Warning! SPOILERS ahead for the 2025 One Chicago crossover, "In the Trenches."

The 2025 One Chicago crossover, titled "In the Trenches," exposes the missing ingredient in Chicago Med. Like many of the best One Chicago crossovers, "In the Trenches" has all three Chicago teams working on the same case. After Firehouse 51 answers a call about a gas explosion at a federal building, it is up to the doctors at Gaffney Medical Center to provide the best care possible to all the victims. Additionally, the doctors have to try to save Trudy's (Amy Morton) life after she is shot in the back by one of the perps responsible for the disaster.

Chicago Med also again demonstrates that Dean Archer is one of Steven Weber's best roles by having him assist in the rescue effort from afar. When a enger on a trapped train develops breathing problems, Archer guides Chicago Fire's Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) over the phone, helping her perform an emergency procedure. Meanwhile, Lenox (Sarah Ramos) butts heads with Chicago PD's Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) when he wants her to extubate a burn victim who he believes is responsible for the explosion even though the procedure isn't in the patient's best interest.

The 2025 One Chicago Crossover Puts Its Best Couples Up Front

Three People Waited Anxiously For News That Their Significant Others Were All Right

Couples are at the forefront of the 2025 One Chicago crossover, with three people's lives on the line. One of the biggest storylines involves Trudy's serious injuries. Trudy's blood loss makes it impossible to keep her alive via transfusions, so Lenox and Ripley (Luke Mitchell) temporarily lower her body temperature and stop her heart so that they can do emergency surgery. The procedure leaves Chicago Fire's Mouch (Christian Stolte) in the waiting room, desperate for updates and afraid that his wife will die before he can make up with her for forgetting her birthday.

Similarly, Chicago PD's Ruzek (John Patrick Flueger) is trapped with Kidd on a train that can't get through because of a station collapse, cutting both of them off from their romantic partners. Burgess (Marina Squerciati) and Severide (Taylor Kinney) are thus as sidelined as Mouch as they are unable to reach their partners, and the situation becomes even more dire when the oxygen supply on the train becomes depleted. These storylines showcase the deep love and fear of loss these characters' partners have, but Chicago Med had no such plot involving any of its characters.

The Crossover Notably Doesn't Have Any Solid Romance From Chicago Med

Med's Contribution Is Purely Medical

The three-couples-in-danger trope includes two couples from Fire and PD, but none from Med. This omission seems strange, considering that there are three shows in the franchise — it would be logical to include one couple from each series. However, this idea could not come to fruition because Chicago Med doesn't have many notable couples right now. Goodwin (S Epatha Merkerson) is dating oncologist Dennis Washington (John Earl Jenks), but the relationship is new. Furthermore, it would have been redundant for either one of them to be in danger, considering that Goodwin recently almost died at the hands of a stalker.

The only other couple that could have been involved in this type of story would be Chicago Med's Hannah (Jessy Schram) and Mitch. This couple has spent most of the season fighting about Mitch's friend Sully (Daniel Door). That said, Hannah was surprisingly ive of Mitch's efforts to fight for Sully to spend his last days in the hospital rather than jail. Now that Sully is gone, there is no real obstacle for Hannah and Mitch. However, they barely interact during the 2025 One Chicago crossover — and without conflict, this couple has become uninteresting.

Why Romances Are Such An Integral Part Of One Chicago

The Shows Delve Into The Characters' Personal Lives

Although each One Chicago show is a procedural, they all balance professional and personal storylines, including romance. These storylines help make the characters relatable, which raises the stakes when they deal with high-stakes situations on the job. Chicago Med used to be at the forefront of character-driven stories. For example, former Chicago Med characters Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) and Natalie Manning's (Torrey DeVitto) on-again-off-again romance was a huge part of the medical drama's early years. Similarly, after Natalie's exit from Chicago Med, Will and Hannah tried and failed at dating each other.

Chicago Med has no romance that is strong enough to carry a storyline involving one half of the couple being in danger.

However, Chicago Med season 10 does not focus on romance the way previous seasons did, and the One Chicago crossover makes this obvious. While both Chicago Fire and Chicago PD have long-established couples who are trying to balance their job needs with their relationships, Chicago Med has no romance that is strong enough to carry a storyline involving one half of the couple being in danger. This is a serious problem that the medical drama should address, as romantic subplots will help maintain audience interest throughout the season.

Does Chicago Med Have Any Potential High Profile Romance That It Can Develop?

Hannah And Mitch Seem To Have Fizzled Out

It's unlikely that Chicago Med can recapture the romance of the early seasons, given that Halstead is gone and most of the romantic subplots centered around him. Hannah and Mitch do not make an exciting couple, especially now that their main conflict has evaporated, and the only other viable couple is Goodwin and Washington. However, Chicago Med could create excitement if they broke these couples up and partnered them with other people.

While Hannah and Archer's platonic relationship is refreshing and original, their names consistently come up on lists of Chicago Med characters that should get together. These two have gone through the classic pattern of starting out as enemies and becoming friends, so it wouldn't be a stretch for them to take the next step. Additionally, one of the best Chicago Med storylines in recent years involved Archer's son, Sean, being jealous of his father's relationship with Hannah because he liked her. Unfortunately, Sean is gone, but the story still points to how much excitement a Hannah/Archer pairing could generate,

Putting Goodwin with Charles instead of Dennis would help Chicago Med again generate the romantic excitement that the One Chicago franchise is known for.

Similarly, Charles (Oliver Platt) and Goodwin have had a close friendship for years that could easily blossom into romance. The two feel extremely comfortable around one another and have ed each other emotionally through difficult times. The story of these two old friends realizing they want something more would be more compelling than Goodwin's constant fear of letting Dennis get too close to her. Thus, putting Goodwin with Charles instead of Dennis would help Chicago Med again generate the romantic excitement that the One Chicago franchise is known for.