“Goodwin is going to have to fight to keep her job,” Med‘s showrunner Allen MacDonald told NBC Insider.
The Season 11 finale of Chicago Med just delivered a twist unlike ever before as Gaffney director Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) finds her cherished career in jeopardy.
How did we get here? Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt) has felt the pressure this season after his former mentee in the psych department, Dr. Theo Rabari (Manash Dayal), exploited his medical leave and started gunning to replace Dr. Charles at his longtime post at Gaffney. Aware of Dr. Charles and Theo’s ongoing feud this season, Sharon Goodwin eagerly updated Dr. Charles about Theo’s campaign to become Gaffney’s next Chief of Psychiatry. As Theo planned to give a speech against Dr. Charles at a high-stakes board meeting, Dr. Charles did his own research, discovering that Theo is a misdiagnosed sociopath.
While Dr. Charles had hold-ups about exposing Theo’s diagnosis to discredit him, Goodwin urged Dr. Charles to fight fire with fire, leading to disastrous consequences for the Gaffney director.
Goodwin has been commanded to step down from her post at Gaffney
Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) and Miranda Lewis (Orlagh Cassidy) appear in Chicago Med Season 11 Episode 12.
Photo: George Burns Jr/NBC
With Dr. Charles as her best friend, she was willing to pull out all of the stops to help him maintain his position. After discovering Theo’s sociopathy diagnosis, Dr. Charles dragged his feet on doing anything with the information, feeling it was an ethical compromise to exploit Theo, even if that was what Theo was doing to him.
Aware of the board’s draconian approach, Goodwin took matters into her own hands. Goodwin reached out to her fellow board member Miranda, even though the two don’t have the strongest rapport after Goodwin refused to accept a nepotistic nudge for Miranda’s nephew. However, after Goodwin saved Miranda’s life earlier this season, their contemptuous relationship has thawed and Goodwin thought Miranda’s mood had shifted.
Desperate to help Dr. Charles, Goodwin leveraged this evolving connection with Miranda and flagged Theo’s medical records as a potential point of interest. Later, Goodwin and Dr. Charles headed to the board meeting only to discover it had been rescheduled. Theo had elected to remove himself from consideration due to “personal” reasons. Dr. Charles would resume his position effective immediately to maintain consistency ahead of the “impending high-profile turnover.”
“Miss Goodwin is leaving Gaffney,” Miranda announced, much to their surprise.
Med‘s showrunner says Sharon Goodwin will have to “fight” in Season 12 of Chicago Med
Turns out, Goodwin’s decision to speak about Theo’s medical files with Miranda gave the contemptuous board member her long-awaited opportunity to pull the rug from beneath the Gaffney director.
“You can’t fire me without the board’s approval,” Goodwin reminded her.
“I’m giving you the opportunity to avoid the very public embarrassment of disclosing your actions to the board and the inevitable vote to terminate you,” Miranda explained gravely. “I want your resignation on my desk within an hour.”
“I don’t frighten easy,” Goodwin told Miranda with lethal bite. “But if you wanna fight, you got one. I promise you that.”
Miranda shrugged, reminding Goodwin that she only had one hour to either turn in her resignation letter or conjure some solution. And Goodwin isn’t going down without a fight. Med‘s Season 11 finale ended with Goodwin grappling over what to do, giving Chihards plenty to think on ahead of Chicago Med Season 12.
“Miranda has pissed off Sharon Goodwin, and I think that probably isn’t the smartest thing to do,” Med showrunner Allen MacDonald told NBC Insider. “Next season, I think that we’re gonna see Miranda and Goodwin get in the ring. Goodwin is going to have to fight to keep her job.”
