his baby with the cancer.

[Alan McDonald]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

That's coming to a theater near you.

[Alan McDonald]

You're right. Those are definitely huge, traumatic moments. This idea that a man is trying to keep himself alive, you know, with terminal cancer, just so he can spend a few days with his baby daughter before he dies, is just, like, amazing. And, like, when Andy Gittins and Lauren Mackenzie came in and pitched that, I just, like, I was bowled over. I just thought it was so moving. Like, sometimes you just feel it in the room. And that was one of those moments.

[Brian Lucci]

And this could buy me enough time to meet my daughter.

[Alan McDonald]

If you survive the surgery, potentially.

[Brian Lucci]

But you need to understand that your post surgery quality of life will be bleak at best. You'll be bedridden. You'll have a colostomy bag. What would you do in my position if it meant that I could meet my baby? I'd roll the dice, fight for more life. That's all I want. And that couple has been arching too. Like, they came in first and he had like, oh, he gets my symptoms when she's pregnant, blah, blah, blah. That was cool to know these people, you know, to going through it. Was there anything fun or interesting that happened behind the scenes while filming this episode that you want to share with the fans?

[Alan McDonald]

I think that in reference to that episode, the thing I would say is that Stephen Hootstein came in with this idea that he wanted to break form. And as a TV fan, I love when we do episodes like that that aren't straightforward, you know, most of the episodes and straightforward is like, kind of selling short, you know, what we do. But, you know, there's a structure that we use and we use that, and I think it's fun for the audience and it's fun for the writers to mix that up. And Stephen came in and he pitched that, and we, you know, I was just all over it.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, he. He mixed it when I read it, because there's a difference between watching and reading. And you sit back and it so it's my story in my mind. In no disrespect to your movie, you know, I mean, like Oliver Platt with the flashback, the elevator. And most people wouldn't notice that he's in different clothes the next day, and it's like he's sitting with his psychiatrist. And then I thought, one of my favorite parts of that episode. Oh, my God. And of course, I'm partial, is with the sheriff, you know, and Lennox. Here she is, she's being interrogated. Meanwhile, Archer is being interrogated with. Is it King? What's the name of the other. The ones that they.

[Alan McDonald]

Kingston. Dr. Kingston.

[Brian Lucci]

Dr. Kingston. They're being interrogated. You had. You had, like, dual interviews going at the same time. We do that on our show now.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

You know, the wolves have different rules. POVs, no flashbacks. I'm like, oh, my God. This whole thing. This whole thing is flashing back and forth. But it felt right, you know, it felt right. It was take whatever recipe you had to make that breaded steak or whatever, your pizza, and let's turn the pizza upside down. And it worked.

[Alan McDonald]

It worked really well. And it was really exciting because, like most episodes, you know, we don't talk a lot about POV because you're in the POV of whatever scene you're in with those characters. But with Triple Threat, like, we. This is all part of Stephen Hootstein's pitch. It was like we would be locked in with these three characters that in their own ways are being interrogated. Dr. Charles is basically being questioned by this person, psychiatrist about a case that really devastated him.

[Brian Lucci]

So I got it right.

[Alan McDonald]

You got it perfectly right. And then the other story is Dr. Archer being interrogated for his decision to continue the surgery on Jeremy. When the light went off, when the lights went off, there was the option to go upstairs where the lights were on, and there was electricity. But Archer was concerned that they could make some kind of false move while moving him that would cause him to die on the way up. So he took a gamble and now he's having to answer for it because there were conflicts. Consequences to that. You know, you've seen the episode, so you know that Jeremy does wake up, but, you know, when the episode starts, you are not at all sure that's going to happen. And then finally, last but not least, Dr. Lennox is literally being interrogated in a very Chicago PD style, I think, you know, by a police officer about her actions in that basement. And. And then at the end, he accuses her of committing the murder because the zip ties don't make sense.

[Brian Lucci]

No literature.

[Alan McDonald]

There's no ligature or not a lot of ligature.

[Brian Lucci]

Right.

[Alan McDonald]

And. And what we find out is that, no, obviously Dr. Lennox didn't kill anybody, but she did alter a crime scene, which is not nothing. That's a pretty big deal. But that, again, to me, falls under the category of Lennox taking risks. And she did it to protect Faye because she knew that Faye had shot basically an unarmed man. Her husband, whose arms were tied behind his back. He was restrained. And so that falls under murder as opposed to self defense. And so Lennox wanted to make sure that Faye had a chance of living her life.

