Will 'Chicago Med's Dr. Archer Be Able to Save Sharon Goodwin's Life? (Exclusive)

In the midseason finale, Chicago Med left us with quite the cliffhanger as Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) was being attacked by a knife-wielding assailant, who it turned out was also the person who had been stalking Sharon all season, and there was blood.

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Flashback to the Season 10 premiere, when the hospital was overloaded with patients from a shipwreck and had run out of blood. Sharon was forced to choose which one of two patients would receive the last five units, and pecked the boat driver over Wendy, Cassidy’s (Tiff Abreu) wife. Cassidy was forced to watched her wife die, blaming Sharon for her death. And now she wants her own pint of blood, so to speak. And she’s going to get it from Sharon, stabbing her in the abdomen.

As Sharon lies there bleeding out, she and Cassidy talk about death when Sharon hears the elevator ding. Dr. Dean Archer (Steven Weber) has come by to drop off his resignation letter. Just as he’s leaving and the elevator doors are closing, Sharon manages to get out of her office and catch his eye. But will he get to her in time?

“Her wounds are extensive, and they were absolutely life-threatening, and his military instincts kick in at that moment, and he does intervene,” Weber tells Parade. “He and the other surgeons do manage to save her, and it’s in that moment, in kind of a post-operative recovery moment, that he and she bond in a very interesting way.”

What's interesting is Sharon demoted Archer, making Dr. Caitlin Lennox (Sarah Ramos) head of the ED. Archer didn’t quit initially, but in a short amount of time, having Lennox take his job was the last straw for him, and he wrote his resignation.

Related: Chicago Med Shocker: Why (Spoiler) Was Fired on Tonight's Episode

So, in reality, the negative thing that Sharon did–demoting him–put Archer in the right place to save her life when she needed it most. So, she convinces him to stay at Chicago Gaffney.

“They’ve both been through ordeals, and they both have faced mortality. And she entreats him to think twice about leaving not just the hospital, but leaving the path that maybe he’s been on all this life without knowing,” Weber continues. “Without knowing that he’s about to face something big, which is a decision about himself. He’s good at his job, he’s good at saving people. But in a way Sharon, Ms. Goodwin, saves him in that moment.”

Archer is a man who places all his emphasis on the armor, on the superficial tools and the superficial things he used to survive. And so, when Lenox took his position of primacy away, he saw that as the ultimate sign. But Sharon convinces him otherwise.

“He also doesn’t quite realize. But at that moment in his life [of resigning], he’s been on a trajectory already of where he’s got to face his mortality and the fact that he doesn’t have intimacy in his life, and the fact that he has repelled more people than he’s attracted,” Weber says, “And so that’s what this show has really very artfully, I think, written for him. He’s finding himself in this position so that finally when he gives up, guess what happens? The universe intervenes and sends him this crisis, this opportunity to either be the same guy, be a bad version of that guy, or evolve.”

Related: Sarah Ramos Reveals the 'Scary' and 'Exciting' Part of Her New Chicago Med Role

So Archer stays on in his subordinate position, and he’s going to work on being less defensive, less reactive, less resentful, and just do his job, and try to figure out a way to deal with Lennox.

“He sees Lenox as someone that he now recognizes,” Weber says. “He doesn’t just see her as a threat the way he may have before, a territorial infringement, he sees her as– and the show does a good job at revealing this, too–as someone who is a certain way for a certain reason. He suspects that she might have vulnerabilities, that she is also on her way to a kind of character and personal development. As he’s now beginning to evolve, he’s beginning to wake up a bit. So, Lenox is less of a threat, even though she still might be a pain in the ass.”

Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.

Next, Seven Spoilers for the Season 10 Premiere of Chicago Med, Including New Cast Members