Chicago Med Fans Can't Stand Dr. Archer's Lack Of Character Development
First gowning up for duty as an Emergency Department surgeon mid-way through Season 6 on "Chicago Med," Dr. Dean Archer (Steven Weber) quickly displays his skill with a scalpel — and his talent for cutting down his co-workers at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center. Handing out thinly veiled insults and outright snark about his colleagues at the hospital, Dr. Archer also has little in the way of bedside manner when it comes to interacting with patients.
In addition to his generic disdain for his co-workers' medical skills, Dr. Archer also shows little respect for issues relating to the treatment of mental health. And while this may possibly be due to the fact he suffers from PTSD stemming from his time in the military, it's certainly not something that endears him to co-workers like Gaffney's Head of Psychiatry, Dr. Daniel Charles, played by Oliver Platt.
During his time on this One Chicago hit, Archer's reliably off-putting behavior shows him to be a less-than-personable persona episode after episode. And it's precisely this sort of unchanging bad conduct that led series' fan u/DiligentAnalysis685 to start a Reddit discussion titled, "Will Dr. Archer EVER have any personal character development???" Chi-Hards were ready and willing to answer: Nope.
Some Chicago Med viewers think Dr. Archer is just stuck in a rut
Answering their own question about Dr. Dean Archer's character progression on the "Chicago Med" subreddit noted above, the OP wrote that they felt the doc was truly obnoxious in both Seasons 6 and 7 but that his behavior got some explanatory backstory in Season 8. Still, they concluded, "Those cheap, condescending 'compliments' he gives to literally everyone in the ED is insufferable to watch lol." One fan appeared to share this unflattering opinion, writing, "I completely agree! I hate his character," and u/Psychological_Tap839 piled on the anti-Archer train to say, "I can't stand him."
Taking a somewhat more measured approach to the Archer issue, u/readitpaige joined in to say, "I don't think he was supposed to be around this long, but when Brian Tee [who plays Dr. Ethan Choi] left, he decided to stay." As a result, they add that they feel Archer's development is only now being actively explored and that the writers "are finally developing his character/having to flesh out character traits and background story they didn't think they'd have to." Meanwhile, u/LurkNoMoreNY also feels like Archer's character has finally started to show signs of development more recently, posting, "I feel like last episode they laid the groundwork for him changing. I don't think he will ever be warm & fuzzy but he is becoming more nuanced & layered."