[Brian Lucci]

And talking about that, like, I loved when Lennox told the detective that he had real balls. Implying. Implying that it wasn't self defense, you know what I mean? And I wrote down the words, he says. Her dialogue was perfect. Cause I loved it. Just as a copper's point of view, you know what I mean? Every second of every day her very existence is in that relationship was an act of self defense.

[Alan McDonald]

Yes.

[Brian Lucci]

And then she said, go ahead, put me in front of the jury.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

And I was like, I loved it. You know what I mean? And these dueling interrogations and going back and forth. At first I was mad at you. I'm not gonna lie. I gotta be honest with you. I was a little pissed. I was. I was like, is Lennox gonna be living? Next thing you know, she's. She is alive. And it's like, what the heck? So she, like, you took it away. But it would. It was perfect because every other time it's like, you know, cookie cutter, like, oh, we get it. It's a boilerplate way to do it. This way it reversed. And I was kind of in shock. How did she get here? How did this happen? Why is she in there? What? And when she lies, she gotta live with that life for the rest of her life, you know what I mean? Like, that's. That's something. That's a scar, an invisible scar, you know, that will affect her. But if I was dying, dude, I'd do whatever I can to protect that fae. Like, she's been trying to protect her for four episodes, you know, and she never got it. And it was. It was pretty cool, going back and forth. I loved it, you know, I loved it.

[Alan McDonald]

Well, and she. You know, she. Lennox felt that she was right and she is willing to. To gamble, you know?

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

And assume that this detective is not going to put her on the stand because he. He literally doesn't have enough. But he has something. And he's not wrong. And it was very important.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, it's very.

[Alan McDonald]

Was very important to me that he be right about that. Because I didn't want, you know, out of respect for your show and, you know, I didn't want it to seem like the cops weren't good cops. I wanted to make sure that he was onto something and he knew something wasn't right and his instincts were correct.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, I mean, you could tell he worked a crime scene. You could tell that there was in the zip ties. When the guy pulls away or whatever he does, there would be additional. You know, there isn't dual lividity. There isn't whatever. I don't get into all this stuff, but the copper was.

[Alan McDonald]

But you can, because I spent a lot of time on csi, so there

[Brian Lucci]

you go, moving shit around. But she made it work. I don't know how they got rid of the gunshot residue and all that other stuff, but I'm sure the doctors were good enough to wash her hands.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, she's pretty smart.

[Alan McDonald]

Yep.

[Brian Lucci]

I think it's so cool to see the things on the page come to life. Was there anything that you had planned in the writer's room that surprised you once the episode was shot from your two dimensional world to this three dimensional world?

[Alan McDonald]

Well, I think that the example I would use is Triple Threat, the episode that everyone will have probably just seen because it broke form and it was told in flashback. You know, we do a jump forward, but then we tell what happened right after the power outage and the Fall finale in flashback. I knew that it was going to be good. I knew that it was going to be emotional. I was taken aback by how emotional it was, and it hit me even harder than I thought it would. And that's the best surprise in the world. And, you know, everyone was fantastic in that episode. But, you know, I'll shine a special light on Oliver Platt in those scenes because he showed vulnerability to Dr. Charles that I feel we've never seen before. And, you know, like any writer or showrunner, I just want to do that. I want to take these characters to places they haven't been. And he has just been gung ho about it, you know, from the beginning.

[Brian Lucci]

So that device, the flashing back and forth. The device is something like you get to see, like, building up on something and to get an emotion. Boom. You're in the emotion. If you write to it, like with this, you're living after the emotion and then you go to the emotion.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

You know what I mean? Like, that's. Yeah, that's pretty badass.

[Alan McDonald]

Well, I think emotionally you see people after the events, you don't know what happened, but you see they're profoundly shaken up by it. And then the question becomes why? And doling that out in flashbacks, I

[Brian Lucci]

think you could live in it.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, you're living in it. In a way. It's more visceral in a way.

[Brian Lucci]

You're an expert at weaving together a bunch of storylines that have been a long time coming. How do you do it? Do you have a method?

