Beware of spoilers! Don’t continue unless you watched the season eight premiere on Wednesday at Chicago Med.
“Chicago Medics” brought a big surprise in the season 8 premiere when the main character returned, leaving open the possibility that his reappearance could potentially be permanent.
In the last minutes of the season opening on Wednesday, “How to Start Counting Losses” in the OneChicago series, former series regular Yaya DaCosta, who plays Dr. April Sexton, returned. DaCosta’s on-screen appearance in the series “Honey” occurred when her character visited the grave of her ex-ex-father Ethan (Brian Tee), the late father, to pay tribute to her after learning of his death.
In this scene, the exes shared a distant but illuminating conversation as their past history and unresolved feelings returned to the surface.
“April?” Ethan called when he saw her at the cemetery.
“I saw your father’s obituary. I would have come to the service, but I wasn’t sure… I mean, I didn’t want it to be awkward,” April explained her sudden presence.
“Are you back in Chicago?” — he said, don’t beat around the bush.
April confirmed that she did, revealing that she had graduated from the M.P. program and moved back to the Windy City, where she works with a local medical group. She asked him to talk about his life and whether he had recovered from surgery after a near-fatal gunshot wound, even to check on his family.
“You didn’t get married or anything, did you?” April asked, the tension between them palpable.
—No,” Ethan said, shaking his head before asking the same question.
“No,” she replied, leaving plenty of room for the former couple to potentially reconcile in the future and possibly rekindle their old flame.
But before the awkward moment got any more awkward, April decided to leave and give Ethan a chance to digest what had just happened. “Okay, see you later,” she said, leaving the door open for a future reunion.
DaCosta abruptly left the medical drama at the end of the sixth season in 2021, and then moved on to headline the already canceled Fox soap “Our People.” The unexpected departure of DaCosta, who left at the same time as Torri DeVitto, left the writers with many unfinished threads that need to be connected in season 7.
“We had to make sure that their arches last season prepared them both for an unexpected but understandable departure from the show,” co—showrunner Diana Frolov told ET last September about the problems associated with completing their arches. “We also had to make sure that their closest characters—Will, Crockett and Ethan—were emotionally ready to rebuild their lives after Natalie and April left.”
“Ethan misses April and will always have feelings for her, but that won’t stop him from having a strong romantic relationship in the future,” said co-showrunner Andy Schneider.
Judging by their tense reunion in the season 8 premiere, their story may not be over yet.
