Chicago Med Recap: How the Finale Wrote Out Natalie and April

Chicago Med said goodbye to longtime cast members Torrey DeVitto and Yaya DaCosta during Wednesday’s Season 6 finale with not wholly unexpected exit storylines for Dr. Natalie Manning and nurse April Sexton.

Let’s recap: Natalie’s mom gets a new heart, and although it is far from a perfect one, the transplant goes well. Natalie apologizes to Crockett for not being fair and honest with him. “Regardless of everything, I’ll always be grateful to you,” Crockett kindly replies. “My life was pretty empty before I met you.”

Natalie also got to make good with Will, who gets fired for giving Nat’s mom the pills. At the close of the finale, Natalie confesses to Goodwin that she stole the drugs and begs her to reinstate Will.

Meanwhile, April gets into the nurse practitioners program — but not before watching Ethan almost die! Dean’s appendicitis patient confronts him and Ethan in the hospital parking lot, waving around a gun and screaming that they took out “the red pill” during the surgery. Ethan lunges for the guy to try to get the weapon and accidentally gets shot in the chest in the process.

Dean and Will argue about how to treat Ethan, who’s in very bad shape. Dean, who’s pushing for immediate surgery, thinks Will’s issues with Ethan are clouding his clinical judgment. Luckily, Ethan pulls through the risky operation, but he’ll need physical therapy. In the meantime, Goodwin — not knowing that Ethan has concerns about his colleague — names Dean the interim chief of the ED.

When Ethan wakes up, he’s greeted by April, who confesses that seeing him on that gurney reminded her of how much she loves him.

Elsewhere, Ethan chose Vanessa to continue working in the ED. Goodwin cautions Maggie against telling Vanessa the truth and showing any favoritism to her daughter. But Vanessa puts two and two together and tells Maggie that it wasn’t right of her to come into her life like this. And Vanessa doesn’t want anyone to know about their relationship, lest they think she didn’t earn this job on her own merit.

Med fans, what did you think of the season ender and the exits? Grade it below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!

Launch Gallery: #OneChicago Cast Exits, Ranked