[Alan McDonald]

Well, it's the method we use in the writer's room, which is that when we sit down at the beginning of the season, we have a dry erase board that has been there for 11 years. And on the left side, it's a graph. On the left side, we have the names of all the characters. And then on the top we have all the episode numbers. And so you can go like, what happens to Dr. Charles in episode seven? There's a box for that. And we put. We decide what the character arcs are and we decide what the big signposts and turns are in the season for that episode. And then we choose what episode that's going to happen in. And that's one way we do it. You know, the other way we do it is like Andy Lauren, for instance, came in with this Jeremy Esme story. It was originally, I think, going to be three episodes, and then it expanded to four. They knew they wanted to tell that story and, you know, and they had already broken it out in their heads. And we just decided what is the most dramatic moment for some of these things, things to happen.

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

Wow.

[Alan McDonald]

And we knew we wanted them to be a part of the fall finale and the spring premiere because that's. I don't think I said this last time, but like, I always look at those two episodes, the fall finale and the spring premiere as a two part episode. And if you look at them closely, you'll. You'll see that, yes, one has a cliffhanger and then goes into the other one. But the stories are usually the same.

[Brian Lucci]

Connected. Yeah, connected. And now we gotta take a quick break, but when we come back, we've got more great stuff from Chicago Med showrunner Alan McDonald. Don't go anywhere.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

Yes, online shopping is quite literally at our fingertips, but that doesn't mean it's always simple to buy. Whether it's trying to remember one of a million different logins so you can actually place your order, or getting almost all the way through checkout before realizing your card is nowhere near you. There are many hiccups that can get between you and placing that order. Which is why it's such a relief when you see that purple pay button that has all of your information saved, making checkout as simple as a tap of your screen. That iconic purple shop pay button is why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet, meaning less carts going abandoned and more sales going to you. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Thrive Cosmetics, Gymshark and Allbirds to brands just getting started. And they're not just great at converting sales. If people haven't heard about your brand yet, Shopify can help you find your customers with easy to run email and social media campaigns. And they have world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. Tackle all of those important tasks from one place, making your life easier and your business operations smoother. See less carts go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop pay button. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com realm go to shopify.com realm that's shopify.com realm your little

[Depop Announcer]

one grew three inches overnight. Adorable. Also expensive. Sell their pint sized pieces on Depop and list them in minutes with no selling fees because somewhere a dad refuses to pay full price for the clothes his kids will outgrow tomorrow and he's ready to buy your son's entire wardrobe right now. Consider your future growth Bird budget secured. Start selling on Depop where taste recognizes taste. Payment processing fees and boosting fees still apply. See website for details.

[State Farm Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast Smart Move Being financially savvy Smart Move Another smart move having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.

[Brian Lucci]

And just like that, we're back baby. Talking with the Mastermind behind Chicago Med, showrunner Alan MacDonald. Okay, we're going to zoom out a little bit and talk about the season so far. We talked all the way back in episode two before we could really even get into things. Looking at this season since then, what has been some of your favorite scenes or your moments?

[Alan McDonald]

The first one that pops into my mind is when Dr. Will Halstead walks Through the doors, and he's holding that kid in his arms.

[Brian Lucci]

That's better than mine.

[Alan McDonald]

That was a big hero moment, and it was such a great entrance for a character that the audience loves but has not seen for a long time.

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

Please, I need help.

[Brian Lucci]

What is it?

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

We were walking in, and this car pulled up and dumped this kid on the sidewalk. He's diaphoretic. Diaphoretic kid.

[Brian Lucci]

How old are you?

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

That's what Will said.

[Brian Lucci]

Will. Will. Who? Who are we talking about?

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

Dr. Halstead.

[Brian Lucci]

Which room's open?

[Alan McDonald]

And I actually was told to watch the dailies, and that was the first thing I watched. And I. I literally cheered in my office. I don't, like. I'm not exaggerating. I was like. I. I said down the hall. I said, now that's a hero's entrance, dude.

[Brian Lucci]

I know when I get it. I know when we get it right. You. You got it right. Seeing him, you know.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

He's a good human, too. I. You know, he used to mess with him with his hair and stuff. Yeah. When he came in carrying that little kid, and he was with that little boy he was supposed to take to the baseball game. And that little boy at the end of that, all this terrible stuff. And then Tori shows up, you know, in the next episode. She came, right?

[Alan McDonald]

Yes.

[Brian Lucci]

If I put all the guys.

