‘Chicago Med’: S. Epatha Merkerson on Sharon’s Romance & Bert’s Memory Problems
Q&A
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Chicago Med is digging deep into Sharon Goodwin’s (S. Epatha Merkerson) life in Season 9, so that means there has to be some drama.
After the end of the latest episode, Sharon can’t ignore the fact that there’s reason to be concerned about her ex-husband Bert’s (Greg Alan Williams) memory. In the February 21 episode “I Make A Promise, I Will Never Leave You,” she recruits Dr. Charles (Oliver Platt) to evaluate Bert. But Sharon’s romance, with chief of oncology Dr. Dennis Washington (John Earl Jelks), is going strong, which we love to see.
TV Insider spoke with Merkerson ahead of the next episode to talk about the Bert situation, the romance with Dennis, and, of course, our favorite relationship on the show: Sharon and Charles.
At the end of the last episode, Sharon learns there’s a reason to be concerned about Bert’s memory and she can’t ignore that. How is she handling that, especially when she knows what this could mean, not just for now, but in the long run?
It’s the usual thing. First of all, she’s dealing with the fact that he’s back in her life, which he’s been in and out for the past nine seasons. And so she’s a little ticked by that and because she’s found this new man in her life now, so she’s got to work out those issues, being a single woman and having an ex-husband who just keeps showing up.
And it’s never a good thing that happens when he shows up. It’s never just a, “Hi, how are you?” There’s always something going on.
Indeed. But that’s what drama is about, right?
Exactly.
And it’s great working with Greg Allen Williams. He’s amazing actor. It’s always fun when Greg Allen comes to set and we laugh at the things that these two characters have gone through over the years. And the cool thing about this particular time of him coming on, we’re now working with our daughter [Nicolette Robinson’s Tara], and there’s another person in this drama that’s happening between Sharon and Bert.
In this next episode, Shannon recruits Dr. Charles to evaluate his memory. What can you preview? Because Charles has history with Bert, too.
Charles and Goodwin have been friends for some 40 years. She’s known all of his exes, and he’s only known Bert. So I think that because they have this friendship, Charles would be the first person that she would call for help because they always had a good relationship, Bert Goodwin and Daniel Charles. He will be helping her at some points in the story because Bert can be a little irascible as well.
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Yeah, I have to say Charles and Goodwin’s relationship is probably my favorite on the show all these years.
Yeah, it really is a great friendship, and our friendship is like that as well. I always say that there are only two other people that can make me laugh like Oliver Platt does, and those are my brothers. He’s just such fun to be around. He’s a consummate professional and that our characters have this relationship is really a lot of fun. It’s something I can always depend on when there’s a storyline that involves us, that it will be an interesting storyline. It will be a warm storyline because they’re such good friends.
Who is Sharon going to be leaning on while she’s dealing with this stuff with Bert? Maggie (Marlyne Barrett)? Charles? Dennis? That relationship seems to be going well, but is this something she would turn to him about?
I don’t know. We’ll see what happens. I doubt that she would go to this man she’s just starting to see. I would think it would be Charles because he’s the one that has the history with Bert. He knows everything about the struggles that we’ve had over the years, and he’s a calming influence on both of us, I think it’s fair to say. Friendships are deep, and I think if she has to go to someone, it would definitely be Daniel Charles.
Speaking of that relationship, I love that we’re seeing Sharon in a romance. I love that she has that in her life. It seems to be going well. They’ve gotten past some minor possible bumps between keeping the relationship secret then that run-in when she was with Bert. How would you describe the relationship in this coming episode?
I think that you’ll just see them still at that sort of infant stage of it. There are little moments where they see each other in the hospital, and there are little quick moments of saying hello, a smile or touch on the hand or on the back, those things that make us giddy. I think that’s sort of interesting about this because it’s rare sometimes that you see women of a certain age have these kinds of relationships on television. You always see it with the young folk, but that’s why I like this because it’s showing a mature woman who’s giggly. And I love that.
It also seems like this relationship and specifically Dennis is who she needs right now in her life.
Yeah, I have to agree. He’s solid. He’s got this amazing career. If there’s going to be someone in her life now, this would be the guy. Bert was always in and out, kind of flighty, dealing with his own issues and not so much dealing with their marriage. And when we first meet Sharon some nine years ago, Bert is in the process of leaving her. So it’s been all these years that she’s been alone. And I think as you said so perfectly, that this is something that she’s needed and something that I think she’s really enjoying. I know Epatha is. I like working with John Earl. He’s such a great actor. So this has been loads of fun.
It’s also kind of drama free compared to everything else going on in her life, not just with Bert, but everything she has to deal with in the hospital.
Exactly. There’s always some issue. There’s a drug in the next episode that we deal with. There’s the insurance mess that a lot of hospitals are dealing with and patients are dealing with now. In fact, my cardiologist watches the show, and he loved the fact that we’re having this discussion about insurance, so I know we’re making an impact. Those are some of the things that right now Goodwin is dealing with.
And she doesn’t even know what Zola (Sophia Ali) might do next.
Yeah, she’s a little reckless. She’s gung-ho about things, and instead of doing them in a logical, meaningful way, she just goes and does them on her own. That’s something that Goodwin will be dealing with as well as Archer [Steven Weber] because he’s the head of the ED and you can’t have recklessness in the ED. We’ve already seen where she might be a little problematic, where her youth will get in the way. But her enthusiasm, I believe, is from her heart, and so that’s the good thing about it. But it’s the way she goes about it. So there are going to be a few bumps in the road with that, for sure.
And I’m kind of just waiting for the day that Charles and Ripley (Luke Mitchell) end up in Sharon’s office because of their history and how that might boil over.
Me too. This next episode coming up, there’s some moments with them that I think will explain some of their history. Right now, all Goodwin knows is that he knew him from some point back in Charles’s history. So there’ll be a reckoning of understanding and finding out about exactly what this relationship was between Mitch Ripley and Daniel Charles.
Chicago Med, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS
