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Warning: The following contains major spoilers for Wednesday’s Chicago Med. Proceed at your own risk!
Dr. Connor Rhodes said goodbye to Chicago Med during Wednesday’s Season 5 premiere — but not before another shocker, courtesy of his ex-girlfriend Ava (Norma Kuhling). Realizing that it was only a matter of time before the truth would come out about her killing Connor’s father, Ava had a breakdown. After reiterating to Connor that she did it for them, she took a scalpel and slit her own throat! Despite a valiant effort, Connor was unable to save her life and decided he need a fresh start somewhere that he wouldn’t always be tied to this tragedy.
With that, Connor and his portrayer Colin Donnell bid adieu to the hospital — but the door remains open for the doc to make a return visit, showrunners Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov reveal below. The pair also explain why Ava had to die and discuss the possibility of a “happily ever after” for Connor and Robin.
TVLINE | What kind of conversations did you have with Colin Donnell and Norma Kuhling about their character exits, and how things were going to go?
ANDREW SCHNEIDER | Well, we told both of them that we wanted to give a real dramatic and emotionally satisfying ending to their story.
DIANE FROLOV | And they were both very satisfied. Norma had a lot of fun with that last episode.
SCHNEIDER | [She was] going for it. They’re both terrific actors, and you know, the door is still open for Connor’s character. He’s alive.
FROLOV | And everybody loves working with him.
SCHNEIDER | But they were both really game to jump in and resolve their stories in that way.
TVLINE | Ava’s story wrapped up very unexpectedly. Why did you decide to give her such a tragic ending?
FROLOV | We wanted to really give her story closure, absolutely slam the door. And it allowed her to take a final revenge on [Connor], and also gave him a big reason to leave. So those two things came together in that decision.
TVLINE | When we first met Ava, she seemed pretty stable and healthy. What would you say was the turning point for her?
SCHNEIDER | As she became increasingly obsessed with Connor, it brought up all her emotional issues, which were buried, but they’re there.
FROLOV | And so this sparked them, and she has a personality disorder where everything really, really revolves around her, and her wants, and her desire to get the things that she wants.
SCHNEIDER | Doesn’t mean she isn’t a great surgeon. But what it actually was sparked by [was], we’ve heard stories about really great surgeons who have terrible psychological problems.
TVLINE | Did you ever consider any other scenarios for Connor and Ava, for the conclusion?
FROLOV | As soon as we started going down the road that she slept with his father, we knew that there would be no happy ending to this.
SCHNEIDER | It had a kind of inevitability about it, that it would end badly.
TVLINE | And did you consider any other particular scenarios for this episode, for how they would say farewell?
FROLOV | We debated if she was going to survive the suicide and be arrested, but it didn’t seem as satisfying to us.
SCHNEIDER | Or to impact Connor. We really wanted people to understand why he was leaving, and we felt that by having her die, despite all of his efforts in the OR, it would really help that motivation.
FROLOV | But having her live was a possibility.
TVLINE | Where did Connor go? Are we going to get an update on where exactly he landed?
FROLOV | Well, you know, we kind of feel that he took that offer at the Mayo Clinic.
SCHNEIDER | He’s not far away.
TVLINE | Some fans were still holding out hope that he and Robin would get back together. Was there ever a chance that the two of them would reunite and go off on their own?
SCHNEIDER | They’re still young. They have their whole future ahead.
FROLOV | [Laughs] We never closed the door on that, but as far as on our show, as a storyline, obviously, that isn’t going to happen.
SCHNEIDER | But we do bring Robin back this season.
TVLINE | Connor got two really lovely goodbyes with Dr. Latham and Goodwin. How did you choose which characters would be the ones that would kind of send him off?
SCHNEIDER | They were the characters that he had sort of the most profound relationships with. Latham was his teacher and his mentor.
FROLOV | And he was a great friend to Latham.
SCHNEIDER | There was a very deep friendship there, even though Latham was not the best at expressing his emotions. They really kind of loved each other.
FROLOV | And Goodwin was the one that defended him, that brought him on. So again, we felt that he would say goodbye to her, [and] she would say goodbye to him.
SCHNEIDER | They were both, in a sense, his bosses, and he kind of owed them both, for professional and personal reasons, a farewell.
TVLINE | Was there ever a scene between Connor and Will that addressed him leaving?