[Alan McDonald]

She came in at the end of that episode. And I want to just do a little shout out to NBC publicity at Universal television, because they did such an amazing job of keeping Tori's appearance at the end of the episode a secret. It is hard to keep a secret.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah. Very hard. Everybody knows everything.

[Alan McDonald]

And they worked really hard to make sure that nobody knew. Because I. Even though the. I've said something similar before, but the audience, like, will spoil it for themselves, but I think they'd rather be surprised. And I think when they were surprised, they enjoyed that more than spoiling it for themselves.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, I mean, you've had incredible moments, but one scene that, like, really got me was to see Ipatha being young, and you're. Oh, my God. I don't know how you did it. You know, the husband is sitting there. They talked about the highs and the lows. Cause I just. I have four children, and I can't get those days back. Like they say you get 18 summers with them. Don't ever forget the last time you picked them up. So you kind of killed me. When the husband's laying in the bed and the one son who actually has a different father that we just learned about David. David who they told him when she was 12. So there's all these things going on in my head. And they're around the bed. And then cut to, they were around the table. And they're talking about the highs and the lows of the day. And seeing Ipatha, this young person, she's got like a moo moo on, like, the clothing, the tablecloth, the colors, was like, how did they do it? Was it really hard to do that?

[Alan McDonald]

It was an involved process, for sure. And there were a lot of conversations, you know, probably more conversations about that minute and forty seconds than there were about the rest of the episode. But it was something we really felt that would be a great storytelling device because the audience doesn't get a lot of opportunities on the Chicago shows to go back in time.

[Brian Lucci]

Right.

[Alan McDonald]

And it's not something I feel we should do a lot, and it's something I feel we should do sparingly. But when it's done and it's done right and I feel we did do it right, it really lands emotionally. I remember the studio network executives both emailing me separately or texting me and just saying that they were gutted by that scene. And it was just a flashback on video.

[Brian Lucci]

They loved it.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, they loved it. They were gutted in a good way. Because it's just like. There's just something about time passage that is emotional for all human beings. Cause we all experience it. And then you go back and see the way things were and contrast that with a cut to the present. It's just visceral.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah. You've been laying all these, like, intertwining all these stories, and, you know, like a paita. When she came back, she ran into Archer in the hallway, and it was the first time she said her husband has yelled, raised her voice twice, and you've seen the tears in her eyes and how he knew how to deal with her. And I'm like, oh, my God. So that even made that scene more when he was just a sweet, nice man. And. Yeah, it was just. That was one of mine. Do you have any other favorite moments from this year? I even forgot about Will Halston, to be honest with you, because, you know, you get so wind. I'm into this Lennox story. I'm like, oh, when that quickie guy came out, when her brother showed up to get this, the. The ring.

[Alan McDonald]

That's a great moment too. Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

Okay, I'm gonna tell you something that's

[Alan McDonald]

a really great moment.

[Brian Lucci]

Please don't let me screw this up. Nurse K. K A Casey.

[Alan McDonald]

Nurse Casey.

[Brian Lucci]

Is it Casey? I had to look her up. She's actually a comedian from Chicago.

[Alan McDonald]

Kim Quinlan. Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

Oh, my. I love her.

[Alan McDonald]

She is fantastic. And she brings so much life and energy. Doorkables. Yeah. I will say I like one of my favorite lines. Like, I'm a writer, so when I'm writing stuff, I'm usually not happy with it, but once in a while, it's not a lot. I make myself laugh. And I. I wrote a line for Casey in that scene, the adorkable scene, where, you know, she says, well, well, well, Dr. Frost. It looks like you're in an old fashioned love triangle. Oh, wait, I want to be the. She goes. But if you ever want to make that triangle a square.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

Give me a call.

[Brian Lucci]

Who'd I piss my pants on?

[Alan McDonald]

That one?

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

I think it's adorkable. Well, well, well. Looks like you're in a classic love triangle.

[Brian Lucci]

For the love of God, please stop.

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

Have you ever decided to make that triangle square? Give me a call.

[Brian Lucci]

Because she's the same one that says that that room's haunted.

[Alan McDonald]

That's right.

[Brian Lucci]

Room number five's haunted. So I'm like, I'm watching her from a copper's point. I mean, just from a person's point of. You don't have to say a policeman. But we used to have, like, people that worked in the front office that were civilians.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

They knew who was sleeping with who, who wasn't, who's going through a divorce, who. Whose buddy got arrested. They knew everything. And they'd be gossiping all the time, and there's this cute little thing going, you know, Frost and. Oh, my God, Novak. Yeah, Your little love thing you got going there with the bunny up in the tree house.

[Alan McDonald]

Well, that is what I was gonna. I keep.

[Brian Lucci]

Oh, my God. I am a. I got a crush on both of those characters. They're so beautiful.

[Alan McDonald]

They're phenomenal. And you just went to what I was gonna say next as. One of my favorite scenes of the season was the scene with Novak and Frost up in the treehouse.

[Brian Lucci]

Oh, my God, it's so good. Yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

And I was really. You know, it's okay to say this. Cause Andrea and I both talked about it, but this. There's gonna be a bit of a love triangle on both fire and med. And it's gonna involve the fact that Frost and Novak are having this dalliance as well. And Andrea and I, our offices are only about 15 seconds away from each other if you jog. And so We've been able to sit down and have a lot of conversations about how we wanted that to play out. And I was nervous when I pitched the treehouse scene to Andrea because I was. You know, it's. You know that when you hear it out loud, it's like they go look for a bunny, a missing bunny up in a treehouse. You know, story wise, luch. That can go really wrong.

[Brian Lucci]

People that say cheesy. Like it could go cheesy. Cheesy. Yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

But we wanted to, you know, walk that tightrope between nostalgic for childhood. Cute. You know, the. The cute love between the two kids that are involved in that story and this very adult dance that's going on between them, you know, because there's like a real sexual attraction between those two.

[Brian Lucci]

Oh, my God. Like, here, teeing it up. I had her on a podcast, her and Hanako, and I listened to that.

[Alan McDonald]

That was fantastic. Thank you.

[Brian Lucci]

They're just so much fun. And she's got like this thing that she does on the show where she's flirtatious but not like she's checking out what's his name? He's all chesty, getting ready when he came in and he asked her. He finally asked her for her number and she rips out a black marker and writes 911 and says, it ain't gonna be that easy. I'm like the little 12 year old boy, you know, like, where's this going? Yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah. Jocelyn is phenomenal.

[Brian Lucci]

Oh, God, I love it.

[Alan McDonald]

Hanukkah is too. And we love having them both on the show. And, you know, I try to credit the writers that come up with particular ideas. That was definitely an Andy Getton's idea to write the 911 on the arm. And it was like one of those things, like, well, obviously you have to do that.

[Brian Lucci]

That.

[Alan McDonald]

That has to happen.

[Brian Lucci]

He's got to work for it because he screwed up on the other one or the girl. What was the lady's name? The. The. She's a doctor too. He. She came in for a moment and he hit on her, but it was too late. She told him, no, I don't hate

[Alan McDonald]

Dr. Dr. Naomi Howard. Sharp chestnut.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, she's cool.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

Now she's walking around, don't know what to do with herself. She shouldn't have told that McDreamy doctor.

[Alan McDonald]

No, no, no. She was having a little bit of regret in up in the fall finale. So.

[Brian Lucci]

Okay, any underrated expert acting moments from this season so far that you want to shout somebody out?

[Alan McDonald]

I'll shout out Ashley Sharp chestnut, who plays Dr. Naomi Howard. Because there was a scene. Sometimes Luch scripts come in short. And if you shoot every scene, you're not gonna have enough to fill the time. The 42 minutes they have to fill to air on NBC on a broadcast network. So sometimes I have to go back and add scenes and write scenes. And in the fall finale, that was the case. And so I was up in Lake Arrowhead in California, and I was at a conference.

[Brian Lucci]

I'm leaving short. Please tell me. Oh, this happens to Gwen, my showrunner all the time.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, we were. I think we were at 41 minutes, which is a minute under. But you can't be under. But also you wanna be at more than 45 minutes, so you have some room to play with. If you wanna take some stuff out, you have footage to do it with. Otherwise, it's very hard to cut stuff. And you need to be able to cut stuff. And so I went off to Lake Arrowhead at a cafe, and I just spent an afternoon writing three scenes with Naomi and Frost. And out of that came the scene with Nurse Casey about the, you know, the adorkable. Out of that came Liz.

[Brian Lucci]

I love her.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, she's amazing.

[Brian Lucci]

Please, please write for that lady.