SCHNEIDER | Will, at that point, is so wrapped up in his feelings about Natalie, it was hard to construct it. But they did have this very heartfelt scene up on the roof before Connor makes that decision.
FROLOV | And there’s this moment where Will says, “I just want to get out of here,” and [Connor] says, “I know how you feel,” and the subtext was he was feeling the same way.
TVLINE | Does what happened with Ava cause complications for the hospital?
SCHNEIDER | We’re not going to deal with that. The next episode jumps ahead six weeks. So there’s been kind of a big reset at that point.
Med fans, what did you think of the season premiere? Grade it below, then hit the comments!
Felt is was an underwhelming and unsatisfying send off and ending for Connor. I think most knew and were rooting for Ava’s demise and had resigned ourselves to knowing she was behind Connor ‘s dad’s death so no surprise. But it seemed like more of a sendoff for her and left him feeling guilty–couldn’t save his mom, dad and now undeserving Ava. Huge missed opportunity for Dr. Rhodes and sad him walking off alone (yes, held out hope maybe Robin w/b waiting outside).
Forgot to say: couldn’t they have just made a statement Ava killed the dad, was in prison and committed suicide there instead of that ridiculous ending? Glad they didn’t try to pin it on Connor.
Too bad it was such a crappy sendoff for a pivotal, main and, imo, interesting character on the show (Connor).
I like your version better. What about Natalie and Will? The guy seems very scary
Yes, I am underwhelmed also. Why couldn’t he have a happy ending? He could have moved away to be with Robin & get away from Med with Ava in jail for his father’s murder. That could have still left the door open to visit. Or better yet, they shouldn’t have gotten rid of him at all! I will give it a few episodes, but I’m not sure if I will watch the full season unless it really wows me.
Couldn’t agree more–they didn’t have to get rid of him as I felt there were many more stories to tell for him. And why not give him a happy ending? Sure, they’ve left the door open for him to return but it won’t be any time soon. At least, in my mind, I could envision him and Robin happy!! Yes, psycho Ava should have just gone to prison for the murder of his dad but he could have continued on. I truly don’t think the show will be the same unless you’re a HUGE Chexton and/or Manstead fan *sigh*
They should never have gotten rid of Conor – extremely bad move.
I agree. Bad move on the powers that be. Why in the world would you get rid of a good character and a great actor.
I did not like Ava nor did I think they had very good chemistry. I hate that Connor is gone. He would have been alot better with someone else
Now I see why they wanted off the show, poor writing and no direction on where they want the viewers to go with the storyline. You got to have me believe that its5 more to come. This was a very bad season beginning. No passion.
No! No! Keep Dr.Rhodes PLEASE…
My favorite character is gone and I don’t really get why you would write him off
People are saying Connor shouldn’t have been written out, well he wanted to leave. He moved to New York to be with his wife full time.
Every article & interview I’ve seen [even ones published tonight] say that he was let go. He, himself, stated that he was “surprised” by the news.
Every theory I’ve seen was that because the two leads of Fire renewed their contracts, the budgets between the 3 shows needed to be trimmed and those two and Jon Seda on PD were the results.
Not to mention, they killed off Otis on Fire as well…
OMG NOT ANTONIO TOO?!!! I will lose my mind if I lose Antonio too!! Seriously!! I might go on Chicago Wednesday STRIKE. NO WAY YOU CAN WRITE OFF ANTONIO!!! 🤬🤬
So sorry Lisa.
Ok but you don’t get rid of the LEAD on Med! Maybe TPTB think Manstead is the lead but I beg to differ. If they had to cut someone, they could have cut the blonde doctor (the snarky one–can’t think of her name at the moment). Was Norma K really making that much per episode??
Conner was my favorite character. Show will never be the same without him. Sucks you let him go.
I’m not sure I’m going to keep watching. Dr. Rhodes was the best & most interesting character on the show. The thought of a lot more of Will is enough to make me take Chicago Med off my DVR setting.
I totally agree with you. Too bad they did not get rid of Will.
Maybe we’ll get 300 more choi and april arguments.
I like Will much more than Connor. Connor has always felt privileged and egotistical. Plus Will has a brother on PD and therefore did with the ‘One Chicago’ universe better.