[Alan McDonald]

She's amazing. The biggest moment I think that came out of that is Ashley, or I should say, Dr. Naomi Howard, regrets not taking Dr. Frost up on his offer to go out to dinner. And her reasoning was that she didn't want to get involved with a co worker, because that can be messy and complicated. But. But in this scene, he comes in and says something to her, and then she stops him before he leaves, and she just basically confesses. I regret not saying yes. And I sometimes make up too many rules in my head about how I should conduct myself in my career. And let's just admit, there's always been this bond between us. And what was important to me is that she wasn't, like, falling to her knees begging him. I wanted her to be strong. And so it was important to me that she said, look, this is not a declaration of love. Cause we've both moved on. But I need to get this off my chest for me. So thank you for letting me. And Ashley just nailed it. She just nailed it.

[Brian Lucci]

So you said three. You wrote three scenes. Was it the third scene when she went to go see Dr. Hannah, tell her she's coming to her for advice?

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, the first scene.

[Brian Lucci]

I love that one.

[Alan McDonald]

That's exactly right.

[Brian Lucci]

Lucha, you son of a bitch. I don't want to Ruin it. Go ahead.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, so the first scene was when Dr. Howard walks up to Dr. Frost at the football counter, and Nurse Casey is there with them. And, you know, she sees the tattoo on his arm, the 911. Naomi asks where that came from, and Frost is like, oh, it's. It's nothing. It's no big deal. But then it's Nurse Casey who says, oh, well, you know, Lizzie Novak wrote that on his arm. And, you know, it's adorkable. And that was the first scene. The second scene was when Naomi, a little shaken by the fact that Frost has turned around and has started dating Novak.

[Brian Lucci]

Seen it in her face.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah, you see the heartbreak in her face.

[Brian Lucci]

Beautiful acting.

[Alan McDonald]

You know, she goes and she asks Dr. Hannah Asher about her experiences dating people at work because, you know, she's had something going, you know, obviously going on with Dr. Archer. And there was her long term relationship with Dr. Mitch Ripley, and then also her long relationship several years ago with Dr. Will Halsted. You know, so that was the perfect person to go to. Advice.

[Brian Lucci]

He's a pro, but, like, it's hard.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah. And I think Dr. Naomi Howard walks away from that conversation, you know, feeling not sure how she should move forward. In that scene, Hannah asks, Naomi should, you know, did you ever tell Dr. Frost how you feel? And Naomi's like, I don't. I haven't. And Hannah's like, well, you should, because they're not married. And that puts in Naomi's head, you know, the possibility that she should say something. And then the third scene is in the lounge when Frost comes in and says, hey, I'm sorry about Nurse Casey's crazy behavior earlier. And she goes, no, it's cool. And he walks out, and she stops him. She stands up and she goes over and she basically confesses her feelings for him.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah, it was beautiful. It's amazing that all of these doctors with these brilliant minds, they have it all together up there, but their hearts are just all screwed up. You got Frost, who didn't have nowhere to live, who goes to Ripley, and he was sleeping there, and he gave him a spot to live. That whole story's Ripley with his problems, Archer with his, you know, I mean, like, everybody, like, you see, they're just humans. They're like beautiful humans dealing with humans that are a little bit more broke than them. And then to be able to, you know, like to realize, wow, life ain't that bad. Like, life is good, and I'm gonna live it, you know, I think you guys are doing this incredible job telling this brother and sister story between Lennox and her brother, like, how he just pops up the ring and how he's growing. Their relationship is the coolest. How they could just be so fricking honest, you know? Oh, yeah, you're dying. Yeah, whatever. You know, stop being a martyr. I think I'm just interested. Like, how are you? How is it all coming together? Like, who's coming up with this? The little brother, big brother. I mean, big sister, who's doing it?

[Alan McDonald]

Well, it's the writers room that we came up with this idea that, you know, these are two siblings that lost their parents at a very young age. And Lennox was about 18 or 19 when the parents both died. And she ended up having to raise this brother a little bit because he's several years younger than her. So that's a weird dynamic. It's kind of a sibling dynamic, and it's a parent dynamic. They fight all the time, but there's no one they love more because there's no one that understands what they've been through better than that other person. And the thing I wanted to say is you mentioned earlier, like, what a great vibe there is between Sarah Ramos and Logan Miller, who plays Kip. And the reason for that is because they've known each other a very long time. And in fact, Sarah Ramos recommended that we audition Logan for the role of Kip.

[Brian Lucci]

Get out of here. Yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

And then I said, well, of course we'll audition him. And then, because I got scattered about a million things, as usual, I completely forgot that she had recommended him. And then we ended up casting him anyway, and I saw his digital audition, and I just loved it. And then it was after we cast him that Sarah reminded me, he's the one that I recommended to you.

[Brian Lucci]

They never feel like seeing. No talking over each other. She's not looking at him, she's going about. He's there trying to get her attention. Blah, blah, blah. You're so full of shit.

[Alan McDonald]

It's.

[Brian Lucci]

I gotta say, you know what I mean? Like, as a viewer, as a fan, as a guy who's in the middle of this. It's just like when you don't feel like it's a scene, and it's so much like, wow, I want to be in there with those two arguing. Oh, you. You know what I mean?

[Alan McDonald]

There's a real dynamic between them, and there's a real affection between them, and, you know, they get pouty with each other, and it's. You know, it's. They're amazing. They are truly gifted actors. And they truly feel like siblings.

[Brian Lucci]

Make you feel like family, friends. You know what I mean? Friends, family, and a bunch of love all twisted in one with a lot of problems that we have. But it's okay. You know what I mean?

[Alan McDonald]

Exactly.

[Brian Lucci]

Without spoiling anything, what is something that you've really excited about for the fans to look forward to for the rest of the season?

[Alan McDonald]

Well, there's all kinds of things that I think they're going to be very excited about. You know, the progression of Dr. Hannah's pregnancy and her, you know, how that pushes and pulls her relationship with Archer and seeing where that goes. I'm also very excited about an upcoming episode where we see Essie Peitham Merkerson, you know, as the rock star hero that she is.

[Brian Lucci]

You're excited to see it too. You got the words. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

And that's coming up soon. We also have two big episodes that primarily focus on Dr. Charles, because Dr. Charles has been going through a bit of an emotional rollercoaster since last season.

[Brian Lucci]

All right, Alan, I know they. I know they invited you back for a doubleheader here, and I can't thank you enough. You could have said no two times, but you didn't. You said yes. Thank you so much for coming and doing the podcast.

[Alan McDonald]

Well, it's always a pleasure to be here. I will always say yes. And I think you are a phenomenal person and also well known in Chicago. Chicago. Because I was in the lobby of a building on Sunday.

[Brian Lucci]

Yeah.

[Alan McDonald]

And. And a gentleman said, oh, you work on Chicago Med? And he goes, yeah, he goes, I went to high school with Brian Lucci.

[Brian Lucci]

I get in trouble a lot.

[Alan McDonald]

Yeah.

[Brian Lucci]

So we're gonna end that interview right here. Thanks again for coming, man.

[Alan McDonald]

Of course.

[Brian Lucci]

Really appreciate you. That's my guy, Alan McDonald. Can you tell I love him, and, boy, do I love his show. You could join me and get all dorkable. Yeah, that's right. I said Adorkable over Chicago Med every Wednesday night. Allen's definitely got more devious stuff up his sleeve once. Chicago airs on Wednesday night at 8, 7 Central on NBC. And you could stream it on Peacock. The One Chicago podcast is a production of Wolf Entertainment and USG Office. The series is hosted by me, Brian Lucci. It's executive produced by Dick Wolf, Elliot Wolf, and Steven Michael at Wolf Entertainment, Josh Block at USG Audio, and John Yell Kastner at Spoke Media. Our showrunner is Derek John. Our producer is Maggie Dubrizi, and our audio producer is Jason Mark. Video production by Bo Delmore, coordinating production by Tess Ryan. Our production assistant is Montserrat Rodriguez. With engineering and mix by Evan Arnett and original music by John o'. Hara. This series is produced by Spoke Media and distributed by Realm. Production support for USG Audio by Josh Lalonghi. I'm Brian Lueuch. Thanks for listening and we'll see you all.

[Two Good Coffee Creamers Announcer]

Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh. They're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.

[Alan McDonald]

1-800-contacts.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

Spring just slid into your DMs. Grab that boho. Look for that rooftop dinner, those sandals that can keep up with you. And hang some string lights to give your patio a glow up. Spring's calling. Ross, work your magic.