It was totally not what I was expecting the storyline to go. I never thought Ava would kill herself. At the very least in that gruesome way. I’m super sad about Connor leaving. He was one of my favorites. I also cant wait for the story of the “proposal/amnesia” storyline to play out. I think it’s going to be an implosion on that relationship. It’s gonna be great!
I liked the episode and agree that if Connor was leaving that Ava had to go permanently. I have a kind of unrelated issue though. Immediately after the episode they preview next week’s show with the tagline of it being “the most difficult hour in the history of med”. This seemed a bit over the top considering they just gave us an episode which featured the aftermath of 2 main characters getting run down by a car, another committing suicide in the hospital, another finding out that she has metastatic breast cancer, and yet another leaving all together. Not sure how it can get more difficult than that.
I want Connor back. Also Natalie and will
Dr. Rhode island and my favorite character in this series..one of the reason I stop watching Grey’s anatomy was when Derek died. So this could be a reason for stop watching Chicago Med
I just felt it was WAY TOO MUCH TO GRASP for a Season Opener, after the closure with the accident last season. Now you took out 2 principle roles, one who has a terminal illness and will eventually leave or die off as well. It’s running too fast, to leave a new Fan coming into the show to stick around. We LOVE IT WHEN YOU PAIR ALL 3 TOGETHER, MD, CF, PD.
I was really surprised that you let such a main character as Dr. Rhodes that started the show leave! That was a huge disappointment! On the other hand shutting the door with Ava’s guilt was a great thing. I was really hoping that it would not drag on and on. However, I was really hoping that an explanation of Connor’s father would have been revealed . I’m glad that Connor was cleared of all wrongdoing because it certainly look like he was the guilty one, if you had not watched the show completely and never missed an episode. On the whole the episode was very good, but I was really sad to see Dr Connor Rhodes leave. That was a complete SHOCK! He always represented a really good, strong character. I certainly hope you bring him back! I never felt that he would ever settle with anyone, not even Robin. That’s what made him it’s good character as he was.
I am extremely saddened that you had to get rid of Dr Connor Rhodes. He was one of the best characters on the show. A very stand-up guy and a strong character. He’s been with the show since the very beginning and it was very bad that you took him off the show
Now Connor and Ava is gone, it seems to be they are going to create the whole Natalie and Philip creepy person as the replacement.
Hopefully they will write it so Dr. Charles mentions to Sharon (or somebody) that Connor and Robin reunite off-screen (maybe after the death of her Mother which seems inevitable).
Not happy with #OneChicago atm, they kill of one of my favourite Fire characters, Antonio gone from P.D. and Connor from Med as well.
This show does not know how to write for female characters.
I can’t believe you let Conner go, he was awesome and a main character!!! This was terrible!! Bring him back he will be missed so much on this show!!
Hate the engagement story line. Get it done with. Boring. Sorry to see Connor’s character leave.
Yes! The fake engagement is so daytime soap opera. Its a tool to keep them apart for yet another season. Im bored with it already.
Bad send off for Connor, he is one of the better characters, I’m on the fence with this show, I like a lot of the other cast members; Yaya Dacosta, Oliver Platt, Brian Tee and Marylne Bennett, but I will dislike the characters of Natalie (Torrey Devito) and Will (Nick Gehlfuss); she’s so pretentious and self righteous, he’s just pathetic and stupid trying to convince her to love him…it’s a tired romance story line. They need to utilize S. Epartha Merkerson!
Agree 100% with this comment. Natalie is boring and self-righteous, I fast forward thru her scenes sometimes. Platt, Dacosta, Tee, Merkeson, Benner and the rest are all amazing and like the addition of the new doc who clearly knows about the engagement ring ploy.
Great episode. The door has been left open for Dr. Rhodes to return. I can’t believe the negative comments this episode has received.
I was hoping Ava wasn’t going to have any issues. Well that’s what I was hoping anyways, because I liked her. AHope they bring insomeone new
I like Chicago Med, Fire and PD a lot. Been a fan since their very first episodes. I will continue to watch them. I am sad to see Otis’ character leave the show. I wonder why? Ok. Let’s face it, Conner needed a break from the 2 incidences that happened to him. You could tell that he did. A person can only take so much tragedy! It is left open (if) he returns later on. Very well done with Ava, It took me by surprise! I DVR shows. So after seeing Med and Fire, I decided to see PD on Friday. I like it when you pair 2 or 3 together.